Wanted to see D2x in the camera shop...they said NO (Rant)

I am not sure how any one can defend this type of customer service. As a person who has been retail sales for a good part of my life, the see, feel, touch experience is an integral part of selling retail. It is not an acceptable practice to prevent some one from seeing, or feeling or handling a product they are thinking about buying. i would certainly not purchase from this store for any reason. Some small camera shops (and some not so small)take great liberties in how they sell, which borders on the limits of ethical selling. If the term "buy at your own risk" is a truism in most industries, it is certainly a " rule of life' when buying a camera. While most of my purchases are done through Ritz and B&H, I 've had the displeasure of doing business with a small camera shop which tells you one price while you look at it and then attempts to charge a different higher price at the registar. How is my experience simialiar to yours? They are both unethical. If you are buying retail, you have a right to see a product. It doesn't matter if it is the only camera of its type in the store or not.
Rich

Good point...Thanks for the reply...
--
D70Photoguy
http://www.TD-Photography.com

It was in Camera World that I was refused handling a D1x a couple of years ago. Guess the salesman didn’t think I was worth the effort. Actually, I think it was a Camera World salesman that told me about Pro Photo. One visit to Pro Photo, and now I go there every time I’m in Portland, and living remotely as I do, it’s the only chance to get to a real camera store I have. I haven’t been back to Camera World for a couple of years. No reason to, and besides Pro Photo is easier to get to with their own parking lot, and away from downtown. I’m not a city person, and really don’t deal with traffic downtown Portland very well. It’s easier on a weekend. Pro Photo is a great little store. Seems like they completely rearrange the floor every year.

I’ve been in the Shutterbug store in Eugene a couple of times. They seem good to deal with.
--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

http://www.pbase.com/wingspar/nikon_d100

I understand what you were trying to convey in your post. I do acknoledge that there are alway two sides to every story. However, I found it odd that I was in the shop two weeks prior and was able to view the camera. My Wife was not with me. I went in with her...and that is when I was not allowed to view it. My wife has a say as to what and where we spend our hard earned money...I was just wanting to show her the difference between "Pro" and just another "DSLR".

Des Moines is the Capitol of Iowa...Not saying much. Christian Photo has the most "Pro" Gear that I have come across. It would just be nice if I (and my wife) would be aloud to see it before buying. I guess I wil have to wait until my trip to Minneapilos or Chicago again...

Thanks again for your thougts...

FWIW...I am not thinking of switching companies...I just want to expand the tools that I have in my bag.

--
D70Photoguy
http://www.TD-Photography.com

I agree... Thanks for the post.

I also want to add...the had the box out (Not the camera) it looked just like my D70 Box. and I can asure you that I would not pay 5Gs for my D70...

Best Regards...
--
D70Photoguy
http://www.TD-Photography.com

Makes you wonder how something so expensive could be built so shoddily.

I've test driven million dollar boats easier that I can look at one of these cameras in store.

--len

My advice is call the store owner. Maybe your store is like my local Nikon dealer. The employees are all worthless. No offense to anyone working retail that actually cares enough about doing a good job to learn even the fundamentals of photography but without exception every employee at my local dealers store is worthless. The owner though, he's enthusiatic, goes out of his way to help you make informed choices, never acts impatient, and has a knowledge of photography and the Nikon system that I would put up against anyone here. He just can't find good help to save his life. I can't tell you how many times he's asked me if I wanted to try out new gear he's gotten in. I'm not wealthy and can't afford alot of the things he offers. He certainly knows that. He also knows that I love photography and gets a thrill out of trying to put things in my hand to try out and feel. It was just a few weeks ago that I turned down his offer to try out the 200 f/2 VR he has on display. It's not that I didn't appreciate the opportunity but there is no way I can afford something like that right now. Even though his prices are higher than B&H, it is his attitude that keeps me buying alot of my gear locally.

If you contact the owner and he has the same attitude his employees have then I'd never purchase from them again.
--
Banned from the 3-0-0-D forum since 6-2005.

Neal Hood said:

Exact same thing happened to me at a shop in Raleigh, NC. At
first I didn't like it but, after thinking about it I believe it
makes sense - mostly for the reasons already given in this thread.
If you are seriously interested in this camera then call and make
an appointment to see it. I suspect Nikon would encourage their
retailers to put the camera on display if they thought it would
have any measureable impact on sales. But, the fact is that the
numbers on this camera are very small in the grand scheme of
things. This camera represents more an experiment in what can be
done - an assault on photographic digital technology, rather than
a product that provides any real degree of usefullness beyond that
which is provided by lower cost products in their line.

Click to expand...

Care to share the name of the camera store in Raleigh? If not public then my email is available in my profile. I want to make sure I never buy anything from them. By the way, if you are ever in Fayetteville then contact the owner of The Photo Center on Bragg Blvd. He's in the business of actually trying to sell cameras and would never treat a customer that way.
--
Banned from the 3-0-0-D forum since 6-2005.

Sales people are not always knowledgeable about the products they sell.

I called my 'local' shop (2 hours drive) for a top loader camera bag last week. They didn't have the bag that I wanted (1 week delivery) but the guy at the phone told me that they had lots of different models of camera bags and he asked what camera I needed it for. I told it was for a D2X and then he asked if I had a vertical grip installed on it. I politely ended the conversation, navigated my browser to bhphotovideo.com and two days later the bag was delivered to my door. As a bonus it was cheaper than at the local shop.

At least for this kind of products on line shops are the way to go.
--
HansV

If you can't touch it exactly what is your incentive to give them the profit instead of the faceless internet retailer?

Yes it is an expensive item for the retailer. It isn't nearly as expensive as the cars that you can not only touch but you can go out and test drive.

Now I understand that a small retailer might not be able to set aside a camera like that as a demo but they probably shouldn't have it at all if they can't afford to sell it. They could make it a special order item and not have to risk making customers mad.

--
Ed C.

D70Photoguy said:

Hello,

I would just like to rant for a moment & Wanted to see if anyone
else has had this experience...

Click to expand...

[...]

D70Photoguy said:

OK...isn't that part of the reason that people purchase equipment
at local stores? To let people look at the merchandise before
shelling out 5Gs?

Click to expand...

What would you do if after handling the camera for half an hour (or whatever) you laid your cash down on the counter and they simply boxed it up and handed you the "demo camera". Would you complain and want another, sealed camera?

I know I'm replying to myself but I Just had another thought...

I'm thinking about a camera store where when you enter, you can go left or right.

On the left side, you get something similar to Argos in the UK, where you have books full of products and you simply browse the books, then enter a code to get the available quantity in stock. Assuming there is stock available, you go up and give the code to a cashier and pay for the item. You then wait while someone grabs the item from a warehouse and you grab you item (or camera in this case) and leave. You can't see/handle/etc cameras ahead of time and have to pay a restocking fee for returns. Basically like the internet. Charge slightly higher prices than the internet, but just enough to keep the lights running.

On the right side, you have a full service camera store, but they charge 15-20% more than the "left" side.

Now the only problem is to stop people from entering right, sucking the salesman dry of information, exiting and buying from the cheap side...

Wingspar said:

One visit to Pro Photo, and now I go there
every time I’m in Portland, and living remotely as I do, it’s the
only chance to get to a real camera store I have.

Click to expand...

What is Pro Photo's address (Google shows both a Pro Photo and a Pro Photo Supply store at different locations)? Sounds like a store I want to check out the next time I am in the Portland area.

Thanks.

Guy

The smaller local stores are disappearing like mad, mostly because of the big Adorama type retailers. A store near me went out of business recently after 90 years as a photography store. They were NOT one of the "can't touch this" kind of places, they actually encouraged you to try out whatever you wanted. Also offered rentals at a very reasonable price, and if you were on the fence between two cameras, encouraged you to rent them both for a day and decide. Smart people who worked as photographers besides, and really knew their stuff.

They went out of business anyhow. Their prices were not at all bad - within $40-50 on camera bodies in the $1000 range of the big internet sellers. For the SB800, they were within $20 of the internet sellers. Across the board, a tiny bit higher, but not much. They were even located in a low sales tax economic incentive zone. Even so, very few people came back and bought after being allowed to handle any camera they wanted, renting cheaply for a couple days, getting a lot of advice from the stores. They weren't willing to pay $40 for that, basically. And their costs for gear were much higher than the internet stores.

If a store treats you like you're not important, you should definitely shop elsewhere. But if you want stores that treat you that way, you have to support them. The closest non-superstore camera retailer to me now is over 90 minutes away. And there're only two good independent camera stores within that distance of me. I can get to Adorama faster and more cheaply.
--

'Everything I know I learned from someone else. Life doesn't get much easier than that.'

http://www.onemountainphoto.com

BMW North America had dealers behaving the same way as you experienced back when the first M cars were coming out. They started a policy that said a dealer always had to have one of each M car on the lot, available to test drive, at all times, or they would not allow them to sell any of them. They would go to dealers randomly and check, not just is the car there, but that the dealer imposed no restrictions on letting you test drive it. The result was that the dealers sold more of everything as a result.
--

'Everything I know I learned from someone else. Life doesn't get much easier than that.'

http://www.onemountainphoto.com

...Alot of smaller stores just can't afford to have two such expensive items in the store, one just for "show" and one for "go". If the camera is handled by too many people, it might not be able to be considered as brand-new, especially if it gets scratched, or if the customer removes the PC terminal cover and then drops it and loses it, or decides he or she wants to see how "fast" it is and rattles off 20-30 frames to hear what 5fps actually sounds like, etc. The frame counter could mount up rather quickly. Imagine you buy this "brand-new" camera, take it home and fire off a test frame and discover, much to your chagrin, the first frame number you clicked off was actually frame number 200. If that were me, I would return the camera. There is a difference between what is a store demo and what is truly "brand-new". I'm surprised a small camera store would even have one in stock.

Of course, there is no reason why the salesperson cant' be polite about it...

Add Value, that is. It's a tough call for sure, this trend has been unfolding for years. I happen to think that the only thing the VARs have left is the immediacy AND customer service. But as margins shrink, so does their ability to hire seasoned professional salespeople (who understand the value of customer service).

The local Wolf store (Ritz) didn't know the difference between a 8 and 16 bit TIFF file let alone what a color profile is and tried to tell me that a D100 isn't a very good DSLR, LOL, yet they tout themselves as Digital Firendly. Off I went to find a local lab who does internet submission and mail order and, "voila", found somebody that "get's it". http://www.bayphoto.com .

I would think that if the store had seen you before and you were back with the wife to make a final decision then it would be a no-brainer to let you hold it, especially if you own a local studio but I can see the retailer's side of it, too. If it is some 17 year old who is being asked to make a command decision with 5 grand worth of inventory, you're asking too much.
My 2 cents,
Kent

But they actually have and exercise leadership. Somebody actually got it. That's great. Bet it won't last, though, bureaucrats and bean counters are everywhere.
Kent

19th and Marshall-1112 NW 19th- Portland. 503 241-1112. During Nikon or Canon events there is hardly room to turn around. It can also get busy on Saturdays. Fridays can be hectic at the rental center. I have rented many things to try before buying and they will take a days rental off the price if you buy same item within 30 days. If you rent on Friday you get it all week end for the one day price. No affiliation-just trying to pass a good source along.
Shooter2

Shooter2 has it right, but I've been lucky. It's always been quiet when I've been there. Sometimes it's busy enough to have to wait for salesman, but when I was in there a week ago on Saturday, I had free salesmen asking me if I needed help several times.

Their web page leaves a lot to be desired, but here it is anyway.
http://www.prophotosupply.com/

--
Gary
Will Fly for Food

http://www.pbase.com/wingspar/nikon_d100