Weird Experience at CP Marina

[VincentLin]

Hi folks, just want share a strange experience.

I went down to Marina for photo recce and decided to check out CP Marina for a BP-E1 and a BM-1.

I walked around the shop for about 15 mins without any success in getting any eye contact from any salespeople.

I managed to corner this oldish lady and asked her about what I wanted.

She looked at me from the top of my head to the tip of my shoes. Something like sizing me up as a potential buyer. I really didn't like that feeling. Makes my skin creep.

She said she quoted me $300+. I commented that I would rather buy the PB-E1 for another $200. "Any stock for PB-E1?" She said she was not sure and ask this heavy-set Indian fellow.

He did the same thing! Sizing me up!

They made a rather "sian" attempt to look for it. "Sorry, out of stock." LIARS! I saw a sealed box right at the bottom of display counter.

I was so disgusted and walked out.

Do I really look like I cannot afford it? Jeez... When I have money burning in my wallet and I want to spend, these people make me feel too disgusted to spend. ;( ;( ;(

Oooh... oooh... the govt spend millions to make men turn green and wielding weapons... sometimes I am so tempted to scream at them and do my monopod-fighting.

 

[GitS]

haha! welcome to CP! with Fotoguide gone, we dead man...

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

i think you will have better experience if you do a equote den go over. cos they dunno who the hell is behind the PC & when you go there just tell them about the equote. i also have difficulties cornering anyone of them. seem like 1.7m+ is abit short for them to see.

 

[VincentLin]

1.7m? Wah seh... I 1.6m only leh! If they can't see you, no wonder they cannot see me.

Staff @ CP : "What's that squeaking noise?"

Me : "I want to buy... NOW... I have CASH! "

Staff @ CP : "There is it again."

Me : "I HAVE BLOODY CASH! NOT CREDIT CARD!!!!"

Staff @ CP : "Must be the coffee..."

:devil: :devil:

 

[Shib]

Originally posted by VincentLin
Hi folks, just want share a strange experience.

I went down to Marina for photo recce and decided to check out CP Marina for a BP-E1 and a BM-1.

I walked around the shop for about 15 mins without any success in getting any eye contact from any salespeople.

I managed to corner this oldish lady and asked her about what I wanted.

She looked at me from the top of my head to the tip of my shoes. Something like sizing me up as a potential buyer. I really didn't like that feeling. Makes my skin creep.

She said she quoted me $300+. I commented that I would rather buy the PB-E1 for another $200. "Any stock for PB-E1?" She said she was not sure and ask this heavy-set Indian fellow.

He did the same thing! Sizing me up!

They made a rather "sian" attempt to look for it. "Sorry, out of stock." LIARS! I saw a sealed box right at the bottom of display counter.

I was so disgusted and walked out.

Do I really look like I cannot afford it? Jeez... When I have money burning in my wallet and I want to spend, these people make me feel too disgusted to spend. ;( ;( ;(

Oooh... oooh... the govt spend millions to make men turn green and wielding weapons... sometimes I am so tempted to scream at them and do my monopod-fighting.

This is strange... i always get good service over there. The shop is usually with three chinese men. I never see the lady and the indian man before? Are you sure you are talking about CP Marina???

 

[VincentLin]

Shib... you are right. I thought CP @ Marina has pretty good service, that's why I prefer to go there.

The lady and the indian fellow? I don't think they are the regular staff there. I just saw the same lady at CP Pennisular yesterday. I have never seen that indian fellow before. Someone new?

 

[Fella]

My experience is that CP peninsular is cheaper than CP marina.
No comments on the service since I frequent there (peninsular) pretty often and know some of the staff pretty well.

 

[drafting88]

I was told that CP staff at Peninsular has to take turns to work at CP Marina during weekends.

 

[jesser]

Originally posted by VincentLin
Shib... you are right. I thought CP @ Marina has pretty good service, that's why I prefer to go there.

The lady and the indian fellow? I don't think they are the regular staff there. I just saw the same lady at CP Pennisular yesterday. I have never seen that indian fellow before. Someone new?

i met that indian guy yesterday(Friday) when i was there. he looked at me straight into my eyes but before he can speak anything, i was serve by another chinese guy. guess he is a new staff there......but didn't come across any sales lady.

 

[suhaimig]

Relax brother, don't get piss off by these guys. There are nuts.

I don't have experience about CP in Marina, but I had experience with other shops. Whats conclude me is that place have alot of window shoppers rather than serious buyers. They don't expect people like us to get our stuff in Marina. Marina is a place where people hanging out with good clothes and has bad statement account. Not all I meant, I sometimes does go there.

Compare Marina and PP, I prefered PP. They hold more stock and more sales staff can entertain you.

So you had your experience, then, next time go to PP instead. he..he..he..

Cheers.

 

[chyeo]

go cp at pp better... marina ones looks smaller and usually no stock for this and that...

that time i asked about some lens and they say they don't have, ask me go pp instead...

so from that time onwards, i only go pp branch...

 

[ericp]

You're right, that's a strange experience you had. In my experience, they've always been courteous when I ask about things. Whenever I walk in I'm never hassled, I look around, and if one of them is free they'll come over and ask if I need help, or if I know what I need, I'll just catch their eye and I'll get served when the opportunity comes.

I mean, they're not overly friendly (like John 3:16), but I've never had a hostile experience. Wait, I take that back ... a long time ago I had an unpleasant experience (in my view) at one of the CP branches, but I thought that no one could be that bad in such a reputable company, so I went back again (rather than boycott the place on one single experience), and guess what, the guy's quite ok. Maybe he was having an off day, who knows.

I've been served by an Indian guy at CP Marina (about 40-ish, right ?), and he was knowledgeable and helpful (and I also knew what I wanted, but needed to confirm details). A lady who comes over from CP Peninsula ? I know of several ladies there and they've always been helpful, even when I've been browsing (like the time when I asked to look at about 4 or 5 loupes ;p ) ...

Don't let one experience get you down, go back again, and see how things go. If the experience is repeated, then walk out and spend your hard-earned cash elsewhere ...

Why don't you go to CP Peninsula and ask for Vincent ? He's very pleasant to deal with, and very patient. (and no, he's not the guy I had the "unpleasant" experience with )

 

[chyeo]

Yeah look for Mr Vincent Tan in CP PP! He's one good friend of mine (knew him for couple of years already) and he's really friendly! :thumbsup:

 

[RuthBaby]

u will never be alone...
once i was wif ***** and some other frds at marina branch.. was standing aside to wait for them to finish up paying their stuffz... an old auntie see mi from head to toe and asked mi what i want...

what can i reply? err.... im wif them lah... wahlau....

perhaps we shd be in betta attire.... and flash our cards *lolz*

 

[chyeo]

Next time go there must wear suit.

 

[Gr|ever]

So far my experience with CP is quite ok. They treated me nice enough to convince me to buy from them. I think I dealt with the auntie you mentioned. Hmm... I dun remember her giving me that kinda treatment.

The store with the best customer service so far is John 3:16. They're really friendly & you can ask'em lotsa questions even though you might not be buying from them. However, they're often too busy, which is why I haven't been able to buy anything from them.

 

[deencat]

Just went to John 3:16 yesterday, wahlau, three staffs (All of them) were serving one Ang mo, and I waited for 15mins there, and they just ignore me, Ang mo always the most important customer..., some more the price is not the cheapest compare to AP and CP. Most of the time, NO stock also.

Just my experience

Originally posted by Gr|ever
So far my experience with CP is quite ok. They treated me nice enough to convince me to buy from them. I think I dealt with the auntie you mentioned. Hmm... I dun remember her giving me that kinda treatment.

The store with the best customer service so far is John 3:16. They're really friendly & you can ask'em lotsa questions even though you might not be buying from them. However, they're often too busy, which is why I haven't been able to buy anything from them.

 

[CaeSiuM]

most of the experience i had at cp(pp) are good ones especially from derrick. always willing to help and friendly to talk to.

first impression of a person can be quite misleading sometimes. that's a hard fact i've learnt.

 

[Retro]

Sizing in a walk-in customer is something all the shops do. Some more obvious than others. For me, I had 2 different experiences at CP (PP)

#1 Attire: Berms, Polo Tee & Sandles on a weekday afternoon.
The shop had like 2-3 customers and there were clearly more salespeople than customers. However, no one even moved from their position (be it standing or sitting) to ask me if they could assist me. Man was I pissed ....

#2 Attire: Office Wear & carrying attache on a weekday afternoon.
The shop had less than 10 customers, and from the moment I went in, till the time I reached the camera bag section, I was asked a total of 3 times "Can I help you?", "Are you looking for something in particular?"

Conclusion:
Unless you are a regular customer, there is some truth that people judge you by how you dress. This is a sad fact, but true ... just take it as a bad experience. Unless that one shop is the SOLE AGENT/DISTRIBUTOR, there are other places that you as a consumer can visit.

On that note, I also have to say that humans all have moods, so be fair and give them another chance. If they blow it, then just too bad for them. Your money will probably go to their competitor.

PS: This is not to flame CP (PP), and I do buy things from them too!

 

[VincentLin]

Hahaha.

My attire at CP Marina? Nice clean dress shoes, and office wear. I actually polished my shoes the day earlier to conduct some sort of experiment.

Since the clothes and shoes doesn't impress them so much, maybe it's the way I look. :bsmilie:

CP Pennisular has given several kinds of impressions. There are two friendly guys in the tripod section and one guy (very tall and has a slight squarish face) in the medium format section.

These three gave me very good service. The guy in the medium format section was really really nice. He showed me a few cameras Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 645AF, 645E and I think the last one was a Hasselbad 6x6. He talked and talked about the differences about the cameras, their benefits and how useful they would be for certain situations.

In the end, I ended up buying just the 645AF body. He looked so pleased that he almost burst.

My friend, who was with me at that time, gave me a rather interesting description. There was another CP staff, sitting a distance away, who's face went from non-interest (walk-in), questioning look (in a hostile way), he-would-not-buy-the-damned-camera-you-idiot look, and finally I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-HE-PAID-IN-CASH! look.

If you have never been to the army, I think learning about people and how to handle them is right here - CP Pennisular! :bsmilie:

I have had very good experience with John 3:16. They are really friendly and knowledgeable (like most of you commented). Even with the premium they add to prices, I can say that I bought most of my camera equipment from them. It's kind of funny when they yell across the room, "Hey, Vincent!" I'm so embarrassed when some angmohs turned around and gave me a questioning look.

Customer service wise... I think Sam and another guy (can't remember his name, a large sized chinese boy) at John 3:16 are the only camera salespeople that I feel have attained a higher state of customer-satisfaction. IMHO.

I find that John 3:16 has a large customer base that is willing to pay a higher premium simply because they are very focused on customer service. Even if customers walk-in for information without buying, they will still entertain. Maybe that is why the shop is so full all the time.

If you really want to experience John 3:16 the way I do, take leave (I was on ORD leave when I started buying from them) and go in the morning around 1130hrs. The opening hours is 1100 hrs but I usually see the chinese boy hanging around outside with a worried look before Sam and the rest arrives. Since it is early, you will have two guys taking out all the cameras and lenses you want. In the end, you'll be like me afflicted with the John 3:16 Good Service Syndrome. :bsmilie:

And no... I'm not working at John 3:16. I'm just a computer salesman from Funan.