Shopping for Leica Ms / camera store etiquette.

Vic said:
I guess you guys have never been to any boutique on Madison Avenue in New York. They have locks, you have to be buzzed in, and they often don't let in people of the "wrong" color.

nooooowww i get that episode of punk'd...hehehe.
 
Do fat plain Jane chicks get the same service from you as knockout babes with apple-firm breasts?

YES. Because in my experience, they're better in bed. Beautiful chicks coast on their looks, and tend to be boring. (I don't have a history like Ron Jeremy does, but that's the way it seems to be.)

Sorry to editorialize there. :-D
 
Somebody mentioned Glazer's in Seattle earlier.

I'll never forget this:

Standing there as the checkout clerk scans my items in, I asked him what the difference between velvia 50 and 100 was. There was an older, more grizzled salesman taking a break, sitting on some stairs behind the counter, and he chimed in:

"You probably won't notice the difference."

Jeez! Everything's been better since they put lighting and supplies across the street. I can go in there and buy paper and chemistry without ever seeing a "Canon" logo.
 
RdEoSg said:
So as I was typing all of that. A customer just walked in and said I have a camera I want to give to you. I don't use it and want you to find it a good home. I told the gentleman we would buy the camera but he said no thank you, he didn't want any money.

It's a Nikon F with 50 f1.4 and prism finder.

Someone pinch me!

I run a *very* nice home for wayward Nikon SLRs!
 
well, i might get shot here , but I think everyone is forgetting about the salesman.

I do not treat my camera like jewlery, i take it ( or try to ) everywhere, same when I had my SLR's.. but how many people does the salesman have per day that ask to try out a leica, treat it nonrespectfully ( ie, for example, wind and let the wind clank back and seem to show no care for the camera ) and just leave away ?

sure in one of two of them , is a potential customer. but the guy is a man, and as a man he is entitled to have a bad day. just because you are a customer, doesnt mean that you can mistreat and mock a salesman because you *might* buy something off him. show some repect and have respect in return.

well, according to the initial story, it seems that the salesman was a pri*ck, and if that so, well, be two times a pr*ck, thats my theory at least.

anyway, if anyone is entitled to talk about customer service , i think would be me : i work in a well known hotel top brand were above all, customer is king. our guests pay sometimes up to 300% more than competition for equal or even a bit inferior rooms. what makes the difference ? service. and we and the guest know it. some guests just want to come to the hotel and rest assured whatever the problem is, we fix it or we fix it ( there is really no option here), thats why they pay the surcharge. and no matter what, they keep comming back ( actually, our repeated guest rate is rocket high, around 75% ).

but also take into consideration that a salesman can have a bad day and loads of pesky kids that just come to the store to play with cameras without intention to buy and walk away.

before, i bought everything off ebay. cheaper it is, I thought. but now, Im faithfull to a couple of stores. i pay a bit more but I get a good chat with the sales people. i get to test the equipment ( a store that i most frequently visit, before i bought my first leica , gave a Leica M6 to me for a couple of days for testing, since I never used a RF before - take it and use it, if you like it we talk about the price, if dont, and if its in the same conditino, you just return it ). smart sales move. of course I was hooked. they knew it from the start, basta*rds ! :)
 
Well said proenca.

Get to know your shop, and let them get to know you.

If you're into Leica there's probably only one shop nearby anyway. So why shop around and be a foreign face in several shops? Go back to your regular guy. You'll trust him and he'll trust you.

Tell a friend about the good shop, and if they tell the shop who sent them you'll get a really great welcome next time you visit.
 
Yes, well said Porenca. I think not all the blame should be placed on that salesman. I worked in a very well known NYC camera store for 5 years. Now defunct. My worst experience with a customer, was having that customer tell me quite loudly that since he was the customer, he was my boss, and I had to do everything that he said. I turned around and walked away quietly because I knew it could get ugly. He then went up to my boss and told him I was rude to him. For punishment, I had wait on him. It was extremely painful. He kept telling me, in between barking his orders, that I was too young and didnt know my manners. To make matters worse, this all took place just 15 minutes before closing time. He was from South America, was eating a sandwich, was buying a couple of thousand dollars in darkroom equipment, was paying by credit card, and wanted to have everything shipped there so he could forgo paying taxes. Needless to say, my coworkers become quite testy once we went passed 15 minutes after closing time. I guess you had to be there. It was one of the worst experiences I ever had as a salesman.
 
Years ago (in the late 60’s) I worked for a man who owned a tobacco warehouse. He made BIG bucks during tobacco season. One day he had me drive him to the local Mercedes dealer because he wanted to buy a new car. Both of us were dressed for work so we probably didn’t look like your average Mercedes customer. We walked into the store and he walked over to a 230SL (250?). He looked at the window sticker and said, “I’ll take this one.” The salesman didn’t budge . . . but finally the sales manager walked out to see what was going on. Again my friend indicated that he wanted the 230SL but this time he pulled out a wad of cash. He bought the car from the sales manager and the salesman missed a sale.
 
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As much as I hate rude service from a salesperson,I would never go out of my to "teach them a lesson." It just shows you let them get under your skin. I prefer to let them remain ignorant and poor. As as a successful salesman myself, I try to quickly discern who is serious and who is not about my product. If I determine that person is wasting my time, I cut him loose in a flash. If someone turned down my product and later came back to brag or show me a similar product they purchased I'd probably be quite rude to that person.
 
Perhaps you should have grabbed the M3 and 'accidentally' clonked him on the head with it. You could then have demonstrated its perfect operation after the event, proving quite publicly his utter stupidity. I am glad for salesmen such as this as they provide endless opportunity for wind ups. The point the salesman seems to have missed is that you are only a real Leica owner after you have bought one; a process he is supposed to facilitate in return for a wage. I would love to see some of his shots. I bet they are really adventurous...you know like using the camera in the portrait format, something unthinkable with an SLR. He must be a winner with candid portraits with such a gift of the gab!

The point about the salesman having a bad days is somewhat lost amidst the apparent snobbery and condescending tone...so it does not sound at all about him being fed up with kids trying to play with cameras but him stereotyping Leica owners and losing a sale as a result.
 
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tetrisattack said:
Somebody mentioned Glazer's in Seattle earlier.

"You probably won't notice the difference."

QUOTE]
It needs a lens testing chart to tell, perhaps you look non technical.

Noel
 
I heard this story from a real estate person here in town.

A scruffy looking guy in overalls walked into a real estate agency and asked to see a certain large lot. The agents scuttled away from him, leaving only a young person there to take the customer to the lot. They go to the place, get the information later, the guy walks out the office.

Days later, the real estate office received an offer for the lot. The owner sells, and the young agent gets a major commission as the lot was a really highly priced property. It turns out the overall-clad man came in on behalf of Menard's, and that's how we got that store in our area now.

BTW, I think luck has spared me the snobbery at camera stores. Although, on the other hand, I think they see me as an easy mark... :confused:
 
What an idiot. It's a tool damn it, not a fashion accessory. ;-)

That's one of the reasons why Leica got into trouble in the first place. They started to market their cameras as jewelry to the rich, instead of actual photographers.

Geez!
 
nksyoon said:
Isn't there a story (or urban legend) about US Leica salespeople throwing M3s against a wall to show how durable they were?


I think that back when Tom A was working for a paper in Sweden, they would rewind the film in their M2 cameras by spinning them around the rewind knob...
 
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