DSLRUsers.com

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:10 pm**

Hi,

I am buying a P&S for my wife from MSY and they appear to be cheaper for a CanonA2000IS, hence my question is has anyone used them before? They tell me that its Canon stock and not grey market and since they charge me GST I will be able to claim it back when I travel next month.

Cheers,
Mak

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:24 pm**

I've bought computer gear from them. Cheap and reliable.

Michael

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:27 pm**

Here is a comparison search for you.....

http://www.shopbot.com.au/default.asp?k ... ion=search

And on the GST claim, you have to spend >$300 at the one store on the one receipt to be able to claim back.... and all the goods have to be on your person (not in checked luggage) when you go to claim. So just beware of that too.... seeing as it is a mid $200 price camera.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:51 pm**

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them, in general they have great prices....BUT it is only helpful when they have stock, I have to admit that everytime I go there for computer parts I have an 80% chance of coming home without what I went there for.

On the topic of their cameras, I have no idea if they are grey stock or not, paying GST on them does not mean they are from Canon Aust. You pay GST at DD and you can claim it back when you travel but we all know that they are grey market 'direct importers'.

With the dollar the way it is, it is actually very easy to find a store that can come close to grey prices atm. So if your worried about grey, take the price to your nearest Hardly Normal, RetroVision, Teds or Camera House and see if they can come close.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:26 pm**

What Cameron and Ian said.

I have no problems with buying from MSY, except that you also need to perhaps factor in some value for your time. Their Ultimo store is frequently crowded, and understaffed: I have waited more than 45 minutes on on occasion, and if you place some value on your time, this may add something to the real cost of the goods, as distinct from the price that you might pay in cash.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:30 pm**

in a word NO.

I avoid MSY like the plague due to their lack of service and diversity of products, if you want something they don't stock they won't typically don't order in and if so there are no cheaper than anywhere else.

I guess in a nutshell if you are purely interested in the cheapest price then MSY may be the option for you, but if you require decent before and after sales service I would look elsewhere.

for those who are members of the OCAU forum there is/was an interesting discussion here http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=707752 where MSY comes up a few times...

for those who are not members, Andy's (Used to run Secretnet.com.au - where I purchased 90% of my computer hardware over the years) comment sums it up for me.

We spent years trying to see if the "MSY-model" or anything like it is sustainable, and you want to know the conclusion?

There is no legitimate way we can compete with MSY. Even if we had the volume they have. It's simply not possible. Even if parallel importing all your stock (which MSY aren't doing), and having the same volume levels. It'll still cost you more.

We're not "charging more for better service". We've always been competing on price, shaving margins everywhere we can. We have one of the most automated systems on the planet.

The fact that MSY and some others are so ridiculously cheaper is, at the end of the day, mind-boggling. And I'm sick of losing sleep every night trying to work out what to do, whilst speaking to manufacturers, distributors (world-wide and local), and other retailers, trying to work out some sort of legitimate loophole. It really depresses me to read post after post saying the 'traditional online retailers' are too expensive and "rip-offs", when realistically, we're only making a couple of dollars on items aswell in a lot of cases (or most businesses are running at a loss altogether).

I'm not trying to turn this into an MSY discussion/debate thread (and let's leave the MSY stuff out of it perhaps from now on). They're doing something, and it's working for them. I can totally relate to people going there, and I wish there were a way we could provide similar pricing.

Andrew.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:48 pm**

It sort of reminds me of DigitalCameraWarehouse.com.au. Working in a camera store we have sat down and crunched the numbers and even if they are surviving on rebates (because most of the time their prices are barely over cost prices) they would have to be moving an insane amount of stock to even roll a modest profit after cost of wages and rent etc.

BUT then I visited them and realised they make margin off accessories (charging insane amounts for batteries, chargers etc)

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:19 pm**

Hi,

I called them and have placed the camera on hold so I am pretty sure that stock is available. I am only worried if something goes wrong with the camera who do I contact, the guy told me I would need to go to canon directly.... not sure if other retailers price match???

Cheers
Mak

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:07 pm**

I am only worried if something goes wrong with the camera who do I contact, the guy told me I would need to go to canon directly

not ever needing warranty claim on a camera I do not know alot about this...however

however, if you buy a gigabyte motherboard they do not tell you to return it to Gigabyte :shock:

you return it to the people you purchased it off....

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:23 pm**

makario wrote:I am only worried if something goes wrong with the camera who do I contact,

With a value as low as this, this is almost a disposable item.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:28 pm**

I like MSY and shop there for all my computer gear. If you dont mind a bit of a wait they are cheap as chips, try to get there before uni and school classes finish on a weekday.

You wont get much after sales service. They will try to palm you off to manufacturer for a warranty issue, you can persevere though.

Great prices and minimal service, I like it. To be honest I find you dont get much customer service anywhere these days so the whole MSY has poor service arguement is a bit of a furphy imo.

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:50 pm**

To be honest I find you dont get much customer service anywhere these days so the whole MSY has poor service arguement is a bit of a furphy imo.

Shoppping only at MSY will probably make you think like that :mrgreen:

MSY fails on a number levels for me, and service is not the only department, take a look at their website, for a company that has so many outlets that sorry excuse of website is appalling. This brings me to the next point, when time is precious, knowing what they have in stock is available without having to ring up is crucial. I have had plenty of occasions where I have paid the extra %2 (or whatever it may be) to go through a company that shows accurate stock levels so that I can determine what I can get my hands on straight away... guaranteed. Probably the final nail in the coffin for MSY (for me anyway) is their lack of knowledge or technical support, I want to be able to chat to the eprson I buy stuff off, to learn about whats new, whats hot and what works well, any computer part saleman should be able to tell you if the RAM is compatible or if it runs at the published speed etc. :roll:

There are a number of computer parts suppliers who have significantly better service that MSY and I think its extremely poor that customer expectations for service have dropped to such a low level as a result of some organisations..... :evil:

Posted: **Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:01 pm**

My experience suggests that they resell a lot of dodgy stock. I've been caught before buying stuff I need immediately then getting home to discover that a new in sealed package hard disk is DOA. Just like its replacement. After a couple of rounds I gave up and went the extra distance and [aid the extra dollars to get one from a reputable supplier. It's just not worth the hassle.

Posted: **Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:19 am**

Here's my opinion of the Auburn store:

Service - staff have be arrogant to me and seemed stressed/grumpy
Presentation - Crap lying everywhere in a tiny showroom
Technology - they are still using CRT displays!
Ethics - replacing faulty goods is ok - if you don't mind queuing up for another hour again!
Product knowledge - bad
Price - The Best In Town! Probably because of low overheads

Sorry - but I've never seen a more disorganised retailer!

Posted: **Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:46 pm**

I went to JB and they couyldnt price match, in addition JB told me that for any warranty I would pretty much have to go to canon, similar to what MSY told me so no big difference. Bought this 2000IS from MSY last Fri, the guys were pretty good. My wife's loving it...

Posted: **Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:49 pm**

makario wrote:I went to JB and they couyldnt price match, in addition JB told me that for any warranty I would pretty much have to go to canon, similar to what MSY told me so no big difference. Bought this 2000IS from MSY last Fri, the guys were pretty good. My wife's loving it...

Most camera stores will send it back to canon for you, MSY will require you to go to Canon directly (not that that is always a bad thing) that will be primary difference.

Posted: **Tue Nov 25, 2008 7:26 pm**

I have bought many thousands of $$ worth of computer gear thru MSY and only ever been dissapointed once when they did't have what i wanted in stock.

They fill a niche market for those comptuer nerds or tech-heads who know exactly what they want, how it works and what it is compatible with. I don't fall into that niche, but one of my best mates does and lets me know ecatly what I need to get and he does the setting up and the like. So for me, they are great..

But yes, if you go in to ask for advice, they may appear unwilling to assist as they are always busy. They are there to sell equipment, not advice I guess and their prices in a lot of cases can not be beaten.

That said, - jump on-line to http://www.staticice.com.au and type in what you want - I did this for my last PC rebuild and saved over $280 on a $2,100 total cost but about 25 mins of research...

Posted: **Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:51 pm**

Ive bought quite a lot of gear from msy allways good stuff at good prices only bad thing with them is if they dont have what you want they dont order it in for you but apart from that their awesome and i highly recomend them!

Posted: **Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:50 pm**

gstark wrote:What Cameron and Ian said.

I have no problems with buying from MSY, except that you also need to perhaps factor in some value for your time. Their Ultimo storeey is frequently crowded, and understaffed: I have waited more than 45 minutes on on occasion, and if you place some value on your time, this may add something to the real cost of the goods, as distinct from the price that you might pay in cash.

but the way around this would be to arrive at 18:20 (they close at 1830) and wait in the queue (usu only 5 - 6 people).Otherwise you can expect to wait up to 40 minutes!! AND they may not have what you are after!

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2009 1:03 pm**

I have mainly bought from MSY Technologies myself over the past 4-5 years for computer gear.

I found their prices to be the best. And their PR great also.

My only disappointment with MSY has been when they closed their store for browsing.

You now have to line up like cattle, and they have different speed lines where you have to know what you want and order and part with your cash within a certain time period.

I was very disappointed when they changed to this system as I enjoyed browsing their store in the past and that was how they often got most of their add on sales from me.

If you just want best price. Sure go to MSY they are great.

If you want a little more service try JB HiFi. Visit a few times and find yourself a good salesman that is willing to help you. I did this with my recent DSLR purchase and the guy was fantastic. He bent over backwards to help. Called suppliers, matched internet prices. Even went below cost on some items to make the sale.

I can recommend two really good camera sales men at JB if you are interested. One at Indropilly, the other in Ipswich.

.-.-.

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:44 pm**

I was in the market for getting couple grand worth of computer gear, but I phoned, emailed and went there in person, and 90% of what I asked for are out of stock. I gave up and went somewhere else.

A friend of mine ordered a computer there, worth over $2.2k. He expected his computer to be assembled and installed within 2 weeks. Two weeks later, he gets a call from them saying they don't have the parts, so wait another 2 weeks. After nearly a month, he got a call saying that his computer is ready, but with different parts that he wanted (a swap from quad down to dual cores - so is dual core GPU down to single core). I don't know if there was a discount on the change of parts or what, but they are too cocky of a business to deal with. Having cheap products does not mean you can decide what a customer wants. :evil:

Posted: **Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:39 pm**

vk4akp wrote:If you want a little more service try JB HiFi. Visit a few times and find yourself a good salesman that is willing to help you. I did this with my recent DSLR purchase and the guy was fantastic. He bent over backwards to help. Called suppliers, matched internet prices. Even went below cost on some items to make the sale.

I just picked up some great dslr stuff from JB-HiFi City store in Pitt Street (In a basement halfway between Teds and the mall). They are JB's largest NSW stockists of DSLR. They calculate deals on the spot with their PDA and is usually 10-30% less than marked price. eg. I bought a $121 item for $90. Service is A1 :up:

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