How to make someone feel small.

[yeti monster]

A sound piece of advice, I heard in a movie many years ago, "Don't take no wooden nickles", which can be translated in to real English as, "don't take no sheet", not from anybody, ever.

I still have my first scope, 84mm Newtonian, bought second hand on the flea market and it still works

[breezy]

unfourtunatly these types lurk in all walks of life, enjoy your kit and make the most of it.

they are the ones who loose out in the end because word of mouth is a mysterious and powerfull thing !!

[Laowei Tony]

Chin up Belle, it's a learning experience... Now you know one shop you prefer not to shop in or recommend.

I hope the owner of said shop is made aware of the experience and is able to address the issue.

As I only have a 90mm refractor from Celestron on an EQ mount he may have snickered as well, but being 6'2" and 15 stone I doubt it.

Best to seek advice here and listen to the tried and true recommendations of those who have been around for longer than us.

I hope you enjoy your gift for a long time and if later you buy another scope you'll have a better experience..

[squeaky]

Was that the shop owner - or a sales assistant.

If the latter it might be worth letting the owner know that their staff need some customer relations training.

[jflowers]

Was that the shop owner - or a sales assistant.

If the latter it might be worth letting the owner know that their staff need some customer relations training.

Maybe someone should point the owner at this forum to find out what people are thinking...

[L8-Nite]

1') I don't think so. I would say instead that we seem to agree that the person in the shop was unprofessional, unkind and inconsiderate.

2.) Yes indeed, people are who they are.... but shop assistants engaged in serving customers in a rude and unprofessional way most certainly can change their ways. They can realise their mistakes and modify their behaviour (learning) or they can be warned about their behaviour by the shop manager or owner. If the person is the manager or owner then they learn via complaints, poor sales, or by reading forums such as this one.

3.) Absolutely! No need to worry about it, but you don't just accept rude and unprofessional behaviour. You deal with it..... then move on.

1.) Fair enough, I agree.

2.) Modifying bad behaviour should be done at an early level, during childhood; I have no tolerance for it in an adult.

3.) Agreed.

[Brighton Belle]

Was that the shop owner - or a sales assistant.

If the latter it might be worth letting the owner know that their staff need some customer relations training.

I'm pretty sure he was the owner, he was an older man and he did speak as if he had loads of experience, most of which went straight over my head! There were lots of questions I wanted to ask but as he'd already made me feel a fool I didn't bother.

I have learned one important lesson from this - just ask SGL members!

[Welrod50]

Belle, my take on it all, for what it's worth after what everyone else has (very accurately) pointed out.........

I would take the stuff back, on principle and then, if you wish to avoid any confrontation, write a brief letter to the store outlining your experience and why you will not go back, and also perhaps pointing out what has transpired on here

They will likely read it, purely out of human curiosity. They may take notice, they may not but at least it will make you feel better. The key thing to remember in all of this is, that a 114 will see far more than your eyes will and in it's own right is a good optical instrument! It was a gift from your daughter, which is to be cherished as such anyhow. Lets face it, this guy doesn't know you or anything about you and has treated you poorly, whether you were there to buy a 'scope, a microwave, a car.....you see what I'm getting at

He's clearly a fool, with no knowledge of what he sells and his loss in all this is strangely enough, your gain.

We are all with you. Who's grinning and sniggering now

[Capricorn]

Visit the other shop and just call in to see what they hold, see if they are any better. Could they be worse?

If the internet doesn't bother you ring Alan at Sky's the Limit for appropriate bits. When I ordered 2 eyepieces from him he did point out that I was either mad or brave - which was an accurate description of the situation. He was nicely warning me, then I explained the scope(s) and the reason for the eyepieces.

Said previously your 114 is bigger then any of the 5 scopes I have.

I am sat here trying to work out what the consequences would have been ahd he passed to same comment to another woman who posts on SGL. The picture I have in my mind is "Messy".

[Double Kick Drum]

Your shopkeeper snobbery post reminded me of this NTNOCN sketch.

Enjoy!

[FarSide]

I would have just told him to screw off. I hate people like that. I work in the retail environment and there is noway i'd treat any of my customers like that. Take it from a retailer, just leave and find a much more understanding place. +1 for FLO.

[space3]

this was terrible, youll enjoy your scope very much, you can be sure of that, and all the more because it was a gift from your daughter,

ther are a small number of sales people with a terrible attitude, and talk pure pollution,

a few years ago, before I had the internet I drove a long journey to an astro dealer, he asked me what I was looking for and I didnt really know, so he was friendly and helpfull and we decided on a scope, he went up to his computer to calculate a price and came back explaining how he was able to give me an excellent deal because I had driven so far,

I was delighted, and thought I had gotten myself a bargain.

only weeks later I got the internet and was looking on the shops site, only to see that I had paid the full price as advertised on the site, so their was no great deal,

I was not impressed, what annoyed me was the rubbish talk.

my new scope last year came from FLO

so my point is you gain from this experience, you know to avoid this shop in future,

clear skies

[robbie c]

Think that was the same shop I went to visit when I was looking for my first scope about 18months ago after asking loads of questions and taking advice on SGL, told him what I was looking for and how much I had to spend and all he seemed to do was try and talk me into getting a bigger scope which was a lot more then I could afford and saying how much better the views would be, so the visit ended with me not getting my scope from him and him not getting a sale.

[ollypenrice]

When I was a beginner in astronomy I encountered some outlets where the salesperson's idea of his job was to show how much he knew and how little I knew. Now that I'm not a beginner I still avoid those outlets and I certainly never recommend them, or even mention them, when asked about suppliers.

Some vendors just never get hold of the crucial idea that negative comments of any kind just rebound directly onto them. In WIrksworth there was a butcher whose sign insisted that their home cured ham was 'not wet and rubbery.' For me they were just the 'wet and rubbery ham people' and I never went in.

Olly

PS I was too curious and visited their website. The whole mentality is writ large in almost every syllable. Fascinating!

[Randomness5678]

I'm buying the Celestron astromaster 130eq and it will be here on Monday. Dont feel bad, his purposes are differnt from yours. If you get one too big you cant move it. Also smaller ones take less time to warm up.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Always worth remembering that the likes of Galileo and other iconic astronomers - you know, the ones who discovered the things we look at - used small telescopes with optics so bad even cocacola would use them for the bottoms of their bottles!

Your daughter is awesome, as is your scope. I hope you both enjoy it.

[Beulah]

Always worth remembering that the likes of Galileo and other iconic astronomers - you know, the ones who discovered the things we look at - used small telescopes with optics so bad even cocacola would use them for the bottoms of their bottles!

This is worth remembering as a parting shot if there is a 'next time'! Nice one!

[saturn4me]

Always worth remembering that the likes of Galileo and other iconic astronomers - you know, the ones who discovered the things we look at - used small telescopes with optics so bad even cocacola would use them for the bottoms of their bottles!

Your daughter is awesome, as is your scope. I hope you both enjoy it.

Absolutely agree 100%!!

[x6gas]

sorry to hear of your poor service my advice is to name and shame them beginning with on here!

I think it's against forum rules to criticize suppliers, so it's good no one's done that.

I am amazed that people like this are able to stay in business at all. Vote with your feet and don't go back. And enjoy your scope - nothing wrong with it at all...

[Naemeth]

Galileo had far worse optics and discovered absolutely loads, he'd have dreamed to get an eyepiece with 50 degrees AFOV, or even 70% odd reflectivity, unlike the closer to 88-95% of today's amateur market.

[MrEd]

Hi All

I spoke to the shop owner in question last night on this subject.

After a strong talking to he admitted he was wrong to be so undiplomatic towards the customer in question.

He has asked me to apologise Unreservedly on his behalf to Brighton Belle.

I think this thread has given the Proprietor some humility when it comes to smaller equipment and beginers in general.

Clear skies

Ed Sampson

[Kai]

I think it's against forum rules to criticize suppliers, so it's good no one's done that.

I am amazed that people like this are able to stay in business at all. Vote with your feet and don't go back. And enjoy your scope - nothing wrong with it at all...

Its not against the rules to criticize suppliers as long as the "review" is posted in the correct section and is factual although in this case it may of been a bit tricky as the facts were Brighton Belle's feelings about the level of service she recieved.

The quote below is taken from the "Suppliers Review" section

"The supplier review board is for members to tell others of the service that they have received from a retailer. You need 50 posts in other sections and one months membership to be able to post a supplier review. To protect SGL from legal action a supplier review MUST be factual about what happened. Please do not tell us how you felt, why you think that a supplier did what they did or make any comment on the ethics/morals of the retailer. I.e. Keep to the facts only! We reserve the right to reject a post or remove a post after approving it. Please post ONE post ONE retailer, the subject must have the name of the retailer at the beginning (this helps collating the threads - it's a nightmare without it). If a review doesn't adhere to these simple guidelines they will be removed"

[onesmallstep]

Well done MrEd for letting the shop owner know the response from his customer base. In case he hasn't noticed there's a recession on and people have the option of shopping elsewhere.

In short, don't bite the hand that feeds you!

[brantuk]

What I'd do is join your local astro soc - and ask a few members if you can borrow some empty Televue Ethos boxes for a day - half a dozen would do nicely (represents about £3 grands worth of eyepieces). Pop some small weights in them and stuff them into a see through carrier bag. Then go back to the shop carrying the bag and you'll get a demo of their most expensive telescope.

After he's spent an hour showing you the scope in's and out's and answering your questions about wether these eyepieces are suitable - tell him you can get it fifty quid cheaper off the internet and walk out - see how he likes his time being wasted lol

[Treeden]

He has asked me to apologise Unreservedly on his behalf to Brighton Belle.

Well done to you MrEd for bringing it to his attention, but if he was genuine in his remorse then he would have created an account here and apologised to Belle himself.