Where Do You Shop....

My last purchase was from Fotosense, excellent service and a good price.
 
InaGlo said:
Hi guys,
After not feeling too happy with the service received at Jessops recently, I have decided Id like to shop elsewhere.
Do any of you have recommendations to share?
Click to expand...

Depends whether you want the touchy feely of a retail outlet or are happy with buying on the net ? :ponders:

And then again what are you after and what sort of budget ... or is it just window shopping ?

Some of the best outlets are specialist in one field or another so a variety of sources will likely be required ! :dizzy:
 
If it is a camera or a lens then over the counter. Anything else wherever it's cheapest.

regards
 
Sadly, we can't buy Canon gear from 7dayshop any longer, their prices were great and excellent service. I'd have no hesitation in recommending Warehouse Express though. They're not always the cheapest, but their prices are good, it's UK stock, and they've never let me down on delivery yet - order before 12 noon and the postman is hanging on your doorbell next morning. :)
 
I've bought my previous 2 cameras from Jessops and always found them very helpful. I only buy from the shop so i have somewhere to go if the camera ever develops a fault. From now on with lenses and accessories i will buy from ebay and the net in general.
 
Bought my camera from PC World (seriously - they had a collect in store offer that was better than anyone elses, also allowed me to try it for comfort).

Other stuff bought 50mm f1.8 from Jessops pre-owned (cost £40)
Busterboy for an 85mm f1.8 (was immaculate).
Other stuff from:

Warehouse Express
Dabs
The Digital Camera Company
Castle Cameras
Amazon.co.uk
Scan.co.uk

Just depends whos got what in stock and at what price.
 
local shops usually. in cardiff my favorite shop charges me whatever warehouse express charge which works out as a rather nice deal :D
 
I've never been in a Jessops shop and found anything I was interested in actually in stock - consequently I have never bought anything there.

Buying strategy depends on your attitude to risk. Risk of having warranty hassles, delivery delays or even non delivery. Maybe foolishly I accept repair hassle risks and go for the best price. My highest value purchase has been from Kerso (Ian Kerr) - someone I only know by reputation (an excellent reputation). He despatches US sourced goods from Scotland. I think Lenses have international warranty so might be no problem - but I have not needed to test it.

My 20D came from Ebuyer - one of the most hassle filled etailers for returns out there. The price at the time was so good it was worth the risk (grey import camera from Canada). Again (touch wood) I have had no need to claim.

Can't decide what to get next - wide angle lens.... macro lens....starting to fancy a fast std prime. Whatever I get I will probably still go for the best price.
 
RobertP said:
I've never been in a Jessops shop and found anything I was interested in actually in stock - consequently I have never bought anything there.
Click to expand...

Pretty much my reason for not shopping with them, I grew tired of asking if they had X and being told - "no but we can get them in, in about 3 to 5 days", bare in mind they were little things like lens caps and hoods, general day to day items, not exactly £3K lens or anything you would be too expensive to keep in stock. I just thought I can order it and get it in 24 hours, so to hell with "trying" to support my local store.:hand:
 
Jessops have taken over so many small businesses in the last few years, that they're now virtually a monopoly on the high street. I agree they seldom seem to have much stock these days, and I can rarely even be bothered to ask now.
 
The shops/people I have bought from and had great service are;

Warehouse Express
Greys of Westminster
Harrisons (Sheffield)
Jacobs
Digital Rev (Ebay HK)
URGalaxy (Ebay HK)
 
Wherever is cheapest......you get a warranty so minimal risk in my eyes....although I did use Jessops once for Sigma lens due to medium risk of duff lens, & savings from HK didn't outweigh risk.

Otherwise I have & would use onestop again....some big savings on Lenses :)
 
I have gone to Jessops a couple of times,but never bought anything.I find, that service and prices are too much for me.I will be going to US sometime this year and I will stop off at B&H Photo in New York to get my Photo Needs.
 
Have bought all my camera kit & lenses via Ebay and (touch wood) never encountered any problems. Accessories have been bought from mouse2house.co.uk and 7dayshop with no problems. As others have said, it all depends on the risk you are prepared to take.
I did buy a small camera bag from an independant local retailer recently, and the service I received in the shop was apalling. It will always be online shopping for me!
 
mouse2house.com should be .co.uk I think, unless you've been buying American houses over the net ;) :)
 
I have bought from both Warehouse Express (online) and Jessops World Camera Centre in Leicester and found both to be excellent.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that about my local Jessops shop.
 
I don't like Jessops either. Remember I went in once and asked for a 55m circular polariser. The look on the girl's face you'd think I'd asked her for sex. She was completely bewildered. :shock:
 
Warspite said:
Bought my camera from PC World (seriously - they had a collect in store offer that was better than anyone elses, also allowed me to try it for comfort).

Other stuff bought 50mm f1.8 from Jessops pre-owned (cost £40)
Busterboy for an 85mm f1.8 (was immaculate).
Other stuff from:

Warehouse Express
Dabs
The Digital Camera Company
Castle Cameras
Amazon.co.uk
Scan.co.uk

Just depends whos got what in stock and at what price.
Click to expand...


same here, got canon 350d from pc world, i saved a bit too as i reserved it online and they gave me that price instead of instore price, even although it was only reserved, allowed me to have a feel and play, aside that jessops in Edinburgh is fantastic and highly recommended, great staff, very helpfull and honest.
 
GfK said:
I don't like Jessops either. Remember I went in once and asked for a 55m circular polariser. The look on the girl's face you'd think I'd asked her for sex. She was completely bewildered. :shock:
Click to expand...

:laugh1:
 
Got my 350d from jessops direct who did a cracking deal and price match, so can't fault them really, got both my sigmas from LCE 1 with internet price match 1 with P/ex., got my speedlight from T4 cameras best price at the time and very good service, so I went back to T4 cameras to get my Mnafrotto stuff too, again good price great service.
 
Thanx for all your feedback guys.
The reason Im asking is because I took my 5D back to my local Jessops yesterday & exercised my '30 day money back gaurentee'.
Id had lousy service from ignorant & unhelpful staff & had suspected that my camera might be a returnee, box was a bit 'tired looking' attachments werent bagged & worse of all....there was a scratch on one of the control buttons.
I was umming and ahhing with taking it back because they said Id have to wait a month for them to order another but, when I heard that Canon were now giving £200 cashback on current 5D purchases...well that was the clincher.
Ill be checking out the above mentioned retailers, so thanx for your help.
Oh & in the meantime...its back to my little G5...gosh dont they feel light after a DSLR!!!
 
It does sound a bit dodgy that Inaglo. :suspect1:

I bought my 20D on line from Purdey's and soon found it had a card read problem. Purdey's exchanged it by return of post- no quibbles.

The 1D I bought from Warehouse Express also had a card read problem and that was exchanged by WE pretty promptly considering the cameras were in short supply at the time.
 
I would have to recommend WEx, Bristol Cameras, 7dayshop. However I find the posts about Jessops interesting. My local shop is nothing but excellent, all the staff are knowledgable and two I would consider expert. I have probably got lucky and I can accept that some shops will have divvies behind the counter.

Regarding stock. Is it feasible that every shop has at least one of every item in their catalogue just in case - I think not and when they have ordered for me I've never waited more than three days. What they keep stocks of are those items that the average person in the street wants - PAS cams, media and of course prints. They don't get it right all the time but what other retail chain has such a bunch of perfectionists like us as customers.

regards
 
I must have been lucky as I have had good service and advice from more than one branch - but only once in York I hit a duff one in a lunch hour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top