SURVEY..ever deal with arrogant camera salesmen?

[lex_jenkins]

FWIW, in my hometown area I try to cultivate at least a bit of face recognition, if not name recognition, by visiting certain stores often enough to maintain some contact. I may not buy every time, but I try to spend a few moments chattering with the employees. And usually I'll buy at least a roll of a particular roll of film I've been curious about or some other small item.

 

I don't waste their time or distract them from serious customers. If someone who seems to be a serious customer comes in I'll step aside and wander around the shop for awhile.

 

It's tough to strike a balance between being an interested and, hopefully, *interesting* customer and merely a leech or lookylew (aka, "Jess Lukin"), but I try.

[shoshana]

Lex ...

 

I haven't been to any camera stores near UT yet. Just the two that are on 38th and Lamar. I tried Capital Camera ... but then they went "pfft".

 

And I try to do what you do - go in for small stuff ... but they drive me nuts. I feel like they are thinking "hurry up... buy it and get out of my way!"

 

'shana

[raymond bradlau]

Its not just camera stores! the sevice side of sales in almost gone, this post could

have been about Stereo's, Suits, or horse feed. The Pro sales staff will soon be a thing

of the past. Use BestBuy as an example of this trend! (Good price not much sevice

and put alot of stores out of biz!!!)

 

Ray

[ebogaerts]

There was only one real experience I have had with bad service from a camera shop. This shop use to earn "Best Camera Store In Area" award year after year from our city newspaper, up until over the last few.

 

I walked in to this store & at that time I was interested in an inexpensive telephoto zoom. I was dressed in t-shirs & shorts (summertime) but otherwise I was very presentable. I went up to the counter and I asked one of the salesmen if he had the lens (gave an exact description - I knew what I was looking for) and he just kind of looked at me without breaking his stare & said "We probably don't have that..." Didn't say anything else. I kind of stood there stunned for a moment. In any case, I hung out for a few more moments, letting Mr. Dopey Head go back to munch his potato chips in the back room, and within a minute or so another salesman asked me if he could help me. I repeated which lens I wanted and within a few minutes he came back with exactly what I was looking for. I mentioned what had happened a few minutes earlier and the salesmen seemed to look concerned (I think he was a supervisor) but, after returning to the place a month ago (I have another store I go to that is in virtually every way superior) the SAME Mr. Dopey Head was putzing around behind the counter... Just goes to show you what kind of 'customer service' some of these places have. They aren't even willing to entertain the notion that they might have a customer with money or a credit card in front of them.

[lex_jenkins]

Shoshana, if you liked Capital (Capitol?) camera you might like the place near UT. Wish I could remember the name of the danged place - I just know how to find it, not the name of the street. It's on the street that's mostly a long line of antique/junque shops. Not a bad place, really, and they usually have lots of reasonably priced used gear. Totally different from Precision, which is more like a shiny new electronics discounter.

 

Just be ready to cut the kids behind the counter some slack, 'cause slack is, after all, the Official Austin State of Mind.

[coolpix5400]

I actualy quite enjoyed the digital camera salesman at a Toronto "pro" shop who told me that "the Canon 10D is 30% better than the Nikon D100". Hey, 30% is nothing to sneeze at!

[lex_jenkins]

Hmm...did it use 30% more double-stick tape holding it together than the previous Canons?

[raul_lithgo]

Why does the link on this thread say 'Canon Reviews' instead of "Nikon Reviews"?

[lex_jenkins]

Photo.net's software has a rudimentary "smart" feature that recognizes certain keywords and links them to what it deems to be appropriate material.

 

Apparently the system is biased toward certain keywords. I noticed a link to a digital camera review from within a thread on one of the b&w forum, simply because someone mentioned the word digital.

[bev_the_nooob]

Another saleperson here I'm afraid - and Austin I couldn't agree more.

 

I'd just like to point out that some of us don't earn commission, so our minimum wage is just that. Many of the people I work with have either been in the business for years or are degree educated - of course that doesn't mean that they know everything, but they are smart people and if they don't have the answer instantly they will get it for you. And there's the nub. People walk in off the street and expect me to know their camera inside out. When you can't instantly answer the question the attitude starts to pour forth from your customer. I started this job after I left University; it's not easy to start as a professional photographer straight out of Uni with thousands of pounds worth of debt, and even those that do make it have fallen upon hard times and find themselves taking part time work with us just to survive the lean streak. Working in camera stores has made me so depressed, I dread my job because frankly I'm a sensitive person and being spoken to the way I am on an hourly basis is stressful. I'd love to leave, but all I know is photography and I can't take the risk of being freelance just yet because I'm still paying off those debts. And there are lot's of us in that boat.

 

I think that I'm a polite person, I've had many comments on the quality of the service I have provided to people. It would be nice to go to work in the morning knowing that I wasn't going to be treated like an idiot by complete strangers (I'm a woman too, so I get doubly treated like an idiot) . So you see, there are two sides to every story. ;)

[leo_tam1]

B&H, before they moved were absoultely horrible. They NEVER helped the customers and told them to go to another store, decide what you want/research and come back.

[christopher_cline1]

Arrogant salespeople aren't limited to camera stores. I've been a semi-pro musician for twenty five years and have seen much of the same behaviour from music store employees. At least people in camera stores don't try to show you their portfolios. The guitar salesman seems to have an incurable urge to prove he is a better player than I am by playing (usually badly) the guitar I wanted to look at.

 

Back on topic, I use a 20 year old FM, so I usually ask about used equipment when I go into a camera store. I like fully manual cameras and can't quite afford an F2. If you combine this with the beard and ponytail...well, you can imagine the red carpet treatment I get.

 

I really don't care how long your hours are, or that you'd rather be doing something else. I work for a living too, and I deserve to be treated with respect when I come into the store where you work. The only thing worse than an arrogant or rude salesperson is one that whines about having to sell.

[rob_malkin]

do any of you know how much a sales person needs to know. chances are that you all use one system, Nikon, Canon etc. so if i was to ask a "pro" nikon user, "do you know what the retail price of a Canon EOS remote cord is?" do you think that they would know? no way. do you have any idea how many films are available, how mnay slides how many speeds, how much black and white film there is and how many variations there are. you have no idea beacuse you stick to one system. most of us will shoot one film for a few years when we find one we like, and we stick to it. so dont go complaning about us ask the question and if the sales person does not know then help them out. we all need a little help sometimes. i have been working for a big camera shop for a few weeks. i know a lot about slr's and flash and tripod and film. but do i know about film scanners, or camcorders, or binoculars or printers, no. should i be expected to, no. so dont be assholes and be nice to us and we will be nice to you. be thankful you have a local shop. without the shops what would you do. i mean god forbid that you might have to wait a minute or two for the assistant to ask somebody who would know the answer. be patient, or we will loose you prints

[alex_lofquist]

If I think that I am being "conned" by a camera clerk, I usually ask him a few pertinent questions about the equipment in question:

 

"Is this lens of Gauss, Petzval, or Tessar construction? Do you have MTF data for it?"

 

"What is the sync speed for this camera's shutter? What is its transit time?"

 

You can probably come up with your own questions to test the clerk's real knowledge and interest. If he is honest he will tell you if he doesn't know.

 

I like to deal with a person that will look you in the eye when he is speaking to you, and not looking to see what else is going on in the store. If he pauses a bit before answering, it may mean that he is considering your interests and not mouthing prepackaged platitudes.

[charlenekenna]

YES! the Nikon guys at Henry's photo Show in Toronto!!!...don't get me started with arrogant salespeople...I still rememeber in October 2002, I went to Henrys Photo and Digital show in Toronto to finally upgrade from my Pentax Spotmatic (great old camera by the way)

I tried asking around the different dealers that were there Canon, Nikon...the Nikon guys were so rude, dismissive and unhelpfull, they basically ignored me...me, the only woman in a group of men trying to be served, I finally walked away, thoroughly pissed off, and went back to Pentax (since I had an old Pentax anyway) and bought an MZ6 from them...a nice, helpful friendly man at the Pentax booth...now I bought a digital pentax K10D which I love, and probably will stick with Pentax forever.. I NEVER recommend NIKON to anyone, EVER. I always tell people of their rude salesMEN.... there you go, its very bad publicity for a company if their salespeople are like that...In general at Henry's store (Toronto and St. Catharines, Ontario) I dont usually have a problem, although I do sometimes feel that they assume too much about a person, and think that I dont know much, when I am probably a better photographer than they are...I am soory to say that I sometimes think its a bit of chauvanism maybe....other than that they are basically helpful.