One man's meat, another man's poison

[hazardman]

Originally posted by nicholas1986


i remembered that there was one time i was checking out the canon 70-200mm IS usm (for fun cos i wanted to change system) the guy there told me it is $2000. i asked him is he sure, cos i heard from someone thn john 3.16 that the price was 3000+, then he said sure. (at that time i did not have the money so i did not buy). then when my friend told me it cannot be true and wanted to buy that thing, i called back and ask for the saleman that quoted me the price and guess what they said ' sorry wrong number'
Funny rite
oh ya that saleman is called sonya(sp?)

i don't noe any salesman called sonya there leh... only noe nick and daniel. So far 80% of my stuff have been bought from there and i feel good about buying stuff there cos i'm recieving very good service. If u guys noticed, unlike most other dealers TCW ppl are usually very cheerful n they're not like always thinking of ways to hammer a few more bux outta u. Even the boss and lady boss is nice. The lady boss saw i'm a student and gave me advice on a certain accessory i needed for my cam and told me the one she has in the shop is pretty ex for me. She told me an alternative solution and directed me to Ruby which i got the item and i saved almost $30.

So far i've only bought Tmax400 from CP cos of student's price. The equipment prices for they quote me are horrendous. Perhaps they think i'm some rich kid or a greenhorn and are tryin to rip me off or something. And the service is sometimes terrible. My friend seriously wanted to get f65 and we were not served after being there like for 5 min. And when we finally spoke to the salesman, he stop conversation with us cos an angmo came into e shop. Perhaps we look young and don't look like a serious buyer but it juz isn't rite. It's downrite poor customer service. Perhaps this is from a student's point of view. But well it's wat i experienced in person.

For TCW it's totally different, they always attend to u with a hello or a smile and makes u feel totally welcomed...no matter how busy they're at the moment. ? For this simple reason, i'd always go back there.

Great service, great prices.... where else can u find this nowadays in s'pore

 

[kindred]

oei.. @ AP i got my micro trekker 200 @ $80 nia...how come u kenah 105 ?:dunno: :dunno: :dunno:

 

[Cookee]

Originally posted by kindred
oei.. @ AP i got my micro trekker 200 @ $80 nia...how come u kenah 105 ?:dunno: :dunno: :dunno:

Beats me. The guy who quoted me didn't even know how does the MCT200 looked like. I asked for it and he was searching through all the bags and came back to me saying that there is no stock. I found it among all the other Lowepro bags took it out, showed it to him and told him this is the one I wanted. I believe he doesn't know the cost or selling price of it and kept looking at the bag, squeezing it and shaking it before offering at $105.00

Maybe next time you go there I tag along?

 

[trendmatrix]

Where is TCW ah? Sorry newbie here. And what is the full name of the shop?

TIA

 

[ivor]

The Camera Workshop @ Peninsula Shopping Centre

Originally posted by trendmatrix
Where is TCW ah? Sorry newbie here. And what is the full name of the shop?

TIA

 

[fruitybix]

shopping for camera and accessories at the various shops is a mostly hit and miss affair. and sometimes, new bird or old bird, can still kena ketuk..

Am a regular at AP, and always work very well with one chap. he charged me 145 w GST for a SLIK 400DX with a Manfrotto bag, quite a good deal. But let me qualify: i bring all my friends there, and always deal with him, and that day was just before Chinese New Year, and he is feeling extra generous. ..whatever..

I had earlier gone to CP, they quoted me 168+28 for the whole package..that 's big price difference...

Next time went to get a Slik Sprint Pro at AP, another guy charged me 95. I know that other guy pretty well too. I was willing to buy already but hesitated.

Next week, went to MS Color, my first time there (am a Town and West area guy), no equote, no calling up to check, just went in green. Willie the salesman gave me 85 with GST for that same tripod. Am a new bird there but got old bird pricing. Really friendly, really helpful and i bough some extras from him as well.

I will still go back to AP and to MS Color, because they are generally OK with their pricing but..

Face it, knowing the seller, not knowing the seller, means very little as business is business, so onus is on buyer to do homework, do legwork, and decide for himself how much information is enough before making the purchase. and after that, just forget about the price and make full use of equipment.

 

[ivor]

fruitybix is correct... =)

At the end of the day, just be happy with what you get and make full use of equipment... there is a Chinese saying that spells, "Comparing a human with another human, can drive one to his grave"

Originally posted by fruitybix
Face it, knowing the seller, not knowing the seller, means very little as business is business, so onus is on buyer to do homework, do legwork, and decide for himself how much information is enough before making the purchase. and after that, just forget about the price and make full use of equipment.

 

[trendmatrix]

Ivor, thanks for the info.

 

[cheechee]

Geezz..

Seems like all along i am not the one having difficulties in getting nice prices from photo shops. Good! Good!

Actually also quite recently go into photography, still remember few mths back my first experiance of purchasing from photoshop. Passing by CP Marina (obviously i dunno it is a famous shop by then), remembered that my fren told me that need something to help store my camera, something that i can only remember as "silicon" :devil: and i just told a slim guy @ CP Marina. When i said "silicon", he was stunned for a second or two, then after i elaborate more on it, he said "ahh... silica gel?"

Then just showed me one and i took it, shaked it and like an idiot just ask him,"How much?"
(i swear that as i recall, his eyes is really twinkling in a physical form :bsmilie: )

Then he said in a normal way,"7.60 dollars"
I said "Oh!! .... Ok!"
Then paid for it.

Well, after my fren knew abt this i am lectured for some time.
But if u ask me now do i ever regret on that purchase, i will say "NO!"

Although i bought the silica more than double the price, it made me realized that apart from not doing enuf research or even not knowing really what i am purchasing, I also have the "fatty goat" looks tht is so adorable, from my experiance since then most shops i approached would not hesistate to quote me ridiculous price.

So, an extra 4.60 for this, is quite worthwhile rite?

 

[cheechee]

Actually different shops differs, since the silica gel incident, asked around and realized there is something called equote.

Tried it, asked ard for those famous shops, and go around asking prices, while comparing also with the equotes. And had some funny findings.

Maybe becoz of my student look(of course lar, still in uni mar ) if i asked for prices with an "eager to buy on the spot" look, i will definitely be quoted abt 50-100 more for items such as cameras body. But if i show equote without first asking if they have stocks for the product, the answer i get after the salesperson "look" for the product is a shrug and "No stocks".(This i experianced especially @ CP Marina).

So by far the best way for me is still getting an equote, ask the salesperson if they got stocks for the item or not(at all times the answer i get is YES), then show them equote after the item is shown "XXX SGD rite?" :devil: (This is also how i bought my 50mm/1.8 from CP Marina just slightly an hour after i was told that they have no stock)

But one thing i note is if i show those kind of "just walk ard n check for the prices and definitely wun buy now", i was usually quoted with prices so low i couldnt believe also(Ho... Maybe they expect i dun have cash that time? :devil: )
So i also bought some items at super cheap price with this tact, caught them off surprise. :devil:

Anyone has similiar experiance?