A Ritz camera salesperson writes in to give you the skinny on scanning, digital prints, and which memory cards are just a ripoff.
I have been working for Ritz Camera/Proex for about three years now and it’s really starting to get on my nerves, but I thought I’d share some of the ways they screw you over as a customer and potential employee.
1. The E.S.P. or Extended Service Plan- This plan is alright. You pay quite a bit for security. The only good thing about it is if you do drop your camera they will cover your negligence. Only problem is, is that depending on where you bring the camera in the U.S. most likely for any repair out of Ritz/Proex it will take about 2 months to get your camera back and thats the quickest.
2. Prices- We have price matching, but it has to be the exact same product, the other store must have it in stock, and we have to call the other store to make sure that the customer isn’t lying. Then we call a district manager and half the time they don’t answer so you stand there and stare at the customer until they leave and go buy it at the other store. Not to mention cameras are a much better deal online all the time, any time.
3. Memory Cards- They try and make us sell you “Ritz” memory cards before Sandisk or Panasonic. They are all the same. Ritz claims theirs are “faster,” but they are the EXACT SAME CARD. You’re already dishing out 300$ for a camera, get the cheapest card that will hold the most.
4. Products- As employees we are required to push at least 4 products on you. While I refuse to do it and stick close to the finishing lab, everyone else has to. Most of the time they will tell you that they are a certain price only to find when you get to the register that the price is higher. This is because you must have our Image Rewards Card.
5. Image Rewards Card- Claims it uses a system that collects “money back,” but I have yet to see that come up from frequent customers. For 16$ this lovely little piece of plastic can be yours. Unless you are doing actual 35mm film this card isn’t worth it. It literally takes pennies off digital prints. You have to do tons of digital prints in order to get your monies worth.
6. Prints- We have what is called Big Print You which is the “New Digital Standard!” It’s a bunch of crap. You are paying ten extra cents for half an inch of paper. It’s not worth it. Take the time and make 4×6′s. 4×6′s still fit in albums and frames. Big Print You fits in some, but you have a small selection.
7. Scanning- Scanning is 2.50$ per print. Ridiculous! Most of the time I don’t charge it and just say I forgot. Everyone else normally does it. 2.50 a scan, and you can only scan one at a time with a maximum of ten then the software makes to start another ten. It takes forever. By a cheap scanner and you’ll save a ton of money if you think you need to scan a bunch of photos.
8. Demo Cameras- We sell them to you and you don’t even know it. Everyone’s grubby hands have probably been on your camera. It’s probably been dropped at some point, not to mention the boxes we get shipments in from UPS look like they’ve been kicked all the way from the home office to our store. We sell demo cameras at no discount, we just clean them up and put them in a box. Then we are told to lie to you and tell you it’s brand new.
9. Employees- Be prepared for a job that offers no movements in pay. They have a company policy that allows you to take quizzes that your manager and service manager have to sign off on then give to your district manager that then gets you a small raise. Most of our employees have finished these, got them signed, and turned them in. We all still get 8$/hr. The district manager claims he “never got them.” I’ve heard this same excuse has been used with other stores too with different district managers. Also there are “Sales Incentives” that are supposed to be your commission. These are pennies and on like 5 things in the store. Most of the time it’s all taken away in taxes.
10. One Hour Photo- Yeah right. Half the time our machines break down because they are about as old as I am and the company is too cheap to fix them. So with the new “One Hour or It’s Free” deal we have now, we can just say that the machine is broke and that voids the deal. I’ll just give you your prints free. If there is a chance that our machine is working alright, in reality we can probably get your prints done in about 15-30 minutes unless you have a ton of them. Also ordering your prints online saves you time in a mall and the smell of fish that the printer gives off. So do that.
(AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
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Ritz Camera? These “Confessions of…” have officially jumped the shark.
I worked at Ritz on-and-off throughout the ’80s at a time when Dave Ritz would drop in at a store, know you by name, and even get behind the register to help out if things got busy. At the time, it was little more than minimum wage plus a LOT of spiffs in the 10% range on the outrageously marked-up house-brand items (the “166s”). The dream of every entry-level employee was to hit the big-time and be put on commission for all of your sales, presumably big-ticket items.
Eventually I was put on commission (I think the pay scale was $3 per hour plus 2% of all sales plus the aforementioned spiffs, at a time when minimum wage was something like $5). Ironically, I found I was making more shirking sales duties to act as cashier, ringing up $300 worth of photofinishing and self-service off-the-shelf merchandise in an hour than the guys using that same hour to try selling a $300 camera.
Most of the staff (including me) actually had an interest in and knowledge about photography and cameras. A substantial number of our “customers” knew this and would totally pick our brains over the expensive stuff, and then wind up buying it at from a local catalog discounter or via mail order from NYC.
Ritz has always positioned themselves by acknowledging that they might not be the cheapest, but they know their stuff. And the few times I’ve gone into their stores since working there, the small sampling of humans I’ve spoken with really do. I suspect there are still a few knowledgeable salespeople in their stores getting their brains picked by folks intending to buy from Amazon, Costco, NYC, etc.
When the local family-owned camera stores(2) in our town were bought by Ritz, one closed immediately, and the other one has turned to absolute crap. The last few times I have gone in there have not been good experiences, and I use another company now. The employees always seem as if they are being forced to work there. I would never buy a camera there.
So if it sucks that bad then why are you still working there? My guess would be that you have such a chip on your shoulder that any other business that you interview with wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole!
I have shopped at many different Ritz and Proex locations through the years and also had my kids pictures taken in their studio. I have always been delighed with the quality and service of the staff that works there. They are not the cheapest in town but there is value in the knowledge they provide. I think this sales person has an axe to grind too, but I would guess that they won’t be working there much longer, let’s hope so for the happy Ritz customers sake.
@cablecar: I mentioned the class of stores, and I didn’t feel it was necessary to go into the breakdown, and quite frankly, I’ve never seen a C class in one be an AA class in another. As I said before, I worked in 5 different stores in 3 states, all in vastly different parts of the U.S and at different store classifications. Everything the OP said smacks of a C-class store… 3rd hand busted printers, and low merchandise turnover and minimal stocking that leads to complaints over demos. Ritz seems to have been slowly closing those stores down, so maybe the OP will be out of his job misery soon.
And as to your assertion that Ritz is training high school students to run machines… that is highly inaccurate. The printers I worked with ranged in age from 20-55. You can’t be younger than 18 and work in the lab. It’s against OSHA regulations.
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The vast majority of folks I worked with were professional and knowledgeable, and those that weren’t generally turned over very quickly. I worked with a great number of professional photographers and enthusiastic hobbyists, who, though not always thrilled to be in a retail environment, were always willing to help educate customers. A lot of people in this thread seem to be camera experts, and that’s great to see. Go ahead and buy online if you want to. But there are still a lot of people who don’t get cameras at all, and Ritz is run more like an old local camera shop than a electronics megastore.
As for the demo issue, these demos aren’t like a Best Buy or Circuit City. You have to ask to see a camera from the case, and I watched like a hawk when people were playing with a camera. I never, ever saw one dropped and then put back in the case. The camera I bought my sister last year was a demo, and it’s working perfectly. My first digital camera was a demo as well, and it still works – 5 years later. 2 megapixels just doesn’t cut it anymore though
i used to work at ritz. if i had about 2 hours and 3 cups of coffe i could tell you all some stories. the “18″ in the lab osha bit is a joke – we had 16 year olds in the lab all the time. i can dig up images of what ritz thinks of osha. Think “chemicals down the drain”.
people borrowed high end items from the store for a photo shoot and returned them. buyer beware on those d300s that just came out…
@Buran
#3 is flat-out wrong. Especially in higher-end cameras, the brand makes a lot of difference. A 1GB card is not the same as every other 1GB card. They do have speeds for read/write. I seriously doubt the Ritz card is faster, but any serious photographer should research flash memory online before he or she buys storage. Usually the faster memory (which allows you to shoot much faster and reduces delay in-between shots) is about 2x the price of the cheapest card of the same capacity.
To the “confessor”. As an employer, I see you as dishonest for taking the paycheck. I see you without ethics for taking the paycheck when you disdain the company that is paying you. Ritz camera is a chain but they are an ethical and well run large chain. But the most disturbing post are those that are made by those “customers” who openly admit that they only go to Ritz or any local camera store to hold the latest camera or lens or to spend as much time as possible getting the sales person to convince you whether the Nikon of the week is better than the Canon of the week, fully knowing that they plan to order on-line. Is this not the ultimate form of dishonesty? Why should a local merchant or Ritz pay an employee to educate you for free? Is this some kind of consumer entitlement? And for that silly post about butterflyphoto, have you checked out http://www.resellerratings.com ? If you order from Brooklyn, you deserve what will happen to you. If you know that you are going to order on line then do your research on line. Wasting the time for any merchant is the same as shoplifting.
At least Ritz is an American based company, just don’t buy a camera if your going to further damage our economy by pumping money into over-seas companies.
My rants and comments on comments:
With the pay, $8 is really shitty considering many people I know who work there are very knowledgeable on the products they sell and are photographers themselves. The problem is that you can make the same money (without any “sales incentives”) at a big box electronics store. The starting salary here should really be $10+ for experienced people working here. Even with SI included you have to be able to spread it out over all the hours to make it work. Making it hard to make much more SI when you don’t sell many SLR’S or don’t sell a lot one day, or GOD FORBID work in the lab when you rely on selling things to make more money.
With the memory cards, they have been selling re-badged Lexar cards. They just started selling a lot of Sandisk stuff. Everything is cheaper online of course. The only time the generic re-badged stuff is “cheap” is when they have one of their every two week “sales”. The same goes for their Quantaray brand (re-branded Sigma equipment).
@pandroid- It seems you worked in pretty lax stores. DM’s are always supposed to be called for price matches. The big problem with Ritz is pretty much no one does anything by the corporate book, making it hard to be consistent on any policy, like things dealing with discounts and lab items like price per scan.
@pete7919- The best rule for working successful and happy in retail is STAY IGNORANT. I feel like anyone who doesn’t get pissed after working somewhere like this has gotten something wrong with them. Even if you are motivated and do everything right you still aren’t acknowledged for it. Like I said before, the pay (THE REASON YOU HAVE THE JOB, this is not a charity) is not at all consistent with your responsibilities and expectations. (Consider me sour grapes, pete, sorry for the rants)
@veganvelma- I wish I worked in your district and at a Wolf rather than a Ritz. I have never known anyone to make a raise more than the $.25 for a new lab level. (Only possible every couple of months)
Sounds like someone who either has an ax to grind or a really bad employee….. I am a Ritz Store Mgr, and have worked for Ritz since ’05. Before I worked for a small Mom and Pop camera company for 6 years, and another for 10 years before that. So I have been in the camera biz for a while….
1) ESP’s can be a lifesaver for customers, yes if you take good care of your stuff you don’t need it. But cameras now (plastic) are not made of the greatest stuff, drop your little point and shoot on the tile and see what happens. Most repairs take 4-6 weeks, its usually a wait for parts more than anything.
2) No we don’t price match online people, most brick and mortar stores don’t. Our price matching policies are very similar to other companies, and our prices are usually very VERY competitive. Several hot cameras this last XMAS were cheaper at Ritz than any other brick and mortar store.
3) Our Ritz branded memory cards are Lexar cards and say so right on the package. We sell other brands as well and other speeds… a good salesperson will recommend the right cards, and usually the multi packs (Ritz branded versions) are a steal price wise.
4) You are in SALES, and yes you are SELLING STUFF to make the company money. God forbid you offer a CAMERA BAG or a MEMORY CARD to someone buying a camera. They need it anyway…. and if you want your store to do well, it would be a good idea if they bought it from you. We call this a free market system, and job security.
5) The IRC card is a good deal for someone who prints a lot, or someone who spends a bit of money annually in our stores… not for everyone. Every major retail store now has some kind of reward card, we happen to charge for ours…
6) The Big Print You (4 1/2 x 6) prints are a somewhat new thing, and Ritz is no longer the only company printing them. Will they take over the market, who knows… some people like them and it is the correct ratio for point and shoot digital cameras so people don’t cut off part of the photo. They are a bit overpriced for what they are, I will agree. But again it’s a service we provide for people, it’s an option… and we tell the customer upfront what it costs. There is also another option for these prints which makes then one 4×6 and two wallets fro 39 cents a print, which honestly is a much better deal.
7) Scanning is 2.50 a print, again it’s a company and we are trying to make a profit here. There is a new service now for large orders that will scan 250 prints to CD for 49 bucks.
8) Demo cameras aren’t discounted, but I will say they are only shown to folks with an employee right there. They are not out for all the world to play with. And we always tell people it’s the last one, and was on display. A good employee can order someone a new one (at no charge thru Ritz Express) or call another store for one. I have never seen someone try to push off a display as anything but a display.
9) 3 years and no raise? You should take the hint, maybe they don’t want you there. My employees get raises every 6 months or so, and most average 10-14 dollars an hour when sales incentives are added. (good money for the area I am in) Around XMAS they make as much as 30-40 an hour. You get payed for performance, welcome to sales. We don’t pay for you to sit around! Four of my former employees are now managers as well. Managers can make 26,000-32,000 per year for a small store, 40,000 per year for a mid sized store… and the big Ultra stores can make you around 60k to 80k a year easy. Plus we have some of the best insurance of any retail company, not to mention a lot of other great benefits. We can but equipment direct from our vendors at insane discounts. For someone into photography it can be a dream job.
10) Wow you must have some awful manager or staff, machines down all the time? Sounds like some other issues at work here, like someone not maintaining the machines or operator issues. I can count on one hand the times my machines have been down in the last year.
Ritz/Wolf stores are a lot like other chains I’m sure…you will have the occasional bad egg, but I really love the company I work for. We have a ton of great people you love there jobs, and work there asses off for our customers. Yes we are a sales driven store, but no one is forcing associates to sell certain things or offer shady deals. Most salespeople will give you honest opinions about products if you ask and steer you in the right direction. It makes our jobs easier to have happy customers…. we want to sell you an ESP so if you break the camera we can fix it for you! We don’t want to be yelled at for selling you crap! Small chain stores like Ritz do one thing well, we sell cameras…. and do a good job of it. See if the idiot at Wal-Mart knows how to explain depth of field with your new camera, or if they take the extra time to show you how to format your memory card… or show your grandmother how to use the new digital camera she is terrified of.
ok, whoever wrote this must work in a bad store. i also work for ritz camera and have encountered next to none of the things listed here.
-i can price match almost any store without having to call the store or my district manager.
-ritz memory cards are the exact same as other brands, yes. but they are constantly on sale. and as a salesperson, i will figure out the cheapest card and offer that.
-my machine is very rarely broken and i can absolutely get prints out within the hour. this is the same for all the stores in my surrounding area.
-it is true that not all stores have everything in the catalog, or even more than just the one in the case. i’ve definitely driven myself to other stores to pick up cameras or cases/bags for a customer. i can have another store hold it, or i can order it and have it shipped to your house free shipping.
-this person’s view of the rewards card is completely wrong. i’ve personally seen a woman recieve over 50$ cash back, and thats just one person.
-the damage protection plan is a great plan. i’ve bought it for myself and my dad. and yes, it can take 4-6 weeks to get it fixed. but sure, if you want to send it to nikon instead, go ahead, because you’ll be waiting 12+ weeks.
maybe these things are true for this person’s particular store, but its not that way in every store, and especially not in any of the stores i’ve worked in. i’ve been in the company for 6+ years now, worked in 5 different stores, managed and closed one of those mall stores.
@pandroid
It’s nice of you to try and set the record straight but you’re still off target. I’ve worked for Ritz for several years and we do 1) charge $2.49 for scans ALWAYS and 2)Require a DM’s approval on price match. Maybe in your neck of the woods the hotshots did things differently. I have also worked in some very high volume finishing stores and the equipment is the same old stuff everywhere. I am not in a “rural” market either.
@SurinaFonzie I am a TSM in one of the districts for Ritz, and I have a few issues here. I’ve been working for the company now for 10+ years, and have seen ups and downs. You have to look at this with a more objective eye. I always have associates complain to me about how the equipment is old, and is always breaking. Most of the time, ALL of the issues are contributed to the fact that the associates had been lazy and not maintained the machines. And I get it, we don’t get paid a whole lot, but c’mon! It’s part of your job, and most of the time at least in my area, i just saw employees playing on their laptops and goofing the fuck off. here is the breakdown on the age of machines by the way: Frontier370 – purchased between 2001-2003. Frontier 340 – Purchased between 2003-2006. Frontier 390 – Purchased between 2002-2004. Frontier 375 – Purchased between 2003-2005. Frontier 570 – Purchased between 2006-2007. And ALL the drylabs were purchased in 2008.
We had Epson wide format printers, all purchased in 2006-2007. We had Document printers for photobooks all purchased in 2007-2008. the company was trying to do all it could to make some profit somewhere.
I admit, they don’t pay very well. Since the chapter 11 filings we have been severely cut down. But I like my job. And I keep my machines running VERY well. If your machines were crap, it was due to mismanagement. I hate it when employees talk about giving services away for free, or marking down the price, because they have no idea how much that hurts the profit for your store.
There are a shitload of employees out there now that got laid off with the onset of the bankruptcy, and i’m sure that 90% of them would LOVE the chance to put up with these gripes, just to have a job again.
and as for the customers, i’m sorry we can’t match the crappy monitor profile on your computer. I print photos all the time at my stores, and they don’t look muddy at all. they look great. maybe it’s your editing skills and overly-contrasted monitor profile that’s causing the bad quality photos. We are not a PRO lab, and don’t have any delusions of being one. We take time and care with consumer images. In my opinion I think that most of our stores do a great job.
If you come in to our stores and get hours worth of guidance and help from our sales staff and then go elsewhere, you are not hurting the big ritz corporate giant, you are hurting that salesperson, and wasting his or her time. Most of us work for Ritz because we enjoy photography. Not because we want to sell cameras.
And after all of this, I think I have more reason to complain than anyone. My pay has been severely cut again and again in all of this, my area is now larger for no extra compensation, and I now have to work with a DM I don’t get along with. But I need the job, and I like working on these machines. The “crap” machines as you call them.
I worked @ Shitz Camera for 1 year and Wolf for 2 years – I ditto everything this guy says- PLUS their so called “training classes” “coupon” that they give you when you buy a camera- and these “classes” are about 50% sales pitch to convince you to buy more equipment. They almost never have the higher end cameras in stock and they expect you to “order” ( read PREPAY ) for out of stock equip. Often if customers return expensive equip. Shitz will only send a check within 10 days so the company can use your money for a few days – like a free loan. There are very rarely any good “deals” at Shitz especially the “package deals”. As far as it being a Dead-End-Low-Pay job: ABSOLUTELY!!! …D.O.A.!!!
Disclaimer: the above is of course, only my first hand experienced, years of first- person- witness opinion.