Jessops UK. Good or bad?

[Steve]

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

[nirofo]

Originally Posted by Steve

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

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

nirofo.

[robski]

Originally Posted by nirofo

Totally uncalled for Andy, let's keep 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

[Al Tee]

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.

[jamieZ740]

Originally Posted by robski

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

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

Originally Posted by robski

Then I was told ( yes you have seen the advert ) No it does not work like that !!

:

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

[Joe]

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!

[robski]

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.

[Al Tee]

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.

[yelvertoft]

Thank you JoeJac for your valued input.

[Al Tee]

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.