Berminghams Sale

RoryW

Starts Saturday 10am

Thirdfox

hmm but what's on sale usually and how much are their discounts?

templeathea

Go on. tell me that they are letting their D200s go for €800....

digitalbeginner

If you're trading in gear make sure you keep the receipt (if you plan to come back later) as they don't keep records and will deny ever having met you,

Dave

qwertz

Worst sale ever. They could have done much better with their prices (and customer service).

magicbastarder

i'm not surprised by their last comment. i simply don't go in there, even to browse. most ignorant staff of any camera shop in town.

RoryW

templeathea wrote: »

Go on. tell me that they are letting their D200s go for €800....

€1149 per ad

City-Exile

I've found Pixels to be unhelpful & unfriendly.
Camera Exchange get my money for the exact opposite reason.

I never expected Berminghams to have any real value in their sale, so I didn't bother trying to get in there.

311

I actually think pixels is a grand shop ,the staff are always honest with people.
Never been to berminghams ,never seen the shop.

templeathea

Never been in to Berminghams, but in general I am very sceptical about 'sales'. Even if the reductions are genuine I usually end up buying something I didn't really want.

Camera Exchange and Pixels have both been helpful in my experience.

quilmore

I've been there for a minute
didn't buy a thing
one thing that catched my attention was a D200 with MB200 (grip) for under 1100 and to have the 18-200 in stock (which is as easy to find as a blue unicorn)

GristlyEnd

qwertz wrote: »

Worst sale ever. They could have done much better with their prices (and customer service).

magicbastarder wrote: »

i'm not surprised by their last comment. i simply don't go in there, even to browse. most ignorant staff of any camera shop in town.

Never a truer word said about customer service.

qwertz

The Camera Exchange is fine (the old guys (guy with glasses and guy with beard), not the middleaged one (dark hair)). Same goes for Conns if you manage to speak to the good sales guys. Gunns are always friendly and helpful as well.

City-Exile

Yeah, the older guys in Camera Exchange are very helpful.
I find the people in Pixels are more interested in selling overpriced P&S models, to the clueless. They never react well to more advanced questions.

DaireQuinlan

City-Exile wrote: »

Yeah, the older guys in Camera Exchange are very helpful.
I find the people in Pixels are more interested in selling overpriced P&S models, to the clueless. They never react well to more advanced questions.

Yeah, ditto. There are actually two or three younger guys working in the Camera Exchange nowadays, the two older guys really really know their stuff. Two of the younger guys are ok attitude wise, the other of the three I've found consistently dismissive and ignorant though (in terms of attitude, didn't speak long enough to him to judge his level of knowledge). Berminghams I've always found dreadful, its as though they don't actually WANT you to buy anything there ! Gunns, as always, is great. Conns I've always found pretty good, they seem to employ good staff across the board in my experience. Just never go into that place on top of grafton street. yeeks.

sunny2004

Birminghams are the worst on the earth.. so I agree with the posters above..

Camera exchange is a great shop. the old team, Billy, sean and Ian were great. its still a great shop..

decsramble

Yeah Camera Exchange is great, the old guys always come across as knowledgeable and honest. When I was looking for a DSLR last year one of them told me to not even consider buying a new released DSLR and just get a lower spec one plus a decent lens. One of the younger ones served me once and while he seemed friendly and keen to help his knowledge was limited.

I fell for the Birminghams sale and impulse bought a lens, Canon 50mm 1.8 for €109. A good deal? Probably cheaper on the internet but that was the cheapest I'd seen in a shop. Anyway, the guy serving me seemed insulted when I asked him about the lens. Very poor customer service. Still I got my lens at a lower price than I expected and got to try it out that afternoon. I wont be going back too quickly, maybe next year for another sale.

magicbastarder

i've known the guys in the camera exchange for years - so my experience in there would be different from anyone who just walked in off the street. the best thing about knowing them like that is that you know they're not going to give you any bull****. i was walking past one day, and there was an olympus mount tamron semi-pro 350mm f5.6 mirror for €100. i went in and asked padraig (older guy, nasally voice, fellow olympus user), and he said "oh i wouldn't touch that with a barge pole". he explained he has a zuiko 500mm mirror, and has used it about five times. i pointed out that he had talked himself down from a €100 price tag, and he said "i suppose i have, haven't i?" and gave it to me for €75. i'm not convinced it had ever been used until then.

City-Exile

magicbastarder wrote: »

i've known the guys in the camera exchange for years - so my experience in there would be different from anyone who just walked in off the street. the best thing about knowing them like that is that you know they're not going to give you any bull****.

I'm not sure that statement is accurate.
I walked in off the street, having been to many different shops, & I got some advice which I later discovered had saved me a fair bit of hard earned cash. They're always busy, but once they're serving you, you've got their full attention. You instantly know that they're interested in what they're doing.

To be fair, I found this to be true also for Slattery's, but they're gone now.

descramble, I bought that lens for €80 odd on the interweb. Great little lens & you'll get value for money, even at the price you paid.

quilmore

I was waiting for 2 months to get a 18-200 vr from camera exchange (whom I think are good people)
they kept saying "next wednesday"
then I found that bermingham had an ebay shop (http://stores.ebay.ie/strazoltd) and end up selling me an in stock one for some 100 less than the price of camera exchange

once a flash I've bought of camera exchange stop working when still under warranty, they sent it to Nikon and got their bulb replaced, no hassle, it took almost 3 weeks but it was no charge and they even rang me to let me know the flash had return

ThOnda

Always keep your old cameras - 1923 Leica camera sells for euro336,000 at Austrian auction :-)

punchdrunk

used to work in the camera exchange,padraig thought me all i know!
billy,ian and himself are brilliant

qwertz

There are at least two shops (excluding Bermingham) in Dublin that stock the 18-200 and I have one on my "interested in selling" list as well.

quilmore wrote: »

I've been there for a minute
didn't buy a thing
one thing that catched my attention was a D200 with MB200 (grip) for under 1100 and to have the 18-200 in stock (which is as easy to find as a blue unicorn)

mloc

Gunns ftw tbh