Jessops - do they all employ clueless staff?

Here goes my pennies worth.
A few years ago I had a Canon Ixus Z10. Nice little camera but upgraded to a Fuji S5000 and so it got "drawed". After a while I got it out for the wife to use. New battery and film cartridge etc. switched it on and all i got was a little L and a number next to it in the display. Took it to Simon's Photography in Milton Keynes shopping centre the conversation went like this:
"it's an L code"
"I know that, what does it mean?"
"Err it's an L code you need to send it away for that."
"Ok how much? and how long?"
Flicks through well thumbed folder of wonderment for a few seconds...
"£65 and it'll be gone for about 8 weeks"
"Sod it I'll buy her a new camera"
"Ok bye" despite having a shop full of cameras he could have sold me.

Went to Jessops in MK shopping.
"I've got this camera with an L code showing, can it be fixed?"
Spotty oik not very impressive looking... "Err yes hang on"
Takes battery out, presses power button for a few seconds, replaces battery and cover, switches back on, hey presto!! Fixed. Never had a seconds problem thereafter.
£65 and 8 weeks my foot!!!!!
 
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My girlfriend works at the meadowhall branch of jessops and alot of the staff at that branch know what they are talking about, she does wedding photography, a few others do portaits and one of the managers has won competitions for aviation photos (big whoop i know) but obviously it depends who you get and what day of the week you go in. I know for a fact theres someone who works at her branch that does 4 hours on a saturday and has done for the last year. However it will attract some photographers looking to supplement a startup business income (like our lass) because they get 10% off trade, i wouldnt say no to that!

The points made about trying to hit sales targets are true. The company have bought in a whole other level of middle management and from what i've heard its alot of ex car salesmen, the focus has been changed from around january time from customer focus to sell sell sell. they even tryed to implement a different sales language, staff got told that they have to open every approach to a customer with "hello my name's ... and i'll be helping your with your ... today". needless to say there was abit of resistance to that!

The workers do have targets to hit - not cameras however its the warrentys that is being forced from up high. They also push camera bags, tripods etc because thats were the shop makes its money, the profit margin on the cameras is very very slim.
 
Jessops are not long for this world.

Each branch is carrying around £98000 of debt since the sell off, an impossible hill to climb considering a, the margins and b, the eye watering interest rate they will be paying on the debt.

I suspect the banks plan is to try to squeeze out as much money as possible before cutting their legs off.

The photo trade is on it's a**e and has been for years, mainly due to very poor business practice and customers who want cheaper products , then moan when they are served by poorly trained minimum wage staff .

As for going in to a camera shop and asking for 'elements' what do you expect... Perhaps you would have got a better result if you used the correct name .
 
I went into the Newbury branch before christmas to buy one of their last 1dmk3's.
First girl when i asked about 1d stock she responded with 'do you mean 7d?' after I insisted it was a 1d a puzzled girl wondered to the door to the stock room and shouted at someone. 2 mins later I had a very helpful guy who looked at the computer made a couple of calls and sourced me a 1d from another store.
When I went back to collect it he remembered me, got the camera out as soon as I walked though the door. Also got a lens and card out for me to test with without asking, got all the stuff out the box explained things showed me the battery... Really helpful chap.
I only went there as the camera was cheap and they did 0% finance!

J
 
s162216 said:
Just looking at their careers section on their website and noticed this for a Sales Expert job requirements:

Skills and Knowledge required:

Specifically does not need previous retail or photography experience.

Must have social skills to enable easy interaction and dialogue with customers.

Must have a passion for customers.

Must have a desire and ability to sell and close a sale (talking jargon is not good enough or our modern requirement)

The enthusiasm to learn and the aptitude to do so using on line and social networking platforms.

Would having SOME photograpy knowledge or experience not be exactly what they would want? It would be better phrased Does not need previous retail or photography experience but it is preferable if you do.

Basically from what I can see all they seem to care about is if you can suck the customer right in and close a sale. Their a photography shop for gods sake, and they don't seem to care about the actual products they are selling.:thumbsdown:

I need a job and that particular one is real close to me so I might apply for it.
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Sounds like the same one I applied to :naughty: Good luck!
 
A lot of people on here seen to slate Jessops quite badly.
Personally all the stores I have been in are great. Maybe not every member of staff know that particular product or features but they always find someone who does.
With such a wide range of products it can be VERY difficult to know each cameras specifications and know how to find all the features quickly.

Hope they do continue to keep trading as they are the only store that specialise in photography otherwise it's all online really. Especially in smaller towns.

I went into Currys earlier today to buy a lenspen sensor kit to clean my sensor and they were unaware you could clean the sensor yourself and proceeded to get me a lens pen to clean it with :s
 
Many people think that Jessops are worthless but most companies have a lot to learn from the following regarding customer satisfaction:

A 550D I bought for work developed a fault just under a month after we bought it.
Because we were abroad at the time and just returned last Saturday I could not take it back until it was just over 2 months old so I did not expect much when I called Jessops.

When I told them what happened they agreed for me to take the faulty camera back and get a brand new one, with a new receipt so that the warranty would reset to 12 months!!!
 
J4MIE_P said:
Maybe not every member of staff know that particular product or features but they always find someone who does.
With such a wide range of products it can be VERY difficult to know each cameras specifications and know how to find all the features quickly.
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Agreed.

razor777 said:
what they dont need are freeloaders like you using their facilities and then buying elsewhere online because its a few quid cheaper. You obviosuly rated their advice but just didnt want to pay for it.
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Totally agree.

I know a few people who have worked in Jessops in the past. It's just like any sort of shop, certain staff are more clued up in certain areas. If you want to look at a high end body, just ask for someone who can best help you. I've also been told it's pretty common for people to come in and ask really specific questions about high end kit they already know the answers to just to try to put staff to shame. Sounds like bullying to me. I hope non of you are guilty.
 
What I hated when I worked there was people coming in, and you graciously and happily spending over an hour with them, chatting to them about photography, showing and explaining to them all the different kinds of kit they might need, letting them try out stuff, and basically going out of your way to make them feel comfortable, then it would all turn sour when they told you they could get a better deal online so they were going to buy it there.

I lost my temper once with a customer who wanted to purchase a 50mm f/1.8.
I basically spent an hour with him, first off the lens didn't work on his camera (worked on all the other cameras fine, just his) so I offered to open up a brand new and boxed one for him to try out, no obligations. He agreed, and spent god knows how long 'trying it out' (sorry but how much trying out can you actually do on a £70 50mm prime?). I was very patient and pleasant with him, talking to him and explaining the differences between apertures/primes/focal lengths etc.

He then decided he'd like to buy it, but not necessarily from us. He said, "Right you know the question I'm going to ask now then." and I, unwittingly, said, "No, what's that sir?" and he goes, "Right, well I've seen this lens online at Crazy Cameras for £55, you're doing it for £79.99"

I explained to him that we were a bricks and mortar store with a member of staff able to help him out in person and that this 'crazy cameras' was likely to be a grey import and should he have an issue with his service it would cause him no end of trouble as he may have to send back to Hong Kong. He then said, "Well it's online at Warehouse Express for £73."
I said pleasantly, "I'll just go and check that for you sir,"

Went out back, looked online, sure enough it was £73. Postage and packaging was £3.99, and so for a £3 saving, the customer could have waited 3 days for it to arrive.
Out of sheer principle and the fact that I'd spent an hour with him helping him out, I decided to explain that I wasn't going to price match a £3 saving.

He got very angry, and said "well if it's only £3 why not just do it?" and I lost my temper and said, "Because sir, I've spent the past hour with you being extremely patient and helping you out, and well, now this lens cannot be sold as new. I cannot take it off the shelf in the stock room and lie to another customer saying that it is brand new, as you have been using it."

He then swiftly left, I went on break to calm down, and 3 days later my Manager received a snotty letter about me.

Fair does really.
 
I feel for you Sean. I have never worked in retail but I've certainly worked in jobs where I've had the "pleasure" of dealing with complete time wasters. I really really hope the person you dealt with in your story is a member of TP and reads it.

What a &%%^&^$&$ (^(*&(^^%$^%

And for the rest of you posting disparaging remarks about Jessops, I hope sean's post makes you see how it feels from the other side.
 
Completely and utterly agree with that Sean and he was being arsey about £3? If you couldn't have priced match the £20 fair enough but for £3 is it really worth all the hassle he gave you?
I definately know how you feel though same situation same company, people saying they can buy it online at £30-40 cheaper. I ask them if it's a UK model covered under UK warranty, ask if it can be returned easily. And if he had every sole intention of buying online why did you come to store. His reply "to try it out before I bought it" I really went mental but kept my cool about it, just goes to show though
 
I wnet in to the Stratford branch to buy a D5000, I knew it was slightly more than on-line, but I needed it urgently for work.

They had one left and after a serach of the stock room, it transpires that it was the dispaly model !! The assistant started to pack it up and I pointed out that it was the display item and a discount (due to use, would be fair).

I was intially offer it being cleaned, then as I didn't want to buy anything else a token gesture of £5 off (<1%).

I walked out and purchased it that evening from WEX and it arrived the next day saved more than a £5. (y)

I will refain from spending any money in Jessops again as they clearly don't want it :bonk:
 
Digikat said:
The Jessops stores around here usually have knowledgable staff, I used to like the big shop at the Arndale end of Deansgate, (Manchester) that's where I bought my first (current) DSLR, the chap I spoke to spent ages sorting out what I wanted and did me a good deal comparable with what I could get online. Sadly that shop closed and the other shops are really small with little stock.
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Just add my ten 'penneth' - I always had good service at the above,as well and was sad to see it close.
Also use the Deepdale,Preston store and they are knowledgeable and customer focused.
 
I don't know about anyone else but I am getting fed up with all of these rants about jessops staff! Don't you think it's time we put a stop to these mods?
 
My first experience of a Jessops was in the first half of the 80s when they were a small discount shop on the Finchley Road - yes that long ago!! They were a knowledgable bunch back then as indeed are any of the staff I've been to in and around the London area. I wouldn't necessarily write them off on account of a few possible trainee members of staff. For a bricks and mortar operation, their pricing isn't bad either and you can try out the equipment before buying or indeed even if you aren't.


Cheers all

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I used the Newcastle Jessops on Thursday when I got my 35mm 1.8 and had no troubles with them at all! :)
 
smithphoto said:
I don't know about anyone else but I am getting fed up with all of these rants about jessops staff! Don't you think it's time we put a stop to these mods?
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I agree with you but what you'll generally notice is that these threads start with rants and by the end there are lots of people saying "actually I think Jessops are ok"

At which point those that are out to condemn the biggest (and only high street) camera retailer in the UK tend to crawl back in their holes.

Which is good :)
 
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i always give them the chance to sell me what i want
if they can get close to the price i like then i will buy from them
also nice to take something back and get a refund with no issues etc
 
Is this the right place to compliment Jessops staff? :thinking:

Anyway, I have a Jessops 360AFD flashgun which I got 6 months ago, but over the weekend it refused to fire when in any of the bounce positions. I took it into the Birmingham City Centre branch and the guy straight away swapped it over with a brand new one, no questions asked!

I suppose that didn't really take specialist camera knowledge, but he was friendly enough and I was out of there 10 mins later with a new working flashgun :D
 
i cant believe ive found a lets slag Jessops off thread.
was worth joining this forum for.
our branch in wigan now closed, im gutted. i used to love going in there when i was feeling down, i used to come out feeling much better,
one muppet (sorry sales muppet) told an elderly man to go to argos , for a part for his slr film camera. i almost wet myself.

jessops catch phrase should be
we not got it in stock but we can order one for you.
 
I recently went into the a Jessops to check out a Canon 7D and was served by a very helpful salesman, who it appeared had just finished a photography degree. After 5-10 mins of playing with the camera I tolf him that I had found a very good price online, but if they could get close to the price I'd buy it there an then as I do like to buy from shops and am prepared to pay a bit over the best price for good service, but they would move on the price despite the £200 difference.

However the salesman spent another 20mins chatting and letting me try other lenses despite the fact I told him that I could afford anything more. I've got to say that if the prices were a bit more competitive I'd buy from that bloke.
 
Harmless` said:
I I'd buy it there an then as I do like to buy from shops and am prepared to pay a bit over the best price for good service, but they would move on the price despite the £200 difference.
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It must have been a grey import being that much cheaper?
 
smithphoto said:
It must have been a grey import being that much cheaper?
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not always. have you seen jessops prices. a lot of the top end stuff can be a lot more than other dealers.
have you never seen there sales. when you look how much they knock off, the price is normaly then the same as other companys that dont have a sale
 
Last time I went into Jessops Northampton with £1400 cash in my pocket, I walked out with £1400 still in my pocket as they wouldnt even get a camera out for me to look at,

Manager looked a bit flush when i showed him the cash then walked out never to return !

Al'
 
hi the jessops at Cirencester is ok, the staff are ok as well, there is also a second hand camera shop across the road also nice people selling some nice gear,

Regards Merc
 
Was in Jessops Aberdeen earlier to buy a camera bag. Thought I'd leave a comment on here about the customer service.

Walked in and there were two shop assistants having a conversation behind the till which is fair enough as the shop was empty. One of them immediately finished their conversation and walked over to me to ask if I needed any help. He also said that he could let me try out the lenses.

I told him I'd just have a look, then flagged him down five minutes later with a question on a camera bag. I asked if the 70-200 2.8 would fit in it to which he responded 'Canon or Nikon?' - he then pointed me towards a larger camera bag which was also cheaper (the Fastpack 350). He then told me that he also owned this bag for his Canon 40d etc.

Good service all round.

(P.S. Sorry for the bad sentence structure in this post.)
 
DrRusty said:
I wnet in to the Stratford branch to buy a D5000, I knew it was slightly more than on-line, but I needed it urgently for work.

They had one left and after a serach of the stock room, it transpires that it was the dispaly model !! The assistant started to pack it up and I pointed out that it was the display item and a discount (due to use, would be fair).

I was intially offer it being cleaned, then as I didn't want to buy anything else a token gesture of £5 off (<1%).

I walked out and purchased it that evening from WEX and it arrived the next day saved more than a £5. (y)

I will refain from spending any money in Jessops again as they clearly don't want it :bonk:
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That's one of the biggest problems with Jessops atm. I work there and I know it. Even on our popular ranges we only have 1 or 2 in stock at anyone time. Which means that as soon as it comes in store it has to be opened and straight onto the shelf.

Unfortunately we can't offer many discounts anymore :( We are on strict discounting rates from higher up that must be adhered too. Means that we have to sell display models at RRP.

EDIT: To go with that at the moment we have 1 x 7D in stock, which must go in the cabinet. But we dont have a D300s in for example, which means there's nothing to compare it too. So people looking to look at both and decide from there are stuck. Obviously not everyone looking for a 7D havnt had an SLR before, a lot of people look to upgrade from a lower range. But it's still something that needs to be sorted.
Same situation with the D90. We have a D90 in stock but dont have any 500D's or 550D's in stock which are similar models, so consumers looking for their first DSLR with Full HD Video only have the option of Nikon, or in most cases because they can't try both go elsewhere.
 
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I worked at Jessops in Ipswich for a couple of years while I was at uni, and I reading this thread I can only echo Sean's points. It's incredibly frustrating when someone comes in, you spend a lot of time with them and share your knowledge (yes a lot of staff are pretty clueless about photography, but y'know, if they knew everything there is to know about photography, they wouldn't be working there for peanuts now, would they. I worked there because I enjoyed it and I enjoyed photography) and then they just walk out and buy it online. You begin to lose faith in that sort of customer and instead just start pushing out compact cameras with loads of "addons" to the customer who just wants to take some holiday snaps. Five of those sales in an hour is a hell of a lot more profit that spending an hour going through the intricacies of a DSLR with someone who's going to produce all kinds of price match rubbish and not take anything else with it. Harsh, but true.

It's also worth noting that anyone posting on here is not Jessops' target market.

I remember one sale in my store, it was a Nikon SLR, can't remember the model, but between £800-£1000. We went through the whole process with him, he was going to take it, but with no addons at all. Fair enough. He then wanted us to price match it. Again, fair enough. We had to phone HQ to get the price match authorised, it all went through ok. The customer was happy, we were happy to make the sale. We went to get a boxed one from the store room and our boss decided to overrule. Sales targets were all about the addons, we were having a particularly bad day and that particular sale was going to make us look worse. It'd be better for the store to not make the sale at all.

So we carefully opened the box, took the battery out and re-sealed it and while showing him through the box at the point of sale, "discovered" that the battery was missing and apologised and told him that was the last one in stock. He left with nothing.

Ridiculous, really, but logical.

I kind of wish Jessops would just go under, to be honest. People don't seem to understand that operating store branches costs more than selling online. People would soon want them back if they didn't exist!
 
sezzi said:
Last time I went into Jessops Northampton with £1400 cash in my pocket, I walked out with £1400 still in my pocket as they wouldnt even get a camera out for me to look at,

Manager looked a bit flush when i showed him the cash then walked out never to return !

Al'
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Should of walked ten minutes up the road to Skears. I believe one of the employees there used to manage Northampton Jessops, don't hold that against them though, they are a very nice and knowledgeable bunch.
 
To the OP.

I wonder, what do you do for a living? Do you know everything about every topic that your work entails? Do you work for minimum pay? Do you deal with arzy customers who price match ,waste time and then buy dodgy grey imports?

Perhaps you are being a tad unfair in making such a sweeping generalisation?

Who knows......:shrug:
 
PauloWanClift said:
Should of walked ten minutes up the road to Skears. I believe one of the employees there used to manage Northampton Jessops, don't hold that against them though, they are a very nice and knowledgeable bunch.
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Skears is a fabulous camera store run and staffed by people who really care about their customers and what they sell. It really is like camera stores used to be.

The good thing is that whilst they are a little out of the main town centre (where Jessops are based), the Skears store ALWAYS seems busy whilst Jessops has ***&&& all stock and is usually devoid of anyone spending any cash.

If you're after a superb camera shop in Northampton or even just passing - drop in and I can assure you you'll be delighted.

And before you ask - no, I do not work there :)
 
I found Jessops is the PCWorld of the Camera market.
I went in on Sunday to pick up a Cheap and cheerful tripod. And decided to have a little look at the cameras. Only the sales guy who happened to be a Canon employee working there for the day didn't have a clue. Not about the cameras or the lenses. He wouldn't even let me take a look at the camera out of the glass case.

I did go there again on Monday and the young lady who was there did let me have a good 10 minutes using the camera in the store so I could get a feel for it. She even let me try out the BG-D7 [or what ever its called] battery grip with it, taking out of a sealed box. Very helpful in that regard. Though she didn't know much about the cameras. She was still sweet and helpful.

Where this other guy just came across as rude and superior without even being able to answer any questions.


[added] I did buy my 400D from this store before. And I'm considering buying a 7d now. But there is no way I'm just going to buy it without having a good look at it first and then having a think. Its ridiculous to expected to spend that much money straight off like that. Its also ridiculous to expect people to not do some research to find better prices especially in this day and age where money is tight.
 
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Martyn said:
So we carefully opened the box, took the battery out and re-sealed it and while showing him through the box at the point of sale, "discovered" that the battery was missing and apologised and told him that was the last one in stock. He left with nothing.

Ridiculous, really, but logical.
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Umm, I would say that is not only cheeky but also creeping towards fraud?
What if he accepted it and brought it? At that point you'll be breaking the law and then liable.
 
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One Jessops store I went into had their drinks and icelollies in the film fridge! I wasnt too impressed with that. They also tried selling me printer paper when i wanted darkroom paper and clearly asked for darkroom paper. Ive also had staff not knowing what ilfordxp2 film was and also had someone trying to charge me £10 for a standard 35mm black and white film because apparently iflord had stopped making all their black and white film so it was now £10. I went to boots instead and picked it up for around £3.50! Ive also gone in and asked for a tripod which they didnt have in stock. I asked if they could order and was just told "no" even though i know they could as another store offered to do that for me but wasnt my local jessops! Oh and ive got prints back with THE WORST colour casts on them! It was pictures of me stood infront of a white wall. Both films were shot at the same time. One came back where i looked like i had been tangoed and the other my skin was blue. When I went in to complain and said their machine must not be calibrated properly or something they tried claiming that it was a problem with my photos not the prints! I argued that made no sense as how could they both be different colours if they were both done at the same time but wasnt offered any assistance. I dont use them anymore for anything!
 
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