B&H Tech Support

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 2, 2015

Why doesn't B&H do their own tech support, but ask their customers to do it for them?

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AgX · Dec 2, 2015

I guees it is for saving money on knowledegable personnel.

B&H might call it "community-building" though...

RattyMouse · Dec 2, 2015

Thomas Bertilsson said:
Why doesn't B&H do their own tech support, but ask their customers to do it for them?

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Tons of places do this. Why single out B & H? Apple has had community support groups for nearly a decade before B & H started doing this.

bdial · Dec 2, 2015

I guess it's because they aren't in the business of using the stuff, just selling it.
I've gotten emails from them asking me to answer customer questions about stuff I've bought.
Proper tech support is expensive, if they facilitate customers supporting each other it can be a "win" for all involved.
Though what is often missing is someone from the company's technical staff stepping in when a reasonable question goes unanswered.

Rick A · Dec 2, 2015

Thomas, ever been in a store and a stranger is looking perplexed so you helped them? I do it all the time. Why not refer people to someone who has far more knowledge than the seller.

37th Exposure · Dec 2, 2015

Reading the Q&A for individual items on the B&H website, I do see people identifying themselves as staff answering some of the questions.

AgX · Dec 2, 2015

Rick A said:
Thomas, ever been in a store and a stranger is looking perplexed so you helped them? I do it all the time. Why not refer people to someone who has far more knowledge than the seller.

I do that too. But me helping other clients is not part of the business model of those shops, or at least in no way formalized and I never was asked by assistants to jump in.
This is the difference between your sample and B&H.

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 2, 2015

I think if you're in the business of selling photography equipment, you should also be able to support it.

I work for a tech company, and am often referred to because I know a lot about what I'm doing. I take pride in that, and when I don't know the answer to a question, I do research to find out.

Rick A · Dec 2, 2015

Isn't that essentially what that customer is doing?

markbarendt · Dec 2, 2015

Thomas Bertilsson said:
I think if you're in the business of selling photography equipment, you should also be able to support it.

I work for a tech company, and am often referred to because I know a lot about what I'm doing. I take pride in that, and when I don't know the answer to a question, I do research to find out.

I agree with you, I'm in the business of helping people retire well, gotta be able to support your clients well in my world or someone else will.

Businesses of all stripes are moving toward using less costly employees and automation at every opportunity it seems.

removed account4 · Dec 2, 2015

thomas

this is nothing new.
i have come across people who bleed me for information regarding silver recovery
because they bought or were planning to buy "stuff" from someone else
and of course their seller has no idea how anything works, or how to ruin the products by mis-using them. ...

i've made it a point to help people if they need help, and if i can't answer their questions i ask the manufacturer and get back to them.

markbarendt · Dec 2, 2015

RattyMouse said:
Tons of places do this. Why single out B & H? Apple has had community support groups for nearly a decade before B & H started doing this.

You are right that lots of places do this. I don't know that Apple is a good example, B&H and Adorama sure, but when I have called Apple or gone to their stores they have never turned me toward a user community for a real problem.

That said I have gotten a "no our product isn't designed to do that, maybe somebody has an app or workaround if you check the user community they may know" answer.

DWThomas · Dec 2, 2015

I've gotten a few of those from B&H. IIRC they do somewhere invite you to ignore them if not interested (and I think you may even be able to shut them off altogether). But I've responded to a couple of them where I was very sure of my knowledge and it was also perhaps a bit of an obscure topic. Not with B&H specifically, but I'm sure many of us have had the experience of trying to purchase something where it became obvious we knew more about the product than the person selling it, even in brick and mortar locations.

(Perhaps by uncharacteristically optimistic choice) I see it as trying to broaden the knowledge base by including real world experience. (But I can understand others may not see it that way! )

Vonder · Dec 2, 2015

I have a slightly different take on it. The request pleads to help a "fellow shopper". Hello? Are shoppers bound by some unwritten code to help other shoppers? I do not like being lumped into the category "shopper" either. It's like in the Navy when folks would call me "shipmate" and they weren't on my ship. It's an appeal to common experience and it nauseates me. Shoppers are sweaty unwashed people who stand in long lines on black Friday. I am not a shopper and hate being called one.

So there. The voice of insanity has spoken.

Poisson Du Jour · Dec 2, 2015

Crowdsourcing is a fun way to get people together to look at a problem and find a solution. We have it in Australia (e.g. Telstra, Optus, Apple, Samsung...). In the end, this has been shown to benefit the manufactuer, the retailer and the consumer. There's nothing wrong nor alien nor uncouth about reaching out and helping people.

wildbill · Dec 2, 2015

because their staff is about as friendly as a porcupine in heat.

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 2, 2015

wildbill said:
because their staff is about as friendly as a porcupine in heat.

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Sirius Glass · Dec 2, 2015

Poisson Du Jour said:
Crowdsourcing is a fun way to get people together to look at a problem and find a solution. We have it in Australia (e.g. Telstra, Optus, Apple, Samsung...). In the end, this has been shown to benefit the manufactuer, the retailer and the consumer. There's nothing wrong nor alien nor uncouth about reaching out and helping people.

Generally I like it better when people are couth.

AgX · Dec 2, 2015

Apug is a mutual give & take situation. Different from being approached by a retailer asking me to do his work. At least I would have been very surprised had I received the above message.

resummerfield · Dec 2, 2015

DWThomas said:
I've gotten a few of those from B&H. IIRC they do somewhere invite you to ignore them if not interested (and I think you may even be able to shut them off altogether). But I've responded to a couple of them where I was very sure of my knowledge and it was also perhaps a bit of an obscure topic. Not with B&H specifically, but I'm sure many of us have had the experience of trying to purchase something where it became obvious we knew more about the product than the person selling it, even in brick and mortar locations.

(Perhaps by uncharacteristically optimistic choice) I see it as trying to broaden the knowledge base by including real world experience. (But I can understand others may not see it that way! )

I tend to agree with Dave. I've received a few of these fro B&H, and if I think I can add to the overall knowledge base, I respond. If not, I just ignore it. What's the problem with that?

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 2, 2015

If I give advice and it turns out to be bad advice, then what? Who's responsible?

If I work for B&H to help sell their products, do I get a discount or some compensation?

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removed account4 · Dec 2, 2015

its like any advice, no matter who one gets it from
one takes it with a grain of salt, and sometimes you
get what you paid for.

i can't tell you how much bad advice i have gotten from people
about everything from places to buy "stuff" photographic advice,
artisans ( cobblers, tailors ) restaurants &c ... even the most
respected people i know have given me bum advice ... its just advice, what can you do ...

people here on apug ( and everywhere else ) for example, have in years gone by given advice
in subjects they had absolutely no idea what they were talking about ... made completely false statements
about everything under the sun ( and sometimes people advise others to do things that are ILLEGAL ! )
whatever ... its just the internet ...

i've even gone to a store and was given bad advice from someone behind the counter. i just made sure
not to ask for advice after that .. and did my own research and figured it out.

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 2, 2015

I was curious what others thought about this method of offering tech support. As usual I'm in a minority with my opinion, which I don't mind at all.

If it were my business I'd never allow it.

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MattKing · Dec 2, 2015

I see it having its place.

The benefit of consulting a large group of end users is that they will together have, in total, more and wider experience and knowledge about the use and application of the product than any single retailer will.

If your intended use of a product is at least slightly unusual, it is great that the retailer tries to put you in touch with a large number of users, because someone else may have tried just that.

It should not be used to replace answers from someone on staff who is familiar with the product manual and the usual uses of the product.

Sirius Glass · Dec 2, 2015

Other companies do that same thing. Another example is Delorme uses it for its GPS products. This is for Topo 10 http://forum.delorme.com/index.php?/forum/118-topo-north-america-100/

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