posted 16 years ago
What is the point of having a web site that gets lots of traffic if one cannot use/abuse that medium by changing the world for the better by whining about consumer trivia.
Today I wish to talk about digital camera manufacturers and two different retail outlets.
I am having a particularly frantic couple of weeks and one of the things on my "to do" list is "digital camera".
My last digital camera worked spectacularly well until I fell into a swamp with it. That camera was an Olympus which I purchased at Costco about five years ago.
I popped into a "Best Buy" where they have a huge selection of cameras. My mission was to spend no more than 20 minutes getting a camera to meet my needs. I started looking and a guy popped out of the woodwork and my first question was "Which cameras can I plug into my XP computer and see the pictures stored on it without having to install any other software." He said "All of them do that now." Lovely. I then proceeded to narrow the list down quickly based on my other requirements. 15 minutes later I'm out of the store with a "Canon" brand camera.
As bits of time come, I unpackage the camera. charge the battery, take a sample pic and then plug it into my computer. Nothing happens. I scour through the documentation only to see stuff about installing software. I cannot find a phone number to call for help. I go to bestbuy.com and see they have a "technical support" phone number. I call it. Push lots and lots of menu buttons and then get a person on the phone that tells me to call the manufacturer.
I go to costco and buy an olympus. I get home, charge the battery, take a pic, plug it into my computer and the folder pops up. Everything works as expected.
The only downside is that I cannot find the strap. I probably lost it. I use the strap a lot to make sure I don't drop it. The are phone numbers all over the packaging. I call the number and a human answers on the first ring. In about a minute and a half they take my address and say they are sending me a new strap. They didn't want my phone number, nor did they ask me a bunch of weird marketing questions. Fast and efficient, just the way I like it.
In summary: costco/olympus are smooth. bestbuy/canon are lame.
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