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tool showroom rant

Dave said, "The thing about people pumping for information and then going off to buy from amazon or someplace is a very real issue. I ran into that frequently. I would spend time with a shopper to help them decide on the right camera for their needs and sometimes they would go buy elsewhere. That was simply the risk you have to take. I made sure that my customers knew that if they bought a camera from me, they could come to me any time for help. They didn't get that treatment however if they sucked information and then bought elsewhere."

Dave, there are many marketing studies that show when customers are considering a big ticket purchase they will shop approximately five different stores before making a decision. That is part of doing their homework and just simply the decision making process. When I do that, I often call it 'comparing lies'. Sadly, not all sales people will tell the full truth, the customer must protect himself. There is little or no store loyalty. Customers, by and large, are loyal only to their pocketbooks.
Your last sentence bothers me. I have owned stores and always tried to treat all customers with the same diligence and courtesy.
In my gun shop, I encountered your experience a lot. As a small dealer, I just could not compete on price with the big stores for guns. But, if I treated the guy right, he was back later to purchase accessories and other services. Then later when he needed to do a trade, I was there.
And, I know a bit about the camera thing too. I earned my living for many years with a camera. I usually bought from the New York guys who advertised in the photo magazines. But my accessories came from the store I had passed on earlier because they couldn't match the price on the camera.
Good service pays dividends.
 
Frank, perhaps I should have clarified that last sentence. When I sold a camera to a customer they got my full attention after the sale. If they came in to seek help in using the camera or whatever, they got my full attention. I even made myself available after hours to do private tutoring for those customers that wanted to learn to make better use of their camera. I would meet with them at a location of their choosing to teach them how to use their equipment.

If, on the other hand I had spent a great deal of my time helping someone decide what sort of camera to buy and they bought elesewhere, I did not feel that I had any obligation to help them learn how to use it.

An example of that comes to mind in which a fellow came into the store three or four times and asked for all sorts of information about a high end SLR. On the last visit he told me what he was going to buy and asked me to set it aside for him which I did. He showed up a couple of weeks later with the camera model we had been looking at. the camera was defective out of the box and he wanted me to exchange it. Problem is he bought the camera from a dealer in New York and it was a gray market camera. He consumed a great deal of my time but chose to purchase from another dealer. I had no obligation to offer him the same level of service I gave to my customers.

He actually thought I should exchange his defective camera for him because he knew dealing with the original seller was going to be difficult and time consuming. The store I worked for has a generous exchange policy for customers. Defective cameras purchased from the store are gladly exchanged during that time. That policy doesn't apply in cases where the person bought from another dealer.

Frank, since you bought your camera from a New York dealer do you think it would be fair to then go to your local shop to get them to show you how to use it? Do you think you could get the New York dealer to spend that kind of time with you?
 
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Dave Richards said:
Frank, perhaps I should have clarified that last sentence. When I sold a camera to a customer they got my full attention after the sale. If they came in to seek help in using the camera or whatever, they got my full attention. I even made myself available after hours to do private tutoring for those customers that wanted to learn to make better use of their camera. I would meet with them at a location of their choosing to teach them how to use their equipment.

If, on the other hand I had spent a great deal of my time helping someone decide what sort of camera to buy and they bought elesewhere, I did not feel that I had any obligation to help them learn how to use it.

An example of that comes to mind in which a fellow came into the store three or four times and asked for all sorts of information about a high end SLR. On the last visit he told me what he was going to buy and asked me to set it aside for him which I did. He showed up a couple of weeks later with the camera model we had been looking at. the camera was defective out of the box and he wanted me to exchange it. Problem is he bought the camera from a dealer in New York and it was a gray market camera. He consumed a great deal of my time but chose to purchase from another dealer. I had no obligation to offer him the same level of service I gave to my customers.

He actually thought I should exchange his defective camera for him because he knew dealing with the original seller was going to be difficult and time consuming. The store I worked for has a generous exchange policy for customers. Defective cameras purchased from the store are gladly exchanged during that time. That policy doesn't apply in cases where the person bought from another dealer.

Frank, since you bought your camera from a New York dealer do you think it would be fair to then go to your local shop to get them to show you how to use it? Do you think you could get the New York dealer to spend that kind of time with you?
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I agree with you in that instance. Retail is a tough way to earn a living. A store owner sees a lot of weird folks come through the door. It can be very hard dealing with some of them.
I could tell you many-many stories about difficult customers.
I also agree, some even think YOU, the store owner, owes THEM a living. It can be a real :bang:
 
Dave, that is really the pits. To have the nerve to think you should exchange it is BS.

I shop the local woodworking stores and buy stuff there one because I have a disease in collecting tools, and two, I like being able to touch the stuff, and if I want to continue that, I need to do business there. Sometimes the service is good, sometimes not so good. My last big tool purchase (a shaper) ended up being cheaper buying it locally than from Amazon. Trned around and made up the difference buying shaper cutters from them, but no regrets.

Looking at the bigger items Amazon carries, they are not always the cheapest place anymore. Large items now occassionally have free shipping.
 
I always try to shop locally. I have a real problem buying something that I can't examine before I buy it. I guesss tahts why I don't even look at the Griz's of this world. I am fortunat living close enough to a big city I do have a few choices as to what to buy. There's a wood craft, Rocklers, and a few local places I like to shop in. One of my favorite is a place called "Timber". They have Jet, Delta, PM and Shop fox all on display. They even have aaa Saw stop or 2 on display, one with the top removed. There's some Euro combo machine as well as a large assortment of old Iron. It like going intoa candy store.
 
Don,
Timber is great and if you want to find some interesting wood go to the Woodworkers Source store on Black Canyon Highway in Phoenix. John is the manager and Betsy (there on weekends, I think) is a hoot to talk to and does turning and woodworking in the shop in Sun City where she lives. Let them know about our forum if you go there and tell John to give you my corporate discount. PM me if you want more info.
 
Joe,
Been to the Woodworker source store that was on 40th St, they've moved that one to Elliot in Chandler. Like another woodworker said you could go broke buying some of the woods they have there. My main supplier is Chandler Hardwoods but for the real exoctics, I agree woodworker source is the place to go. Whats nice about Chandler hardwoods (besides the price) is he has a mill and kiln here in town as well as another mill and kiln in Washington state so I can special order hardwood and still get the best price in town.
 
I don't gripe to much about bad tool displays.

What makes me furious, is when nothing is priced.:mad:

You gotta go run someone down for a price on something:huh:
 
oh steve don't even get me started. they had umteen thousand router bits and no prices. so the guy comes over and asks if i need help, so i show him the bits i want and he writes the number on a 8x24" piece of poplar that happened to be laying there. then disappeared behind the desk and started tending to other customers, only thing good bout that huge piece of poplar was it was easy to point out to the other salesman. i got my bits finally, about 20 min later than i should have.

for some reason i'm going back there this weekend, maybe because they are the only ones who carry the tool i need.

chris
 
Chris Mire said:
oh steve don't even get me started. they had umteen thousand router bits and no prices. so the guy comes over and asks if i need help, so i show him the bits i want and he writes the number on a 8x24" piece of poplar that happened to be laying there. then disappeared behind the desk and started tending to other customers, only thing good bout that huge piece of poplar was it was easy to point out to the other salesman. i got my bits finally, about 20 min later than i should have.

for some reason i'm going back there this weekend, maybe because they are the only ones who carry the tool i need.

chris
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:eek: :eek: :rofl:

I know the feeling.:D
 
Chris Mire said:
oh steve don't even get me started. they had umteen thousand router bits and no prices. so the guy comes over and asks if i need help, so i show him the bits i want and he writes the number on a 8x24" piece of poplar that happened to be laying there. then disappeared behind the desk and started tending to other customers, only thing good bout that huge piece of poplar was it was easy to point out to the other salesman. i got my bits finally, about 20 min later than i should have.

for some reason i'm going back there this weekend, maybe because they are the only ones who carry the tool i need.

chris
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That's the problem with lack of competition. Another store open in town, your place will get customer friendly real quick or go out of business.
 
i have had a few issues with this place already. last time i called for prices on certain equipment, the guy proceeded to talk to his coworker in the background as if I wasn't there. he was the worst salesman ever. BUT, since then i have found the guy to talk to, the same guy who helped me get my bits saturday. he is very nice and eager to help, i've talked to him several times this week with questions and he's very nice and helpful. so from now on instead of askin for someone in sales....i ask for Eric....and i know i'll get help.

chris
 
Travis Porter said:
Dave, that is really the pits. To have the nerve to think you should exchange it is BS.
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Travis, you're right. I experienced similar things many times in 15 years of running camera stores. I got a little satisfaction on that one, though. It was in the winter, we'd just had a fairly large snowfall, It was still snowing, he had to find a parking place and pay to park and then manage to get to the store with two small kids, one in a stroller only to find that I wasn't going to bail him out. When I told him he'd have to send the camera back to the place he bought it, he actually said, "But I'll have pay for shipping and they're so hard to deal with."

I held my tongue. Had he bought the camera from me I would checked the camera he bought before he left the store with it the first time and if he'd still had a problem, there'd have been a new camera on the counter before he'd been in the store five minutes. I would have even given him his parking money back.
 
dave,

this world needs more retailers with that attitude. i for one would have refused to take the money for the parking, but just you offering would have had me back in your store...along with any of my friends who needed cameras

kudos man kudos!!

chris
 
Thanks Chris. I never let a camera I sold go out the door without putting the batteries in and putting it through its paces. I never found many defective ones but I had even fewer come back later as defective.

I think there has been a huge change in the retail industry and not for the better. Since the local places I have to shop for woodworking tools and supplies don't do good customer service, I have no qualms about shopping online. All my stationary tools have been purchased through Amazon and I've never had a problem that wasn't resolved quickly. Even if they weren't the cheapest by the time the transport cost was figured in, I saved money.

If a local dealer actually did what I consider to be good customer service, I'd not look anywhere else.
 
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