Album Stories @ Peninsula Plaza

[hanqiang1011]

Greetings to all,

There is a store in Peninsula Plaza, specialising in album making. the setup is quite nice, albums are nice too. But the attitude of the assistant (dont want to name him) there pissed us off. Went with my colleague to check out the price lists of the album, prints and the assistant gave us sarcastic remarks like " Oh my god, why do everybody ask me for a quotation? We are a production house actually." "You can give us tiff files but if you are using 350D or 400D you can forget about tiff files... Those are cheap cameras."

My colleague and I (both wedding and event photographers) were pissed off by that and walked off. We thought we found a shop that could co-operate but then with that kind of attitude, we will never go into that shop again. :thumbsd:

Have anyone of you went there and encountered this before? Not sure if anyone has started a similar thread about this shop.

 

[night86mare]

Hahaha, why get peeved over narrow-minded people?

Don't know how to do business, sooner or later will suffer with that sort of attitude. I've seen photos taken by 350D/400D or any cheap entry-level DSLR, some P&S even, which trump those taken by professional cameras; the camera means nothing. Don't understand why he says what he says, 8-10MGP on the 350/400D is pretty sufficient for quite a range of sizes what.

 

[garou12]

since its a production house as the guy said let him produce some business with his attitdue then! Wah act like he dun need business then let him go bust then.

 

[nightwolf75]

Greetings to all,

There is a store in Peninsula Plaza, specialising in album making. the setup is quite nice, albums are nice too. But the attitude of the assistant (dont want to name him) there pissed us off. Went with my colleague to check out the price lists of the album, prints and the assistant gave us sarcastic remarks like " Oh my god, why do everybody ask me for a quotation? We are a production house actually." "You can give us tiff files but if you are using 350D or 400D you can forget about tiff files... Those are cheap cameras."

My colleague and I (both wedding and event photographers) were pissed off by that and walked off. We thought we found a shop that could co-operate but then with that kind of attitude, we will never go into that shop again. :thumbsd:

Have anyone of you went there and encountered this before? Not sure if anyone has started a similar thread about this shop.

eh... wats wrong with a 350D or 400D? weird people... :think:

hanqiang1011 - u are better off with the usual people who advertise their services in CS.

 

[hanqiang1011]

hanqiang1011 - u are better off with the usual people who advertise their services in CS.

:think:What do you mean? I catch no ball?:dunno:

 

[contaxable]

They have been around for quite awhile being a professional Kodak lab. Quality wise is very good, but volume is important to keep their machines and team running. And yes, they have a seperate production facility to cater mainly to wedding studios and some professionals. The new shop is just an avenue to advertise themselves.

Attitude wise, no comment lah. Price wise, it's on the premium side somewhat, but they stress more on quality of prints. I had not tried them before, but am tempted to try how good they are...

Anyone care share?

 

[thoa_rs]

You're not the only one, I passed by yesterday and went in to ask for a pricelist out of curiousity, he just scoffed at me, doubting whether I was a real photographer, and told me to drop my professional name card before he e-mails an electronic one to me. Well, it's their loss.

 

[roadrunner_552]

You're not the only one, I passed by yesterday and went in to ask for a pricelist out of curiousity, he just scoffed at me, doubting whether I was a real photographer, and told me to drop my professional name card before he e-mails an electronic one to me. Well, it's their loss.

That is BAD.:thumbsd:also i think they know nut about taking photos. 350D or 400D maybe a low entry camera but it still able to produce good photos.

 

[nightwolf75]

:think:What do you mean? I catch no ball?:dunno:

i thot i saw a few CSers offering album making services in Services sub-forum b4? :think:

 

[hanqiang1011]

i thot i saw a few CSers offering album making services in Services sub-forum b4? :think:

Oh yeah.... That I know...

Anyway that day my friend and I were passing there out of curosity also. Saw that Album Stories' works are professionally done, but the attitude f*** u*...:thumbsd:

 

[gossipmonger]

Hmmm, how strange... Was in the shop just a few days ago and he entertained me for about 30-40mins, answering every question I put forward to him. Even told me the prices of some the products they do (customized albums, pocket-sleeve albums, calendars etc.).

He asked for a name card and I told him I didnt have one on me. Maybe I was lucky as it was lunchtime and no one entered the shop while i was there.

I do agree that his answers or tone of voice can get rather condescending....

 

[Octane69]

just take your business elsewhere, people like this should not be let of, attitude is everything, unless they are offering something so special, or so necessary that there is no choice but to go to them. At the end of the day.... its a waste of time dealing with such people....

 

[kiwitan]

maybe it is because you are white in colour?

Hmmm, how strange... Was in the shop just a few days ago and he entertained me for about 30-40mins, answering every question I put forward to him. Even told me the prices of some the products they do (customized albums, pocket-sleeve albums, calendars etc.).

He asked for a name card and I told him I didnt have one on me. Maybe I was lucky as it was lunchtime and no one entered the shop while i was there.

I do agree that his answers or tone of voice can get rather condescending....

 

[snowspeeder]

Shop like these with this kind of attitude for biz should jolly well close down soon.

 

[zhangyb]

wow sounds quite bad... but if attitude no good, just walk out lor...

 

[jcryan55]

i had a different experience though. Just speaking in impartiality.
I met the person called Simon. A nice polite guy who had a great conversation with me when i was in his shop. I asked him about the source of the album and he politely shared with me. He did not even tried to hide where the albums are from, which is what amazed me.
After that we gone on to look at some of the albums he ad in his dsiplay and he's offerng his services of customisation of these albums. I offered my views and opinions on the design and pricing and he accepted them gallently and promised that he will do a bit more research and improve on it. He also shared that they have just ventured into this business so they're fine tuning their operations and services. He also offered to showcase good works of photographers in his display. I am pretty impressed with the conversation with him as I have begin my cnversation by saying that I am not intending to patronise him or buy any stuff from his shop.

So, in a word of fairness, i met with good services in the shop. But I do agreed that the lady staff has poor lack of the knowledge of their products though. Simon came over when she couldn't answer some questions that I had initially.

 

[niki]

good to hear that! maybe when u were tokin to him, ur 1Dmk3 on resting on his counter top? kekeke... :think:

i had a different experience though. Just speaking in impartiality.
I met the person called Simon. A nice polite guy who had a great conversation with me when i was in his shop. I asked him about the source of the album and he politely shared with me. He did not even tried to hide where the albums are from, which is what amazed me.
After that we gone on to look at some of the albums he ad in his dsiplay and he's offerng his services of customisation of these albums. I offered my views and opinions on the design and pricing and he accepted them gallently and promised that he will do a bit more research and improve on it. He also shared that they have just ventured into this business so they're fine tuning their operations and services. He also offered to showcase good works of photographers in his display. I am pretty impressed with the conversation with him as I have begin my cnversation by saying that I am not intending to patronise him or buy any stuff from his shop.

So, in a word of fairness, i met with good services in the shop. But I do agreed that the lady staff has poor lack of the knowledge of their products though. Simon came over when she couldn't answer some questions that I had initially.

 

[jcryan55]

Bo la, I was not even appropriately dressed that day. In t-shirt, bermudas and sandals somemore....best is I never even carry any camera or camera bag that day.
fyi, I not even Canon user....oso cannot afford 1DSMk3.

Sometimes, I think it's just luck la....if u are sincerely asking questions, I doubt people will shoo u out or give u nasty face la. Try being polite for a start, it usually helps. lol

 

[simonchew]

Hi everyone, I am Simon - the guy serving at Album Stories. First of all, I want to sincerely apologise to everyone whom I have failed to meet your expectations in terms of service. This is our first go at a retail outlet promoting professionally made albums. Whilst we have several years of experience in running a prolab, I must admit that we are relatively new to customer service on the retail front end. Do forgive us for any shortcomings and we promise we will brush up our customer service along the way.

As to my comments on the EOS350D, I must clarify what was being said. I myself is a very satisfied owner and user of EOS350D. I love it because its light, handy and produces very decent pictures. I even have the sales receipt to proof that I am the proud owner of it for the past 23 months. I have brought it to China-JiuZhaiGou, Las Vegas (WPPI) & Germany (Photokina06), just happily taking snap shots of the scenaries, of people including my family members.

Because I know the camera so well, I dare say that the JPGs off the camera are so good that there is no reason to work on RAWs, convert to TIFFs just because TIFFs are bigger in size.I have, out of my own curiosity, done several tests to compare the quality of JPGs (saved as maximum quality, 12, Photoshop) with TIFFs. For sizes 12x18 and below, its a very very close shot. Since the photobooks we are promoting are mostly A4 (8x11.5) in size containing collages of multiple photos, usually size at 4x6, 6x8, I do stand by my recommendations that there is no reason to submit TIFFs. But anyway, that is only my recommendation based on experience from side-by-side comparisons. Of course, if anyone insists on giving us TIFFs, we gladly accept.

Did I say that EOS350D is cheap? YES! Cheap in every good sense of the word! Who would not agree that this is one of the cheapest DSLR in the market that has image quality pretty close to mid-ranged DSLRs like the Canon 40D, costing a fair bit more? Where I find the mid-range cameras beat the 350D is interms of focusing and handling.

And yes, I must humbly admit that the bulk of my customers do own much more expensive camera equipment than what I have. Thats ok. I do drool over what they have at times. But I am seriously contented with my EOS350D. In fact, I have just bought the 40D at Comex, but will still be keeping the older baby around for a long long time.

I am really sorry that my words got interpreted in a way that seem to put the 350D in a bad light when what I really meant to say was its JPGs are very very good indeed.

Cheers
Simon

 

[the mac 13]

Hi everyone, I am Simon - the guy serving at Album Stories. First of all, I want to sincerely apologise to everyone whom I have failed to meet your expectations in terms of service. This is our first go at a retail outlet promoting professionally made albums. Whilst we have several years of experience in running a prolab, I must admit that we are relatively new to customer service on the retail front end. Do forgive us for any shortcomings and we promise we will brush up our customer service along the way.

As to my comments on the EOS350D, I must clarify what was being said. I myself is a very satisfied owner and user of EOS350D. I love it because its light, handy and produces very decent pictures. I even have the sales receipt to proof that I am the proud owner of it for the past 23 months. I have brought it to China-JiuZhaiGou, Las Vegas (WPPI) & Germany (Photokina06), just happily taking snap shots of the scenaries, of people including my family members.

Because I know the camera so well, I dare say that the JPGs off the camera are so good that there is no reason to work on RAWs, convert to TIFFs just because TIFFs are bigger in size.I have, out of my own curiosity, done several tests to compare the quality of JPGs (saved as maximum quality, 12, Photoshop) with TIFFs. For sizes 12x18 and below, its a very very close shot. Since the photobooks we are promoting are mostly A4 (8x11.5) in size containing collages of multiple photos, usually size at 4x6, 6x8, I do stand by my recommendations that there is no reason to submit TIFFs. But anyway, that is only my recommendation based on experience from side-by-side comparisons. Of course, if anyone insists on giving us TIFFs, we gladly accept.

Did I say that EOS350D is cheap? YES! Cheap in every good sense of the word! Who would not agree that this is one of the cheapest DSLR in the market that has image quality pretty close to mid-ranged DSLRs like the Canon 40D, costing a fair bit more? Where I find the mid-range cameras beat the 350D is interms of focusing and handling.

And yes, I must humbly admit that the bulk of my customers do own much more expensive camera equipment than what I have. Thats ok. I do drool over what they have at times. But I am seriously contented with my EOS350D. In fact, I have just bought the 40D at Comex, but will still be keeping the older baby around for a long long time.

I am really sorry that my words got interpreted in a way that seem to put the 350D in a bad light when what I really meant to say was its JPGs are very very good indeed.

Cheers
Simon

Welcome to Club Snap!

Your company maybe a new shop but you said something very very damaging to your shop. Customer service is rather easy and to me is a common sense, it's something like don't do to others what you don't like they do to you. Imagine, how would you feel if you enter a shop to buy another 350D and they reply 'Oh my god, why do everybody ask me for a quotation?' Would you like it?

It is also something like making someone's day. Say you close at 9pm. At 8.50pm you start packing up, shutting down computers, and a customer comes and wants to send in some urgent prints which must be ready the first thing in the morning tomorrow. Good, or rather excellent customer service is actually to go the extra mile. I will let you decide what your answer would be, in this case.

Then again, the customer must also use some brain. Maybe, your answers were justifiable if TS came in shouting and banging table. :S

Goodnight, and Good Luck.