On Wednesday, April 21, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, BandHPhoto wrote:

<Recently I've ordered 3 lenses from B&H. After the order they switched me to their new "verification system".>

I am sorry that you found the system daunting. I am sure you understand thought
thnecessity of protecting both the retailer and the customer's sensitive credit.

You may not be aware that credit card fraud is rampant these days. Since my wife & I were the victims of something similar I know that the <hour> you <wasted> is a pittance compared to the more than 40 hours we spent repairing our credit after overeager sales clerks thoughout the tri-state region either opened "instant credit" accounts or revived existing but dormant accounts in our name. The amount stolen in one three-day weekend (even though we notified
the credit card copmpanies less than one hour after learning our credit had been breached) was sufficient to involve the Secret Service. It was a nightmare.

If you wish, e-mail the particulars of who you are, or your order number, to me
at henryp@bhphotovideo.com and I will see if I can determine a way to minimize
this for you in the future.

Again, we regrety your inconvenience and dissatisfaction. ===============================
regards,
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video
http://www.bhphotovideo.com
henryp@bhphotovideo.com

B&H:

I have ordered over 1,000 (easily) products online in my lifetime (many very large amounts) and never ONCE have I had to "verify".

So you are saying all these thousands of other companies don't care about safety? Buying on Amazon isn't safe?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Worst online shopping experience I have ever had. Period.

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning saying I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous online order from them and an email from my work email so they can confirm my identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At this point they charged my card, they hold my order hostage and they are ignoring my emails. So I started emailing different verification department emails as well as the customer
service asking them why they are ignoring my emails even though they charged my card. Still no response.

Thursday, at this point I am very worried since my card is charged and I am being bluntly and boldly ignored. I go to forums to see if others are going through the same horror story. I quickly realize this how their verification department operates and
that its hopeless trying to contact them or get your order to be processed. Luckily I see that someone wrote they just called the customer service and got a refund. I immediately took a deep breath, called the customer service and cancelled the order
without explaining anything. I was the happiest person in the word. The relief I got when I was able to cancel my order was indescribable.

P.S: I have escalated the issue to a guy called Henry who was the head of verification department and got a short answer back saying he notified the verification department. Up until now, weeks later I got 0 responses from 5+ emails I sent to both
verification and customer service departments.  

This was all happening because the billing address and the shipping address was not the same.

1-) B&H Photo, if you think a transaction is suspicious, DO NOT CHARGE that card and approve the order.
2-) If you DO charge the card and hold the clients order hostage thinking its suspicious and DO label customers as potential fraudsters and identity thieves at least look at the info they are sending you and try to resolve the issue. YOU HAVE THEIR MONEY
AND THE PRODUCT. DO NOT IGNORE THEM.
3-) If you are going to charge their card, hold the customers order hostage, and ignore their communications 100%, that makes you a fraudster. That makes you a thief. You are the suspicious part in this equation.

NOW THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A SECOND. B&H photo charges your card, doesn't ship the product, says we think its suspicious, ignores all your communication efforts and keeps your money as well as the product. Who is the thief and the fraudster here? How is
this professional or ethical in any way??

I have been shopping online for over 15 years and I have had bad experiences like late packages, lost packages etc. But I have never had an online experience at this level. This was down right a hostile and a scary experience. They took my money, accused
me of identity theft, ignored the documentation I sent them, ignored my emails and left me wasting hours trying to figure out how to get my money back or the product shipped. Left me hanging like that. Knowing that they have your money and they are
knowing ignoring all your emails is a scary feeling.

I have never been happier to be able to cancel an order since I seriously thought they just stole my money and that this is how they operate.

I could have bought the same product from amazon, use the same card, same shipping and billing address and get the product next day. (which I did) Instead I had to deal with B&H photo and their customer service / verification department that downright
ignores any and all emails they receive even though you are a paying customer and that they are holding your order hostage.

I have purchased from them in the past without issues, thats why I trusted them. Just because you purchased from them in the past doesn't mean you are safe with B&H photo. This can happen to anyone and will happen looking at the forums. This is an early
warning for those new to B&H photo and wondering if its a trust-able company. DO NOT BUY from B&H photo. I cannot tell you in words how frustrated and worried I was with my purchase. To a point that after 3 business days I couldn't focus at work and all
I was thinking was if I could at least get my money back.

I have never seen anything like this in 15 years of online shopping. Why would anyone buy anything from a company in 2020 that treats its paying customers like a piece of garbage? They dont deserve your business.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <f7082af5-a506-49ab-a155-02ba0bcfef64o@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning saying I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous online order from them and an email from my work email so they can confirm my identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At this point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

NOW THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A SECOND. B&H photo charges your card, doesn't ship the product, says we think its suspicious, ignores all your communication efforts and keeps your money as well as the product. Who is the thief and the fraudster here? How is this professional or ethical in any way??

you're changing your story.

you used a credit card, likely a new card not previously used with b&h
and one with a mismatched billing & shipping address, along with a new
email address to b&h and possibly other factors, which triggered a
fraud alert.

they requested additional information, which you provided. apparently
they were satisfied since they *processed* *the* *order* by charging
your card, yet you continued to harass them.

b&h was no doubt thrilled to cancel your order and unleash you on one
of their competitors.

This was all happening because the billing address and the shipping address was not the same.

that's almost certainly what triggered the fraud alert, along with
using a new email address, likely one that has a higher incidence of
fraud (e.g., yahoo).

next time, don't do that.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 3:47:11 PM UTC-5, nospam wrote:

In article <f7082af5-a506-49ab-a155-02ba0bcfef64o@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning saying
I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous online order from them and an email from my work email so they can confirm my
identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At this point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

NOW THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A SECOND. B&H photo charges your card, doesn't ship
the product, says we think its suspicious, ignores all your communication efforts and keeps your money as well as the product. Who is the thief and the
fraudster here? How is this professional or ethical in any way??

you're changing your story.

you used a credit card, likely a new card not previously used with b&h
and one with a mismatched billing & shipping address, along with a new
email address to b&h and possibly other factors, which triggered a
fraud alert.

they requested additional information, which you provided. apparently
they were satisfied since they *processed* *the* *order* by charging
your card, yet you continued to harass them.

b&h was no doubt thrilled to cancel your order and unleash you on one
of their competitors.

This was all happening because the billing address and the shipping address was not the same.

that's almost certainly what triggered the fraud alert, along with
using a new email address, likely one that has a higher incidence of
fraud (e.g., yahoo).

next time, don't do that.

I would answer those replies of yours one by one but I won´t. This is straight out of Monsanto online reputation management playbook. Trolling the forums trying to discredit legitimate complaints. Trying to find any angle to attack back changing the
direction of the conversation. I am not gonna fall into that trap of getting into pointless discussions that would cloud the original discussion.

The fact that B&H has to hire whole online reputation management team to get out there and try to discredit negative comments says a lot about the type of business they run. Imagine that for a second. Just like Monsanto they have people working to save
their messed up online reputation by attacking and try to discredit customer comments.

My note is for the management. If you guys are reading this, instead of pouring money on these reputation management teams to discredit comments, and use these old and dirty PR tactics politicians and evil corporations use fix your broken online
verification / customer service process first and switch to a customer first approach like all the other new age eCommerce businesses.

On one hand you have a customer service/verification department that ignores all emails of paying clients even though they charge your card and simply hold your order hostage AND on the other hand you have B&H online reputation management team spreading
misinformation like ---> "apparently
they were satisfied since they *processed* *the* *order* by charging
your card, yet you continued to harass them."

This wont get you far, you will eventually continue loosing business until you cannot complete with other online sellers that actually value their customers and that have decent customer service.

P.S: The fact that you attack back on dissatisfied customers, trying to blame them for your incompetence instead of trying to fix the broken parts of your business encourages me to go out there and share my experiences on other blogs. So that the world
knows who you really are.

You can write all you want here trying to save the terrible online reputation you guys have interms of customer service and verification department. Instead of listening to clients and fix broken parts of your business you choose to use retaliation and
discrediting tactics. This alone tells the world what kind of business you run here. And for those reading these comments, just to summarize, imagine a company who charges your card, then accuses you of being a fraudster and holds your order hostage,
ignores the documentation you sent and then ignores all your emails completely leaving you hanging and wondering what the hell is going on to a point where you cancel the order and then when you leave a negative comment replies back saying you "continued
to harasses them". I will leave the judgement to you and leave it at that.

Now just compare this to other eCommerce businesses customer services and how they work above and beyond for customer satisfaction. WOULD YOU NOW CONTINUE BUYING FROM B&H???

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <474d2c6a-84d9-4ad9-8b37-ba0864455f2eo@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning saying
I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous
online order from them and an email from my work email so they can confirm my
identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they
are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At this
point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

And for those reading these
comments, just to summarize, imagine a company who charges your card, then accuses you of being a fraudster and holds your order hostage, ignores the documentation you sent and then ignores all your emails completely leaving you hanging and wondering what the hell is going on to a point where you cancel the order and then when you leave a negative comment replies back saying you "continued to harasses them". I will leave the judgement to you and leave it at that.

you're lying.

first you said you placed an order, which happened to trigger a fraud
alert because of mismatched addresses (and likely other factors), so
b&h requested additional info, which you provided. they reviewed it,
accepted its validity and then charged your card.

you've now changed your story to you placed an order, then they charged
your card but refused to complete the order until you provided
additional info and also cut off communication.

both can't be true, which means you are trolling.

you could have also checked the order status at any time, without
needing to email or call.

Now just compare this to other eCommerce businesses customer services
and how they work above and beyond for customer satisfaction. WOULD YOU
NOW CONTINUE BUYING FROM B&H???

absolutely. b&h is one of the most reputable companies and has been
around since before there was ecommerce.

nothing is perfect and out of millions of orders, there will be a few
people who encounter problems.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 8:25:21 PM UTC-5, nospam wrote:

In article <474d2c6a-84d9-4ad9-8b37-ba0864455f2eo@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning saying
I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous
online order from them and an email from my work email so they can confirm my
identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they
are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At this
point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

And for those reading these
comments, just to summarize, imagine a company who charges your card, then accuses you of being a fraudster and holds your order hostage, ignores the documentation you sent and then ignores all your emails completely leaving you hanging and wondering what the hell is going on to a point where you cancel the order and then when you leave a negative comment replies back saying you "continued to harasses them". I will leave the judgement to you and leave it at that.

you're lying.

first you said you placed an order, which happened to trigger a fraud
alert because of mismatched addresses (and likely other factors), so
b&h requested additional info, which you provided. they reviewed it,
accepted its validity and then charged your card.

you've now changed your story to you placed an order, then they charged
your card but refused to complete the order until you provided
additional info and also cut off communication.

both can't be true, which means you are trolling.

you could have also checked the order status at any time, without
needing to email or call.

Now just compare this to other eCommerce businesses customer services
and how they work above and beyond for customer satisfaction. WOULD YOU NOW CONTINUE BUYING FROM B&H???

absolutely. b&h is one of the most reputable companies and has been
around since before there was ecommerce.

nothing is perfect and out of millions of orders, there will be a few
people who encounter problems.

Story doesn't change, try harder. Find something else to accuse me of. Looks for other angles. I was charged as soon as I placed the order. Order went through the moment I bought it. The next day I got an email from the verification department saying
they won't process my order unless I provide additional info which I did and got ignored completely for 4 business days.

None of your attacks will change the truth that B&H verification department and the customer service sucks. None of your accusations changes the fact that customers are bluntly ignored 100% by the verification department and left hanging. And that B&H
simply doesn't care about customer satisfaction. You call me a liar all you want. You are paid to do what you do trolling dissatisfied customers so I don't take this personal at all. You don't have any answers to provide really about all these mess-ups
so you just blame the customer and try to discredit them, try to get on top.

These are just pathetic attempts to change the conversation and to outwit the accusers by blaming them instead. Disgusting PR tactics.

You are just doing your job. I have seen a bunch of you following the same PR playbook trying to discredit comments calling them liars.You just know what is happening as well as I do. So I wont even argue with you.

For thread visitors, just check other forums and you will see many similar cases and similar B&H reputation management guys following the same tactics. Just Google "B&H verification department" and see all the horror stories yourself. This is the B&H
DNA.

--- Just leaving a comment for the readers, these guys like "nospam" represents B&H, see their approach to dissatisfied customers? Now how could you expect a company with this mindset to offer you any customer service? This will be the tone you will face
when they charge your card, not ship the product and ignore your emails. You will be blamed and called a lair, a fraudster, will be accused of harnessing them when you email them asking for the status of your order. These comments you are reading are who
B&H is. This is what they stand for. Very classy isn't it? Just ending it quoting nospam: "absolutely. b&h is one of the most reputable companies". Well, no doubt about it, I can tell you are the most reputable company just by looking at how you handle
customers.---

Sad really, how hard these guys try to shift the blame to customers. They are just showing their true colors at the end of the day really.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 12:43:25 PM UTC-5, Chuck wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:25:18 -0400, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

In article <474d2c6a-84d9-4ad9-8b37-ba0864455f2eo@googlegroups.com>, ><zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning >> > > saying
I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous
online order from them and an email from my work email so they can
confirm my
identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back.

Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they
are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At >> > > this
point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

And for those reading these
comments, just to summarize, imagine a company who charges your card, then >> accuses you of being a fraudster and holds your order hostage, ignores the >> documentation you sent and then ignores all your emails completely leaving >> you hanging and wondering what the hell is going on to a point where you >> cancel the order and then when you leave a negative comment replies back >> saying you "continued to harasses them". I will leave the judgement to you >> and leave it at that.

you're lying.

first you said you placed an order, which happened to trigger a fraud
alert because of mismatched addresses (and likely other factors), so
b&h requested additional info, which you provided. they reviewed it, >accepted its validity and then charged your card.

you've now changed your story to you placed an order, then they charged >your card but refused to complete the order until you provided
additional info and also cut off communication.

both can't be true, which means you are trolling.

you could have also checked the order status at any time, without
needing to email or call.

Now just compare this to other eCommerce businesses customer services
and how they work above and beyond for customer satisfaction. WOULD YOU >> NOW CONTINUE BUYING FROM B&H???

absolutely. b&h is one of the most reputable companies and has been
around since before there was ecommerce.

nothing is perfect and out of millions of orders, there will be a few >people who encounter problems.

I've purchased tens of thousands of dollars of equipment from B&H for
a major university and only had one problem they didn't satisfy. We
bought a Presonus mixer that had perfect packaging. A side panel was
damaged; probably at the factory. B&H didn't supply us with a new
piece.

Yeah, my initial order shipped super fast and even though it was an international order arrived very quickly. Thats why I chose B&H over Amazon for my second order.Initially I was happy with how things went.

When your order goes through there are no problems. Problems start when you end up in the hands of the verification department which ignore you completely and doesn't process your order. Thats when the frustration kicks in.

Looking at other forums and Googling B&H verification department I can clearly see that this is not a one time / exception case. This is how they operate. Its a flawed and inefficient department. It is very clear that verification department doesn't work
and is not effective. Maybe this is what they want, they don't want to deal with orders they see suspicious and by ignoring them they are hoping the buyer cancels the order and goes to shop somewhere else so that they dont end up being responsibel if
anything goes wrong...

If my order didn't end up in that department I am sure I would get it just fine and continue shopping with them. Its just that one terrible experience PLUS their reputation management teams online attitudes and retaliation strategies pushed me over the
edge....

I dont think they are aware that with their attitudes they are creating lifetime enemies that will carry all their horror stories to forums. I don't normally comment online, my experience was so bad that I took the extra time to go online and spread the
experience.

I see the verification department and the online reputation team as a gangrene that will eventually destroy the reputation of B&H if B&H doesn't get rid of it and whoever is the decision maker / shot caller in these contagious old school disinformation
and blame the customer PR tactics. We are in 2020 and customers are not stupid. These irresponsible decisions of theirs will eventually get back to hunt them...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 21:25:18 -0400, nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

In article <474d2c6a-84d9-4ad9-8b37-ba0864455f2eo@googlegroups.com>, ><zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a Sony camera on Sunday, received an email on Monday morning
saying
I need to send them additional information to confirm my identity.

Monday I send them copy of my id, my linkedin profile, copy of my previous
online order from them and an email from my work email so they can
confirm my
identity that is Linked to a work domain. I dont get any response back. >> > >
Tuesday I reach out to them again asking if everything is fine and if they
are processing my request. No response.

Wednesday I started to get worried since my credit card is charged. At >> > > this
point they charged my card,

your card being charged is your response that the order was approved.

And for those reading these
comments, just to summarize, imagine a company who charges your card, then >> accuses you of being a fraudster and holds your order hostage, ignores the >> documentation you sent and then ignores all your emails completely leaving >> you hanging and wondering what the hell is going on to a point where you
cancel the order and then when you leave a negative comment replies back
saying you "continued to harasses them". I will leave the judgement to you >> and leave it at that.

you're lying.

first you said you placed an order, which happened to trigger a fraud
alert because of mismatched addresses (and likely other factors), so
b&h requested additional info, which you provided. they reviewed it,
accepted its validity and then charged your card.

you've now changed your story to you placed an order, then they charged
your card but refused to complete the order until you provided
additional info and also cut off communication.

both can't be true, which means you are trolling.

you could have also checked the order status at any time, without
needing to email or call.

Now just compare this to other eCommerce businesses customer services
and how they work above and beyond for customer satisfaction. WOULD YOU
NOW CONTINUE BUYING FROM B&H???

absolutely. b&h is one of the most reputable companies and has been
around since before there was ecommerce.

nothing is perfect and out of millions of orders, there will be a few
people who encounter problems.

I've purchased tens of thousands of dollars of equipment from B&H for
a major university and only had one problem they didn't satisfy. We
bought a Presonus mixer that had perfect packaging. A side panel was
damaged; probably at the factory. B&H didn't supply us with a new
piece.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <46a06a65-3380-4d2d-aa37-f5e562531c21o@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

We are in 2020 and customers are not stupid.

some are.

These irresponsible decisions
of theirs will eventually get back to hunt them...

b&h has been in business for ~50 years, so they're obviously doing
something right, and given their size, something very, very right.

nothing is perfect and there is the occasional problem, no matter what
company.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 1:30:39 PM UTC-5, nospam wrote:

In article <46a06a65-3380-4d2d-aa37-f5e562531c21o@googlegroups.com>, <zekiegeli@gmail.com> wrote:

We are in 2020 and customers are not stupid.

some are.

Awwwww, so cute. Well my friend you really deserve a raise. You are the epitome of a B&H reputation management employee. Handling customers maturely, professionally and responsibly. An employee every reputable company would want. Every comment you make
proves my case about the B&H team and how they handle things again and again, above and beyond.

These irresponsible decisions
of theirs will eventually get back to hunt them...

b&h has been in business for ~50 years, so they're obviously doing
something right, and given their size, something very, very right.

nothing is perfect and there is the occasional problem, no matter what company.

B&H can be perfect by laying off people like you and get their act together towards customers. The day B&H management realizes they have a toxic department with toxic employees destroying their reputation online even further, and instead invest in best
customer service practices things will look so much brighter for B&H...

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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