Camlane wrote:
Why not pick up the phone and talk to a human.
Some people just don't like phones or talking. Kids today would rather text than talk. A lot of people apparently prefer to pre-order their pizza from Dominos using the website instead of calling.
When I call anybody anywhere at a store around the area I live in currently, virtually every employee who answers either has a strong Spanish accent so that I can't understand them, or they talk in strong Ebonics so I can't understand them. So I also prefer to either order from a website or some other faceless method even on a local basis.
And remember how computer manufacturers sent all their tech support to India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and other countrieson the other side of the world and customers complained by the tens of thousands until tech support was largely brought back to the US. I learned that at Dell, if you can't understand your Pakistani rep, you can say so and ask to be transferred back to the US and they'll do it.
Many customers would rather have a faceless interaction on a camera store website with nothing to hear wrong, no upselling techniques being used, and no pressure to buy a higher model from a salesperson. I personally can't allow my purchase to be guided by someone whose main incentive is to meet a sales quota even if they are told that customer service is a company priority.
NY camera store catalog and ShutterBug advertisement phone numbers got a bad reputation for this back in the days of film by trying to get you to add on a bag, or filters, or a macro converter, or a cleaning kit, or some other high profit accessory to boost your total sale and their gross profit. They had quotas for the sales people to reach and you could tell it was the end of the month because the pressure to buy extras became unbearable and you had to refuse 3, 4, 5, or 6 attempts by firmly saying NO! and they still wouldn't stop until you threatened to drop the sale and they were rude about it if you didn't add something on.
So, I'd guess some of us who were around then just don't want to be pressured by a Middle Easterner with a New York accent who has a quota to meet. Fortunately for me, when I bought a $650 lens from B&H the guy only touched on one accessory addition and when I passively said "Nah" he dropped it, finished the order, and that was it. Unfortunately for some others on here, I've read posts that this still goes on at other places.