B&H resellers ratings

Sam · October 16, 2014

I was just poking around on Resellers.com and noticed that B&H now has a ratting of 6.35.

That's really low!!

What the heck happened???

Adorama is at 9.14.

They are both owned by the same folks and I have always had great confidence in them both.

Is there some funny business going on?

Sam

DonRicklin · October 16, 2014

It could be something as simple as bigoted raters not liking how much they have been closed in the last month due to High Holidays. They are, in fact closed all week for Succos.

Seems I have to wait 'til next week to see if I finally get my preordered lens already going out from Amazon. I am happy to wait, though, because B&H is a great operation!

Don

PhotoDavid78 · October 17, 2014

I go to the store in Manhattan regularly. A few years back they switched from having photographers and camera experts selling cameras, to straight up salesman. You used to be able to try out lenses and other equipment, now they act as if you are hassling them by asking. Maybe that's why .

Sam · October 17, 2014

DonRicklin wrote: »

It could be something as simple as bigoted raters not liking how much they have been closed in the last month due to High Holidays. They are, in fact closed all week for Succos.

Seems I have to wait 'til next week to see if I finally get my preordered lens already going out from Amazon. I am happy to wait, though, because B&H is a great operation!

Don

Don,

B&H has always had my confidence,. but it's hard to see how a few people can swing the ratings so low.

Also I don't believe people who are unhappy about their frequent closures are all bigoted. People are just concerned about their own needs. Many may live in areas without a local camera store with inventory and are relying on the online stores. If they were so bigoted why would they buy from them at all?

Sam

Sam · October 17, 2014

PhotoDavid78 wrote: »

I go to the store in Manhattan regularly. A few years back they switched from having photographers and camera experts selling cameras, to straight up salesman. You used to be able to try out lenses and other equipment, now they act as if you are hassling them by asking. Maybe that's why .

Most of the bad reviews i read referred to online transactions, but sad to hear the knowledgeable photographers are being pushed aside.

B&H should know that sales, reputation, and good will will increase with friendly knowledgeable sales people. Pushy sales people will decrease sales and return business.

Sam

Gary752 · October 17, 2014

Sam wrote: »

sad to hear the knowledgeable photographers are being pushed aside.

B&H should know that sales, reputation, and good will will increase with friendly knowledgeable sales people. Pushy sales people will decrease sales and return business.

Sam

This is what irritates me the most, and doesn't happen with just B&H. It's happening in just about all retail sales. They don't want anyone with experience, so they can pay them less. The worst of them all is Walmart. They no longer have experienced people assigned to a particular department. Now when you get there, they tell you where you will be working that day. You might have been originally trained in the photo lab, and had worked in that department for several years, but you might end up working in the pet department one day, then sporting goods, or automotive the next, or worse, sent outside to push carts in the rain or snow. I can tell you a lot of horror stories about my experiences of working at Walmart. I'm glad I'm no longer working there!

GaryB

ian408 · October 17, 2014

I'd bet the vast majority of the negative comments come from a small minority of customers. And I bet most people don't bother to write reviews. Especially if they had a good experience.

Plus, I hate the way RR tries to collect data when you submit ratings too

Sam · October 18, 2014

ian408 wrote: »

I'd bet the vast majority of the negative comments come from a small minority of customers. And I bet most people don't bother to write reviews. Especially if they had a good experience.

Plus, I hate the way RR tries to collect data when you submit ratings too

Ian,

Again, it seems odd. B&H has always topped the charts in reliability and delivering as promised. Adorama still has a nice high rating yet they are owned by the same folks.

I still have confidence in them, but I think if I were B&H I would be looking into this. If real, Disaster! If deliberately fabricated (how could it be otherwise? One jerk in his basement can't account for the ratings decline.) I hope B&H can stop it.

Sam

ziggy53 · October 18, 2014

According to Heny Posner of B&H, and from this post on FM forums, June 27, 2014:

"... Our numbers at resellerratings.com are lower than they once were because we're no longer participating in their "merchant member" program. We are currently actively participating in TrustPilot."

BTW, Both Henry Posner and Helen Oster (of Adorama) flatly deny the rumor that they are owned by the same people, other than both companies strictly observing Jewish holidays and closing according to Jewish law.

Henry

"big country wrote:
you know with the owners of bh and adorama being cousins, that could make a good documentary...

ROFL. The owners of Adidas and Puma are brothers. The owners of Adorama and B&H are retailers. Not the same.

also makes me wonder if helen and henryp are cousins as well.

ROFL 2x. We are not related at all.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video"

ian408 · October 18, 2014

Thanks for that Ziggy!

Sam · October 19, 2014

Thanks Ziggy!!!

Now I know less than than I did before.

Caveat: I didn't know a retailer had to participate. How does that work? Why would these scam photo stores (sanctioned by NYC) (yes I know they don't really sanction them, but they don't do their job of upholding the law or protecting the folks who pay their salaries.) participate at all?

From a consumers standpoint this is ludicrous.

This "Testpilot" is new to me, and if I try comparing Testpilot with resellerratings I get vastly different results.

According to resellerratings one should avoid B&H, but Adorama is at the top. According to this Testpilot one should avoid Adorama like the plague, but B&H is at the top.

Testpilot also has no info on many of the scam stores.

Yes, you and I know B&H and Adorama are solid retailers, but how would others not familiar with or new to photography be able to make an informed decision based on these two rating services?

Sam

ziggy53 · October 19, 2014

Sadly, "participate", in this case, means that retailers pay ResellerRatings big bucks for the privilege of protecting their rating.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1303229/0#12441283

"snapsy wrote:
Agreed, and I'll also add that reseller ratings charges a kings ransom to vendors like B&H and Adorama for the simple right to defend themselves against negative reviews. I think that's unfair, and many vendors have opted out of the program due to the exorbitant fees charged to them.

This is 100% correct and no small part of the reason we have opted out of participating there.

Henry Posner
henryp@bhphoto.com
B&H Photo-Video
"

B&H resellers ratings

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