Skip, your opinion please....Poor customer service?

cfrizz

Yesterday, I called IQ Entertainment in Fairfax, VA to see if they had any of the Signature series in stock. I was told they had the S55 but they weren't on the floor.

Well today, Mark and I had to go to Pistone's out in that area then drive the 8 miles up the road to get to them.

The guy Johnny who I spoke to yesterday was there and I introduced myself and what I wanted, but he said the 55s weren't on the floor, and they didn't have the 60s. But they are Polks so of course they will sound good. Then he said that the only difference between the two would be the extra driver, as if I wouldn't know that.

I told him the question I needed answered was with the tweeter, and just how well it would do with music. I said I knew it would be fine for movies, but how it performed with music was the key.

He asked me if I was set on the 60s or if I would be interested in the 55s. I told him I really wanted the 60s, but listening to the 55s would give me the info I needed to know.

Then he basically gave me his card and said to call him on Friday afternoon to see if they had gotten the 60s in, then they would burn them in so that I could come in to listen to them. Yeah, right.

Is this how it is done now Skip? Will you only go through the effort of pulling out a pair of speakers, if you are guaranteed to make a sale that day? If it is, then I now know why so few dealerships exist!

If he had gone to the extra effort, I would have told him that come Feb. he would have gotten a phone call from me making a purchase of the 60s from him to send to me in Boston.

While I like shopping online, I still like to hit a store in cases like these to actually see, hear, touch, the product. And good CS will just about guarantee, that I will make an in store purchase even if it cost a bit more money, but they earned it as well as my loyalty as a customer. But with this kind of lazy, can't be bothered condescending attitude, they lose my interest in them.

And for supposedly being a authorized Polk dealership, they had tons of Klipsch, Macintosh, Focal, Martin Logan's etc. And only 1 pair of it looked like smaller floorstander of the T series.

It might be a good idea, for Polk to send some people into the dealerships within the Baltimore/DC/VA area to see just how well these supposed dealers are selling their products.

Sigh, I really wish I could have gone out to Polk HQ for a listen.

F1nut

I seem to recall the new speakers are not to be available to sell until 11/28 or 11/29.

Emlyn

It looks like Polk currently has 12 different models of floorstanding speakers, not to mention the bookshelves, center channels, and surround speakers. The IQ location is pretty small, and replaced the Tweeter store that was there. I am not surprised they had little Polk in stock because they don't know for sure what will sell among all the different speakers available, but am a little surprised they would not crack open the boxes for the S55 speakers since they were on hand, are a brand new line, and the speakers are not expensive. The approach was most likely because they would not be purchased with the larger speakers the real target, and they are committed with other distributors to display certain speakers on the floor. Even when it was Tweeter and had a bigger corporation behind it the store kept very little in stock in terms of floorstanding speakers. It was the same deal with Meyer Emco, and it has been going on for a long time, well before people started purchasing audio gear online. It was really difficult to demo a piece of gear in those stores or others when they were in business although they would offer to have it shipped to them from the distributor if someone was committed to buy.

cfrizz

Thanks everyone for your feedback, and while I know the 60s aren't available to hear, he had a pair of 55s that he could have made available. On this point, I'm in the same camp as Nbrowser.

They didn't even try to interest me as a potential customer. With this kind of attitude, you certainly can't blame Polk for making their products available in Best Buy etc.

It's this kind of attitude that gives audio dealerships a bad rep as far as the majority of the population goes, which is why besides price is why dealerships have basically become a slowly dying breed, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

F1nut

I don't think you understand. The retailer is not allowed to sell the Signature series speakers yet and very likely isn't allowed to bring any stock they may have out on the show room floor.

honestaquarian

DSkip wrote: »

F1nut wrote: »

I don't think you understand. The retailer is not allowed to sell the Signature series speakers yet and very likely isn't allowed to bring any stock they may have out on the show room floor.

If that is he case, the proper response is to tell the client you don't have any.

I agree
While I no longer sell audio I am still a salesman and my experience has been that in SOME cases such as this (*NOT all cases*) When you try to be honest with someone who is determined to get whatever it is they set their mind to.It never ends well.
If you cannot even bring them out to display,demo or even sell, just tell people you ain't got`em yet.
Otherwise you end up with situations like this where people are complaining about poor customer service.
No disrespect to you Cathy
I have had too many situations where a customer wants what they want and nothing that you tell them is going to change their minds unfortunately.So outside of "We don't have it". Or "We can't get it". They ain't trying to hear anything that you say.

gudnoyez

F1nut wrote: »

I seem to recall the new speakers are not to be available to sell until 11/28 or 11/29.

The Best Buy has had them for sale for a couple of weeks now, unless the B&M's are the only ones able to sell them prior to that 11/28 date. Cathy I listend to the 55's and the smaller bookies of the Signature series and was surprised at how good they sounded at that price point. If you do go to a Best Buy don't expect much of a customer service experience, however the display Polk put together to display them was well done, go to a Best Buy and listen to the 55's they might give you a feel for the 60's. The higher end stores around here don't carry Polk products anymore its a shame.

F1nut

Checking different Best Buy stores online, I didn't find one that indicated they had them in stock.

cfrizz

gudnoyez wrote: »

F1nut wrote: »

I seem to recall the new speakers are not to be available to sell until 11/28 or 11/29.

The Best Buy has had them for sale for a couple of weeks now, unless the B&M's are the only ones able to sell them prior to that 11/28 date. Cathy I listened to the 55's and the smaller bookies of the Signature series and was surprised at how good they sounded at that price point. If you do go to a Best Buy don't expect much of a customer service experience, however the display Polk put together to display them was well done, go to a Best Buy and listen to the 55's they might give you a feel for the 60's. The higher end stores around here don't carry Polk products anymore its a shame.

I plan to do just that either down here or when I get home. I don't expect any kind of CS in places like BB, but if I can get a good relative hearing of the 55s, I will at least be more comfortable knowing if I will like the 60s.

H.A. if my wanting what I want is a bad thing to dealers that they won't even make an effort to help, and possibly gain a sale, then they deserve to fail.

A moron at Tweeter lost himself a $2000.00 sale 26 years ago by displaying this kind of attitude, and Goodwin Audio gained my business and loyalty until they left Boston years later.

They had a pair of 55s on hand, that they could have let me listen to but didn't want to be bothered since he knew I wanted the 60s. The only speaker of the series not available are the 60s. His attitude told me that the only thing he was interested in was selling the 55s he had on hand. Well tough $hit!

I'll get what I want one way or another and it won't be from him.

F1nut

Typical

polrbehr

F1nut wrote: »

Checking different Best Buy stores online, I didn't find one that indicated they had them in stock.

My local BB said on their website awhile back that the S35 would be available for pickup in-store on 11/18. Now the site says they will be available for shipping 12/1, or for local pickup in North Haven CT today - only 37 miles, but there's the nasty speed bump called the Long Island Sound in the way.

I was looking forward to comparing this to my CSi30, but the anticipation is wearing off a little now...

F1nut

Harry, wouldn't that be more of a sink hole?

honestaquarian

Cathy
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting what you want! Now granted I wasn't there and cannot judge by what went down. I was just expanding on the statements that @dskip and @f1nut were making in that it may have been better for him to just say he didn't have them if his contract with Polk won't allow him to even take them out of the stockroom and display them yet. Unfortunately the big box stores always get favor because of their volume of sales and they get to sell before the smaller mom and pop shops.

honestaquarian

Whenever you cannot give the customer what they want because your hands are tied by circumstances which have nothing to do with the customer. It becomes a lose/lose situation for everyone involved.

polrbehr

F1nut wrote: »

Harry, wouldn't that be more of a sink hole?

Yes, of course, my metaphors need work.
But to elaborate on your point, it's a sink hole filled with water (and fish, though personally I can only attest to the water part; fish are nowhere to be found whenever I happen to be standing on the shore).

honestaquarian

Cathy just out of curiosity was the salesman's name Randy Kline?

cfrizz

No, Johnny something or other. Can't remember his last name.