[ebooks4pentax]

We went to the Pasadena, California, Rose Bowl Flea market this past weekend. Other than having a bunch of good deals for just about everything under the sun, it's also a great photo opportunity place. But my thread is not about the photo opportunity this time. Sammy's camera have a store in Pasadena. We went there and unless I would get an official apology from the owners, I will never go back there and will let the world know how I was treated. Someone wise said: If a client is satisfied, he will probably tell 20 to 30 other people about your service, If a client is disatisfied, he will tell the world. Here's what happened.

After our late lunch, we went to Sammy’s camera, downtown Pasadena. I have to be frank with you all; I was very disappointed with the attitude of the sales people behind the counter. Most were rude with all customers, and there is absolutely no reason for that. Still, I waited for my turn to get insulted. I had my K10D with me and I asked if I could try a DA 10-17mm and a DA 12-24mm. He was quick to tell me that they didn’t stock them. He said he could try to order one for me but the market for Pentax is not big enough, hence the reason they do not stock them. They mostly sell to Professional Photographers and stock mostly Nikon and Canon. I guess if you don’t carry but a few Pentax lenses, it would be pretty hard to be successful at selling Pentax lenses. I cannot imagine B & H Photo treating their customers that way. Yes, I could have ordered a lens from them, but I can do that through a friendlier place and for less at: B & H Photo . If all of those sales people are so good and professional, they wouldn’t be working at a camera store, they would be out in the world making money from photography. If they don’t want my business, someone else will.

Anyone else had bad experience with Sammy's camera store(s)?

I don't get mad, but I do get offended by that kind of condescending attitude.

I will get over it.

Yvon Bourque

Come visit...Pentax dslrs

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Last edited by ebooks4pentax; 01-16-2008 at 06:12 PM.

[Duck Dodgers]

No, they should have simply said, "sorry, but we don't carry Pentax." No reason to haughtily imply that since you're not asking about Canon or Neekon, you must not be very good at photography. Especially when they know that their cash cow is the XTi and D40, etc., and those are not being purchased by pros. Oh, well...just like on the interwebz, some people have their ego entwined inextricably with what they sell/own/possess.

[little laker]

It's their loss Yvon,

The way that Pentax is looking now any store refusing to sell them will be cursing themselves later.

Who's Pentax going to sell to first.
A store who was badmouthing them, or the store who's been selling their product through thick and thin.

[WMBP]

I don't get mad, but I do get offended by that king of condescending attitude.

I will get over it.

All Pentax owners need to understand that they're a minority market. This is one of the big disadvantages of buying Pentax and there's no getting around the fact. A Pentax K10D costs less than, say, a roughly comparable Nikon D200. But you can walk into any camera store in the country and buy lenses and other accessories for that Nikon, while if you go with Pentax, you're going to be doing most of your shopping online. It's just the Way Things Are. And I don't blame camera store owners. I simply do not walk into any camera store expecting them to have anything relating to Pentax cameras, or expecting them to know anything about Pentax.

Will

[Sprags]

I went to the Ritz Camera here in town to see and hold the K10D before I purchased mine. They had one on the shelf next to a Nikon and the salesman did let me see it...but he told me I should buy an XTi...of which he had no idea when they were getting back in.

I thanked him and went to MicroCenter a few miles away and looked and held the Canon, just to be fair, even though my mind was pretty much made up after leaving Ritz.

I got my K10D yesterday as many of you know!

I'm extremely happy with my purchasing decision!

[gpaual]

re' " sammys"......k10, this i know.....' Sammy' is 1 helluva guy, if you contact him personally, you may just get an apology. as for the rudeness, it is unlike their usual demeanor. i have never dealt with the Pasadens stire, but i have dealt with the La store on a number of occassions, and they were all very professional. While it IS true that their clientele is usually the more pro type, they have always proved to be supportive and helpful to enrhusiasts or just plain beginners.
In my mind, there IS a conspiracy to keep Pentax suppressed. I have the same problem here, if i go to a local store lo0oking for a lens they tell me they ccan order..." how long will that take ?" ....2-3 weeks !....." thanks" ...." I'll just call adorama, and i'll have it the day after tomorrow. You people really need to get with it ! ".....Sad but a truism.

[davlee]

Pentax DSLRs have been flying off the shelves, particularly in the last year with the K10D and the K100D series.

Business must be pretty good in these brick & mortar camera shops for them to happily give up that market to online sales.

[Mallee Boy]

That is not an uncommon experience. I had the dis pleasure of witnessing a salesman actively talking a customer out of a Pentax in favour of a Nikon once, saying something like 'we never get any enquiries for Pentax' (despite a shelf full of Pentax Optio's as well as the DS/DL the customer was asking about!)....at which point I jumped in with : "well hey, its your lucky day....now you got two enquiries"

Salesman went a bit quiet about other brands after that.

Personally I take a bit of pride in wearing the Pentax shoulder strap, we don't all have to run with the herd, although I'm still not sure about the Samsung lens cap .....funny how we perceive things isn't it.

Cheers

[Stratman]

If someone told me that, I would just say, well, I'll just go buy a Pentax from someone that actually WANTS my business, seems you don't !! And also make sure to let them know that they would never see me in their store again.

[PentaxPoke]

Give the business to someone who wants it. I bought mine at B&H. With the k10d winning all sorts of award in Europe, these "salesmen" (probably just kids that read the C&N marketing) are going to look foolish when a customer who bought an XTi compares their camera to a friend with a k10d...

[mattdm]

Interesting. The woman (the manager, I think) at the Ritz camera in Coolidge Corner was pretty excited to show me a K100D, and while she didn't stock the K10D at that store was happy to point me to the Ritz at the Galleria Mall where they do. At the mall they were a little more disinterested but not rude.

Cameras Inc in Davis Square in Somerville stocked both the K10D and K100D for a while (out of 'em now), and seemed kind of interested to have someone come in and specifically ask about them. They unfortunately couldn't get the lens I wanted quickly enough (before the last-time-around rebate ran out) so I ended up buying from B&H, but still, good people.

[a a i b]

I've been to the LA Sammy's a couple of times -- the last time with a laundry list of Pentax accessories to buy. They had a spare battery, but as I asked about other things the guy definitely was impatient with me and my list. He was annoyed: "We don't stock a lot of Pentax stuff."

I didn't understand -- do you have what I want or not? It isn't personal, and it's not like I was asking if they stocked a bizarre, rare lenses or a viewfinder magnifier for the eyes in the back of my head.

***

It was odd. FWIW I don't get warm fuzzies when I visit B&H either -- one guy was really great, the next time the guy was patently bored with my testing out a 31mm Ltd. He was fine, but bored.

I certainly don't visit camera stores for great service.

[Lowell Goudge]

I am not sure that the real issue here is the stores, although some blame still lies there. I think the biggest issue is the fact that pentax marketing (you all know the guys I'm talking about, they are the ones who say they don't know much about promoting themselves) have really missed. The cameras are hugely popular, as are all the accessories for them, lenses included. The problem is, no one planned for this success, and it has all caught them flat.

As far as treatment from stores, when the K10 first came out, they were very hard to get. I left my name with 2 local stores. I had previously bought cameras from both of them. Both maintained lists and actually called when they had one available. (not bad since they probably could have sold the body to the next life form walking into the store, they didn't really have to call me)

While some lenses have been scarce, and prices in canada lately a little inflated due to the rise of the dollar, neither of these is the problem of the stores, it's not thier fault that lens makers, pentax included, have not really supported Pentax DSLR's with product.

[BettyE]

I brought my K10D in to Unique Photo here in NJ to look for a bag. Although they don't carry Pentax cameras, the sales people were very polite and friendly. They were interested to see my camera and study it a bit because they had heard about it.

[m8o]

Anyone else had bad experience with Sammy's camera store(s)?
I don't get mad, but I do get offended by that kind of condescending attitude.

I've never been to one, but I did have a [very] bad experience @ B&H when buying my camera and 1st lens! (yes, I know I'm in the minority) That's even with me knowing exactly what I wanted, having printed out my B&H wish list they were so good to enable me to make on their website. That didn't stop the salesman from being a bastard in his attitude and hand signals to some friend across the counter while I asked him to go down the list and find me a frigg'n lens you have in stock!... was it my fault they had nothing @ the time?! Finally, with no encouragement from him [dis-couragement acutally] I settled on the much loved Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. not like he had anything to do with that. I also wanted an extended warranty going in. Forgetful that I am I didn't ask; you'd think the salesman would be pushing that. But nope. I also wanted basically every accessory there was for it; magnifying eye piece; flash; etc. I kept asking. He pointed me to nothing. Trust me, there was much more. I described it more on dgrin.com while it was fresh in my memory last summer.

I did get mad as I was walking down 9th Ave afterwards... at myself, for not walking away from the a'hole who I had the unfortunate luck to draw from waiting on line.

Moral of the story? The grass isn't always greener...