I too had a bad experience with John 3:16. I will never visit the shop ever again.
I'm new at buying camera equipment and went to John 3:16 after hearing good reviews from friends. I went there yesterday looking to buy a skylight filter for my nikon kit lens. I was told it was sold out but they would have stock today. Being inexperienced, I only asked the price and availability, and not the brand.
So I went down again today (8/4) and the guy who attended to me yesterday ('A') recognised me and asked me nice to wait, and that started my hour plus wait in the shop for nothing.
I waited for service, and when I don't seem to be served I asked the other bespectacled chinese guy ('B') for assistance, he told me 'A' was getting the filter from somewhere. I asked 'B' what is the brand of the filter, he said he didn't know. After a long while, 'A' come back with the filter and instructed 'B' to attach it on my lens for me. That took more waiting as 'B' was attending to other customers.
The filter cost $30 and was of a brand I did not recognise. I was only familiar with Tokina and Hoya and I asked how it compared to this brand, I was not given any proper straight answer. When I asked if there were any other better filters, 'A' recommended a B+W filter at $95. I told him it was out of my budget, but he took the $30 and asked me to compare it with the B+W one, at that point 4 other customers joined in to say the B+W was definitely better, they could see so much difference and urged me to buy the B+W. The major difference I could see with the naked eye was the $30 filter had very visible reflection, but the B+W didn't.
I had to repeat myself many times that $95 is out of my budget and I had to tell them that no matter how they try to make me buy, I will not buy it because I cannot afford it. 'A' retorted to say poor people do not use Nikon. I felt I was subjected to hard sell tactics.
I had brought along a camera with a Tokina skylight filter attached and I compared the $30 filter with it. My Tokina filter looked better as it did not have reflection. When I finally asked for if they had Tokina or Hoya filters, 'B' told me there were out of stock, stock coming in on Monday. I asked how much they cost, and he said Tokina $35, Hoya $55.
So they had Tokina and Hoya filters which I believe is a grade better than the $30 one, and only a bit more expensive, but they would not mention them at all, instead they tried to sell me the $95 B+W filter.
When I said I would probably wait the Tokina filter, 'B' had the cheek to suggest that I buy the $30 FIRST. I told him straight, that I would rather wait and use $35 to buy a Tokina.
Apart from that the sales people were trying to sell me random items on the counter top. One suggested I get the d700, when I said I have a d90, he said I should upgrade. When I said I just got it, he still suggested I upgrade. I told to tell him straight that I won't even pay for a $95 filter, no way I would buy a new camera. I was tiring to have to repeat myself like that to fend off their selling tactics.
Also in the shop was a man who wanted to buy a d90 for work purposes, he has been waiting for the shop to find him one for a few weeks, and he needed the camera for work the next day but the shop still cannot get one for him. 'A' was busy making one phonecall after another to try to find an available d90. A few times, when this man wanted to leave, 'A' would ask him to wait as he make another phone call to try to find stock of the camera.
Before I was in John 3:16, I was in a shop a few floors below which had the d90 in stock and it was priced slightly cheaper. I did not tell that man as I did not think it was nice to do it in someone else's shop. But I hindsight I wish I did.
I felt that 'A' kept his customers waiting and hanging, even if he had no stock and he could not find stock. Camera shops in the area close early, 730-8pm, while John 3:16 closes at 930pm. After about an hour in the shop, I left the shop empty handed at 805pm, and that man was still hanging around the shop, and 'A' as still making phonecalls. If 'A' had simply told the man, sorry we do not have stock, perhaps that man could have walked around and gotten himself the camera he needed for work the next day. It would not add to his income, but it would have been the right thing to do.
If I had been served more promptly or if I had been wise enough to leave earlier, I would have found suitable skylight filter for my lens.
With only 3 or 4 staff, John 3:16 cannot handle the large number of customers patronising them. They are friendly in the sense that they try to greet and capture even one who walk in to their shop, but in fact all they are doing is making their customers wait ridiculous lengths of time to be served and assisted. They cannot and do not give dedicated assistance to customers, instead, you're fighting with others and forever waiting in, not in line, but in a crowded mess, to be served. Business seems so good that things are forever out of stock and you always have to come back another day to get what you want.
This shop is only for those who has the patience to wait for what the want to buy, those who have time to spare and likes to spend that spare time standing around in the shop, mingling and chatting with the staff and other customers.
I do not have that kind of time to spare, I would rather walk into a shop get what I want, and spend my time taking photos.
