Jessops - when will I ever learn

Byker28i

Byker28i

Suspended / Banned
Messages
21,339
Edit My Images
Yes
I wanted a tripod head for this weekend so we could shoot the last day of our local funfair. Jessops had the item I wanted but the nearest place in stock was Bath, so I reserved the item to collect.

Drove to Bath today (45 mins), paid for the extortionate parking and arrived at store to collect my item. I was presented with the head only, no box, heavily scratched. A quick check on the display items and yes there was one missing.

The action on the head didn't feel smooth, they thought they might be able to find the box and the item was substandard.

After explaining why I wouldn't be purchasing it and my displeasure at my wasted journey I left without the head. Poor service Jessops:thumbsdown:
 
I went in the Rugby branch the other week to have a look at a D700 - didn't have one, although it us a small shop so understandable - but asked them for a rear lens cap for a Nikon lens and they didn't have one in. Then asked for a front lens cap - nah, not that either. Very poor...,,,
 
Well, logged feedback with Jessops about my online purchase experience and followed it up with a phone call to Customer services who logged my details but I've heard nothing back.
 
Byker28i said:
I wanted a tripod head for this weekend so we could shoot the last day of our local funfair. Jessops had the item I wanted but the nearest place in stock was Bath, so I reserved the item to collect.

Drove to Bath today (45 mins), paid for the extortionate parking and arrived at store to collect my item. I was presented with the head only, no box, heavily scratched. A quick check on the display items and yes there was one missing.

The action on the head didn't feel smooth, they thought they might be able to find the box and the item was substandard.

After explaining why I wouldn't be purchasing it and my displeasure at my wasted journey I left without the head. Poor service Jessops:thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

I would have made a real fuss, demanded they send me one by mail order and give me a substantial discount as well.

I reserved a Giotto tripod and seperate Manfrotto head online from the Bluewater store a couple of months ago. Within 5 minutes of reserving it they telephoned me to say the tripod was ex display and did I still want it. They also offered me 10% discount, which was pretty good as I'd already used the 10% online discount code as well so ended up saving myself nearly £50.

I think it really is down to the store and the branch manager as to what level of service you get from them. I have 5 stores within 20 miles of me, 3 have always been very good and helpful, the other 2 not so.
 
I've always had decent helpful service from jessops. Bought a new Sony body from them not so long ago, helpful staff in general. If I was collecting from a shop a fair distance away I'd give them a quick call to check first. Service does vary from shop to shop and it depends what the staff are like as to what level of service you get.
 
The local Jessops here is quite useless, unless you want to buy something they have in stock. Wanted to order a lens, they told me it would take them 4 weeks to get one... (it was a 85 1.8 lens, so nothing so special or rare)
 
I've had very limited experience with Jessops. There's a small branch about 20 miles away that never seems to have much stock, and the next branch is more than 50 miles from here, so I usually use the internet.

OTOH, I wanted to buy a spare battery for my wife's TZ9 when we were going on holiday and tried one of the large branches en route to the airport. They had no OEM batteries, and the manager warned us that more than half the third party batteries they sold for the TZ 8, 9 and 10 were returned because the camera wouldn't work with them. I did ask him why they continued to sell them, and he said that he didn't have any choice. They would refund if necessary, but he just wanted to point this out before the sale so that the customer would know there might be a problem. Fair enough.

FWIW, battery life isn't great. We took the charger with us, and managed, but I still prefer my old A640 and the "buy anywhere" AAs.
 
Well, I've bought several items from them, including my 40D and my 50D (which turned out to be used, repackaged - I wrote a thread about it on here), after which I said never again, but the price and availability looked good - or so I thought.
Still heard nothing from them.

Poor really - looks like they have a policy to sell used items as new.
 
Last edited:
Well i went into the Jessops in Bluewater today, ordered a Nikon D3s body, and have been told it is a brand new, never opened boxed camera that should be there for tomorrow morning? And they have price matched Park Cameras!. hopefully we will find out just how good they are tomorrow.
 
Personally I have never had a problem with the two branches of Jessops that I use, always have my stuff ready when I go to pick it up. Will have to try a price match on them shortly :)

They are much better than the Jacobs store over the road. :thumbsdown:
 
The guy behind the counter at my local Jessops seemed to know his stuff, they were happy to chat lenses etc when I was after my Tokina 116 Pro and were happy to price match online shops. On the flip side, they must be making about 800% profit on accessories though..haha
 
Last edited:
Our local jessops are fine, I took an old minolta lens in to see if it would still work OK to try it on a Sony Alpha. The bloke was very helpful with no hesitation even though I was not going to be buying anything.

Went to a comet first and they had no batteries in any camera etc and with them I pretended I wanted to buy and still no help
 
Not just Jessops, They are all as bad

Purchased 2 Canon 1D MKIVs from Jacobs at different branches and times, both turned out to be used returns, (They dont even wipe the previous owners info from exif info!)

I traced the previous owners, one even said when he got it the body was already used with a name in EXIF (So that one had at least three owners, all returning it for a fault), that was not fixed and the body just sold on again

Jacobs turned round both times and blamed it on admin errors putting them back into stock, but to be honest I would not trust either Jessops or Jacobs.
 
I brought a lens from Jessops today.

I placed the order online, ticked the 'text me when ready' option. Didnt recieve a text, so I headed there anyway. Inside the shop, once given my details, it was descovered that the item had not been 'picked' yet. It took the guy 2mins to get it. Bliped it at the till, and low and behold, I recieved the text on my phone.

Normally that would be rubbish enough, but when I tried to make a joke of it, nothing, no responce at all apart from a grunt from the assistant. Jessops Fail. LOL (loving the lens though :) )
 
Last edited:
I can not praise my local Jessops highly enough. They have been brilliant with their sevice when I have used them.
 
Good when in stock / over counter easy items.
Went to get a new lightmeter from them about 4 weeks ago (Have some vouchers), don't cary in store but would order expect within a week. Went abroad for 2 weeks and been back nearly a week and no contact.
Borrowed a colleagues to compare (Weston Euromaster) as not convinced about my own.
 
I have two Jessops....One large reasonable service, one small filled with muppets. but muppets where camera knowledge is concerned...nice enough people.

It's funny that we sometimes expect the staff in photo shops to have great knowledge on every camera type and lens. I'm sure for some/many/most of them it's just a job and they are just there 9-5 for the money and not the love of photography. Not that that is an excuse for poor customer service.
 
IMHO Jessops as a whole seems ok, I've been to quite a few just recently and would recommend anyone who needed to use a Jessops to go to Ipswich, Colchester, Hull or Northampton.

However, the Lakeside store was decidedly bad. I've got a Jessops voucher in my wallet from xmas and I keep looking at 70-200 f4L's. So there was I, looking at the lens section when some erk came over. I'm a sales professional, regardless of what I've sold I have always made sure I look presentable normally in a suit or v smart casual with combed hair and I hope its recipricated when I am the buyer. But no, some slack jawed spud bowled over with more fake bling then camden market, daft hair, trainers and rough trousers. Sorry I'm all for expressionism but theres a time and a place. So on hearing I was looking for a 70-200L asked me what I had. A 20D? About time you upgraded isn't it........ its old innit, your photos must be a bit poor why don't you upgrade, we had a women who had a 20D and bought a 5D MkII and couldn't believe how she managed without it........

A 5 minute "career advice" barrage from me combined with why a 5D is not what I want, and out I went in a huff. That branch of Jessops will not be the recipient of my gift card.
 
When I reserved a tripod I got a phone call from Jessops telling me it was a display model. I asked if there was any discount but there was none so I told them to beat it.

Free next day delivery online vs Display model for the same price... tough choice.
Only reason I wanted to collect it was so I didn't have to stay in for a delivery.
 
Seems to be very hit and miss depending on which branch one visits; some have great staff who are willing to help while others have staff who aren't really clued up.
 
Kevin
I have to agree with you there. The Metrocentre branch is very good, the staff their, two youngish lads are both togs, one is a Nikon user and the other is a Canon user, so in effect you have the best of both worlds when going in for a chat and a browse, unless you shoot Pentax :)

Whereas the Newcastle branch are more worried about developing photo's from the mums off the high street. I went there for my tripod and the assistant didn't know how to work it, had to get the instructions :(
 
I've found Jessops to be a bit hit and miss.

Their collect at store system is pretty much useless, went in twice to pick up a camera bag to find it wasn't there when it should have been.

On the other hand, I went in to the Sauchiehall St shop for a cheap manfrotto tripod, they advised me to get a better one that would hold my gear comfortably and I was sent along to the other Sauchiehall St shop (the bigger one). I was then helped by one of the staff to pick a 055PROBX as it was cheaper than normal. It turned out to have been mislabelled but the guy honoured the sale at the lower price and even got me a discount on an extra QR plate. The savings weren't huge, but it was a nice touch.
 
That's the two shops I was referring to Ross...some of the staff at the bigger shop came from the Byres Road branch when it closed and they were excellent.

For anyone in Glasgow area who has missed it there is now a Jacobs store as well.
 
I had a voucher for some free printing so took advantage of it at the Enfield store.

They all came back 'washed out'. I then checked the files on 2 other computers before complaining. I was told that it clearly couldn't be their fault, but they'd give it another go and to re-submit them. I showed him, on their own monitor that they weren't washed out, to be met with some huffing.

I returned the next day to collect the new prints. This time only half were washed out, clearly someone had done a half-arsed job manually altering some. This time the manager was there and he told me that their machine had had a previous fault, now repaired apparently, with printing anything blue.

I pointed out that it obviously wasn't repaired. He shrugged his shoulders.

I won't be rushing back for any sort of purchase.
 
cobwebscavern said:
That's the two shops I was referring to Ross...some of the staff at the bigger shop came from the Byres Road branch when it closed and they were excellent.

For anyone in Glasgow area who has missed it there is now a Jacobs store as well.
Click to expand...

As it happens my friend went to buy a new camera from the smaller one (at the top of Buchanan St). Was offered a reduced rate on an opened (but allegedly unused D90). It was missing an eye cup and they say they pinched it for the display model. She got it home and it was DOA - she obviously went elsewhere after, no one likes being lied to.
 
rssmrry said:
As it happens my friend went to buy a new camera from the smaller one (at the top of Buchanan St). Was offered a reduced rate on an opened (but allegedly unused D90). It was missing an eye cup and they say they pinched it for the display model. She got it home and it was DOA - she obviously went elsewhere after, no one likes being lied to.
Click to expand...

I witnessed a hilarious thing in there last Tuesday...they do passport photos in the shop and print then out there and then and off you go.

Older guy seems quite busy so young girl is handed the shop camera (a panny lumix I think) and told to go for it....she asks the guy to smile...I had to butt in to tell him not to as the photos would be rejected...she looks at me but senses I am trying to helps then tries to take a pic by holding the camera at full arms length and squinting at the live view. I watched her take three pics and going onto a fourth before I shook my head and walked out.
 
cobwebscavern said:
I witnessed a hilarious thing in there last Tuesday...they do passport photos in the shop and print then out there and then and off you go.

Older guy seems quite busy so young girl is handed the shop camera (a panny lumix I think) and told to go for it....she asks the guy to smile...I had to butt in to tell him not to as the photos would be rejected...she looks at me but senses I am trying to helps then tries to take a pic by holding the camera at full arms length and squinting at the live view. I watched her take three pics and going onto a fourth before I shook my head and walked out.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't trust them to take a passport photo myself! Surely they should know what the rules are on passport photos? I know Klick used to do them not sure if they exist these days.
 
rssmrry said:
Wouldn't trust them to take a passport photo myself! Surely they should know what the rules are on passport photos? I know Klick used to do them not sure if they exist these days.
Click to expand...

Last time I just used a booth at my railway station.
Sent off and had new back within a week and over Xmas / new year.
Great service by the passport agency 2007
 
I can understand any young person maybe not knowing the "no smiling" rule (i think it's so we all look like criminals) but the efforts at taking the pics was laughable....I would have thought that part of the training for jessops would have been at least a basic run-through on how to use a camera correctly.....she looked like she had never used one in her life.
 
They should make their new recruits reach a post count of 100 and membership of +30 days on here as part of their training!
 
LOL....all the talk of F stop and exposures would make their heads explode.
 
cobwebscavern said:
It's funny that we sometimes expect the staff in photo shops to have great knowledge on every camera type and lens. I'm sure for some/many/most of them it's just a job and they are just there 9-5 for the money and not the love of photography. Not that that is an excuse for poor customer service.
Click to expand...

Well if you're in sales, whether that be retail or B2B, you should know your products and have the right attitude, otherwise you are just asking your potential clients to walk out the door and to a competitor.

I hate my local Jessops. The staff are rude, know very little about the products and have an "I'm not bothered" attitude. However, the guy that runs the store at Brent Cross is wonderful and I enjoy letting him take my money :lol:

It must be something to do with the fact that I'm a salesman myself, but poor product knowledge and sales techniques really wind me up.

Steve
 
Just sent some advice by PM, let me know how you get on.

And keep this between me and you please ;)
 
Cheers Barry,
Just to update the thread, found the details of the directors so I've sent a letter marked private and confidential.
 
OOOHHHH...very interesting...keep us abreast of developments.
 
I don't have a massive problem with Jessops staff. I don't think there are big enough margins in specialist high street retail to employ experts. Generally speaking I've found the staff to be fine though (I agree that the metro centre branch are particularly good).

What I don't like is there bizarre admin. Two example for you.

When I bought my D5000, we'd seen a tempting 2 lens bundle offer online. I was 200 miles from home at the time but popped into the local branch and enquired about the deal and asked if I could take a look at the camera and lenses. After having a play I decided to go for it. At this point, I was told that this was an online offer only but I could order online for collection the next day and come and pick them up. I explained that I was going to be 200 miles away the next day and asked if I could order them online via my phone and take them away now. Yes was the answer but I would have to wait up to an hour for the order to clear the system. I should have just walked out but I wanted the camera so I did exactly that and wandered around some other shops until my camera (probably the very same one I had just been holding) was ready to collect. It actually took even longer as the computer system thought that branch was out of stock of one of the items. It just seemed bizarre that I couldn't just pay directly for the items there and then.

My more recent experience. I decided to buy two lenses and a flash. Jessops weren't the cheapest but they were close and I was lured in by their 0% finance offer which meant that I could spread the cost a little. I also prefer to buy from a physical shop where possible. So anyway I went online and put the items in my virtual shopping basket and went to checkout. On here, it said that one of the lenses, a sigma, was online only and the flash was local pick up only. Hmmmm. I proceeded with the order and ticked pick up for the flash and delivery for the lenses. But then I got a message saying that my flash would be ready to pick up and pay for at my local branch and then proceed and pay for the other items. This meant that I could no longer use their finance as the order had been split into two and the values were too low. So I called the branch to cancel the order and explained what had happened. The guy there said I could just go into the shop and order them and pay for them there. Fine, except the sigma would take 5 weeks. Thanks but no thanks. A little further google research suggests that Jessops and sigma do not mix well and I'm glad I cancelled my order.
 
I've ordered a 17-40L lens last night for collection today. I had a text this morning confirming my order is ready for collection. I was about to shutdown the pc so I can go to jessups, guess what... I received a call from them saying the lens is ready for collection and it has just been "taken out of the box but not used" !

I told the guy I'm not collecting. This must be their display lens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top