WR> After sales service.
Definitely. And before sales service too, of course.
Friend bought a big CF card from our local shop, which he later
found
out wouldn't work reliably in his DSLR. They promptly gave him a
loaner, even bigger than the first one, until it was resolved under
warranty (which can legally take up to 30 days, after that they have
to return you the money if you want).
Although, here the situation is a bit different wrt prices than the US
-
most good stone shops try to match the prices a bit with the online
ones (there are no really cheap online ones), especially if you
are a long known customer. I have friends in my local shop - I would
never buy online unless the difference was like half price. I have a
long customer discount, they are accomodating when something new
comes, I can test several lenses from which I want one to buy, letting
me cherry-pick the best (which is quite worth it with 3rd party
lenses, some of which are varying a lot in optical quality over
several samples!), et cetera. But I am also living in a big city, so
my position is better than of those in rural areas.
Good light!
fra
