Which shop offers a better price and good customer service?

[iszan]

I get what you are saying, and totally agree. Rude customers are just as bad as rude sales person. There is just no need for it. But in the end of the day, that’s their chosen job, no one is forcing them to be there. So I say just man up.

It’s a vicious cycle: bad service > bad customers > even worse service. But if you are running a business, its stupid to be going round like this right? Nevertheless, I find in general most Singaporean customers are quite well mannered, so it is really puzzling to see the sales behaving so badly here :dunno:

Well the main prob here in Singapore is that the moment the Sales person perceived u as the customer as someone who is not buying his product, most commonly, he would not make the effort to serve you with good customer service. This is the general perception, a bit of self-interest.. but little did they know that such actions speak a thousand word..

And that is where we know where to find good shops and sales persons through the word of mouth..

 

[Cartman2000]

Sounds good...but wait till you meet customers that are just plain rude or talk to you for 30mins+ and end up buying at someplace cheaper instead.

That is why substandard service once in a while should not be condemned if the overall review of a shop is positive. However, some shops constantly provide service so poor that it's no wonder they get almost zero customers(AP).

 

[CS TAN]

Sounds good...but wait till you meet customers that are just plain rude or talk to you for 30mins+ and end up buying at someplace cheaper instead.

That is why substandard service once in a while should not be condemned if the overall review of a shop is positive. However, some shops constantly provide service so poor that it's no wonder they get almost zero customers(AP).

:bsmilie::bsmilie:

So true...

For the rude service we received in SG, I think the customers will need to take part of the blame as well because of that...

 

[Nikonnew]

Sounds good...but wait till you meet customers that are just plain rude or talk to you for 30mins+ and end up buying at someplace cheaper instead.

That is why substandard service once in a while should not be condemned if the overall review of a shop is positive. However, some shops constantly provide service so poor that it's no wonder they get almost zero customers(AP).

If after spending 30 mins and I realise the current shop is more expensive, then one cannot blame me for walking away.....I gave the sales 30 mins of my time to sell me his product or service....and he failed.....period.......:dunno:

 

[CS TAN]

If after spending 30 mins and I realise the current shop is more expensive, then one cannot blame me for walking away.....I gave the sales 30 mins of my time to sell me his product or service....and he failed.....period.......:dunno:

Well, we are talking about the vicious cycle of poor customer service in SG and one reason being highlighted is people go to a knowledgeable shop to learn everything about the product and then for go somewhere else to buy because the other shop offers it slightly cheaper (like $5).

That is why (at least we think) the salesman will try to qualify you whether they will be making a sale when you first step into the shop and give you different faces/attention depending on which group they think you are in.

Of course, everyone has their rights to buy or not to buy from a particular shop based on the pricing and service rendered.

 

[Nikonnew]

:bsmilie::bsmilie:

So true...

For the rude service we received in SG, I think the customers will need to take part of the blame as well because of that...

Yes, we could agree with this and give tons of reasoning for rude service, but end of the day, I will still be spending my 2000 bucks on a camera somewhere, it does not really matter to me, I will still be getting my hands on my D90, D5000 or whatever, but preferable I would like to hand over my 2000 bucks to a nice smiling face.

but as a sales, they have to ask themsleves if it matters whether my 2000 bucks ends up in their cash machine, or the shop next door.

Both the buyer and seller have choices, I choose to buy from somebody whom would give me a good shopping experience, .....what do the sales choose?...I guess it's their call:think:

 

[Nikonnew]

Well, we are talking about the vicious cycle of poor customer service in SG and one reason being highlighted is people go to a knowledgeable shop to learn everything about the product and then for go somewhere else to buy because the other shop offers it slightly cheaper (like $5).

That is why (at least we think) the salesman will try to qualify you whether they will be making a sale when you first step into the shop and give you different faces/attention depending on which group they think you are in.

Of course, everyone has their rights to buy or not to buy from a particular shop based on the pricing and service rendered.

I agree with you, this sucks....but I think such customers do not make up the majority.

Many years ago, me and my friend went shopping for running shoes in Queensway. My friend was a bit of a negotiation freak and he tried to get the price down from one shop which was already 10 bucks cheaper then most shops.

During the discussion, the sale blurted out " Well, if you can get that price somewhere, then you get it and I buy from you."

I walk out immediately.

My friend said, "hey, its 10 bucks cheaper here you know?"

I said," so what? I am not about to hand over my hard earned money to him."

There are people who would scrap the bottom, but I believe most of us appreciate a good shopping experience. If not , places like Cathay, which are consistently not the "cheapest" around, would have closed shop by now.

Look, I am about to spend 2000 bucks here, the least I could expect was to be treated like a customer.

 

[Haoza]

I think the whole "knowing if you are serious buyer or not" attitude is bit childish and just laziness. Many times, I'm confronted with "are you going to buy or not?" I simply just say, "if the price is right, then of course". We the customers go to these camera shops to negotiate a good deal (whether its lower price or freebies). If these lazy sales are sick of it.. then maybe they should work in places like Best or Courts where the price is fixed.

What’s worse is when these sales are still rude even after they know I'm a serious buyer and still treats me like I owe him money.
An example from sim lin: friend and I were buying some filters quoted to us at $130 (but we know it should be around $100 mark), so we said we'll only buy at $100. After 5mins of him saying "cannot, cannot", he then SLAMED! the filters (the ones we were going to buy) on the table and said "FINE, $100!" with a face that could kill. At this point we just turned out backs and left. Even though we got our asking price, there was no way we were going to let this guy make a sale with that kind of behaviour. If he had acted professionally I would have been happy to pay $110 or 120.

 

[oneluckyguy]

ever noticed how the shops that provide good customer service, are also the shops the offer competitive (aka cheaper) pricing? Whereas the shops with bad service are also the ones with the highest prices.

That seriously doesn't make good business sense.

If anyone knows a shop where the prices are cheap but the service is horrible, please let me know.

 

[jaRv1s]

ever noticed how the shops that provide good customer service, are also the shops the offer competitive (aka cheaper) pricing? Whereas the shops with bad service are also the ones with the highest prices.

That seriously doesn't make good business sense.

If anyone knows a shop where the prices are cheap but the service is horrible, please let me know.

quite agree on this...

my personal experience is MS color offer me better price while providing better service. they honour the price even if it's quoted wrongly. and they quite happy explain how to use and packing stuffs for me not like some other shops slam here slam there without explanations.

TK photo is good in service and having good prices as well. he could let you try 20 30 minutes without showing face. eventually i decided on another ballhead which they don't carry, but frankly that made me wanna go back to buy something else from them next time.

CP almost always quote me higher price but gave me shitty services. the "best" services i got in Singapore. below are my 2 experiences with CP:

i called the salesman who always served me (bought a lot of dumb useless accessories from him when i just started my DSLR life) and asked about a tripod i wanted. he said Marina don't have stock then need to take stock elsewhere ask me whether i could wait for 3 days. i said okay then after 3 days he got the stock in and called me say the stock was there. but that day i can't make it so i called that salesman telling him this friend of mine (told him name and described how he looked like) would be going down on my behalf. my friend went down and looked for that guy and asked him about the tripod. happily that salesman dared to tell my friend the one i ordered they can't find the stock, so got another more expensive larger one. but heck they called me and told me that particular model is there in CP Marina. my friend paid straight away without calling me. :cry:

second time, i ordered something from them (noticed that they're sole distributor of a lot of good brands?), and they never call me after 2 months... one fine day i pass by and drop by their shop wanting to check when the next shipment would arrive... happily i see that brand's stuff already updated with new stocks (that particular cabinet normally won't look that full unless new shipment arrive)... when i asked where's the piece i ordered they smile and tell me happily no stock... it's another 2 months now and i still haven't got any calls from them...

 

[oneluckyguy]

haha, i don't mean to turn this into a hate thread for CP, but they also give me bad service and charge not-so-cheap prices. (I won't say that they charge high prices, coz I know of shops that are out to cheat people who don't know any better)

I respect CP for being one of the longest standing camera shop names around. They also carry stuff that I can't find anywhere else. (Like the justin clamp from manfrotto. Can anyone tell me where else sells this except CP?) But with their strong name and business experience, I hope the salespeople can buck up and live up to Cathay's good name.

 

[CS TAN]

I think the whole "knowing if you are serious buyer or not" attitude is bit childish and just laziness. Many times, I'm confronted with "are you going to buy or not?" I simply just say, "if the price is right, then of course". We the customers go to these camera shops to negotiate a good deal (whether its lower price or freebies). If these lazy sales are sick of it.. then maybe they should work in places like Best or Courts where the price is fixed.

OT a bit, next time when you go to Best or Courts or Harvey Norman to buy something which is above $500, ask for discount or ask them to throw in some small electrical items. You will be surprise their price are NOT fixed either!!!

 

[Cartman2000]

I agree with you, this sucks....but I think such customers do not make up the majority.

Many years ago, me and my friend went shopping for running shoes in Queensway. My friend was a bit of a negotiation freak and he tried to get the price down from one shop which was already 10 bucks cheaper then most shops.

During the discussion, the sale blurted out " Well, if you can get that price somewhere, then you get it and I buy from you."

I walk out immediately.

My friend said, "hey, its 10 bucks cheaper here you know?"

I said," so what? I am not about to hand over my hard earned money to him."

There are people who would scrap the bottom, but I believe most of us appreciate a good shopping experience. If not , places like Cathay, which are consistently not the "cheapest" around, would have closed shop by now.

Look, I am about to spend 2000 bucks here, the least I could expect was to be treated like a customer.

That's what you get for being greedy :bsmilie:

 

[oneluckyguy]

OT a bit, next time when you go to Best or Courts or Harvey Norman to buy something which is above $500, ask for discount or ask them to throw in some small electrical items. You will be surprise their price are NOT fixed either!!!

yep, true. I bought my camera body at Best Denki and I bargained a further $60 off the price (which was already on offer), and they threw in all the freebies they could possibly give me.

 

[Haoza]

OT a bit, next time when you go to Best or Courts or Harvey Norman to buy something which is above $500, ask for discount or ask them to throw in some small electrical items. You will be surprise their price are NOT fixed either!!!

Yes thats very true! Thanks for the tip. I recently got the Canon D10 (underwater compact) which was under $500 from Best as they had a big promo at Vivo, and I was amazed at the amount of goodies I got from both Best and Canon itself. I literally had bagS of goodies loll..

 

[Nikonnew]

I think end of the day, different shops target different customers.

There are shops like MS, TK and a few others that were consistently being mentioned here, which targets hobbiyist and enthusiast and will be looking for return customers, which they get most of the time.

And of course there are shops in SIm LIm who targets tourist or people or are not well informed and are just satisfied with that one sale.

If you go through this forum, the more "recommended" shops are all but a handful but you still see hundreds of shops out there in Singapore which are still in business. So I can only say their business model works. And you probably cannot blame them, If somebody from UK came to Singapore to buy a camera, I can literaly bring them to any "expensive" shops in Singapore and the deal will still be much sweeter then one they will get back home.

Its the same like when we go to Bangkok, we shop at those touristy places and still find the things cheap, but ask a local and they will say that we kenna chop.

In any country, there will always be places for tourists and places for locals, you just need to know where to go to.....and what to expect.

 

[Nikonnew]

That's what you get for being greedy :bsmilie:

yes, but end of the day, I still get my shoes, but he did not get my cash.:bsmilie:

 

[Nikonnew]

ever noticed how the shops that provide good customer service, are also the shops the offer competitive (aka cheaper) pricing? Whereas the shops with bad service are also the ones with the highest prices.

That seriously doesn't make good business sense.

If anyone knows a shop where the prices are cheap but the service is horrible, please let me know.

If it does not make good business sense, then have you ever wondered how come they are still in business?:think:

 

[mib]

Just voted for MS Color. I have to say I don't have much experience with other shops.

There are 2 young chaps there with bo chup attitude but the rest of them are OK.

 

[oneluckyguy]

If it does not make good business sense, then have you ever wondered how come they are still in business?:think:

coz they prey on people and tourists who don't do their homework, and end up shopping at the visible, convenient locations. Like the 1st floor of Sim Lim, or the camera shops at Far East Plaza. It helps that they barely bother to decorate, so everything looks 'cheap'.