Bad Experience with Orient Photo

[diamond010]

shouldnt it be law for Spore retailers to quote ALL prices with
GST since they cant sell without GST ??

Cathay is silly for sending out quotes without GST
Similarly alll prices must be in SDG.......

I am referring to retailers in Singapore

 

[ianpaice]

Retailers who refuse cards are quite dumb. Many times, customer buy on impulse or thru strong persuasion. The convenience of cards allow the customer to make that hasty purchase with more encouragement, with no excuse of not having enough cash.

The moment the customer walk out of the shop to draw his money, he may become half-hearted and withdrawn from his intention to buy.

 

[delfichoc]

i agree with that. once the customer steps out of the shop to withdraw or exchange currency, they have time to think through the purchase and maybe change their mind. Some shops in SLS would rather get their own staff to check the exchange rate for the customers and do the exchange, of cos with the receipt.

but if the customer has spent so much effort in haggling the price, chances are higher that he would not change his mind.

 

[Synergyworld]

Not all the time when the price is irresistible.

I bought my D80 at $1,380 from one of the no so popular shop at Penisula Plaza when other shops was selling at lowest offered at $1,450 during the first two month after the camera was launched. When the seller said only cash payment after the receipt was issued, I gladly walk to the ATM to draw the cash. To me it is a damm good deal. If I save $70 and asked to pay $5 (surcharge), it is still damm good deal!

Retailers who refuse cards are quite dumb. Many times, customer buy on impulse or thru strong persuasion. The convenience of cards allow the customer to make that hasty purchase with more encouragement, with no excuse of not having enough cash.

The moment the customer walk out of the shop to draw his money, he may become half-hearted and withdrawn from his intention to buy.

 

[ianpaice]

No. Not all the time. But like I have written earlier ...."Many times .."

Retailers cannot depends solely on real genuine customers. They need walk-in customers who buy on impulse or under persuasion.

Sometimes when the customer is allow to leave the shop to draw money, they will walk past other shops and stumble the same products on sale. The customer wakes up and think
"Since i am going to buy, why not check out the prices in these other shops first?". Many times, they find a shop that sells cheaper. And the first retailer lost that deal.

Not all the time when the price is irresistible.

I bought my D80 at $1,380 from one of the no so popular shop at Penisula Plaza when other shops was selling at lowest offered at $1,450 during the first two month after the camera was launched. When the seller said only cash payment after the receipt was issued, I gladly walk to the ATM to draw the cash. To me it is a damm good deal. If I save $70 and asked to pay $5 (surcharge), it is still damm good deal!

 

[Synergyworld]

Agreed if the deal offered is resistible and can be found in any other shops easily. But for $5 surcharge and you may have save $30-$100 (depending of what you buy)... anyway $5 can't even get a Burger King set meal.

No. Not all the time. But like I have written earlier ...."Many times .."

Retailers cannot depends solely on real genuine customers. They need walk-in customers who buy on impulse or under persuasion.

Sometimes when the customer is allow to leave the shop to draw money, they will walk past other shops and stumble the same products on sale. The customer wakes up and think
"Since i am going to buy, why not check out the prices in these other shops first?". Many times, they find a shop that sells cheaper. And the first retailer lost that deal.

 

[zola70]

Same here, normally I'll ask for prices include GST too but as for mode of payment usually I'll pay by NETS or Cash for IT & camera stuff as they are the same direct fund transfer. Never know this is the first time in my life where payment by NETS got extra % charge.:complain:

That's why usually up front we will ask if the price includes GST, and what mode of payment, so that to prevent any miscomm later.

 

[zola70]

Looking at your scenario, not everybody's ATM card can draw more then 1K per day. Like mine can only draw 1K per day, so how? Either pay the $5 surcharge using NETS or tell the shop I come back next day with full cash (wasted another days time).

Not all the time when the price is irresistible.

I bought my D80 at $1,380 from one of the no so popular shop at Penisula Plaza when other shops was selling at lowest offered at $1,450 during the first two month after the camera was launched. When the seller said only cash payment after the receipt was issued, I gladly walk to the ATM to draw the cash. To me it is a damm good deal. If I save $70 and asked to pay $5 (surcharge), it is still damm good deal!

 

[JW73]

S$5 to most is nothing...to me it can buy me one lunch.

OP should have informed the customers upfront about such charges. It;s their problem regarding the charges from nets not mine.

Anyway, no SLS for me...buy 2nd from Buy and sell better..cash way.ha ha.

James

 

[holeinone]

I went to Orient Photo this afternoon just to look see what they have. I spent quite awhile in the shop and observed how they handled customers. Overall, I think their service is not too bad. It's not top notch, serve you with a smile kind but they are responsive enough and makes me comfortable enough to buy from them.

I must say they really have one of the best prices around, even compared to the usual recommended shops. I also witnessed them telling a customer about the 1% charge for using Nets. This is not a dirty trick by the shop, cos I have personally encountered this elsewhere too. It's just that most shops we buy from absorb this charge, cos they can factor it into the price.

IMO, Orient should have done that too, so that they can minimise causing misunderstanding, since most customers would be using Nets for payment and we have always equated Nets with cash. Maybe they are not locals, so they missed out this little detail while doing business in Singapore.

 

[hongsien]

Looking at your scenario, not everybody's ATM card can draw more then 1K per day. Like mine can only draw 1K per day, so how? Either pay the $5 surcharge using NETS or tell the shop I come back next day with full cash (wasted another days time).

You can always ask the bank to increase your ATM withdrawal limit......

anyway, treat this as a lesson learnt, NETS is NOT free for the shop as many may think. But it does increase sales as people are more inclined to use it, and this goes for credit cards. Try to also think from the other side.......

HS

 

[cwtan12]

next time use a mixture of $2, $5 and $10 notes and dump in an envelope when you buy a $2k lens... see wether their time to count worth less than $5 or not..

 

[lwm]

Looking at your scenario, not everybody's ATM card can draw more then 1K per day. Like mine can only draw 1K per day, so how? Either pay the $5 surcharge using NETS or tell the shop I come back next day with full cash (wasted another days time).

Not sure about your card, but POSB normally allows you to draw $1000 two times per day. It is just that you cannot draw $2000 in one withdrawal.

 

[Synergyworld]

Very negative attitude! :nono:

next time use a mixture of $2, $5 and $10 notes and dump in an envelope when you buy a $2k lens... see wether their time to count worth less than $5 or not..

 

[Hacker]

I always thought paying by nets is the same as paying by cash.

serious reply very boring.

You are so wrong with the updated pricing structure from NETS. They said the same thing to me. All I did was to go down and withdraw the money from the ATM. Seriously, do you think any shop would want to "lose" customers over a few bucks? And if you look at the quantum amount, it is absolute peanuts. :dunno:

 

[Hacker]

Looking at your scenario, not everybody's ATM card can draw more then 1K per day. Like mine can only draw 1K per day, so how?

That is your issue with the bank, not with the shop. :nono:

 

[thinkvision]

That is your issue with the bank, not with the shop. :nono:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[holeinone]

I know convenience is very impt for a customer but if we are keen on sniffing out the cheapest deals, we must also be prepared to go thru a little bit of hassle as a small price to pay. If you are looking for the best customer service, you can just go to shops like Best Denki, but you will end up paying a lot more for the service.

Seriously, if they can up their service a bit more, I think OP will end up snatching a lot of customers from the usual shops that CS-ers buy from. Like I said earlier, maybe they are still not used to the Singapore way of doing business.

 

[Eddy Toh]

NETS will charge a small fee per transaction. but the exact amount is not published to the public, IIRC.

i've only heard of shops not accepting payment in credit card becos of the high service charge. but NETS? dats a first.... :think:

You are right ! I support yr statment , .

 

[StrifeYun]

wah ...

i got my lens not too long ago from there. hand itchy wanted to buy, hmm if i remember correctly, they were quite nice in their sevice (my Chinese fail wan haha). it my ef-s 17-55 2.8 lens w/hood and 2 filters which i bought .

they told me cash payment, hmmm then maybe cause my chinese & his english poor haha abit difficult to communicate (the camera language is our common language haha)
i thought CASH/NET the same, but I did ask him if i paid by CC also, but he told me got extra charges.

they gave me quite a number of discounts hee on the various items haha .... cause i researched the price of those items in every reputable CS-er shop haha
so i thought gd buy , then when i wanted to pay up he said can pay in cash ? i said i no so much cash. den he told me that OP would have to pay $10 extra for the NETS transaction. so i gave the supprised look hee, then he said, if you pay in cash I give you $5 more discount !! so i said okie and am now a happie customer of OP

funny about the TS, how come the shop wanted to charge you $5 more and mine was a $5 discount. hmmm sometimes my GF will say i always look so fierce hehehe