Useless camera shops - rant alert
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:35 pmThis is in the nature of a rant, so read on only if you've nothing better to do than listen (and perhaps empathize):!:
In a previous post about lens lust, a member asked me if I had a decent camera shop nearby and I replied in the negative.
Until today I had, however, thought that there was one that might be redeemable. No longer.
In Canberra, we have representation from three major camera chains and that's about it. I won't say which three, because I don't want to be sued, but here are my experiences.
The franchisee of one shop is rude and arrogant. So rude and arrogant that at first I thought it might be a racial thing. However, this subject came up at our recent Canberra meet and it turns out all members at the meet had exactly the same experience and we've all vowed never to darken this doorstep again.
The second store charges exorbitant prices (expecting you to hunt around for a better price in an ad so they can then charge you market value without having to do the research themselves). I ordered a (very expensive) filter there in early December and not only has it not arrived, but they were dismissive of my enquiries about it's fate when I did call around two weeks after the order and again a week after that. They've not once called me to explain (or even advise of) the delay. I've now given up. Also, they were quite prepared to sell me a cable release for the D70, even though it can't use one
The third store is the one I thought might be redeemable. Although they too had been prepared to sell me an unusable cable release for the D70 (when I was first purchasing it), they did allow me to return a tripod that I found unsuitable for credit on another.
I ordered a tripod head from them on 19 December, which they said would take a week. When this did not happen, I rang them last week and they said the order should be arriving this week. I rang them today and asked if they could tell me if there was any difficulty obtaining the item. They said they'd simply not received their new year stock and many other orders were also caught up in this problem. I asked when this stock would arrive. They said they were unsure, but it "should" be within another two weeks
I politely pressed them for more information, but they were dismissive. I then advised that I was about to place an overseas order for some gear and that, although I'd prefer to purchase this item locally, I was feeling frustrated at having a tripod that was basically unusable, due to lack of a head. I asked if they could find out an expected arrival time so that, if there was a problem, I could source the item overseas. They then said they'd chase up the distributor and hurry the order up. I asked if they could call me and let me know the outcome. They said if there was a problem, they'd give me a ring in another week! At this point I was ready to give up on them, but thought I'd give them one more chance to resolve the situation. I asked them if I could hire a head from them while I was waiting (they have some second hand heads for sale there - not the type I ordered - and it wouldn't have killed them to loan me one). They simply said they don't hire gear and offered no further suggestions. I then asked whether they could call me back today, as I needed to place an order for the item elsewhere if their distributor did not have it in stock. Once again I stressed that I was frustrated at having an unusable tripod. They said they would call me back, but may not have time to phone the distributor today. Forgive me if I can't understand why someone can't fit in time to make one phone call between lunchtime and closing! Of course they didn't call me back. Needless to say, I think I've given them more than enough service recovery opportunities and will just buy the item overseas (at a considerably reduced price) so at least I'm assured of receiving it within ten days (and probably sooner). It's only a Manfrotto head for heavens sake, it's not like I ordered anything exotic! When the item eventually arrives, no doubt they'll be at a loss to understand why I no longer require it and wonder why I didn't contact them to cancel the order.
Rant over.
It's experiences like these that make this forum especially valuable for members like me. Aside from the research we can do ourselves, it's really the best way we can get real advice from people who know what they're talking about and who, as an added bonus, obtain gear for us at great prices and tell us the truth about when it will be available. Once again, thank you.
In a previous post about lens lust, a member asked me if I had a decent camera shop nearby and I replied in the negative.
Until today I had, however, thought that there was one that might be redeemable. No longer.
In Canberra, we have representation from three major camera chains and that's about it. I won't say which three, because I don't want to be sued, but here are my experiences.
The franchisee of one shop is rude and arrogant. So rude and arrogant that at first I thought it might be a racial thing. However, this subject came up at our recent Canberra meet and it turns out all members at the meet had exactly the same experience and we've all vowed never to darken this doorstep again.
The second store charges exorbitant prices (expecting you to hunt around for a better price in an ad so they can then charge you market value without having to do the research themselves). I ordered a (very expensive) filter there in early December and not only has it not arrived, but they were dismissive of my enquiries about it's fate when I did call around two weeks after the order and again a week after that. They've not once called me to explain (or even advise of) the delay. I've now given up. Also, they were quite prepared to sell me a cable release for the D70, even though it can't use one
The third store is the one I thought might be redeemable. Although they too had been prepared to sell me an unusable cable release for the D70 (when I was first purchasing it), they did allow me to return a tripod that I found unsuitable for credit on another.
I ordered a tripod head from them on 19 December, which they said would take a week. When this did not happen, I rang them last week and they said the order should be arriving this week. I rang them today and asked if they could tell me if there was any difficulty obtaining the item. They said they'd simply not received their new year stock and many other orders were also caught up in this problem. I asked when this stock would arrive. They said they were unsure, but it "should" be within another two weeks
I politely pressed them for more information, but they were dismissive. I then advised that I was about to place an overseas order for some gear and that, although I'd prefer to purchase this item locally, I was feeling frustrated at having a tripod that was basically unusable, due to lack of a head. I asked if they could find out an expected arrival time so that, if there was a problem, I could source the item overseas. They then said they'd chase up the distributor and hurry the order up. I asked if they could call me and let me know the outcome. They said if there was a problem, they'd give me a ring in another week! At this point I was ready to give up on them, but thought I'd give them one more chance to resolve the situation. I asked them if I could hire a head from them while I was waiting (they have some second hand heads for sale there - not the type I ordered - and it wouldn't have killed them to loan me one). They simply said they don't hire gear and offered no further suggestions. I then asked whether they could call me back today, as I needed to place an order for the item elsewhere if their distributor did not have it in stock. Once again I stressed that I was frustrated at having an unusable tripod. They said they would call me back, but may not have time to phone the distributor today. Forgive me if I can't understand why someone can't fit in time to make one phone call between lunchtime and closing! Of course they didn't call me back. Needless to say, I think I've given them more than enough service recovery opportunities and will just buy the item overseas (at a considerably reduced price) so at least I'm assured of receiving it within ten days (and probably sooner). It's only a Manfrotto head for heavens sake, it's not like I ordered anything exotic! When the item eventually arrives, no doubt they'll be at a loss to understand why I no longer require it and wonder why I didn't contact them to cancel the order.
Rant over.
It's experiences like these that make this forum especially valuable for members like me. Aside from the research we can do ourselves, it's really the best way we can get real advice from people who know what they're talking about and who, as an added bonus, obtain gear for us at great prices and tell us the truth about when it will be available. Once again, thank you.
The 200-400 by the time I save for that I will be too old to lift it 