T4 cameras **** up rant!

wippers

wippers

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,534
Name
Gareth
Edit My Images
Yes
Finally decided to upgrade my Canon 300/4 for a 300/2.8. Been keeping my eye on a few second hand shop websites and found one at T4 cameras down in Oxfordshire.
Decided to ring up this morning and get a feel for how good a copy it was, along with what sort of deal they would offer part-ex on my 300.
We agreed a deal and I said I would be down mid-afternoon to pick it up and bring my 300 to part-ex.
After a 2 1/2 hour drive, found the shop and went in. Stood at the counter was a guy buying what looked like a 300/2.8. Hmmm, I do hope that isn't the one I've come down for.:thinking:
Well, it turns out that it was the lens I'd driven down for! The guy in the store had sold it to someone else, even though I said I was on my way to get it. Not happy at all, but not much I could do as the guy had already paid a deposit.:bang:
They did try to find an alternative lens from elsewhere, but I pointed out that the reason I'd given up my afternoon to drive all that way, was to actually test the lens etc. I did get a bit better deal on selling my 300 to them but that really just covered the fuel costs.

Complete cock up in store and I'm the one losing out. :thumbsdown:

So if anyone knows of a decent Canon 300mm f2.8 IS, let me know.:thumbs:

Gareth
 
In my opinion if they had agrred on you collecting it and purchasing it or either said they will put it aside for you then they are entering a verbal contract and should order 1 in for you at that price, However the reality is You can not prove any agreement made so yeah life sucks when stuff like this happens. I did something similar I won an auction on ebay managed to get a friend to drive me a good 100 miles to collect it after speaking to the guys wife on the phone and organising it turned out he got a message on ebay from some other bidder who paid a higher price after the auction had ended so when I got there the guy tried saying I had the wrong address etc and his wife stepped in and stood up for me I was not impressed and I reported im to ebay and gave negative feedback which he disputed.

Good Luck and I hope you get your lens. Hope it is worth it after all the trouble.
 
The annoying thing was the reason for going down, which was to make sure the lens was nice and sharp, which it was. They guy who bought didn't even try it out! He was more interested in what it looked like cosmetically. :bonk:
 
Going to play devils advocate here.
How many times do they get people phoning up saying they are really interested and will be in later to colect only never to turn up and maybe loose a sale in the mean time??

Could you not have given them a small deposit to keep it, like say £10 or something that you would not mind loosing if it was not a good copy??

Hope you get sorted with one soon, could be fate and they will get a nicer newer one in for the same price next week.

spike
 
SpikeK6 said:
Going to play devils advocate here.
How many times do they get people phoning up saying they are really interested and will be in later to colect only never to turn up and maybe loose a sale in the mean time??.....

spike
Click to expand...

In a way I agree on this...

I remember the days before the likes of ebay when you used to advertise in the local papers and people phoned up about the item and say that they would def have it an then not turn up, and in the mean time other potential buyers phone up to be told it was sold when in a fact it really wasn't due to timewasters..

But I can also agree thats its a pain that to travel so far for something only to be told or even see that its just been sold....

The shop is there to make a living so if cash is waved in front of their eyes then what would you have done - say sorry but someones coming to view it but may not buy it :shrug:
 
The OP did say he was going down the same afternoon. They could have hung on to it for a few hours.
 
Greywolf said:
The OP did say he was going down the same afternoon. They could have hung on to it for a few hours.
Click to expand...

They could, but the OP hadn't committed to buy it as far as I can see? The deal was conditional on satisfactory testing. It's asking quite a bit of a dealer to turn down a firm sale under these circumstances.
 
I know the T4 guys in Witney and Swindon. They are actually very good but as has been said already if somebody shows them hard cash... Also they look after loyal customers in their local area, chances are a regular was interested so he got the line of service that will ensure he comes back again. Would you have been likely to go back for a second purchase if you'd got this lens? From his point of view probably not...
 
As someone who has worked in retail for over twenty years I have seen many times customers agreeing to buy and asking for goods to be reserved and then never showing up. If the sales guy you originally spoke to on the phone was on the ball he would have asked for a deposit to make sure you were serious and also to get himself a sale.

Probably a lesson that could be learnt for T4, but at the end of the day they got the sales just to a different customer.

Good luck in finding another one, I know they can be hard to track down as looked prior to getting my Sigma 120-300 f2.8 which does make a great alternative especially for aviation stuff.
 
wippers said:
The annoying thing was the reason for going down, which was to make sure the lens was nice and sharp, which it was. They guy who bought didn't even try it out! He was more interested in what it looked like cosmetically. :bonk:
Click to expand...

Got to ask, how do you know if it was sharp if he didnt try it?
;)
 
I use T4 cameras in Swindon and occasionally Newbury.

Annoying as it is, they had a firm sale over a telephone interest.

Mind you - I've had this with Jessops. Ordered a tripod head, only place with it was Bath so drove to Bath, paid for parkign etc, only to find out they were trying to flog me as new, an ex-demo, scratched to hell, and felt like it had half a beach in the mechanism, head.
 
I understand why T4 sold the lens to someone else, but it's still thier responsibility mainly. If they want to protect against people not turning up, they need to either take a deposit, or at least tell you that they can't hold it for you.

It does depend what you told them though. If it was a discussion about the lens, followed by "OK, l pop in later to take a look", then you can't expect them to hold it. But if you told them you were travelling a a long way, and they said they'd hold it, then they should have done that. If it was the latter, then it's appalling customer service no matter what the legal position is.

The issue here is whether or not they made and then broke a promise or not; WHY they did is irrelevant.
 
Last edited:
SpikeK6 said:
Could you not have given them a small deposit to keep it, like say £10 or something that you would not mind loosing if it was not a good copy??
Click to expand...
I was never asked for a deposit. If they had asked for a small deposit, refundable upon purchase, I would have been more than happy to pay. If they were happy the lens matched the description, then no problems.

Greywolf said:
The OP did say he was going down the same afternoon. They could have hung on to it for a few hours.
Click to expand...

The guy was buying the lens as I walked into the shop, so yes they could have waited. I was on time too.:bonk:

MartynK said:
They could, but the OP hadn't committed to buy it as far as I can see? The deal was conditional on satisfactory testing. It's asking quite a bit of a dealer to turn down a firm sale under these circumstances.
Click to expand...

I actually said I was on my way to buy the lens providing it was as described. A trade for my lens had been agreed along with an approx. time I would get there.

B1ts said:
Got to ask, how do you know if it was sharp if he didnt try it?
;)
Click to expand...

The guy who bought the lens was not collecting until next week. T4 were going to try and find an equivalent alternative lens for him so I may still be able to have the I'd come for. I was asked to try the lens on my camera body to make sure I would have been happy with it, before they started this process.

Southdowns said:
I understand why T4 sold the lens to someone else, but it's still thier responsibility mainly. If they want to protect against people not turning up, they need to either take a deposit, or at least tell you that they can't hold it for you.

It does depend what you told them though. If it was a discussion about the lens, followed by "OK, l pop in later to take a look", then you can't expect them to hold it. But if you told them you were travelling a a long way, and they said they'd hold it, then they should have done that. If it was the latter, then it's appalling customer service no matter what the legal position is.

The issue here is whether or not they made and then broke a promise or not; WHY they did is irrelevant.
Click to expand...

As previously said, I had agreed a trade price and approx. time I would be getting there. The guy in the store even told me the best place to park. He admitted the mistake that he had made when I arrived.

I would have contacted the other guy at this point, explained the mistake and refunded him in full. In any event, someone was going to be very peed off, and I appear to have got the worst of the deal having agreed a sale over the phone, driven for 5 hours in total and still come away without the lens I should have purchased. :bonk::bang:
 
What can I say. For all I can sympathise with the shop and a definite sale, I also feel for you Gareth. I'd also feel very annoyed.
 
It's all worked out well in the end. I've managed to find a better condition lens for £500 less privately, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.:thumbs:
 
wippers said:
The annoying thing was the reason for going down, which was to make sure the lens was nice and sharp, which it was. They guy who bought didn't even try it out! He was more interested in what it looked like cosmetically. :bonk:
Click to expand...


so if you went there specifically to try it out before purchasing (understandable and yes I would do similar) how do you know it was sharp, given that when you walked in, someone else was buying it? :shrug:


Edit: oops sorry.... read your post then jumped in with the obvious question, without realising (reading) that someone may have mentioned it before!

Edit2: Seems worked out better for you in the end, and even with stupid fuel prices a 5 hour drive is not £500 of fuel.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top