> I, for one, would be willing to pay a local camera store more, for > service. Me too. When I was shopping for my 300mm f4.5 FA several years ago, the local camera store didn't have one. They didn't carry much of anything out of the ordinal for Pentax. Canon & Nikon - yes. They said they'd order one for me if I paid them up front before it came in. Fine. When I asked what their return policy was they informed me that I would get a full refund if I wasn't satisfied - in store credit! Needless to say I didn't purchase it there. Got it from B+H instead, significantly less cost.
Kenneth Waller ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Pentax SMC 15mm f/3.5 on digital > >This is the conundrum of the modern photographer. >>Back when people were willing to support their local camera store, it was >>easy. > > Here we go again. :-) We'll have to agree to disagree. > >>You decided what you wanted, you went in to buy it. >>If they had to special order it, then there was a delay, but ultimately, >>you >>got to handle and try out the actual item you were going to purchase. >>Now, no one wants to buy from a local shop, since they have the temerity >>to >>charge a premium price for the pleasure of serving their customers. > > I, for one, would be willing to pay a local camera store more, for > service. > I'd probably be willing to pay between 6 - 10% more than what I would pay > over the web. I'm not willing to pay mfrs. list price or close to it, for > some salesperson to let me handle a camera when I likely already know far > more about it, and photography in general, than they do. There's no > reason > to pay more when service is non-existent. For like reasons I have almost > no > reason to pay anything more at a Big Box store than I would over the web. > The Big Box store price is likely higher and will include sales tax. > > >>So, we are stuck with online reviews of questionable merit, and buy >>products >>based on the opinions of people who may or may not be photographers, and >>who >>may, or may not (mostly not from the web reviews I have seen), have a clue >>about how to run an equipment test. > > I find the online reviews by sites like dpreview flawed to a degree, but > they're far more meaningful, and contain far more content, than a > salesperson's non-ancedotal, unsupported, undemonstrated words do. > >>And, we are increasingly being stuck with having to buy equipment sight >>unseen from faceless big box vendors who don't care if we are happy with >>what they are flogging or not, since there are a thousand other suckers >>that >>day trying to buy other pieces of sight unseen junk based on reviews of >>questionable merit. > > As a customer I perceive this differently. When camera retailers, at > large, > stopped caring about quality customer service, customers, at large, > stopped > caring about buying from them. > > I bought my first SLR (MX) from a small privately-owned camera store. > Granted it was used. I couldn't afford much and they likely did not make > much from the sale. But that is the business they are in. When I bought > my > second SLR (PZ-1p), I went to a camera store again. The salesman did not > have any interest in showing me the PZ-1p, wanted to sell me Nikons and > Quantaray lenses, and the PZ-1p was going for hundreds more than if I > purchased it online. Granted, this is my experience in Denver and Seattle, > but that's what I have to go on. > > I believe what you are lamenting over is a continued paradigm shift that > can > be traced back to at least when Sears and Roebuck published their first > catalog, if not far earlier. > >>William Robb >> > > Respectfully, as always. > > Tom C. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
