One of the biggest complaints we hear at House of Auscam is the lack of service at camera/camcorder vendors, quickly followed by the lack of knowledge of their staff.

Recently, due to necessity rather than a specific project, I had need to find a particular thing while on a trip to Perth (for those unaware, I am based 300 Km SE of Perth in the small town of Bridgetown, locally called Fridgetown with good reason. As such, if I need a special cable, or some exotic gadget, it’s not exactly a trip to the corner shop!)

This was not a difficult item I was after; a leather cover for my Samsung Galaxy tablet, no big deal you would have thought. That is where I was wrong. And in the process of learning I was wrong, I also learnt quite a few other things too, most of them shameful, having come from a background of tech sales with a Tandy retail store, and more importantly, in the overall scheme of things, as a Tandy Computer Centre manager for quite a few years. I’ve also been involved in PR and supply chains and distribution for my sins.

The first was attitude. In every store I entered, bar one (more on that later), I was treated indifferently, almost contemptuously, usually by a be-jeaned, tee short wearing, gum chewing 20yo-or-less-something who I had apparently interrupted from doing something far more important.

And myself not being a be-jeaned, tee short wearing, gum chewing 20yo-or-less-something, I obviously had no idea what I was talking about, was not about to buy an XBOX360, PS3 or iPhone and therefore was of little consequence to their day.

Now I don’t expect a person in JB HiFi, Harvey Norman or Dick Smith for example to understand the bit transfer rates to a Sony NX70 HD camcorder or the frequency range of a Rode Videomic, but I do expect them to understand the basics of the products they sell, or if they don’t sell it, some friendly advice as to where I might find it. After all, next time I come in, I MAY be buying a new laptop, XBOX360 or PS3. (Don’t hold your breath on an iPhone though).

What I didn’t expect was to be told “Doncha know Samsung don’t make tablets anymore?” or “Mate, better off with an iPad”, or from a gentlemen I could hardly understand “Blackberry. Blackberry. Only Blackberry” .

Dick Smith was the only one to get a tick with “Sorry, we don’t carry them. Try JB HiFi over the road”.

Now what I find a little disturbing about this is that I have lost track over the years of the number of times I have been told by vendors that they have “no advertising budget as we are concentrating on in-store promotion and training”.

Just a minute. Two things leap out here; one if I buy/have a copy of Auscam or subscribe (even better), then as an advertiser in this genre, I would be getting my message directly to those that count and more importantly, buy. And two, a display in JB or HN or wherever is just another glitzy display among dozens of non-related glitzy displays seemingly manned by those that sell what is easiest, cheapest, has the biggest commission or SPIFF (vendor kickback). So why waste money on “in store training?”

As an employer, if I had staff that was not interested in learning their craft and product line to better themselves and their results, I wouldn’t keep them. Being the best at Donkey’s Revenge 3D or able to reload a BFG while simulatneously rolling a cigarette and cutting off an alien’s tentacles don’t count as “product knowledge”.

For vendors / retailers reading this, I have more mail than I can jump over from people complaining that the level of service or chance that accepting that a potential customer may have a modicum of knowledge is almost zero. Especially to the ladies out there and the more senior of us shall we say? Have you ever considered THIS is one reason are buying from overseas. In truth, people do like shopping; Saturday mornings and Thursday late night trading in a Tandy store was like Christmas each week as the male of the species in particular managed to extricate himself from the Woolies/Coles trolley for 30 minutes or so and get lost in gadget nerd-vana.

More recently, an eye opener for me was shopping in a giant camera store in Osaka in Japan. It made Harvey Norman look like a doll’s house. Everything was neat, tidy and the levels of service, product available to play with and knowledge were staggering – even if they didn’t speak English, the staff still tried their hardest to help or find someone that could.

I am all for buying in Australia where we can. In fact my own publishing venture via Auscam depends on it through local advertising and magazine sales. But I urge buyers who get short shrift in the shops to walk away, let their management know via email, letter or phone call and then look elsewhere.

And the one shop I was treated courteously, with care by someone who went beyond the expected to find my Samsung case? One of those little booths you find in shopping centre thoroughfares - in this case, Allphones in Innaloo Shopping Centre in Perth. I have since done more business with them, and that staff member in particular, by email and credit card.

And for the record, the other shops I tried were (not in any order) Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, Telstra Shop(s) Optus Shop(s) Vodafone Shop(s), Dick Smith, Good Guys and Retravision.

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com