I've got a new toy

[Guest]

Nigel,

I am sure that you disagree with me for the sake of it now, I'm not sure why.

If you believe that you get the same service from your average B&Q, Argos, Curry's Dixons etc as you do from a locally owned dedicated camera shop you are obviously on a differrent planet to me.

Whereas your own particular outlet may have a team of willing and able experts in the field of every item you sell I think most people would agree that you are in a minority.

[Guest]

Nigel,I am sure that you disagree with me for the sake of it now, I'm not sure why.

If you believe that you get the same service from your average B&Q, Argos, Curry's Dixons etc as you do from a locally owned dedicated camera shop you are obviously on a differrent planet to me.

Whereas your own particular outlet may have a team of willing and able experts in the field of every item you sell I think most people would agree that you are in a minority.

Thats very true....but in my opinion for those that can afford it....ask any student:

"where would you rather shop for your weeks food, the local corner shop or tescos"

I use my local shop for quite a lot of things, but if i know i will save £X on the internet then i will shop there. Its nothing against the shop keepers but im really very poor at the moment and if i can save money then i will. I think this is equally true for every housewife who uses tesco online too, not only is it cheaper, they deliver....i dont know about you but none of my local stores offer a delivery service!

The slide goes both ways, whilst you argue the consumer should support the local shop, so the local shop should support the consumer by at least trying to equal the services!

[John]

John i bet if you camera (god forbid went wrong in 8 mnths they wouldnt give you a new one) We would!

It has a 2 year guarantee, replaced or fixed is good enough for me

do you know what ISO it was taken at?

Don't no it was on auto

I cant remmber- does it have FW?

Yes

[Guest]

Squiffy, I'm not saying that you are wrong but I don't want to see our town centres die and they are certainly doing so.

I prefer to buy meat at a local butcher, fish at a local fishmonger and fruit and veg at the local greengrocers but I have to admit that we will soon not be able to do that. As for asking specific questions as regards hardware or electrical goods at any one of the big national outlets you are very lucky if you can find someone who knows what they are talking about.

It really is a shame to see any American town centre on a Saturday afternoon and realise that we are now heading in the same direction.

[John]

The slide goes both ways, whilst you argue the consumer should support the local shop, so the local shop should support the consumer by at least trying to equal the services!

I think it's also to do with the manufacture supporting the retailer, high street stores can buy in such big volumes they can get good prices, but people like Dyson are helping retailers, we can sell DC14's as cheap if not cheaper than the high street stores because Dyson have a range called "i" so they would have the DC14i or DC15i they sell these to the independents at a good price so they can compete with high street stores, and they are no different to the normal DC14's etc

[Guest]

Many moons ago, i was in glasgow at a camera shop , called williamson and wolfe, i beleive no longer on the go.A shame realy as i`ll never forget my visit there. i was enquiring about a canon T90 slr. ( yes that wasn`t yesterday). The older gent behond the counter went through every function on teh camera even though i told him i was familiar as it was my second T90 body. eventually ( aprox 50 mins! ) the last thing he said to me was he let customers have a `feel` of teh camera and play with the buttons. His outlook being that if you are not happy with teh feel of the camera, then you wont use it, which to an extent is common sense.

Now you can go on about Av,Tv,mP`s,CCd`s,interpolation etc etc...

but in the end if a person is happy with an item, happy with the price, happy with how the camera feels,then there is no guiding that person to how you feel they should of directed themselves in their purchase.

there is always the " you should of spent the extra 10 pounds and got the next one up" or " ahh you see if you got this one"....

if someone is happy with there purchase, then it does not instill confidence if someone cuts in and comments on pics that where taken on the spur.

I am sorry but i`m with BB on teh service when purchasing an item, you want meat then go to the butcher. If you go to the local hardware shop from here, you are greeted when entering, asked if they can be of assistance and even if you buy a 15p fuse, you are met with a smile at the till, i`m sorry but this kind of service is not widely available at any of the main retail outlets, this is what they strive to acheive, but as of yet have`nt got any where near it.

ok my rant is over

but i think you know where i`m coming from

[Guest]

Richard and Chris i completely agree and its such a real shame that our local towns stores are dying out, but im sorry, i think those who need to save pennies will do so and i have no problem with that! Not everyone can AFFORD to goto all the local stores for items!

I totally agree that 99% of big store chains suck for customer service too, that wasnt really the point i was trying to make!

[Guest]

Richard!! I disagree that i disagree with you for the sake of it:smile1:

[Guest]

I will admit that when you go to a dedicated retailer ie cameras they will have a far better knowledge than any high street multiple (simply because they dont sell 15000 different lines) they can specialise where the likes of us cannot! I know where richard is coming from when he makes his service statements. I once shopped at pc world all i wanted was a jumper for a motherboard (it was as if i spoke chinese) for such a specialist retailer there is no excuse for poor product knowledge!!! Where i was trying to come from is that we in the large multiples have hopefully recognised that price points are no longer the major issue when attracting and keeping customers. We need to make the customer experience one of enjoyment or at least pleasant. we need to be fast friendly and efficient in order to grow our buisiness