Many of us here have purchased photo equipment from brick & mortar shops at some point or another. I'm almost 100% certain most of us have had either positive or negative experiences. Some retailers are known for great customer service, others are known for their prices.
Today I had a bit of a negative experience. Not going to mention the name of the shop other than it was a brick & mortar shop; a family owned store that has been in business for many years.
There was a purchasing event there today by a visiting 3rd party company. This 3rd party company would give you an extra percent if you chose to buy something at that camera shop.
When I arrived, I had in mind using the "voucher" of what I planned to sell to the 3rd party buyer toward the purchase of a new camera body at that camera store. I spoke to one of the sales people and informed him I wanted to buy a particular camera body that they showed was in stock according to their website. Salesman said, "nope, if it's not in the display case we don't have it. We're gearing up to sell the new body when it gets released soon." He made zero effort to check if they had it in their warehouse, zero effort to see if he could order it for me. Mind you, the "newer model" has not even been announced by the manufacturer yet.
I have purchased from this store in the past (last time was 7 months ago when I purchased a new body from them). I've never seen him there before, so I'm assuming he's new. In the past when I've purchased from this store, the manager and owner went out of their way to find items online from their distributors for me.
He gave me the impression that he was most likely a family member. Wasn't very knowledgeable and wasn't very motivated to sell. Even the 3rd party buyer that purchased my camera + lens was a bit surprised with this outcome. I told him I would probably order it from a well-known online retailer instead. When I left the store, I placed the order online with that other retailer. The brick & mortar store lost my sale because of the lack of assistance provided by that new salesman.
This is not the first time I've encountered either snooty, or disinterested sales people in some brick & mortar shop. Years ago there was a salesman at a local Ritz camera who I dreaded encountering whenever I went there. Unfortunately, several other stores I've visited in the past had at least one snooty or unhelpful salesperson.
I'm not sure if this attitude is exclusive to camera stores, but it seems like it's pretty common to encounter sales folks like that at camera stores. One would think that with all the online competition, these local camera stores would weed out their bad sales employees.
For many years I've worked in customer service in one way or another. I've always made it a point to not only be professional, but to go out of my way to make customers feel appreciated.
Does customer service have any effect on whether you purchase from a business or not?
p.s. I probably could have asked to speak with the manager, but she was standing near us and heard everything. I'm guessing they have probably changed their sales tactics.
Yes, CS means something to me. If I'm treated poorly by a vendor it probably will be the last time I use them.
Speaking of camera stores, here's a related story. In the early 70's I worked part time in a local camera store. Manager was always pushing us to complete a sale quickly, move to the next customer, and ignore browsers. One afternoon a "browser" came in and asked for help. I waited on him while my manager kept staring at me with an annoyed look because of the time I was spending with this customer.
Turns out he was a newbie to film developing, needed the help I gave him, and wound up buying just about everything to start his own darkroom. Turned into a really big sale. My manager disappeared into the back room to check inventory.
YES!!!!! Customer Service is ranked ABOVE price for me. When there is an "issue", I don't want to "fight" to get the issue resolved.
If "my ignorance" is to blame, then shame on me!
Dan
Last time I purchased something from a brick & mortar camera store was three years ago. This was a few 35 mm film rolls they had. In the late 1980s I purchased my last camera at one of these stores. It was a Canon EOS 500 at the time with Tamron zoom lens. Since then every bigger camera or photography related order I made was online (since about 2002). One exemption: I purchased a Canon 100/2.8 EF macro lens for a reduced deal at CircuitCity just before they closed down.
Customer service: I expect nothing. For repair or cleaning of older cameras I have bought used, I send it to third party repair shops anyway.
