Jessops UK. Good or bad?
 

Whats the UK members thoughts on Jessops?
Whats prompted this is experiences of late in that, for example, a lens on their web site is £116, yet in store its £190. No good if you've been given vouchers for Christmas as you cant spend them on the web site!
Also told by one of their staff that Jessops High St stores are a different company to Jessops on the net hence the differences in prices!
Price matching promises have also left a bitter taste of recent; when presenting proof recently that we could buy a camera elsewhere cheaper they got out of it by saying "that ones black & the one we are offering is silver".
Memory card prices I also find expensive.

Al Tee & JamieZ740

I think jessops are good at what they do. No high street chain is going to be able to match the small dynamic on-line provider. I notice there is no more television advertising.

With no more price match - is the writing on the wall for Jessops in this very competitive industry?

Before Jessops opened shops nationwide I believe they were very good. Customers (including me - (in the 1970's I think!)) would travel many miles to Leicester to what was in effect a trade counter on the end of a warehouse with no goods on display, because their prices were very competitive. The majority of their customers now appear to be what I would call "non-enthusiasts" that also use other high-street big-name shops e.g. Currys and PCworld etc.
I now buy some items from Jessops, usually because of availability or special offers they sometimes have, and a few items are good value, plus they are convenient.

Roger

My experience is pretty bad. On the last 2 visits the staff I have spoken to were completely in the dark about what I wnated. They appear to be so young and with no experience of cameras or photography in general.

I go to LCE who are so much more knowledgable and helpful.

Nogbad

living in the sticks they are about all I have for picking up odds and ends and I have had good service from them, eg taking back an epson scanner (bought on tokens) which was meant to be compatible with mac and was about as compatible as me and BG without a murmur and swapping it for a canon, a bank holiday too

Have used LCE Gloucester a lot in the past, but shop is minute and no odds and ends....so its Jessops or PChell

Haven't found them very competitive as a said staffed by young and inexperienced assistants. Tend to price match and buy online now. So thumbs down from me, they need to wake up before they go under.

Stewart

I used to buy from them on a regular basis,but then they were unable to give a specified delivery date,etc,so now I tend to use Mifsuds,who will change any goods purchased without query,and 9/10 deliver the following day,using Royal mail-no need to hang around for a courier!!!

This is my usual experience of staff in most of the big stores, they seem trained to sell goods not to offer advice to their customers. Occaisionally though you can get a deal that suits you.

Alan

Jessops whole business model has changed over the last few years and I feel that they missed the boat. Jessops don't really do anything well these days and their retail branches are a complete waste of time unless you want to browse compact digicams before buying online elsewhere.

I used to use them all the while, and have bought numerous cameras - Nikon F50, F70, F80 - and other items from them. But after a while - about 10 years - I realised that they kept screwing up.

I remember ringing up a branch, asking if they had a camera in stock, asking them to reserve it, and then driving 30 miles to find that they had sold it minutes after I put the phone down. The manager did sort out a replacement after a 30 minute wait while he made phone calls to head office, but that sort of screw up is typical.

And I remember taking in a camera and lens for repair, and getting a quote for £200. So I said yes, and some weeks later they gave me back one unrepaired camera and one cleaned lens. £200 to clean a lens! And that was 10 years ago. Quite why I remained polite I know not.

I went to the same shop to ask for a replacement item for a ball head that I bought in the Oxford Street branch.

Assistant: "We don't sell those."
Me: "I bought it at your London branch".
Assistant: "No you didn't."

On another occasion I ordered a lens described as like new. They couldn't find it. So I argued loudly, and eventually after 10 minutes they found it. And it was not as described. So I complained in writing, and astonishingly they sent me a £20 voucher and a very apologetic letter. (I hope no-one is getting any ideas. :D ) But I haven't been back.

I am tempted to say that I do not know how they will survive, but I do. They are a high street chain, and they are convenient, and provide a semblance of service, and more importantly, immediate gratification for the acquisitive masses. I bought an Ipod from Currys, because they were convenient. So maybe that is it. They sell lots of modest price items.

For cameras I prefer Warehouse Express and Speed Graphic, or even Grays of Westminster who often have stuff when others don't though they charge an arm and a leg.

I remember that. I queued for ages in the cold with my father, so that we could buy some B&W paper and some chemicals, at prices much lower than Youngs Cameras. That was when the shop was on a corner near the magazine.

Once in a while you will find a member of staff who is a photographer and will offer good advice. However, 9 times out of 10 you here complete rubbish told to customers. You would think that with their buying power they could offer better deals than the high st indepenents. In my area they seem to have stopped doing the odd and sods. Their DSLR stuff is over priced and in most cases the only item they have is Demo item. Packaging is damaged or loss.

If a shop does not have an item in stock and has to order it then you might as well order it yourself on-line.

The only way I can see Jessops going is down.

I use them for odds and sods, small accessories etc, if my local LCE doesn't have the item in stock, which is unfortunately all too often. Would never buy bigger purchases from Jessops. OK for convenience, otherwise don't bother.

I only now use them for odds and sods. Im lucky that the manager of my local store actualy knows what he is taking about, i make sure he serves me in the shop on the odd visit i make.

bit in the independent today about Jessops announcing reduced profits due to inadequate stocks of popular DSLRs pre Christmas. Did Canon deliberately underproduce 350 to clear way for 400 and Nikon ditto D50 to clear for D40?

Having used various branches of Jessops over a number of years,knowledge and service down,but the online service is quick efficent and hassle-free.

I remember a few years back going in to Jessops Sheffield branch to trade in a 28-75 and 60-300 SP Tamron lenses in part exchange for a Nikon 75-300 zoom costing nearly £500, the lenses were in mint condition. The guy in Jessops said they could only offer me £15 in part exchange for both lenses because they had fungus inside, (they didn't). I'm afraid I said something rude to the assistant, walked out of the shop and into another photographic shop further up the road. The assistant there was extremely helpfull, checked my lenses, remarked they were in almost mint condition and offered me £90 against the Nikon lens. The Nikon lens was already £30 cheaper than at Jessops, the trade was done and I happily walked out of the shop with my new Nikon lens, I still have it, it produces excellent images.

Needless to say I will never use Jessops for any serious transaction again.

nirofo.

Whenever I have been in to the local branch they seem more interested in selling a £80 point and shoot camera to someone than say a £1000 lens.

Looking at the forum threads and the contradicting comments that are placed in general, it is easy to see that no one is perfect and knows everything. To me you should research something thoroughly yourself before you buy if your serious about what you do, taking stock of all that is said, and then make your own mind up. Jessops staff like any other store staff are only human. Yes some are good and some are not so good, just like the customer. They have to put up with a lot of flack from both sides of the counter. You normally find that alot of problems stem from the higher levels of management. It is the same whatever your own field of hobby/profession is. I get alot of rubbish spoken to me in equestrian circles, I also get some good. You have to sort the wheat from the chaff. I think alot more people today have got into cameras as a secondary asset to their pc, and are not from the old school SLR days. Ten years ago only a fraction of homes had computers and were on the internet and digital cameras were hardly heard of. Now with the explosion of digital and everyone joining the band wagon, the market is more competitive and the previous specialist shops are having to give way to trends to keep up. I know ten years ago I probably wouldn't have been able to go to Currys to buy a camera if I'd wanted to. This is where I believe the problem lies. Oh! and by the way I don't work in a shop I just try to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. No pun intended.

I use to do same as Roger did i use to go there from Nottingham most of my gear is from them until digital and it is mostly from warehouseexpress who,s service is very very good ,but i think Jessop cameras will match price !

I must say with Jessops even the nottingham one have always been very helpfull in the past i cant run them diown and getting a camera from a shop llke Jessops you will always get good service before and after buying i have always found that out,if it is has cheap from Jessops as online get it from Jessops !.

Oh I could, in fact I often look for Jessops staff walking across the road (or even on the pavement, a bit too close to the kerb) :D

I think it a case of the blind leading the blind or a non-exsistant source of reference. Along with the fact that people do not like to admit that they can't answer the question correctly and just give any reply. Basically it is down to management to give staff training or provide a well informed help line.

To be honest I would prefer no answer than an incorrect one because it could lead to time wasting or cause damage.

I find this remark rarther offensive Andy especially from a member of Admin. There are probably WPF members who no doubt have friends or family who work for Jessops and this kind of remark is totally uncalled for. There may even be members themselves who work for the company. So much for the friendly forum:mad:

I know Andy is far too nice to mean it at all literally Angela, maybe a joke in doubtful taste, but no more. How about a look at my horse laugh in over-exposed to take the frown off your face? :)

Epona you need to get a grip Jessops is crap!! and this is a friendly forum!!

:D That gave me a good laugh.

Hello Epona: I found Andy's comment hilarious, and I am pretty sure that was his intention, and that he does not drive over Jessops staff, and that he has no violent intentions towards them. I was tempted to ask if it was him that I saw reversing over a Jessops staff member but I thought better of it.

I posted my experiences earlier, and they are crap.

The staff sometimes try hard, but not infrequently they are rude and/or useless. Many are young, they are clearly not particularly well trained (not their fault), they are probably not well paid (not their fault), and they sell a large range of different items (not their fault). I blame the management not the staff.

As an aside, a few months back I was in the local branch (name withheld to protect the innocent) and a young Polish woman was serving. She was wearing a shirt that was not tucked in to her trousers. I asked her for some lens tissues. She turned round, and bent down to look in some draws. As she did so, her shirt was pulled up. Her trousers were falling down, and her backside was exposed for the entire world to view. I'm not sure she realised why I was struggling to stifle laughter. Pity I didn't have a camera with me.

They have had my 20D for repair longer than I have owned it, I wonder if its used as the staff camera, probrably come back with snaps of clacton pier all over it.

Totally uncalled for Andy, let's keep the forum decorum!

nirofo.

Nirofo do you really think Andy is for one minute being serious ? What do you thinK this is :D

Steve course I don't, why do you think I made a pun about keeping the forum decorum??

nirofo.

To some extent I agree with you nirofo but I can also understand Andy's frustration and I do believe his comment was firmly tongue in cheek.

I certainly hope that people from Jessops see this thread (especially the board of directors) so they know how disappointed some their customers feel.

I am an easy going person who likes to try and support local shops where I can. About 18 months ago I was in the market to upgrade my DSLR camera and lens. Jessops had a BIG sign outside the shop claiming to price match internet prices. So I entered to see what deal I could strike. I was prepared to go halfway between their price and the cheapest gray market prices. I was given a long list of excuses by the manager as to why they would not match this or that company. (One for example was the company was not British !! even though it traded in the UK and you paid VAT) In the end I say OK tell me what companies you will price match ? Then I was told ( yes you have seen the advert ) No it does not work like that !!

I went into the shop to do business and all they wanted to do was play games with me. They managed to make my blood boil by the time I had left.
Needless to say I spent my £1800 elsewhere.

Epona I note you have not related to your personal dealings with Jessops :rolleyes:

Well everyone; thanks for the responses; blimey / phew, that got interesting last night!
It was interesting yet both pleasing & dissapointing to hear that many of you have the same opinion as ourselves, (JamieZ740 & me).
In the previous post Rob explains he's had virtually an identical experience to ourselves.
We sent a complaining email & letter to one of their top guys with the initials "C.L." a week ago. Guess what? Yep; no response, not even an acknoweldement they've received it! Why am I not surprised?
Staff training's also been mentioned. I seriously think that one of the main points that they are trained on is how to duck this way & dive the other to avoid having to comply with the offers in their adverts!
Anyway; thanks everyone for responding to this thread.
You never know, someone from Jessops Board of Directors might just read it & they might just kick some a***!
Al.

maybe someone should accidently forward it on, in an envelope, accidently addressed to Jessops, accidently with a stamp on so it accidently gets there?:D :confused: :p :rolleyes:



that reminds me of when i went to buy my d50 from jessops... i never got it from there in the end!!

Hi Folks,
Just registered and posting here for the first time...so here goes!

(holding the grenade) I work at a branch of Jessops (pin comes out...sound of explosion follows)

This topic thread really caught my eye, and I've read it through with great interest...so if I may add my thoughts, many of which come from the 'inside looking out'.....

I'm not claiming the be the worlds authority or expert on every type of battery charger AV or Camera USB cable known to man (which are the most commonly requested items in our store) BUT I am seriously worried for some of my colleagues.
Yes, there are some of my colleagues who lack some pretty major fundamental product knowledge (my manager asked me to explain an 'f/' number to a new starter only the other day, for example!)
However, having said this some of our new starters do have a great willingness to learn, and show great enthusiasm for what we sell.
We have also been told that the new training programme is due to start up again in the very near future. Some company based stuff and manufacturer sponsored sessions usually fill the itinery to bursting point. I'm looking forward to that.

Some of our concerns (those of us in the high street shops, including managers) have been appalled by the administration of Jessops price match policy. Just recently we were told to take down all point of sale within the store because "price match was finishing"....only to find our very own website AND full page adverts in just about every popular photography magazine from this months issue still claim we will price match 110% a UK website or high street retailer (with confirmed uk business telephone number)...OUR BUGGER!

As everyone will probably understand, we are advised to follow a procedure, like any other company would do.
So the current policy for price match at the moment we can only assume and then had confirmed by our helpdesk is......No we don't do it....or if the customer walking in with a magazine in hand or website printout, yes we do!!!

All of us at our branch would much rather help customers the best way we can, and ultimately do business. I can say hand on heart that I feel for our manager who wants to have full control and have the power to use discretion where needed feels the most pi**ed off with current procedure.

Way before I worked for the company, I shopped at Jessops. Jessops was traditionally a photographic retailer that catered for the photographers looking for that particular accessory/part not available elsewhere.... Jessops was also a company that never had a sale (no, they didn't) ....they never had a sale because they never needed one. Jessop prices used to be prices others 'price matched' to! (or went down to in their January sales)
Hey ho the world has changed, despite any number of complaints no high street retailer will EVER truely match website prices for a prolonged period...seriously, think about it...how could they? (some of the price matches we did were way below trade prices)

On the bright side, more and more customers are happier about taking photos and getting their prints......Due to the advent of quality digital media the number of folks opening their envelopes to reveal dissapointing prints is down dramatically.....

More and more people are becoming involved in picture taking...which is good

Which brings me to a GOOD thing about Jessops...the quality of the lab processing. (at our store and central lab atleast). Time and time again we see really badly processed or scratched negatives brought in for enlargements made. Poor quality prints abound from other high street labs. No we're not the cheapest for kiosk prints, but we've seen the competitions quality Colab,Tesco,Asda,Sainsburys,max spielmann in all cases either they don't handle materials with enough care or don't replenish chemicals as often as we do.....our lab manager works wonders!
I give an example from only a couple of weeks ago....

In walks customer (a fully grown male), asks to speak to manager.
I ask if I may help in any way, as the manager is currently with another customer.
No he wants to speak to the manager
Very well, I apologise for him having to wait as it looks like the manager might be a while....but I would see if I could shorten the delay for him....
I approached the manager to ask if the customer minded if I took over...as it happened, no, the other customer didn't mind. Great... manager free for the fully grown adult male stood at the D&P counter.....which is where it all happened!......
Que fully grown adult tantrum, the provebial throwing of the dummy out of the pram and teddy thrown in the corner. He'd got his prints but his negatives had been "stolen"!
A lengthy heated discussion from the 'customer' then storming out of the shop to phone head office.
In walks later revealed he'd used a kiosk to order his prints ie they were digital!...prints then thrown at us across the counter...picking one up from the floor I revealed the printed code on the back was not one we used ...Lab manager recognised it as one Sainsburys down the round use! HE'D NOT EVEN BEEN OUR CUSTOMER!!!!!!!! to top it off later we learnt that head office customer liason had sent vouchers to him too!!
Our customer liason are so keen to help customers to smooth over any issues they may have, they actually helped a 'non customer in this case......

So stop and think people....unlike Jessops, how many websites or other high street stores would give a flying damn about you AFTER you've bought from them??!...not many ;)

Another (quicker) example from last friday (but it's happened more than once)
The autofocus doesn't work on my brand new D50!
Sorry to hear that madam, may I have a look at it for you
No, I want a replacement. I'm fed up with it
Ok, well, I'd like to help so I do need to look at the camera please madam
Here, take it and get me a replacement....NOW
That's ok madam, but your camera is fine, I'd pleased to tell you the camera's fine
No it's NOT!
Yes, it is madam, the switch here was set to MF which stands for manual focus, turn it to the position marked AF which stands for auto focus. Your cameras should focus now madam.. If you need any further help we'd be happy to help. Is your instruction manual in the box?
customer then snatches camera from my hands and stomps out of shop....no word, not even a thanks...still, never mind I'm happy with my life LOL
These folks are daily occurences in our shop. It's a challenge (which I do like from time to time) but rudeness is always difficult to swallow with a smile.

Please make your Jessops related complaints to headoffice, as we at the branches (I speak for myself only tho) are absolutely powerless to go outside the procedure....We try to help, but we are up against it. Head office I'm sure would be happy to see this thread. Ultimately, it is only concerns raised that lead to improvements made in the service we at Jessops offer.

We at our store go all out the help the customers, we enjoy what we do, but it does appear that from time to time some are beyond help, or just simply not willing to be helped


As a final few words.......Jessops Main managment which changed not so long ago previously headed Dixons. make of that what you will ;).....I would personally not want Jessops as a company to turn into anything Dixons was!

Thanks for the input JoeJac

I know how difficult customers can be having worked as a service manager. But if a company has policies like this no wonder people get a bit heated. When dealing with the public a lot of psychology has to be used. If the company takes the attitude that it is always right, takes the customer for a fool it's not long before the customer gets wise and votes with their feet.

Thanks JoeJac,
Brilliantly started off.."grenade..pin out"..like it.
Well, as it's me, and Jamie Z740 who started this thread off I thought I'd better make you a hasty reply.
As you've obviously read there's a lot of people out there that are pi...dissapointed with Jessops & a lot of us have vented our spleens so to speak. I think we all realise that the problems stem from the top within Jessops and if anyone's come accross a Jessops employee that has been totally useless, well, in my view that person shouldn't have been employed by Jessops in the 1st place.
I'm not grovelling here, but you are obviously conciencious & take pride in your photograhy knowlege so as you can assist your customers. I wish you worked at our local branch & I no doubt bet that Jessops wish they had a person like you at every store in Britain!
One thing I forgot to mention earlier and you've mentioned above; staff training. Can you ask your management to pay you overtime so you can be trained out of hours rather than me pay for an hours parking; get to the shop at 9am & find the shutters down with a notice saying you're closed till 10.."staff training"!!!!!
Has anyone at "top level" read this thread yet? Would they take any action?
Good to hear from you.
Al.

Thank you JoeJac for your valued input.

Update: Just had a call off JamieZ740; Jessops rang him yesterday from head office in response to his letter of complaint. Outcome being they've offered him £70 off any lens he wishes to purchase in our local store!
Credit where it's due; at least they've read the letter and took some action.
Al.