What's with Ritz Camera Salesman?

[scotty7]

I went into Ritz Camera today to by a lens pen. I also asked the salesman about a charger for my 20D since I lost mine. The salesman over the counter immediately started dumping on Canon and going on and on about Nikon. He claimed that out of twenty five 20Ds they originally had on stock only 5 of them worked. I've never heard of such a thing!!! I told him that I purchased a 20D right from the start and have taken over 50,000 pictures with it with no problems. He said, "well you're one of the lucky ones". I don't understand why this guy would blatantly lie like that? I've shoped at other places and haven't had Nikon vs Canon debates, but for some reason the salesmen at Ritz Camera really don't like Canon products. This was the second time a salesman at Ritz bashed Canon while I was purchasing something, and I don't think I'll be going back anymore. They must only hire Nikonions for salesmen.

Anyhow, I ended the conversation with, "Canon are the innovators and Nikon are the imitators". The recent product history doesn't lie.

[kblair210]

The Nikons have the newest releases (not counding the XSI) so they're probably pushing them harder. Or it could very well be that they're getting spiffs on Nikon right now, so they're pushing because of that. (Spiff = extra money for each spiff item sold). Next week their spiffs may be on disposable cameras and they'll be telling you that no Canon or Nikon could ever compete with the quality of a disposable..

It's like going to a GNC store. You can buy stuff for your health, but the people selling it generally aren't the best to ask advice of.

[billash3]

Probably the spiff thing. I used to work in a camera store and we'd have spiffs on different brands of cameras. I made enough sales to get several free Nikon bodies over a year's period....also a full frame Nikkor fisheye, 500mm Mirror lens, etc....

Salesmen really push these spiff items b/c they get nice stuff, which they can, in turn, sell to supplement their crappy incomes working in a camera store.

[Mark_Cohran]

I never go into Ritz stores anymore mainly because the few times I have the spiels I've gotten have been so off the mark to be ridiculous.

[SlowBlink]

Makes me want to go into a Ritz just so I can hear the spiel. :) Take a hidden camera and put it on YouTube.

[1downfall]

Makes me want to go into a Ritz just so I can hear the spiel. :) Take a hidden camera and put it on YouTube.
ROFL.....I love this idea!!

[digitalstarrphotography]

OMG thank you for this thread!!!!

I just had to experience two seperate locations in the past week and both where horrid!

The first one was when I purchased my 70-300mm macro lens (third party) I asked if it would work with my 20D and she assured me without a problem as she handed me the Nikon model!!!! I kept telling her I need Canon!

Finally she got it straight but it was painful to say the least. As she was shuffling for the Canon fit the sale person at the other side of the counter was "assisting" a gentlemen who was wanting to purchase their Nikon bundle and I mean the guy was ready to buy and then the sales person starts getting loud telling the guy that he does not feel that he understand the language of the equipment and that he does not feel he is ready for the camera!!!!!!!!! I was SHOCKED!!!! lol I just wanted my damn lens at that point.

So I get home and test my lens to find ERR 99 popping up. I try to find contact info for the maker with no luck. I sat on the phone with Canon who was AWESOME and tried a few things that did not work.

I had to take the lens back, this time not wanting to deal with that location so I went to the Mall Of America. There I was ready to exchange the lens for the Canon lens that was about $50 more. The sales clerk for some reason did not want to let that happen instead he was sure I was mounting the lens wrong or Canon is kicking the third parties out.

He sat there with it seeing the error message lecturing me about how the 20D is to old and so on.... then he finally pulled out another lens (same third party) and it worked. Apparently the one I purchased the first time was defective. That is fine give me my lens and let me go.... NOPE!

Now he wants me to come to them for all of my clients prints because THEY can instruct me on how to improve my images if I am not happy with them. I was getting really annoyed at this point. I tried to be polite and it was not working so I finally informed him that I use a professional lab not a retail store to print the images that MY CLIENTS want and like and that if I feel the need for instruction I will seek it from a professional instructor not a sales clerk at Ritz.

He asked me what lab, he still had me lens in his hand so I was stuck there!!!! I informed him and then he told me about how they are no good lol and how they offer no instruction what so ever.... he was sooo not getting it!

I have my lens and I will NEVER return there agian!!!!

[sam walker]

more chain store rubbish. I'm happy to have my locally owned camera store experts Dodds that have been doing photographtyfor 100+ years. I don't always buy from them but they know cameras. The worst are electronic store dudes that sdon't know a camera from a DVD player. Just about worthless.
Sam

[Uhland]

I stopped in ritz a few times when I was looking at the 70-300 tamron/sigma's last year.
The things I heard the clerks telling customers were so incorrect.
I just bit my tounge and chuckled on the inside.

[LBaldwin]

Most chain stores are staffed by HS kids who really don't know that much about the products. That is not say that there not great folks working for them but they are few and far between. Please to all my photo buddies on this list frequent and support the local stores that are dying every day. They will work with you educate you and best of all help out when your but gets into a crack.

Nikon, Canon, Pentax etc etc. They all make great gear. I like Canon and it has great track record. But all makers have issues and Canon is no exception. So getting into a pi$$$$ing contest will only make you upset.

Many who think that gear is best have yet to use the other stuff in a real world situation.

[Killjoy]

I'm pretty sure that Ritz's profit margin is larger on the Nikons than on the Canon equipment. My neighbor showed me the gift he bought for his wife for Christmas.
He went to Ritz. Yup, he pulled a Nikon out of the bag. I told him he was a DLF (Dis Loyal, well, you can guess the rest).

He bought her a D200 and a couple of lenses. I know he spent a chunk of change, and it is her first DLSR.

[skipper34]

I don't know why anyone would want to shop at Ritz. First of all their prices are at least $100 higher than B&H or Adorama, they refuse to price-match, and their salespeople don't know their %^& from a hole in the ground. About the only thing they are halfway reasonable at is their photo finishing but then you run into inexperienced staff. What's the use?

[slimninj4]

Two weeks ago I stepped inside one of the Ritz's by me and asked for a grey card. He looked at me funny and asked what is that? I was surprised. This store though has been moving more into prints than hardware. A year ago they had strobes, tripods and other hardware on display. Now it is small kiosks to make your own prints in 1 hour.

[gjl711]

I’m not trying to defend Ritz as I have received some interesting info from them as well, but I think Canon might be a bit to blame here as well and you can see it right here on POTN. I think Canon is slipping a bit on their QA and letting too much into the field and relying on us to do their debugging. I also frequent a Nikon forum and I don’t see the same volume of “Did I get a sharp copy”, or “I just got my 4th 40D as the other three had ERR99s” threads as I do here. My own experience sort of supports that as well. Of my 4 bodies, one had to go back twice and of my lenses, two made multiple visits to Canon service and I am on the brink of sending back my 100-400 as it’s just not performing as I would expect in real world scenarios.

So my message to Canon is Clean up your QA. Returns should an exception, a very rare exception.

[Mark1]

I never got to a Ritz other than to window shop. I dont even talk to any of them. Its just to kill time while waiting for my wife to finish shopping, and to "feed the need" for more equipment. But I dont even do printing there. I have never had a bad experience like others have told. Its just they never looked like they were reputable enough to help anything more than a cold beginner. I never trust any place that has to huck thier other services. If they were that good at what they do, they would not have to tell us about it, we'd allready know.

[LBaldwin]

OK I had to think a bit (yes that was me if you smelled somthin' burnin:-) but even when I was in HS in 1979 we had issue with Ritz and their wonderful sales staff. My best friend from those days Levi remembers that each employee had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Even back then the Quantaray lens was really a bag of parts connected with glue and tape...

[gjl711]

... Even back then the Quantaray lens was really a bag of parts connected with glue and tape...You mean they use something else these days? Velcro?

[LBaldwin]

Well in all honesty they have improved their quality of construction for some lenses. But it is hit or miss and newbies don't really know the diff and the sales weenies certainly won't help. Sigma has a lousy rep down through the years, and Ritz didnt help. They sold crap loads of decent bodies and stuck crapo glass on them and lots of noobs bought them to discover that their P&S were sharper.

Ask any lens tech about the construction issues.