Customer Service in A&S

After thinking about getting into astronomy for the last while and then coming across this site I decided that I was going to sort myself out with a nice telescope. After a bit of research the general concesious seemed to rate the minimum scope to consider as a 6" reflector.

From reading these forums and my initial comparison of A&S's prices I had basically written them off as my choice of vendor. Although impressed with the amount of time spent, plus depth of knowledge on my initial phone call with them the price comparison with the UK put me off and I went to look elsewhere.

After posting my previous thread in the wanted section slating A&S I was surprised to see Carl (from A&S) look for feedback on my encounter with themselves to try to give me an understanding of what was going on.
Although skeptic I was surprised that when the price was broken down it, although not as cheap as on the internet, was definatley fair. The major factor here between the UK's price and A&S's prices was delivery. Telescopes being heavy objects seem to cost alot to ship across from the UK so obviously this has to be included in A&S's price.

After checking out prices on the internet I decided to drop out to A&S's shop in Artane to have a chat and and see what they had in stock. Upon arrival I was met by Carl and he immediatley got down to business. The first scope he showed and highly recommended to me was the Celestrial C6-N, as this did pass my minimum spec I was very interested but asked to be shown what other models would be in around my budget, which he was more than happy to do. After looking at Dobs and bigger arpetures I started to get the feeling that the C6-N was indeed the scope that would suit me best.

When it came down to sorting out a price Carl hopped onto the internet and brought up a couple of prices from other well known UK vendors to compare against. He beat them hands down (including free a years membership to Astronomey Ireland) and so I'd bought myself a scope.

After melting poor Carls head with newbie questions for the next 20 minutes (during which he threw in a free €15 book and a load of back issues of Astronomy and Space) I went on my way. After arriving home and pulling the boxes apart to get my scope together I noticed that a 10mm lens, which I had told was included, was missing. Not to pleased I rang Carl straight away but was back to my cheery self when he sorted it out for me. This is exactly the kind of support that I would have missed out on had I opted for the internet purchase.

Apologies for the essay but after seeing A&S getting so much of a hard time on these boards I just thought I'd throw my tuppence in and let other people be aware that although buying off the internet can be cheaper most of the time, dealing with real people in a shop, getting free advice, with load of extras thrown in can be alot more rewarding in the long term.

Yep, I agree. I got an ASGT for a competitive price from them (as cheap as any UK store) and fantastic service as well when there was an issue.
In my case the internet would not have been much cheaper so it was dosh well spent to be able to get advice and service locally IMO.

Trev

If Celestron make the product you want A&S is certainly the place to go. However if what you are looking for is not a Celestron product or the item you would like an equivalent for is not Celestron do not expect the same level of knowledge from all staff.

I once had a rather obstinate individual who answered the phone try to convince me that Baader's Contrast Booster was the Fringe Killer filter I was looking for. He only knew of one Baader filter and couldn't bring himself to conceed the fact that I had a copy of the full Baader Catalog (which I pointed out) and he was wrong. I don't know whether or not A&S now stock more of the Baader filter range but on that occasion I couldn't put up with the chap's stubborn ignorance, hung up and sourced it elsewhere.

I'm glad it worked out for you Turlock.

I've had 2 experiences with the shop, neither were good, one been particularily bad, I also know who I was talking to.
To be fair, they were both nearly 8 years ago, so are not nearly as relevant as more recent events.

The major factor here between the UK's price and A&S's prices was delivery. Telescopes being heavy objects seem to cost alot to ship across from the UK so obviously this has to be included in A&S's price.

Surely, Celestron products are shipped from the states (or China), so the shipping costs to Ireland should be the same as the shipping costs to England. Unless of course the telescopes are first shipped to England and then shipped to Ireland, which seems to be strange way to do business.

Regards

Turlock,

Congrats on your new telescope!! May it bring you many years of fun under crystal-clear dark skies!

Regards,