More about Rocky cameras...

Hi,

There was an interesting thread on the leads to deals forum recently about Rocky cameras, well here is a link to lots more interesting tales about Mr Rocky...

http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00POk1

cheers Steve.

Still trading as rockycameras.com ??

Looks like it.

Won't give his full address. only

- addresses removed by moderator team -

Funny, I saw those guys yesterday at Photographica, they looked respectable.

So did Dominic Strauss Kahn.

Well it's published here at his site so I did't see the problem ....

http://www.rockycameras.com/newly-listed-items--contact-us--feedback-2-w.asp

I chatted to Rocky yesterday at Photographica too, I've chatted to him many times at camera fairs and auctions and he's a nice guy - just not particularly well organised sometimes.

Most of the negative comments I've read about him could have been sorted by communication so I take them with a pinch of salt.

I have dealt with him on several occasions over his website and never had a problem.
I had one return item and he refunded straight away without any problems at all.
Maybe communication skills of some people are lacking?

What Smutje said - same.

Hi,

I have never bought any item from Rocky, but I have seen and met and talked to him several times at the Wolverhampton camera fair and Photographica and face to face seems an affable and ok kind of chap.

When I was selling a lot of items on ebay for several years I always watched his auctions. I know he buys very large job lots, liquidation bulk buys and house clearance etc, in other words he deals very much in the bottom end of the market and in high volumes.

Lots of his gear is old, badly cared for and in poor or only average condition. Selling this type of item creates problems in itself, as If you are going to sell this type of poor condition items then you really HAVE to be very clear with descriptions and photos and the trouble is that Rocky is not.

His ebay listings for example always had very short, rushed and not terribly clear descriptions and his photos were very poor, so straight away he is setting himself up for problems and this is what happens. He probably knows this, but is dealing with so much volume and so much 'crud' that he has too little time and possibly does no care so much anyway.

Either way, Rocky is regularly (IMO) the architect of his own downfall.

cheers Steve.

I have never had any problems and can't help wondering if some of the problems are due to buyer naivety or unrealistic expectations.
Much of what is sold is at bargain basement prices and from a DEALER. Dealers know the true worth of rare or mint items and would not sell them at rock bottom prices. It therefore should not take too much to work out that sellers claims are to be taken with a pinch of salt. It is a bit of a gamble, but no more so than buying an ebay item listed as " looks good to me, but I know nothing about photography".
I've only ever purchased accessories. If I were a rogue buyer I could have complained:- scratched filters etc. However, lens hood + filter for £2, what do I expect? What I receive is a good lens hood, cheaper than I can get anywhere else and the chance of filter that may or may not be any good. If I really wanted a filter I would expect to pay somewhat more than nothing!!!!

Moose, like I said, I am quite certain having seen many of his items and his descriptions that his own descriptions are simply not good enough and not thorough enough, probably as I say, due to volume and lack of time.

You may have been lucky, but many have not. If you sell items to buyers sight unseen, then descriptions need to be good and clear to avoid buyer issues.

I had some dealings with Keith Rock recently. I searched for a hard to find Leica focusing adapter for Visoflex (I dabble in Leica as well as Pentax) and he was advertising the thing I wanted on his website. It was described as mint so I ordered it. His price was competitive but not cheap. It arrived promptly and looked quite good but unfortunately the focusing mechanism was jammed and did not work.

I emailed him a couple of times but got no response so I phoned him and found him to be quite pleasant and reasonable. He offered an immediate refund. As no refund arrived for a week I phoned again and miraculously my refund appeared in my PayPal account next day.

I think as others have said he struggles to cope with the volume of stuff he deals with. He runs his business as a one man band. He is honest but you do need to chase him a bit to get your money back if things go wrong.

Steve, I certainly do not disagree with you. Trading in this style is courting problems. I am sure that a little more time in accurate descriptions would pay dividends:- Fewer customers would have any reason to feel 'had', reputation would improve and ultimately he could make more profit from fewer sales IF buyers knew exactly what they were getting.
Giving customers an informed choice is always preferable to a 'win some, lose some' lottery and most people will pay a premium for good reliable descriptions.

He always had an issue with sex.