Camera shop of horrors

-Oy-

-Oy-

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Got any horror stories?

I was in a well known national chain camera shop in Manchester today and whilst queuing to buy an Optec camera strap I overheard a young salesman talking to a middle aged woman about the camera he was trying to sell her (It was a tiny Lumix compact with a lens the size of a 5p coin)

Her "How good are the photographs off this compared to one of the bigger cameras?"

Him "Well - the image quality from this would be exactly same same as something like that (Points to a Canon 30D) as it has the same number of mega pixels."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
So why exaclty do I lug around my 1.5Kg 70-200IS lens?
 
Apparently big cameras and lenses are all about ego and have nothing to do with image quality.
 
...nah its all about compensation
Flee.gif
 
That too hehee :)
 
P.S. It wasn't Je$$ops!
 
I was once looking at video camera in Curry or Comet or one of the similar shops...and one the ever usefull sales people came over. I asked a few questions, which he seemed to answer ok. Then I asked if it had manual focus, he didnt say anything for a moment, then said "it has zoom"....at which I just said "right........thats good, bye!" :| He had no idea what manual focus was and he was surrounded by about 100 video and stills camera :(


My sister has a great story (and as she never posts on here, even though she registered -I will tell it). She took some film into a high street developers and asked if they put the photos on CD's, the women behind the counter said they did. My sister then asks if the photos are Jpeg and if they will work on a Mac....this totaly confused the women behind the counter who came out with what we now use a classic quote "I know you need a windows!" Luckily someone else came out the back and was able to help.

Still love the phrase "I know you need a windows"
 
Never forget that sales assistants are paid minimum wage and the only training they are likely to get is how to sell extended guarantees/extras. Sometimes you'll be lucky and get one that cares (obviously hasn't worked there long) and/or knows a bit about the product, mostly you should do your own research and just go buy your item from the shop if it happens to be cheapest (and smile as you see the light go out of the assistants eyes as you refuse the guarantee)
 
When i first started to look far a computer i was into sony gear so went to sony in leeds the best thing i ever did 2 veery young assistant, both where students at leeds university, thay advised me to bay a mac, that is watt we use they said because they are the best wish i new them gnaw, so a big thanks to them 2 students that worked for sonny in leeds:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
mac.gif
 
Not really a horror story as such, but the staff at my local camera shop are useless. They have been there decades, so arn't like your usual Jessops staff(The only other camera shop in town). He probably knows his stuff, but he has the WORST customer attitude ever. He's always misserable, mutters and seems annoyed to serve customers. Its a real shame, because if they were decent, I would more than likely spend quite a bit of money there, especially as they have a selection of second hand lenses for decent prices. How hard is it to put on a smile when working in a customer service job?
 
Not my own horror story but a deal a saleswoman tried to pull off in a local camera shop whilst I was looking at lenses.
This elderly couple were looking to buy a p&s camera that was about £175 by the time the saleswoman had finished adding "essential" extras which consisted of insurance, 2 memory cards, cleaning kit, bag and some other bits and bobs it had jumped to nearly £400, they would have bought the camera and a card but she just kept on adding more and more until they said they didnt realise it would be so expensive and walked out.
 
i went into chesters bridgestreet jessops (the one that burnt down...) and asked for a circular polariser, 58mm, so she looked through the shelf behind her couldnt find one and said "we've got a 52mm is that any use?" erm not really so she looked a bit further, found a 58mm lens and said "ive got a UV filter in that size will that do?" needless to say i didnt buy anything from them....


i like going into shops and playing stupid as if i know nothing about cameras, listen to the sales patter and then ask them a question that they cant answer, and then answer the question for them, probably really annoys the spotty sales assistant and makes them go home and slit their wrists but i enjoy it and in a way i guess they learn something about it....... theres nothing worse than being told that jessops own brand memory cards are better than sandisk etc...
 
If your bored and need something to do when the missis drags you around the shops, go into jessops and ask if they have say a canon 70-200 L IS lens, when they come back with it let them give you the talk of death, ask a few technical questions and then get around to the price and give them the big "How much....... you can get it cheaper on the tinterweb" and walk away, just watch them stand their and stare as you walk away.

If your still bored later on, just stick your head in and ask if they have dropped the price yet.

It works everytime.

You have to be really bored to do it. Normally i just go for a pint.
 
It's a wonder if you ask for a circular polariser they don't tell you that apart from those square ones used in a Coquin filter holder they are all round so they screw into the lenses filter threads. Come to think of it they are correct!:lol:

Just tell them you want a linear polariser bound up with a quarter wave plate (= circular polariser), that will confuse them!

DaveW
 
whitewash said:
i went into chesters bridgestreet jessops (the one that burnt down...) and asked for a circular polariser, 58mm, so she looked through the shelf behind her couldnt find one and said "we've got a 52mm is that any use?" erm not really so she looked a bit further, found a 58mm lens and said "ive got a UV filter in that size will that do?" needless to say i didnt buy anything from them....


i like going into shops and playing stupid as if i know nothing about cameras, listen to the sales patter and then ask them a question that they cant answer, and then answer the question for them, probably really annoys the spotty sales assistant and makes them go home and slit their wrists but i enjoy it and in a way i guess they learn something about it....... theres nothing worse than being told that jessops own brand memory cards are better than sandisk etc...
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:D

And here I thought I was the only one doing this!!
 
This is why I'm helping my grandmother sort out a digital camera. If she went in and talked some numpty at any of my local shops she'd just end up with exactly what she won't want.
 
you have to blame the shop owners though if they dont train their staff. its not actually the sales assistants fault that they get no training and if they are on minimum wage they probably dont care if you buy anything or not. but i admit it is DAMN annoying
 
photomad said:
its not actually the sales assistants fault that they get no training
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Oh - the guy in my original post new exactly what he was doing. This was no dumb sales assistant - this was a guy knows his stuff. It was blatant misinformation in order to make the sale.
 
It pays to research before you go into any camera shop. One thing that happened when I went to Jessops for my 400D was the young female assistant, after reading the cameras specification from the display card, with the help of a more experienced (just) collegue offered a standard memory card instead of the high speed one. Without the information from this site I wouldn't have known any better.
 
photomad said:
if they are on minimum wage care
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Got to be pretty frustrating for the staff - being expected to have technical knowledge and getting paid the same as some slapper on the till at Superdrug, who just throws your purchases in a bag and probably doesn't even know what DAY it is!
 
-Oy- said:
Apparently big cameras and lenses are all about ego and have nothing to do with image quality.
Click to expand...
I've got an enormous camera and massive lens...and my ego is the size of this galaxy. I'd say they compliment eachother well
 
-Oy- said:
Got any horror stories?

I was in a well known national chain camera shop in Manchester today and whilst queuing to buy an Optec camera strap I overheard a young salesman talking to a middle aged woman about the camera he was trying to sell her (It was a tiny Lumix compact with a lens the size of a 5p coin)

Her "How good are the photographs off this compared to one of the bigger cameras?"

Him "Well - the image quality from this would be exactly same same as something like that (Points to a Canon 30D) as it has the same number of mega pixels."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I've just read this and you are due me a new keyboard son, or find a way to get the pespi out of this one! :lol: :lol: :lol:


I talked to a shop assistant about colour slide film and he told me how it was "a new one on him" and how he'd never heard of it before!!!!!

Of course we just carry around 70-200 and 300 2.8's to compensate!! :lol:
 
Messiah Khan said:
How hard is it to put on a smile when working in a customer service job?
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From experience, VERY hard! You have to deal with the good but more often than that the bad (customer issues, faulty products etc) not to mention the poor pay and ridiculous sales targets that will never be met!

Thank god I'm out of that now!
 
Messiah Khan said:
How hard is it to put on a smile when working in a customer service job?
Click to expand...

Now let me think...

whitewash said:
i like going into shops and playing stupid as if i know nothing about cameras, listen to the sales patter and then ask them a question that they cant answer, and then answer the question for them...
Click to expand...

mho said:
If your bored and need something to do when the missis drags you around the shops, go into jessops and ask if they have say a canon 70-200 L IS lens, when they come back with it let them give you the talk of death, ask a few technical questions and then get around to the price and give them the big "How much....... you can get it cheaper on the tinterweb" and walk away, just watch them stand their and stare as you walk away.
Click to expand...
 
Dixons [AKA Currys Digital] yesterday.

Me: I'd like an SDHC card please. 4 or 8GB, preferably a Class 6, but it needs to be 15 mb/s or faster.

[Sales Assistant searches shelves and picks one]

Sales Assistant [brightly]: This is the cheapest one we have!

Me: Um, no. I'm looking for a fast card. 15 mb/s or faster.

[sales assistant calls a colleague and she fetches another package after rummaging around under the counter]

Colleague: How about this one?

Me: Er, no. That's a Micro SD card.

I ended up in Jessops, where, to be fair, the guy behind the counter knew exactly what I wanted first time.
 
I bought my Nikon D80 from Currys, I'm not proud of it, but I was working for DSG at the time so got 10% off. While waiting for them to get it, another customer was asking questions about the differences between compacts and SLRs. As the salesperson floundered, I chipped in with a few pointers about features and the differences for your money etc. He ended up buying a D40 kit. I can sleep soundly knowing DSG got their moneys worth out of me (or maybe not ;))
 
Many years ago when I was a student I was in Dixons looking for a lens for my Olympus. The sales assistant offered me a Canon lens and when I told him it wouldn't fit, he grabbed an OM2 off the shelf and then proceeded to force the Canon lens into the Olympus to prove it would fit.

Despite being told it wouldn't fit he just kept on grinding away. "Funny, it should fit, they're all the same."

A few years later I went into a local independant shop for a lens. When the assistant finally dragged himself away from a conversation with some local camera club members he greeted me with "What?"

I told him what I wanted and he said "Don't have any."

I pointed out that there was one in the window and three in the case behind him. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his camera club cronies. That shop closed soon after.

And my final one was in J*****s. I was with a rather fiesty female friend who was a keen photographer and wanted to buy a new camera. The assistant came over to me and asked if he could help.

My friend said she's like buy a camera camera. The assistant asked me again if he could help.

I told him it was my friend (who was simmering like a volcano by now) who wanted a camera.

He looked at her and then said to me "It'll be a simple point and shoot then? We have some nice ones in pink."

I left at that point as I can't stand the sight of blood.
 
gm43uk said:
He looked at her and then said to me "It'll be a simple point and shoot then? We have some nice ones in pink."

I left at that point as I can't stand the sight of blood.
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I think she'd have had a sound defence in a court of law :gag:
 
In the parallel world: clarinet reeds for an alto sax; 27-inch tyres for a bike with 700C wheels; Tartare Sauce instead of cream of tartar for the ginger beer I was making as a nipper. Also as a kid, my Mum's shopping list probably said "sponge: green" (a kitchen scourer, as any fule kno) and the manager of the small supermarket sent me home with a packet of Green's Sponge Mix.

Anyway, I digress. Take a look at this, 08:15 in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gxZ0oGeH80 :D
 
Many years ago I was in one of my local-sh (independant) camera shops and the owners wife was trying to sell a used Pentax MX. The buyer asked if it had DOF preview and she said no, trying to help her get a sale I butted in saying "excuse me but it does, the self timer pushed the other way does it) (I had 2 MX's in my bag with me) and she said "I know more about these cameras than you do!" the buyer who was holding the camera pushed the DOF/self timer the other way looked at me and said to her "no you don't" and we both left without buying anything.
I haven't used that dealers since.
 
gm43uk said:
He looked at her and then said to me "It'll be a simple point and shoot then? We have some nice ones in pink."

I left at that point as I can't stand the sight of blood.
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That's a fantastic story :lol:

Their demise kind of works in a vicious cycle really - we buy less from shops, which means they have less £££ to employ the knowledgeable people, which means we are more likely to buy less from shops, which means they have less...

I consider Google and the help of fora like this one as a far better source of evaluating any camera purchase.
 
FlyerFoto said:
Got to be pretty frustrating for the staff - being expected to have technical knowledge and getting paid the same as some slapper on the till at Superdrug, who just throws your purchases in a bag and probably doesn't even know what DAY it is!
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But most get commission!
 
I find it odd (and rather sad) that some people get pleasure from going into shops to wind up the sales people on purpose. Do you get some kind of perverse pleasure from trying to show off your supposed superiority complex by belittling someone with less knowledge than you?

And you wonder why the poor sales staff all look miserable and grumpy? So would I if random people kept coming into the shop with the sole intention of making me look stupid in front of others... were you literally born with the knowledge of all things photography related? I thought not.

How would you feel if I followed everyone of your posts on here correcting every minor detail and mocking your lack of knowledge to every other member publicly?

I feel sorry for you if you really are that insecure that you feel the need to do such a thing to another human bieng, just to give yourself a sense of self satisfaction or a small ego boost. :shrug:
 
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photomad said:
you have to blame the shop owners though if they dont train their staff. its not actually the sales assistants fault that they get no training and if they are on minimum wage they probably dont care if you buy anything or not. but i admit it is DAMN annoying
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So when they're not busy they can't take a bit of time out to learn about their products ?

I have been in sales for 30 years, it's a very rewarding job IF you want it to be. But you have to get off your backside and learn.

I don't care how much your (not) getting paid, if you take on a job why would you not want to do it to the best of your ability ? Why would you not want to show that you are better than everybody else and you deserve a better wage/role ?

Sorry, that argument just won't wash with me.

Steve
 
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