saddest unboxing ever

I wasn’t going to post about this, since it seemed too trivial. However, this evening I chatted again to a previous bride and groom who attended their friends’ wedding tonight … and he told me hasn’t laughed so much about an unboxing as he did at my sad whining in a recent Facebook post. So I thought I should repeat the story here then.

I pre-ordered the new Nikon 85mm f1.4G from my favorite camera store two months ago, and received notice that the lens would be delivered this past Friday. I was really looking forward to the update of the renowned Nikon 85mm f1.4D … great excitement! The UPS guy dropped the box off on Friday, and I eagerly opened it up to see a Nikon FM10 with a kit lens. A serious WTF? moment.

There you have it. Of all the zillions of orders that my favorite camera store ships out, I am sure there are the occasional mistakes that creeps in. But maaaaan, that it had to be with me! In their favor though, when I contacted the camera store, they apologized and immediately emailed me an RMA to return the camera so that they can send me my actual lens. No problem there. Their customer service has always been impeccable in my experience.

So, I’m still waiting for my new Nikon 85mm f1.4G lens … and somewhere out there, there is someone who is disappointed he didn’t receive his FM10, but instead just received a lens. I hope he appreciates it!

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15 Comments »

Nice gift for FM10 guy… I wish I were him… :-)

Comment by Dragos — October 17, 2010 @ 5:42 am
Hmm, think I best go order me an FM10! :)

Comment by Paul Kelly — October 17, 2010 @ 6:16 am
Actually, I wonder if there were a better customer service route to be taken.

As you are likely a customer in both long and good standing, shouldn’t they have immediately over-nighted the new lens to you, while issuing the RMA for the erroneous product?

If you somehow neglected or otherwise forgot to return the FM10 they still would have been able to charge you for it.

Comment by forkboy1965 — October 17, 2010 @ 10:03 am
WOW! I guess during the film days somebody would be dancing instead of they got an FM10 :) Interesting that somebody is still using film :)

Comment by Arnold Gallardo — October 17, 2010 @ 10:06 am
This seems like a really serious mistake at the B&H warehouse. I guess the worker just slapped the sticker without doing a sanity check to see if the box label matched the sticker ID.

B&H ought to discount the order in some way, or not charge for the original shipping for this kind of snafu.

Comment by Stephen — October 17, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
I just wish the mistake would’ve been a D3s or D3x or even a 1D mk IV in my favour. But nooooo, it had to be a Nikon FM10 film camera. The FM10 is a rebranded Cosina camera. On top of that, the chances of me ever shooting film again is less than zero.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — October 17, 2010 @ 3:28 pm
Neil: I gotta say, I feel that if you weren’t making money off B&H’s affiliate program, you wouldn’t have been so kind here. The fact that you do throw them so much business is all the more reason they should have overnighted you the correct product.

Comment by Scott — October 17, 2010 @ 10:23 pm
Scott, I think you over-estimate how much income I get from B&H’s affiliate program. In another sense, if you compare the amount of time I put in on this website, and add up all the income from various affiliate programs … you’d fall over laughing in derision, wondering why I am putting in so much work on this website for what eventually adds up to far less than minimum wage.

So let the affiliate earnings not cloud the event here. It doesn’t particularly factor here.

My loyalty to B&H is coupled more to their customer service (and good prices). For example, when I was trawling through Canon’s crap-tacular 16-25mm f2.8 II lens, I had 3 copies that I had tried out through B&H, and returned … every time without any hesitation from them. And I got a full refund when I decided to give up that struggle. How many stores do you know that would be that easy to work with?

About the question about over-nighting the lens to me, (mentioned by someone else here as well) … I phoned them at 1:30pm on a Friday. They close at 2pm on Fridays. I’m not sure it would be realistic to throw a temper tantrum and get the wheels in motion for them to overnight me a lens immediately. Besides, it’s just not in my nature to throw a temper tantrum at something like this. I have the 85mm f1.4D so it isn’t as if I couldn’t do my best work at the wedding I had to photograph this weekend. Ultimately, it really is only a mild inconvenience.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — October 17, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
Hi Neil,
I agree. I would love to have an error in my favor. B&H does have a good return policy on camera equipment.

Comment by Stephen — October 17, 2010 @ 11:00 pm
Wow, that’s amazing?
I mean the fact that they still ship out FM 10 these days.

Comment by Martin — October 18, 2010 @ 7:15 pm
Whoa…they still produce FM10? That was my 1st camera…+/- 15years ago :p

Comment by Kian — October 19, 2010 @ 1:19 pm
Yay!

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — October 19, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
Wow, that was quick. You posted this story on 10/16, and you received the lens today.

Comment by Stephen — October 19, 2010 @ 9:36 pm
Hi Neil, I love your blog and would like to thank you for all the knowledge you share with us. Can you tell me the difference in image quality between the 85 f1.4D and the 85 f1.4G?

Thank you.

Comment by Eduardo B. — October 21, 2010 @ 12:43 pm
I should perhaps more clearly state that I did in fact receive my lens, and that I am very happy with it.

See my review of the Nikon 85mm f1.4G lens.

Neil vN

Comment by Neil vN — December 18, 2010 @ 9:07 pm