Pig ignorant shop staff

[BrianShaw]

As a lad from the other side of the Pennines I could've meant it, but of course I was joking. I know a number of Yorkshire lads and they are the salt of the earth. And I mean that.

Having quite a bit of experience in Yorkshire myself, I understand what you said and agree. I have, however, encountered a large number of Yorkshire shopowners who are "to the point" without a lot of discussion... much like some NYC shopowners.

I also know a lot of NYC lads who are salt of the earth... and like you say, I mean that!

 

[BrianShaw]

With that approach, no "low-profit" customers will ever become "high-profit" customers.

Of course... it's a bet on the part of the shop owner. Time will tell if one (or two, or three, or more) customers really make a significant dent in his ability to stay open.

 

[troym]

Try to imagine his side of the situation. Perhaps he's too busy processing profitable sales (i.e., making money) and doesn't choose to take the time to discuss a transaction that won't add to his profit (i.e., his primary motivation for being in the business).

Do like he (and others here at RFF) suggests... go find someone that offers the specific services you want. That is the win-win situation!

That's all well and good, but the original poster said that this was a service the store had offered before. If that were no longer the case, the clerk should have explained that the service was not offered, or only offered to customers with larger or more frequent orders.

In any event, there is *no* excuse for such rudeness to customers--sympathetic struggling small shopkeeper or not.

 

[MoTR]

Does he own the shop?
If not write a letter to his manager, a lot of people can be like this and a manager will never know and the shop will suffer as a result.
Just my expereince of jerks in shops, when you tell the manager sometimes their very glad someone actually told them and apologise for their actions.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Typically if a person gets good service they they tell three people about it.

If they get bad service they tell fifteen people about it.

 

[dostacos]

Working in a store would be great
if not for those pesky customers! 😉

"Excelsior, you fathead!"
-Chris-

yeah and we always said scouting would be great if it wasn't for all those boys 😀

If the guy is the owner, just walk however if he is an employee I would let the boss know WHY you are no longer spending your hard earned pounds in his quaint little shoppe and oh yeah all my friends on the internet will be told about it too......😱

 

[rpsawin]

Try to imagine his side of the situation. Perhaps he's too busy processing profitable sales (i.e., making money) and doesn't choose to take the time to discuss a transaction that won't add to his profit (i.e., his primary motivation for being in the business).

Do like he (and others here at RFF) suggests... go find someone that offers the specific services you want. That is the win-win situation!

This discussion of develop-and scan-only comes up periodically and reminds me of a conversation I had with a guy at work. His truck needed a major service but he didn't want to pay the shop $600 to do it. He priced out all of the parts/materials and could do it his self for $200. So he did just that... all but one part... changing the transmission fluid. He went back to the shop and asked the owner how much he would charge to change the transmission fluid on his truck. The shop guy reminded him that he needed a complete 100,000 mile service, to which my friend informed the shop guy that he didn't want to pay the price so he did everything himself except that one part for $200. The shop guy quoted him $400 for the transmission fluid change... because he (shop guy) knew how to do it and my buddy didn't... and he (shop guy) can't stay in business if he's weaseled out of what little profit he makes doing the complete service package.

The only other alternative seems to be learning to do it all yourself.

Sorry if I come off as a conservative, Republican American... but making a living by running a small shop is VERY DIFFICULT these days and sometimes small shop owners simply need to get to the point about refusing to do non-profitable jobs... the chances of return visits with "profitable" work is too slim to count on in many cases.

Could you report back in a year or so and let us know if he's still in business or not?

Brian,

Pure rubbish. Any shop owner that thinks he will survive strictly through sales and ignores service is a fool. One can get product anywhere. The only way to survive is to emphasis service. Economics 101 has been re-written.

Bob

 

[MoTR]

Brian,

Pure rubbish. Any shop owner that thinks he will survive strictly through sales and ignores service is a fool. One can get product anywhere. The only way to survive is to emphasis service. Economics 101 has been re-written.

Bob

100% agree, both as a consumer and as an International Business and Maketing major 🙂

 

[peter_n]

Having quite a bit of experience in Yorkshire myself, I understand what you said and agree. I have, however, encountered a large number of Yorkshire shopowners who are "to the point" without a lot of discussion... much like some NYC shopowners.

I also know a lot of NYC lads who are salt of the earth... and like you say, I mean that!

Brian, Yorkshire shopowners I don't know, but ordinary Yorkshire blokes (played football & rugby with & against) I do know and they are excellent. Maybe people who are in retail being "to the point" (as you so nicely put it) is more of a northern thing rather than just east of the Pennines. Plenty of that in the north west too! 😉

 

[BrianShaw]

Typically if a person gets good service they they tell three people about it.

If they get bad service they tell fifteen people about it.

... or they post here (or other forums) and tell even more!

 

[BrianShaw]

Brian,

Pure rubbish.

Wow, Bob... are you discounting my opinion totally? Very nice of you. 😛

All I was saying is that a shop owner can (must?) choose what goods and services they want to offer. If they choose wrong, they risk going out of business. If we consumers don't like what they choose, we can go elsewhere. A merchant's "bad" business choice is not worth getting upset about. But often, these discussions really boil down to the issue of "consumer entitlement"... I want (read that, demand) to have my butt kissed and get whatever I want otherwise I'll call you a bad name and complain. I, too, get upset when I have to go out of my way to get exactly what I want, but that's exactly what I'll do... go elsewhere if necessary.

 

[BrianShaw]

100% agree, both as a consumer and as an International Business and Maketing major 🙂

In the grand scheme, I know that you are right. But there's often a big difference between International Business and Maketing and running a small business. 😉 There are a lot of small business owners that either don't know or don't care about running their business in the best textbook manner.

 

[RdEoSg]

I work at a small camera shop. Just the owner and myself. I can't tell you how many times we have LOST money in order to make a customer happy and keep them telling their friends about the store. Sometimes it "pays" to do what the customer wants.

Of course then we get the customers that say... BUT THIS IS USED!!!! You made profit on me last time. And we reply.. yes and if you want us to stay in business we need to make profit each time 😉

We also get a lot of people that are just plain rude no matter what you say. Some people just have a chip on their shoulders towards all stores. Doesn't matter what the store is, you can just tell they think the whole world is out to screw them no matter what. My boss and I don't believe in the customer is always right. If they are being a complete ass we will ask them to leave and move on to the next customer.

Then you have the people that have no real idea what the value of equipment is. They bought their Nikon system in 1984 and spent $3000 for everything and by damn that's what it is worth and we are just trying to rob them when offer a few hundred dollars for it now. They say they are going elseware because they know it is worth more. I can't tell you how many times they come back a day later with the stuff and say.. I'll take it. Obviously they went around and realized we weren't trying to screw them, they were just way behind the times on value. You are right. An FM2 should be worth several hundred dollars technicaly. But who is going to buy it? The only ones that will buy from us will be a student for class and that camera is more than they need and they won't spend more than $150-200 so thats all we can do.

The internet sucks now too for some things. People all the time.. WHAT HOW MUCH?!?!?! But I can get it online at such and such a site in NY for $1000 less than that! Well good luck with that but they are quoting you a price that is easily $750 BELOW what Canon sells the camera to dealers for. I guarantee you that wont be the price when you are done.

Had a few people that hate the big stores because they people don't know what they are doing. So they come in. Ask us questions for literaly an hour about the camera and such. Then they go out and buy it somewhere else, and come back to us to ask more questions. We just tell them. I'm sorry. You will need to take it back where you purchased it and ask them questions... "but they don't know what they are doing!" Then I guess you should have bought it from us huh.

If you go on B&H right now and look at the price of a Rebel XT camera kit. They usually sell the thing for $30 - $40 cheaper than Canon will sell it to us as a dealer. We got into an arguement with our Canon rep a few weeks ago. He asked us why we weren't ordering them and we said because we can get them cheaper including shipping from B&H.... He was like... well that can't be. If they are doing that and selling it below the advertised price we will catch them. they aren't allowed to do that. My boss used to work for Canon and he said.. You aren't an idiot. You know damn well that Canon looks the other way at it all the time because B&H is one of the biggest accounts for them in the US. Canon isn't going to do anything about it and until they do, we will buy from them. We have to do what is best for this store and if we can make more profit there then we will. Our rep didn't really have an answer. 😛

Canon likes to play games. By law they can't sell to one dealer at one price and to another at a different. They all have to be the same. So Canon just looks at their large dealers and says "we noticed you did $50,000 with us last month. We'd like to see you order $75,000 from us this month, and we will give you $10,000 credit for the following month.

 

[BrianShaw]

The only way to survive is to emphasis service.

Last thought (from me, at least)... I'll bet that same shop owner gives REAL GOOD service to customers with frequent large orders who aren't pinching pennies (or pence)! 😀

 

[Kyle]

I'm a mobile car detailer. I get a lot of calls from people who want me to wash their cars. I usually turn them down. Why? Its not worth my time to drive across town to spend an hour washing a car that will only put $20 in my pocket. Even if I'm able to pump out 10 washes in a day, its still not worth my time as I can spend 5-8 hours doing a complete detail on one car and make $300+ in a day. That being said, I know how to turn down a customer and I will take the smaller jobs when I need them to stay busy because the bigger jobs aren't always there. Sometimes, its the little jobs that pay the bills. If that shop owner turns down every person that wants only one or two rolls developed, he won't stay in business for long.

 

[Trius]

But often, these discussions really boil down to the issue of "consumer entitlement"... I want (read that, demand) to have my butt kissed and get whatever I want otherwise I'll call you a bad name and complain.

On this I agree. The sales reps I support encounter this all the time. Being a support engineer, I can politely tell the (prospective) customer they are flat out wrong, and they accept it from me. And those who do, we tend to walk away from, as they will be more trouble than they are worth in the long run, i.e. non-profitable.

That said, no way do I read the original post as entitlement; the service was provided numerous times in the past.

 

[BrianShaw]

That said, no way do I read the original post as entitlement; the service was provided numerous times in the past.

Could be true... a few more details would help clarify the situation. But I've been caught before "doing someone a (un-profitable) favor" only to have it become an expectation. All that's encouraged me to do is not do too many un-profitable favors. If this is the situation of the original poster, the least the clerk could have done was say "sorry we did that in the past for you but we can't do that for you anymore." Maybe that would have made the consumer happy; maybe it wouldn't. "Suit yourself" does sound a bit abrupt but not everyone has eloquent conversational skills.

 

[RdEoSg]

Yea it sounds like an issue of how he handled things. If he had been polite and explained himself and such it could have been a lot better and he might have kept a customer.

 

[BrianShaw]

I usually turn them down. Why? Its not worth my time to drive across town to spend an hour washing a car that will only put $20 in my pocket.

So, Kyle, I suppose you won't come out to "The West Side" to wash my new Mercedes... even if I promise a big tip???

 

[RdEoSg]

You could stop in Fullerton on your way and do my Jeep 😉