Are Jessops mad?!?!?

R

Rob.Richards

Guest
I popped into a Jessops store yesterda on the off chance they had some film. There wasnt a great deal on show so I asked the assistant who showed me a selection from in a drawer... They then went on to comment no one asks for film anymore..

I spotted some ISO Ilford Delta 1600 and asked how much it was and was told £7.50, I then spotted it was out of date (and unrefrigerated) so asked if there was any chance of a discount..

They offered it to me for £6! I calmly declined, but was amazed really that if they dont sell it that often it was OOD and not kept properly then they thought a discount of £1.50 was alright - you would have thought they would want to shift it!

Anyway rant over! I'll get some from 7dayshop instead!
 
Doesnt seem a very good discount for OOD film that may not get the results you were expecting IMO.
 
a 20% discount for out of date, unrefrigerated, 1600 asa film... especially when you can get delta 3200 for £5.70 posted from 7dayshop...

Yep - sounds mad to me.

(oh - and when you get the delta 3200 from 7day... keep it in the fridge 'till you use it - always best with any film, but high ISO stuff, and "pro" branded films especially)
 
Might be that the member of staff was only authorised to give that kind of discount. I wonder if you spoke to the manager or someone higher up they would probably do you alot better deal to take out of date stock off there hands.
 
Rob.Richards said:
I popped into a Jessops store yesterda on the off chance they had some film. There wasnt a great deal on show so I asked the assistant who showed me a selection from in a drawer... They then went on to comment no one asks for film anymore..

I spotted some ISO Ilford Delta 1600 and asked how much it was and was told £7.50, I then spotted it was out of date (and unrefrigerated) so asked if there was any chance of a discount..

They offered it to me for £6! I calmly declined, but was amazed really that if they dont sell it that often it was OOD and not kept properly then they thought a discount of £1.50 was alright - you would have thought they would want to shift it!

Anyway rant over! I'll get some from 7dayshop instead!
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I think the commnet that 'no one asks for film anymore' is a bit off, there is still demand for film , depending on what type you are after. Sounds like cost cutting to me.
 
johnb said:
I decided to visit the Jessops in Bracknell yesterday only to find it was shut up & closed for good. Good job i didn't pay for parking!!!
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i got up early to go to the one in basingstoke sunday morning..

Sunday 10:00 - 16:00 the website said.. got there and it was shut with the opening hours in the window stating "Sunday - CLOSED".

thanks for that then..
 
There's a worrying trend for the exoticisation of film, and it's very worrying. Camera prices are low - or at least camera body prices - while film itself has gone all retro and cool. It ain't cool, it's film and there's enough users out there to keep prices sensible. Large chain stores are taking the micky.
 
I am never going to use Jessops again for anything that involves instore processing or enlargements. The only thing I might use is their E6 service which takes 2 weeks but is quite cheap and good quality.

A couple of months ago, I went to get a couple of enlargements from them. I wanted one 12 x 8" and one 9 x 6". They didn't seem to have a clue over what price I should pay. Their website said it should be about £4.50. They told me it was £8.00!! I can get it cheaper than that from a pro lab. I disagreed and asked to speak to the manager who asked me where I got the web prices from. I said that I searched google and the relavent page on the Jessops site came up first. She told me that they couldn't access google from the shop and told me to bring in a printout of the prices when I collected them so I could pay then.

A week later I came in and collected them, the person serving me didn't seem to know anything about conventional film enlargements and assumed the frame numbers were how many prints of a digital image I wanted! After 10 mins of searching she eventually worked out that they were reprints when I told her they were from colour print negatives and she found them then. Without even looking at my printout, she charged me only £4.00!

I was even more annoyed when I got home to find that there was a big white blot on the 12 x 8 print and there were scratches all over it that were certainly not on the original prints. I thought about complaining but didn't bother in the end.

Jessops needs to actually train its staff about photography and not just how to operatate a machine and there needs to be a much clearer pricing structure for film reprints and other services as nowhere seems to agree. Their staff from what I found out also don't seem to know basic stuff about DSLR's either, I overheard a woman getting a DSLR for her husband talk to a shop assistant. The woman admitted she knew little about photography and asked which DSLR would be better to get around the £500 mark. What the assistant came up with amazed and shocked me. She said that having a smaller ISO range decreses quality as files are bigger so more compression is needed (who knows where that came from??:bonk:) and that none of the £500 mark cameras had video when 2 of them actually did. The saleswoman didn't seem to know about particular cameras and when asked what live view was she said it was not a very useful feature so don't bother about it! The woman she was "helping" just seemed even more confused. After the saleswoman had gone, I went to the woman and corrected some of the points the saleswoman had said. She thanked me and said she was going to try somewhere else as she felt that Jessops staff didn't know anything and were unhelpful.

Jessops just need to clean up their act and learn basic stuff.
 
I popped into my local Asda recently to pick up a couple of rolls, wasn't after anything special, just whatever they had so I could try out my Zorki.

I asked the attendant as there wasn't any on display. He didn't understand what I meant, I had to ask three different people if they had any 35mm rolls of film. I was offered an SD card twice. No, film, for a film camera, not digital. The light eventually came on and they found some Agfa 400 tucked away inside a drawer. :shrug:
 
I decided to visit the Jessops in Bracknell yesterday only to find it was shut up & closed for good.
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All Jessops will be like that soon.

Shame really, as they've done a lot for photography in the past, but seem to have lost their way somewhat.
 
Apparently their reviewing each shops performance and shutting bad ones whilst opening new ones in areas where there currently isn't one
 
I popped into the local supermarket here in the Vendee (Western France) and I had the choice of Fujifilm 200 and 400 Kodak 200 and 400 and they even astonishingly had Kodak APS on the shelf in date too!

Great choice a little expensive but it was a Super U and they are like the Waitrose of the supermarkets here in France.

Ended up buying a 3 pack of Fujifilm Superia X-tra 400 for 10 euros for a pack of 3 24 exposures. I wanted to try something faster than the Portra 160VC I've been using recently.
 
i didnt think they made delta 1600 .
 
s162216 said:
Apparently their reviewing each shops performance and shutting bad ones whilst opening new ones in areas where there currently isn't one
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Thats good there looking to improve that way but a bad shop is better than no shop. Still the same offers etc.
 
Andy said:
Thats good there looking to improve that way but a bad shop is better than no shop. Still the same offers etc.
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Its all to do with their new CEO apparently. He wants to improve customer experience as he has admitted that staff don't know what they should.
 
I paid the ridiculously high price of £1.96 for a Kodak BW400 film to be developed at Tescos and put onto a CD. I got home to find that there was dust all over the scans and a finger print on two of them. I returned to the shop and the assistant had to search for the gloves that she should have been wearing earlier!
 
jessops, comet and currys alike arent trained for the products they sell and its ridiculous. a old(ish) couple in comet actually asked me if i knew about cameras because they were afraid to ask sales staff because they knew the staff would talk a load of bo**ocks and so i helped them and they could thank me enough they were even saying that i should be working at jessops because at least i know about photography, i felt really good after the left knowing what to look for.

i was trying to apply to a few jessops stores around my area and all the application forms would claim no experience or photography knowledge needed, when i asked why dont you hire sales staff that dont know about photography and all they could say was was "equal" oppurtunities policy.
 
***Shame really, as they've done a lot for photograpy in the past***

Indeed....... when film was king the store in London was great in what they stocked and goods were at competitive prices.
 
joxby said:
They don't, maybe it was Fuji Neopan...
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Sorry, got it wrong it was Ilford Delta Pro 3600, I was actually looking for the Fuji neopan 1600...

I spoke to the assistant, then the manager - he authorized the £1.50 discount, er no thanks.

I used to rate Jessops quite highly. Now, not just because of this (because that would be a silly statement to dislike a shop purely because they dont discount enough!) but I never seem to feel valued when I go in a store. Exactly the same reason I dont use my local privately owned store. Staff seem to struggle to raise a smile let alone a hello and unless you are spending hundreds, they dont really seem to give a monkeys!

This is why sadly I have no qualms shopping on the internet, I have tried everything to support my local store, then a long established brand. When will they get it that if you can build up a relationship with a customer they return, treat em like dirt - they wont! They need to support photography as a genre not digital photography! Maybe we should start a campaign!
 
I think the trouble with Jessops is finding the staff. Basingstoke used to have a chap who knew his Canon'd inside and out and would spend enough time talking to you as a human without putting the pressure on to help make an informed decision and would give you the pro's and con's for other brands as well...

Unfortunately he left just after I bought my camera :(
 
TheNissanMan said:
I think the trouble with Jessops is finding the staff. Basingstoke used to have a chap who knew his Canon'd inside and out and would spend enough time talking to you as a human without putting the pressure on to help make an informed decision and would give you the pro's and con's for other brands as well...

Unfortunately he left just after I bought my camera :(
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dont remember him.. the current lot leave a lot to be disired.. usually get the odd grunt from 1 or 2. manager is an odd woman too, very short in manor.
 
The last time I was in a Jessops they offered me only £5 off an ex-display D5000 (although it would be cleaned and put in the box!!) I think that worked out as about 1% discount for a used camera (with unknown shutter count).

So I walked out and bought it online that evening from the internet and it arrvied the next day!!! and it was cheaper

I don't rate thier customer service and would be unlikely to buy anything from them.
 
neil_g said:
dont remember him.. the current lot leave a lot to be disired.. usually get the odd grunt from 1 or 2. manager is an odd woman too, very short in manor.
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There's one lad in there who seems OK (although not as knowledgable) once you "know" him, I tend to pop in semi regularly just browsing, I know exactly what you mean about the manager though lol...
 
mastertrinity said:
jessops, comet and currys alike arent trained for the products they sell and its ridiculous.
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Well thats not 100% true to be fair.

I myself used to work for Currys and I was given the camera part as my section and loved it. I've helped out many confused customer to give them the camera and info they need.

It's just a shame that the rest of the store doesn't have this knowledge. Another reason as well is down to what makes the company more money, such as TV's and laptops. So thats where most of the training goes to really. We used to get a Canon rep into are store but now he's never in again, however we get a Panasonic and Samsung TV rep in like every month.

I understand where people are coming from, as hate going into my local Jessops shops as both of them know :thumbsdown: when it comes to photography. It seems like they are more after "sales men/women" than "photographers" any more

Bad times
 
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