Gast
Hello dear FOTOIMPEX team,
Here’s my little story about your shop.
A year ago:
I was in Berlin with a friend and popped into your shop. We were treated in a really unfriendly and snappy manner by a woman. It was as if she didn’t need to sell anything and we were just getting in the way. A customer threatened to place an order. The shop was completely empty, and reading the magazine lying on the counter was apparently more important.
Yesterday:
A year later, I’m back in your shop. Same feeling again: no one in the shop, so no pressure, and yet we’re still a nuisance. The nice gentleman serving us is rather curt and not very helpful. Consequently, I quickly lost the desire to continue shopping.
Been to your shop twice and met with rudeness both times?
Another request I have for you is that you please mark the items in your catalogue that need to be ordered. If the Ilford HP5+ is listed in the catalogue as 4x5", I assume it’s in stock. Well, it may have run out... tough luck. But being told that you always have to order it first is very unsatisfactory!
I visit Berlin at least once a year and always look forward to it. I don’t know if I’ll put myself through the frustration of visiting your shop again. I was very annoyed by the treatment and the rudeness.
Kind regards,
Boris
AntiLynd
For a while, I kept having the same experience over and over again, until I eventually realised that there seemed to be a link between Saturdays and not being treated very nicely at Impex. So I got into the habit of not going on Saturdays anymore, but only during the week. Since then, everything’s been great and I know once again which is my favourite shop in Berlin.
Gast
You should be glad
that there’s still someone offering a service like the ones at Konsum and HO – that’s incredibly rare and makes this a top-notch deal!
If it’s not as described, you’ll still be getting a good deal!
Customer, what do you want?
-Photo paper!
Could you please tell me which type, or do you think I’m a mind reader?
-Well, I’m not exactly sure…
If you don’t know, then who does?
-What can you recommend?
We’ve still got some XYZ in stock!
-Is that any good?
Well, do you want some photo paper or are you just here to ask questions? I’m about to go on my break!
-I think I’ll buy it somewhere else.
First you annoy the customer and then you go and buy elsewhere – what sort of place is this?
-Yes, but...
Don’t you dare come back here, you idiot
Of course, this didn’t happen at FOTOIMPEX!
MirkoBoeddecker
Boris,
Our shop assistant Lutz is on holiday. This means that everyone else here is working double shifts and, on top of their usual duties, is somehow trying to keep the shop running.
It’s much the same on Saturdays, as Lutz doesn’t have to work at all then because he’s already clocked up his 40 hours for the week by Friday evening.
On Saturdays and when Lutz is on holiday, the shop is run by staff who actually have other duties, so unfortunately they are sometimes stressed.
If you let me know who served you, I’ll be happy to speak to that member of staff about it. The invoice states who it was.
Stock availability: It’s impossible to always have everything listed in the catalogue in stock. This is the case with other suppliers too. Our system analyses which items sell well and reorders them. Items that don’t sell will eventually stop being reordered. The market for Ilford sheet films isn’t particularly large.
I really recommend giving us a call beforehand.
At least the colleague gave you an honest answer. He could just as easily have said: “We’re out of stock at the moment”. Now you know that we have to order Ilford sheet films first, and next time you’ll know what to do to avoid this problem.
Should demand for Ilford sheet films become positive, we’ll stock them again. It’s difficult to communicate that in the catalogue.
After all, there’s no rule saying that Ilford sheet films can’t be stocked. It’s handled flexibly, depending on demand.
All in all, I’m sorry if you felt you were treated unkindly. Lutz will be back next week, and then we’ll all be less stressed and certainly more relaxed in the shop.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Hello, Mirko,
It’s always a bit of a nuisance when the person who usually works in the shop isn’t there, as it puts an extra burden on you. Okay!
But that’s no reason for a customer – who really can’t be blamed for this – not to be served in the way you’d surely want to be treated yourselves in other shops.
Stress is never an excuse, because the customer pays for the bread rolls on your table on Sundays. Fortunately, I’ve always been treated properly and courteously by you so far, but if that were to happen to me here, I’d never come back. That’s my general policy with any shop where I’m not treated properly. And believe me, you’re not the only ones, and there’s the internet too. In any case, I’ll continue to shop with you, unless I ever get ‘given a hard time’.
Peter(chen)
MirkoBoeddecker
Peter,
We’re all working hard here to make sure things are exactly as you’d like them to be.
I’d say that in 95% of cases, our customer service is pretty much spot on.
We get a lot of positive feedback about this, but unfortunately that’s not reflected in this thread.
This thread deals with an exceptional case.
I replied because I take a very positive view of such feedback.
I can’t always stand behind every employee, and if someone has treated customers badly behind my back, they have no place here.
It is our top priority to satisfy our customers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t stand a chance in a competitive market.
Best regards,
Mirko
PS If you don’t want your feedback to go unheard, please email me with your name.
If I don’t know who did what, I can’t address the issue with anyone.
It’s impossible to place all staff under general suspicion. That would drag team morale down to zero and achieve nothing.
cfb_de
We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback about this, but unfortunately it’s not mentioned in this thread.
Hello Mirko,
Right then :-) I popped into your shop on Tuesday evening just before closing time. Both the other customer and I received absolutely brilliant advice from the two Impex staff members present (wait, one of them was a female Impex employee). That sort of thing should happen in every shop!
My colleague, who was also there, was simply amazed. Firstly about your shop (“that something like this still exists”), and secondly about the excellent manners on display there.
So, huge praise for the shop staff! The only downside was that there was no Vario Classic FB in the format I wanted. Never mind, I’ll just have to cut it from the roll.
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
So, huge praise for the shop staff!
Hi Franz,
Unbelievable but true: praise from Robin "Borgerding" Hood. So if you keep up the good work, you’ll get a lovely
Christmas present from me this year too. :)
Best regards,
Werner
uhoepfner
Hello,
This thread may be old, but a bit of positive "feedback" is always welcome, isn’t it?!
I had two 30-metre rolls of 35mm Foma film brought back for me from the shop. When I tried to load one of the rolls into the film loader, I realised that the film had no perforations at all (the tin says ‘Neperfo’). Who would have thought (who needs that sort of thing? :D). Good thing it’s pitch black in the camera – must have been a brilliant shot...
The can was exchanged without any fuss by FOTOIMPEX (thanks to Ms Winkler for her friendly service) :D
VolkerSchulz
Well, I can only agree with the praise.
During a short break in Berlin, I stocked up on photographic paper there. The staff were really friendly! What more could you ask for?
Best wishes from the far north
Volker
