High street K10D advice

I am still amazed at a conversation (almost an argument, to be honest!) I had with an assistant on Saturday after popping into my local branch of a certain high street camera chain to have a look at the K10D. After asking to have a little look & play with it I was astounded to be told:

(a) that Pentax used to make good cameras ("I've got a K1000" but then they started manufacturing in Hong Kong and it all went downhill. They are way behind the other manufacturers when it comes to digital - the assistant said she'd never recommend Pentax, & that I'd get the same opinion from all the other members of staff.

(b) I gently pointed out that the K10D is looking like the best camera in it's class, & that specification-wise there's nothing in the same price range to match it. I said that if I was looking at other models I'd be looking at the 30D or the D200, & the assistant looked genuinely shocked at my statement, saying that she thought it was really a competitor for the D50!

(c) To which I said to wait & see, & that I was confident in how it'd be received, but I was told not to trust magazine reviews as Pentax pay them a lot of money to get good reviews! And that the Sony Alpha is a far better bet.

Blimey! It sounds like someone's marketing is working... I got the distinct impression the assistant must be working on commission, but even so I'd expect a bit of balance. I really don't understand why anyone would want to put someone off buying a product from their shop, but that was exactly what happened.

I don't have any problem with Nikon or Canon cameras, & think I can see their relative merits & demerits, but to be so zealously misinformed left me a bit surprised, to say the least.

Has anyone else experienced such bias when trying to get impartial advice?

Jonathan

Jonathon,


Do you want a K10D print to take into the shop?

Mind you, personally I wouldn't bother going back...
Matt

Report them to Trading Standards for supplying false information.

G

Incidentally, there is no reason not to mention the shop in question. Provided what you say is true, it cannot be libel, and there is nothing they can do about it.

G

Hmmm!

This sounds like a shop full of assistants who are all Canon users, all frightened their precious Canons are going to be upstaged.

The only other possible explanation is they dont have a clue what they are talking about and if thats the case I wouldnt trust them to sell a Kodak Instamatic, let alone a state of the art DSLR.

Dont bother going back (and please give us a hint who it was)

This happens all the time here. My local shop, listed as a Pentax dealer, has no Pentax DSLRs in stock and point blank refuse to get them saying they are inferior, buy a Canon, or if you must a Nikon. Practically every shop I've been to for Pentax equipment, except one, has taken this attitude. I ended up buying my Ds sight unseen from the net.
The exeption was the camera shop in Alberquerque, where I went in wanting to buy a Canon (in my innocence) and came out with not one, but two(!) Pentaxes (one for my son), having been totally convinced by the guy there that this was the camera for me. If I ever get back there I will give that man a kiss!

HAFO in Den Haag were quite good when I enquired about the K10D, but Pentax only have a small display case there, and I mean small. SeeBuyFly in Schiphol usually do better deals though... I'll let you know how much they are selling them for once I've gone through next week...

The only thing stopping me doing this is that I too work in photographic retail (though sadly I don't get to play with stock), & I don't want to be seen as bashing another company, even though my experience on Saturday was purely as a customer - I'm well aware that customer service depends on who you get on any given day.

Jonathan

Calumet said the same thing to a friend looking at the K100D.

Similar experience in Adams Photographic, Tunbridge Wells, when I was looking for a K10D late November 2006.

I was told that they wouldn't be stocking it, or recommending it now that Pentax UK had "gone down the toilet." Quite a statement for a Pentax dealer, I thought. Head office didn't seem interested, though. Finished up getting mine at Park Cameras in Burgess Hill.

Ray.

Hi,

Jonathan..PLEASE please name and shame the shop.

AND..please return to the shop, ask to see the manager and tell him exactly what the 'assistant' said. Be totally factual and calm. It really is about time that dealers like this and their poor staff are shamed. Also after you have done this, if you do not get a satisfactory answer from the manager for the persons total ignorance, then please contact the head office and supply their customer service manager with the info.

I am all for mentioning this on a froum like this, but this really needs taking up directly with the dealer involved. I would also inform Pentax UK.

cheers Steve.

I see that Jessops profits are down (http://tinyurl.com/yfkm3n)- blamed on a shortage of Kanikon kit. Maybe they should have stocked up with Pentax gear!

based on my own past experiences with some (NOT all, Cambridge and Nottingham have been very helpful to me, just avoid Aylesbury and Bicester like the plague!) branches, I would be willing to bet it was Jessops.

With the current (general) apathy towards Pentax from certain dealers it could be anyone, but you have to remember that an awful lot of retail staff are little more than sheep, they are sent on the companys training courses, brainwashed with the company policies etc etc, so what can you expect from them when more senior and more "experienced" members of staff tell them a product is rubbish.....BAAA! BAAA!

Sadly even management cant run a business to save their skins, a bad comment from a well know jewellers chain several years ago proves that!

To be fair there are some excelent retail sales staff out there, the ones who really know their stuff and who are trained to think for themselves.

I think "trained to think for themselves" might be a bit of a contradiction, but I do know quite a few Jessops staff and they are keen and knowledgable. In any large organisation you will get a range of ability.