Bleak news from Jessops

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
 
Lensflare said:
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
Click to expand...

This is spot on. Everyone goes for the cheapest deal without thought for where they will go if it comes to the crunch. Although Jessops have been taking the &&&& with a lot of their in store prices for too long which doesn't help.

Pete
 
I think seeing my whole camera bag go overboard would make me physically sick, even with insurance. That's a pretty cautionary tale there.

It would be a great shame to lose Jessops. I bought my D90 from there (actually the cheapest deal I could find anywahere at the time, even online) and a few lenses at various times. I recently had to take my 55-200 VR in for repair and it came back yesterday after less than 2 weeks. Just in time for me to wake up this morning and use it to take this.

3571942913_ac8578e7b4.jpg
 
But surely it's up to high street retailers to keep in touch with what's happening in the online world - otherwise they will (and do) lose business.
 
Bleak news indeed. I have purchased my new gear (5Dmk2 and 100-400 lens) from LCE recently. Have had great service and have been about as cheap as online stores. As others have said I would always buy my expensive gear from a high street store.

I hope LCE are not finding things as tough as Jessops :(
 
Lensflare said:
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
Click to expand...

Not all of us are professional photographers and so wouldn't need a service like that, as fantastic as it sounds. For me, photography is very much a hobby (a hobby I love I hasten to add). However, I always look for the best deal as I am not a rich man and £20 saved here and there really makes a difference to me. This isn't limited to my photography gear either. If the difference really is a few £'s then I would be happy to pay the extra to buy from the likes of Jessops, however in most cases the difference in price in the high street to online is VAST. For me, it makes no sense to pay the extra.

For example, I recently bought a Canon Speedlite 430EX for £169 BRAND NEW online, on Jessops it is £219. Why would I want to pay £50 more? The shop I bought it from is a reputable online shop so what am I missing out on? I get the warranty I need so I cannot see any reason why I would go to Jessops. In this example I was able to use the extra £50 saved towards a lightstand and softbox (plus a few extra £'s)

I buy a lot of stuff 2nd hand for this very reason.

I will say though, I am perhaps a little too trusting of online shops. I am not sure why, perhaps it is because I am of the age where I have grown up with online shopping and so I am not so wary of it.
 
what an awesome story of customer service and account management.
I've done similar in my sales days...but not for the run of the mill customer. it's very much the exception.

I would happily buy from jessops if their prices were better.
I bought a P&S camera from there a while ago because prices were similar, I was in a hurry and it was for my g'f who I thought would appreciate the backup of a high street store.
but for myself? if I see a lens online for £280 and in jessops for £390....then I'll happily save the money. the mark up seems too high
 
This is no surprise at all, the management at Jessops don't seem to have a clue what they are doing. There have been loads of posts/threads on this topic.
 
I do feel a bit sorry for them and they'll be a loss if they disappear. You can't reasonably expect them to compete directly with internet only companies in my opinion but they're their own worst enemy by having so many branches in one city/town and they should have done something about this a lot sooner. Perhaps if they didn't have so many branches they could have kept their overheads as a company down and passed those savings on to the customer.
 
It's not just the intenet, we have Argos, Tesco, Sainsbury etc all selling tog gear, but at the end of the day the management must be pants.
 
I personally would be rather upset if jessops went under... Bought my D700, 14-24 and 24-70 from them. Every time I have been in there they've been friendly and knowledgeable. Cant speak for all stores mind, but hey.

/watches this space...
 
admirable said:
It's not just the intenet, we have Argos, Tesco, Sainsbury etc all selling tog gear, but at the end of the day the management must be pants.
Click to expand...

All with revenue streams from other markets, so strong product lines can support weaker ones. I'm sure I heard recently tht Argos aren't looking too hot in the financial department either and of the stores you mention I'd bet my salary that in general their staff know even less about cameras than the Jessops staff everyone complains about. Can't say I've seen any of them with kit on display that you can try before you buy either.

Worst of all, none of them sell 120 roll film for when you get caught short.:eek::eek::eek:
 
New kit for me at Jessops was £32k

Ebay dealer where I could go visit and pick up kit £26k

That was an extra or free 400mm 2.8 L IS

Yes you have to be careful but do you know where the boss of Jessops lives ..... I know where mine is .... had tea with his wife and kids.

Sorry, Jessops took the p*ss for to many years and now they pay the price. Plus their staff dont know a camera bag from a tripod.

15 yeas ago I loved Jessops, now ....... life is hard
 
One thing I'd definitely miss is the processing. Nowhere else on the highstreet where I live does anywhere near as good quality prints as Jessops.
 
Lensflare said:
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
Click to expand...

That sort of service is all well and good but they treated you like that because you were a high value customer. Given its a high street store I'm assuming the majority of their business would come from lower spending customers i.e. those that come in once in a while to buy a P&S and/or some accessories.

So I guess as a professional who's going to be spending lots of money regularly it pays to have companies like Calumet around as the service is important. But for the average joe who just needs to buy a camera one time isn't going to see that same level of service but will be more concerned on price.
 
I think we'll see more store closures in the near future, but they'll soldier on for a while yet.

There's no benefit to anyone in pulling the plug on them as, unlike Woolworths where they had a lot of capital tied up in stock and a property portfolio which far outweighed the value of the business as a whole, Jessops have no real assets, so calling in the receivers wouldn't achieve anything.
 
Lensflare said:
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
Click to expand...

Well not all of us get the same service, I wanted to spend around £10,000 a few years ago with the Birmingham store, they didn't seem that interested in doing me a deal so I walked away. I really wanted to strike up a good relationship with them as they are local to me, but in the end I went elsewhere.
I've also tried the business division requesting a quote on a 1dsmk3 and a couple of TSE lenses, I didn't get a reply, so again I went elsewhere.
Might of been unlucky but if they don't want my money then fair enough.
Calumet haven't been much better, so my first call now is WE or Jacobs.
 
I've never been unfortunate enough to lose all my equipment overboard and I hope I never do.

Calumet treated you wonderfully but, that's not the case for all their customers. For instance, my 1DMKIII was defective... I had to fight Calumet for months on end, and they only agree to replace my defective body after several trips to Canon UK and a nasty letter from my lawyers.

I've never encountered that problem with my regular online shop. I saved the best part of £500 on my 1DsMKIII as compared to Calumet. Is a UK model and has a valid warranty. Although I am sure they would not ship me replacement equipment should the worst ever happen ... My insurance will have me covered.

Now, I am sorry to see Jessop go but, they have been overpricing cameras for years and we are not talking about the odd £20-30 here .. we are talking about £150-£200 over what I can get on line. People has easy access to the net these days and with the current economic situation, at those prices, They are digging their own grave.
 
Woodsy said:
they've been friendly and knowledgeable.
Click to expand...
you were in a Jessops?? are you sure??
every time I walk it something random happens...
like someone trying to sell a 40D, showing live view and saying it couldn't focus apart from manually or VERY SLOWLY..
they'd been out a while too and apparently the guy was the expert...had to bit my tongue
 
Has anyone else read the bit in the original article where the new owner presumably gave himself a half million pound bonus, for acquiring a £60m loan. That could be the source of the problems!
 
IGADIZ said:
Now, I am sorry to see Jessop go but, they have been overpricing cameras for years and we are not talking about the odd £20-30 here .. we are talking about £150-£200 over what I can get on line.
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Funny, all but two of my recent cameras have come from Jessops because they were the cheapest in the country (and local). The only reason the other two didn't was because Jessops had no stock.....
 
v.happy with Jessops personally, I bought my 5D kit from them at very competitive price at the time. Also they're not that expensive, they were doing 70-200mm f4l for £549 whilst "a well liked retailer on here" had it for £479 which seems reasonable to me.

The problem is simply an ill-thought-out agressive expansion plan at the end of a boom period, massive operational gearing, and IMO lack of diversification; why is it there is almost no attempt to "do" relavent computer hardware since it's as important as film was to analogue.

Moving all their stores into PC-World would be a very smart move IMO.
 
Canon EF 600mm f/4.0L USM Image Stabilised

Jessops £7399
My man £6999

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L USM Image Stabilised

Jessops £6999
My man £4990

Canon EF 400mm F4 DO USM IS

Jessops £5699
My man £4200

all the way down the range
 
I must admint, I have only used jessops a handful of times, I try looking for the cheapest place.

But I have 4 maybe 5 jesssops stores in my area and I have been in 3 of them and TBH a monkey could do a better job than them.

Its like a car dealership (anit got a clue on what their selling)
 
Tokkelossi said:
Canon EF 600mm f/4.0L USM Image Stabilised

Jessops £7399
My man £6999


all the way down the range
Click to expand...

maybe - but 'your man' is well below anybody on CPB so I'd guess those prices aren't avaible to everybody?

Hugh
 
Lensflare's example is a good one of how dealing regularly with a shop can benefit the customer, which ni turns brings repeat business to the retailer.

However, Calumet isn't a high sreet store in the general sense and certainly isn't a shop that the average Joe who's looking for a bargain would go to.

I used to see Jessops as professionals on the high street many moons ago when i first stared out. These days though I'm more careful about my cash and I certainly don't regard Jessops as being anyhing special when it comes to advice about gear. I'd raher do it all on the net from somewhere like WE, which is ofen cheaper than jessops, because I know that i can get the order in by 4pm and it'll be with me first thing next day. Go into Jessops for anything more than a point 'n' shoot or a Canon 450D and it'll have to ordered in.

Went to Jessops the other day to check out prices for my works kit, which will be about £6000 all told, and they couldn't match WE even with my employer's discount account. Even thoyugh I'm spending my company's money, i need to amke sure that I ge the cheapest deal possible because in the end, the bean counters will question everything i buy, and so will the mD, and I have to be able to show common sense, which to most people, equates to getting the cheapest deal.

And as for first-rate service from Jessops, we had a Canon 30D sent for service (a basic clean-up and health check –*18 weeks later the body came back and it hadn't even been cleaned properly!!! That cost us some silly figure too.

I'll miss having a high-street photography store to go into now and then if they do go under, but in the general scheme of things we've moved on to the internet.
 
It really is a shame - if Jessops go then for most people the choice is online or DSG group. They seem to be confused over pricing - some things their prices are really good, others terrible. If they could be more consistently competitive maybe they would do better.

I have done my bit though - bought a Nikon Sb900 from my local Jessops yesterday - and yes, they were pretty competitive.
 
specialman said:
I'll miss having a high-street photography store to go into now and then if they do go under, but in the general scheme of things we've moved on to the internet.
Click to expand...

and me but on occasion over the last year Jessops have been as cheap as anywhere else for certain items and I do like having a shop I can phyiscally go into and try expensive kit first. Have to agree about the staff and I view their advice with a pinch of salt and their accessories are a joke

I'll still miss them if they go

Hugh
 
I'd love to be put in charge of Jessops. Go back to the old days, fewer but bigger stores, lots of second hand kit, knowledgeable staff. Ah them were the days...
 
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

All black people are thieves
All Muslims are terrorists
All Catholics are baby-makers
All Jews are filthy rich
All white people are gypsies
All homeless people are drug addicts
Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
 
specialman said:
Lensflare's example is a good one of how dealing regularly with a shop can benefit the customer, which ni turns brings repeat business to the retailer.

However, Calumet isn't a high sreet store in the general sense and certainly isn't a shop that the average Joe who's looking for a bargain would go to.

I used to see Jessops as professionals on the high street many moons ago when i first stared out. These days though I'm more careful about my cash and I certainly don't regard Jessops as being anyhing special when it comes to advice about gear. I'd raher do it all on the net from somewhere like WE, which is ofen cheaper than jessops, because I know that i can get the order in by 4pm and it'll be with me first thing next day. Go into Jessops for anything more than a point 'n' shoot or a Canon 450D and it'll have to ordered in.

Went to Jessops the other day to check out prices for my works kit, which will be about £6000 all told, and they couldn't match WE even with my employer's discount account. Even thoyugh I'm spending my company's money, i need to amke sure that I ge the cheapest deal possible because in the end, the bean counters will question everything i buy, and so will the mD, and I have to be able to show common sense, which to most people, equates to getting the cheapest deal.

And as for first-rate service from Jessops, we had a Canon 30D sent for service (a basic clean-up and health check –*18 weeks later the body came back and it hadn't even been cleaned properly!!! That cost us some silly figure too.

I'll miss having a high-street photography store to go into now and then if they do go under, but in the general scheme of things we've moved on to the internet.
Click to expand...

It's a shame isn't it.

As someone below you has said, we need to go back to the good old days!
 
foodpoison said:
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

All black people are thieves
All Muslims are terrorists
All Catholics are baby-makers
All Jews are filthy rich
All white people are gypsies
All homeless people are drug addicts
Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more, however there is only one guy in the local store worth talking to, and he doesn't do weekends. I think the issue is that the majority of staff bring down the perception of the good ones.
 
boyfalldown said:
Have to agree about the staff and I view their advice with a pinch of salt
Click to expand...

That's where the Sauchiehall St store in Glasgow is good, they have staff that actually know what they're talking about - in another local camera shop I was informed, (Xmas 2008), that they couldn't get me a Nikon D300 as it had just been replaced - by the 400D :thinking:
 
foodpoison said:
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

All black people are thieves
All Muslims are terrorists
All Catholics are baby-makers
All Jews are filthy rich
All white people are gypsies
All homeless people are drug addicts
Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
Click to expand...


Who said all white people are gypsies? :suspect: :lol:
 
foodpoison said:
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

All black people are thieves
All Muslims are terrorists
All Catholics are baby-makers
All Jews are filthy rich
All white people are gypsies
All homeless people are drug addicts
Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
Click to expand...

Well said. Jessops have some very good people and some not so good people. Still, the last two camera bodies I've bought new came from them. I personally think it unreasonable to use a shop for the tactile holding and testing of a product before buying online. When the shops are all gone or only Tescos sell cameras, we'll be stuffed.

It'll be like mobile phones. You can't try before you buy, they just have plastic models!
 
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