HenryP, I do hope you provide management with a detailed report on just how badly all of this has damaged the company's PR so that they can hopefully better guide things in the future and maintain customer confidence in the company.
Would it really have been so hard to just say that the shipping and handling of many chemicals was "Under review"? Seriously, most people in the modern world seem pretty happy with the whole "Workplace health and safety" idea, and are pretty supportive of proactive measures. You really missed the boat on issuing a statement along the lines of management having concerns over the potential minor risks, and therefore needed time to review the matter in detail to ensure everything was in proper order, with a goal of having new policies and decisions in place by "Early in the year".
I've generally liked B&H and the service they've given me, but I have not remotely enjoyed being jerked around on whether or not I still had easy and reliable access to materials for one of the things I enjoyed. My image of B&H as a whole has fallen several notches after this, and I will be strongly considering dealing with others going forward.
I very much believe that management of any company should be aware of the wider effects of actions. The "Blame regulations, and try to ignore there is a problem" view point on customer relations doesn't just affect B&H's film photography department, but impacts the company as a whole. B&H had been the goto supplier for a plan that hopefully will be seeing a multi-booth recording and video production company kitted out from scratch in the next year or two. I know it is petty and spiteful of me, and will likely cost more to source from other companies, but welcome to humanity, the petty and spiteful group who are easily insulted.
