Unpleasant experience with TKFoto

[spree86]

The tall lanky guy with gray hair and wear specs only right?

Hiyah people had been complaining about him since donno when, maybe even pre clubsnap, and he is still there than-jiak.

Weirdly I have been receiving pretty good service from him. Maybe that's because I only ask him for bags and tripods stuff. For other things I go to David.

 

[edwthy]

Do you have a smartphone, TS?

Unfortunately not, been using a Nokia 3XXX phone for the past 5 years. No smart phone, no data plan, no intention to add the cost of this to my budget

 

[White Wolf]

I only have good experiences from TK. Maybe it's because I always go to the same sales person there. The shorter funny looking guy in specs.

 

[edwthy]

first of all I sympathy your encounter of your unpleasant shopping experiences,
but why you need to delete the original thread in consumers corner and make a same new thread in newbies corner?
you give yourself extra work, as well to the moderators.


thread move back to consumer corner.




As for TK foto, so far my shopping experiences are rather positive,

few months ago, I walk into their shop randomly, just want check out the price of sirui tripod and have a good look.
I have no intention to make any purchase on that day, and I believe is Philip who serve me,
I'm not a regular customer there and I don't think they know who I am,
nevertheless he did gave me a very detail introduction about the model which I'm interested in,

in the end, I walk out the shop with a R-2204 and K20X.



As for the screen protector, I use Martin Field, they will help me to install it, and I very happy to pay that price.

Hi Catchlights, I'm sorry for the trouble. I was reading the description of each forum and initially posted in the consumer corner. After which, I thought the newbie corner was more appropriate given that I'm a newbie. I heard about Martin Field before, may try them out one day, thanks!

 

[edwthy]

The tall lanky guy with gray hair and wear specs only right?

Hiyah people had been complaining about him since donno when, maybe even pre clubsnap, and he is still there than-jiak.

Hi. Yes, tall lanky guy. I've read on this forum some praises of a shorter bespectacled guy. Perhaps I should have tried to find him instead. Unfortunately, due to my bad experience with the tall lanky guy, and with another of their staff last year, I doubt I will go back to TK.

 

[edwthy]

Initially didn't want to name the store, but a reply to the D800 thread on my experience made me think otherwise, so here's another brickbat:

Bought a Nikon EN-EL15 from TKFoto in late June and got a affected battery without knowing. Tried to exchange it within the 7 day grace with the same salesguy (his name was printed on the receipt), and he just dissed it off as my problem. They didn't know about this (I had to highlight that this was a global advisory, in which they found the Nikon Singapore announcement eventually), but were still reluctant to exchange it for me. That guy had the cheek to tell straight in my face (without even feeling apologetic) that "if the battery's dead, we'll exchange it for you, but for this, you need to go to the agent..."

He told me that their stocks were fresh. Not that I don't give them the benefit of the doubt, but my newly received D800 (latest batch with pre-flashed L1.06 firmware) was already receiving the new battery batch. And I don't think Nikon Singapore would send to stores the affected sets when the advisory was issued by them in Apr-12.

That was when my blood started boiling, where I started to question their definition of a "defective good", and if honouring the 7 day warranty wasn't part of their business practice. Of course, our conversation started to attract more onlookers, and that was when a younger sales chap tried to do damage control by checking for replacement stock (fortunately for them, they were OOS).

So in a nutshell, look for the younger chaps to serve you in the future, but I'll probably be a happier person to bring my purchases elsewhere.

Hi SNAG. I've also read the advisory by Nikon. I do agree that TK should not have sold you the faulty battery from an older batch. And the manner in which they handled the situation was inadequate, in my opinion. I found the younger chap at TK who issued me the refund, was at least more understanding/polite. I'll also rather approach a younger salesperson, although perhaps less knowledgeable. Anyway, since I'll be doing my own research beforehand, I doubt I would need any detailed advice from a salesperson.

 

[SNAG]

:dunno: shouldn't you be reaching out to Nikon Singapore instead? Just like Canon 5D3 light-leak issue, you deal direct with Canon Singapore instead of making noise at the shops... what the shop can do for you? Change another battery that is still within the affected range? The shop did not sell you a defective product; Nikon did.

OK, I didn't post everything in its entirety, but one of the main reason why I approached TK was because I wanted to go back to get a ballhead, else I would have gone straight to NSC.

I beg to differ on your 5D3 argument - I believe it's partly the store's responsibility to ensure that they try to address issues when consumers come back to them. On a similar vein, I don't expect them to exchange my 5D3 (or in Nikon's case, the D800's left AF focus issue) as they are random, batch-systemic defects that are hard to distinguish from set to set. I don't expect them to open up 5 D800 sets just for me to find my perfect AF set.

And of course, I don't expect them to exchange for another set if their entire stock's affected. But I do expect them to try and provide some after-sales support when the defective item can clearly be earmarked and is highlighted within the 7 day grace period. To be brutal, the after-sales support was literally zero (no one Googled for the advisory until I told them to, they didn't bother to check if they had replacement stock until people started paying attention to our conversation).

No offence, but I'll feel very uneasy if every single camera store uses your last sentence as a caveat to refute all after-sales claims.

 

[yrh0413]

what I meant was... if the product falls within the affected range of product recall then the party responsible to make the exchange is the manufacturer, unless there is given instruction from the manufacturer that authorize the resellers to make the exchange.

Canon's 5D3 light-leak issue was clearly documented, it only affects certain batch of serial numbers and owners are advised to send their camera to CSC for the fix. If I were you I would call NSC and ask if I can get a replacement battery. The battery that the shop sold you is not defective... it is still chargeable and usable thus TK is not obligated to exchange the battery for you, unless TK is aware of the battery recall (and unless they are authorized by Nikon to perform the exchange).

TK did advice you to go direct to Nikon for the battery exchange, didn't they? Even on Nikon Singapore service advisory page it stated "If your EN-EL15 battery belongs to the affected lot number, please bring it to our service centre for one-to-one exchange.". :dunno:

 

[blive]

I am confused. How many times did you go back to TK? And which was the bad experience? If its a bad experience the 1st time, why do u keep going back?

 

[dronell]

Haha.. There isnt any best experience that u can get with any shop...

Almost all e shop at funan always hv many stories

Lately i buy most of my stuff from TK photo, why? Because they always hv stock!!

Maybe u encounter bad ex with e sales guy only lah... But i think many ppl happy with their price also. U just need to compare between the shop there, just find e cheapest one....

 

[SNAG]

what I meant was... if the product falls within the affected range of product recall then the party responsible to make the exchange is the manufacturer, unless there is given instruction from the manufacturer that authorize the resellers to make the exchange.

Canon's 5D3 light-leak issue was clearly documented, it only affects certain batch of serial numbers and owners are advised to send their camera to CSC for the fix. If I were you I would call NSC and ask if I can get a replacement battery. The battery that the shop sold you is not defective... it is still chargeable and usable thus TK is not obligated to exchange the battery for you, unless TK is aware of the battery recall (and unless they are authorized by Nikon to perform the exchange).

TK did advice you to go direct to Nikon for the battery exchange, didn't they? Even on Nikon Singapore service advisory page it stated "If your EN-EL15 battery belongs to the affected lot number, please bring it to our service centre for one-to-one exchange.". :dunno:

I do understand where you're coming from - after all, there's a fine line between what the store is obligated to do, and whether the store wants to take the extra step/effort in assisting the customer. If they want to follow the advisory strictly to the letter, there's nothing the customer can do. There's also the discussion on what constitutes as a defective product, but let's just leave it as-is.

Guess it's just differing expectations of customer service from both mine and the store's perspective - but one thing I'm dead certain is that the regular stores I visit will exchange the battery, no questions asked.

 

[edutilos-]

Unfortunately not, been using a Nokia 3XXX phone for the past 5 years. No smart phone, no data plan, no intention to add the cost of this to my budget

Oh, if not you could have shown the TK Foto webpage which lists the prices that you say to the salesperson.

 

[sjackal]

Weirdly I have been receiving pretty good service from him. Maybe that's because I only ask him for bags and tripods stuff. For other things I go to David.

Weirdly, I also have been receiving good service from him. Had bought bags from him several times and D300 last time.

 

[daredevil123]

Weirdly, I also have been receiving good service from him. Had bought bags from him several times and D300 last time.

From my first day shopping at TK, uncle phillip has given me top level service. Giving me advice on what to buy and avoid. I even ran through some tripod testing together with him.

 

[daredevil123]

Hi. Thanks very much for replying. It was prob a combination of knowing that I wouldn't have bought the GGS if I had to apply it myself, and the salesperson was prob feeling very bored/free I guess? I definitely should have asked TK to help me removed the screen, so that I can clean it and reapply, but I did not really want them to touch my camera again, and having read up on how some ppl found it hard to clean the adhesive, it was more convenient to do it at home where I had scotch tape cloth and lens cleaning liquid. Because I removed the screen myself, I wasn't upset about TK refusing a refund, although it would have been a nice gesture given that the original problem begun with them. Furthermore, the salesperson said himself he couldn't have remove it without breaking the GGS. Although, as you said it's possible if you are really careful. For TK, they sell the GGS at a standard price which is also listed on their website, hence I was just totally in disbelief with the salesman.

Yes, as you said you cannot fault them for refusing a refund. That is what I thought from the start.

And in the end the complaints are

1. They charged you wrongly for the first time round.
2. A salesman did not do a a perfect job on installing the GGS.

For 1, they refunded you $4. Which I think is fair. For 2, I think the sale of any GGS screen is purely on the sale of the screen only. Any installation service rendered is above and beyond the scope of the transaction. And for that price of $12, which is the lowest retail shop pricing you can find in Singapore, which usually does not include any installation at that price. If you leave it in the hands of the salesperson to install the screen, then you assume the risk of them potentially not doing a perfect job. The salesman has the right not to assume further risk of breaking the screen to remove it. And you assumed the risk of removing it yourself, breaking it in the process.

So in the end, what is the complaint?

Many people here will go on and on about service and how service in Singapore sucks. But if you buy a GGS screen in the USA, for example, no retailer will ever install the screen for you, because they will never assume the risk of not doing it right, or breaking it. And I am very sure you have to pay a lot more for the screen at the same time. Sure, they will smile at you, and engage in small talk, or make recommendations. But that does not mean they know what they are talking about.

 

[sinned79]

funny. recently a few post critising TK Photo service.

I sense biz rivalry here (out to slander) if not must be really TK Photo losing their customer service touch.

 

[bruggink]

I suspect there may be a few part-time salesmen who only appear on weekends, just to handle the weekend crowd. These are the ones whom you shall avoid. They can't really give you any customer services nor advices. They are only interested in selling you the stuffs. Personally, I had a not-so-pleasant experience before at TK whereby I didn't really get the so-called good customer service that most forumers will rave about. Nonetheless, I still patronize them because I know there are people who are honest, helpful and ready to serve you at TK. Just have to find the right person.

 

[yrh0413]

I don't have any preferred shop to get my gears from, but I do enjoy shopping at Cathay Photo as they have an extensive range of products and their staff are really friendly.

My preference...
TK for Thinktank bags (I love salesperson that does not bug me... just leave me alone with your bags and help me swipe my c/c when I am ready)
Cathay for tripods and camera stuff (love the flexibility of trying out lots of stuff before committing my purchase... although their price is slightly higher)

I guess I am the odd one :bsmilie:

 

[NikF601]

Look for Ark or Philip for your inquiries, you can just ask for latest prices for certain items and they will provide... I did that couples of times just to update and they never reject my request....

 

[Chillibomber]

You talk talk talk until liddat when:

1. We have a forum section for TK photo where you can contact them
2. This is not the "Consumers corner" where rants like this belong.
3. You don't see TK photo in the usual recommended shop list.
4. John 3:16 gets their stocks from TK Photo and they are far from as honest as you think they are.
5. They refunded you the $4. Be happy, that's about as good as customer service will get in Singapore.

Hi Rashkae, is there a compiled list of recommended shops? Can point me to it? I've been trying to find. Does audiohouse falls under this list?