On Monday,May 6th, I ordered a Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 from our local camera store. The store is, for the most part, a Canon shop. It is easy to understand why. When ordering Nikon equipment it can take weeks to arrive. Canon, next day Canon reps regularly visit the shop. Nikon reps seldom appear. Nikon does not allow the store to sell D4s because they do not have enough volume.
Camera Casino is not a tiny shop. It's the only shop in Oshkosh, population ~66,000 They sell a lot of Canon equipment!! I'm sure with a little support from Nikon their Nikon sales would grow.
The lens is the same price on Amazon ~$2000. As an Amazon prime member I could have the lens in my hand tomorrow morning for $4.00 shipping. Wisconsin sales tax is 5% so add $100 to the local price.. I really want to support the local shop. Sometimes it is hard to do so.....
Monty, I can feel your pain. But the lens is well worth the wait. Too bad that supporting local shops sometimes can lead to frustration like in your case.
All the best and enjoy shooting with the mighty 14-24, Georg.
This is going to sound harsh, but those are the kids of reasons local shops go out of business. All but one shop in my area (250K+ population) are gone - mostly because they never had what you needed but "we can order it". Yeah, I can order it too.
I know it's expensive to keep the stock on hand, but why would a customer wait weeks to get a lens that they could get cheaper or the same price online and have it within a day or two?
Amazon charges WI sales tax, so at least there you're not really getting the short end of the stick. Obviously, you can call Adorama or B+H and not pay it.
Here in Madison, there aren't any camera stores that carry proper pro gear of any type. 250+K people here.
Sounds familiar. We have a single camera shop in our city of about 110k, the neighboring city of the same size has no such shop. So this shop is the only one in an area with around 220-250k people. It's been here for around 40yrs, and has always dealt Canon and Nikon to the area. The original shop owner retired and sold the shop about 2 yrs ago. The new owner made calls to both Canon and Nikon, I guess to introduce himself as the shop owner and discuss the stores account with them. I assume the Canon call went off without a hitch, but with Nikon... not so much. Upon finding out that they were dealing with a "new" dealer, they immediately froze his ordering until they could have a Rep come in and evaluate his shop and marketing plan. The person who came several weeks later from Nikon gave a long list of rules, including how Nikon products would be displayed and demo'ed. Changes had to be made in shop before the shop could resume their normal ordering. A year later after further expectations and demands, he dropped Nikon inventory altogether.
I think Nikon has dramatically improved their DSLR and lens line in the last few years. I don't consider myself a fanboy, I just feel the Nikon line is superior to the competition, but the company plain sucks to deal with.
Write a well-versed letter (and by that, I mean professional, not full of profanity) to Nikon stating your displeasure towards their service both for you and their vendor.
I shop at the local store, and I'm lucky to have two of them in town. I don't visit 'the other one' that often because they're so much further away,.... and at the nearer one, everyone knows me (both in person and on the phone).
I cringe to imagine what it would be like not to have these people around. They're not just a 'body with a pulse' standing at a cash register.... they really know their stuff!
Steve Perry wrote:
This is going to sound harsh, but those are the kids of reasons local shops go out of business. All but one shop in my area (250K+ population) are gone - mostly because they never had what you needed but "we can order it". Yeah, I can order it too.
I know it's expensive to keep the stock on hand, but why would a customer wait weeks to get a lens that they could get cheaper or the same price online and have it within a day or two?
Agreed. Same story here with anything beyond low end consumer stuff, for me shops add zero value so I don't buy from them and save money buying online. If every shop closed it doors I wouldn't notice. If one had say 4 copies of a lens I wanted to buy and let me test all four on my gear and review the files that is the sort of thing I would pay a premium for. I asked a local shop if I could handle a D700 before I bought it (when it just came out) and dropped £1700 on a camera, at first they looked shocked and after some persuasion handed it over like it was some kind of precious jewel.
mfletch wrote:
Nikon gave a long list of rules, including how Nikon products would be displayed and demo'ed. Changes had to be made in shop before the shop could resume their normal ordering. A year later after further expectations and demands, he dropped Nikon inventory altogether.
meanwhile they allow Costco to place a pallette with D600 $2900 kits into the store and have nobody around who even knows how to explain why it costs so much more than the Canon body on the pallette next to it...
I saw that pile of D600 kits get dusty in our Costco over the last 6 months, and they finally hauled it out a few weeks ago to replace it with a cheaper kit.
I cringe to imagine what it would be like not to have these people around. They're not just a 'body with a pulse' standing at a cash register.... they really know their stuff!USUS
the same thing happens in all other industries. A year ago I was looking for a particular relais switch to install in my truck, not something that came with it. I went to about a dozen car parts stores, but until I found that senior citizen employee at CarQuest, I was confronted with idiots who didn't even know what a relais is, nor were able to produce a parts book. All they could do and were apparently trained to do was to enter a "Toyota part number" for my vehicle into their computer... The old guy clearly knew what I wanted, pulled a book out and in 10 minutes I had a $12 relais that saved me $4500 in repairs my dealership wanted (and by now actually does cover with an extended warranty, but that's another story about what I call car stealerships)
Thanks for all of your feedback. I like our local camera store. They have been around since 1973. IT's nice to walk into a store and have people know my name. Once a year the store does a presentation at our camera club... Nice people!
That said, I have not use for Costco or Best Buy etc. When I go in those stores, I talk to employee of the week. They all talk like the know it all and I know nothing.
pburke wrote:
the same thing happens in all other industries. A year ago I was looking for a particular relais switch to install in my truck, not something that came with it. I went to about a dozen car parts stores, but until I found that senior citizen employee at CarQuest, I was confronted with idiots who didn't even know what a relais is, nor were able to produce a parts book. All they could do and were apparently trained to do was to enter a "Toyota part number" for my vehicle into their computer... The old guy clearly knew what I wanted, pulled a book out and in 10 minutes I had a $12 relais that saved me $4500 in repairs my dealership wanted (and by now actually does cover with an extended warranty, but that's another story about what I call car stealerships)
The local camera shop is not selling Nikon anymore except point and shoot. The reps were giving them too much trouble they said. They sell Canon and have very little in stock. They are selling the best used gear they get in trades on eBay. Therefore, when you go into the shop looking for used gear, it is mostly garbage. Shop local camera stores? I can order it too or I go to shops farther away. Sad because I have known them for many years.
Canon reps regularly visit the shop. Nikon reps seldom appear. Nikon does not allow the store to sell D4s because they do not have enough volume. 
Father Curtis will warmly receive you prodigal son of Wisconsin... 