Why Do Audio Dealers Suck?
venomclan
Posts: 2,467
I have many stories about crappy dealers over the years, including one yesterday. I am curious if you guys have had similar experiences as I do?
Venom
Venom
Post edited by venomclan on
Comments
-
I have many stories about crappy dealers over the years, including one yesterday. I am curious if you guys have had similar experiences as I do?
Venom
What happened yesterday? For the most part, I've had good experiences with various local dealers. There have been a few that weren't very customer service oriented once they sensed that I wasn't going to shell out any money on the spot. There loss as far as I was concerned."2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
The exact same reason tire/alignment places, oil change/lube places, and you-name-it-just-about any other franchised stores suck; they don't know WTF they're doing, or if they are even close to knowing, they employee a bunch of dumb@sses who don't know WTF they're doing. Mr. Tire irritated the **** out of me for the last time yesterday, LYING to me about crap, stripped out two of my lug nuts with an impact wrench, then tried to hide it. I'll NEVER go back there again...
oh, wait...you were talking about AUDIO dealerships, right??
TNRabbit
NO Polk Audio Equipment :eek:
Sunfire TG-IV
Ashly 1001 Active Crossover
Rane PEQ-15 Parametric Equalizers x 2
Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature Seven
Carver AL-III Speakers
Klipsch RT-12d Subwoofer -
There is only one local dealer here that actually has a storefront. They never stock anything, always want you to take the display, which of course they always "just put on display yesterday". And no discount for being a display either.
They will order anything I want, paid for up front, no discount, and no return on "custom orders". What on earth would I need them for? If I want to order and wait, I can do that myself online, get a discount, and still have a return policy. -
I was looking for an item that is fairly new and found out that 2 local dealers carry the brand. 1 dealer I did business with before had it in stock. I reluctant to call them as they treat customers similar to a car dealership, with a hard sell and full MSRP price. The salesmen there are nice and patient but the owners suck. I call them and get the owner on the phone; Lucky me. He was nice as far as helping with the pruduct I wanted, but once we talked about the other equipment I was using (no brands he carries), he started to talk down on what I had. He then said there was no return policy or in-home demo. So basically I can order it online and demo in home for 30 days, or pay full price to him for no demo. I understand open box policies and all, but the more I try to do business with him, the more I regret it.
The next dealer on the list is rather new and I have been there before. He has 2 nice listening rooms set up with no less than $200K systems. He carries other brands, in theory. But he also does not answer the phone...
I have other stories and understand dealers being hesistant, but in this economy I would think they would be ecstatic a customer darkens their door. -
-
That seems to be how it is on all high end retail, which is why I make it a point to shop online these days. If you don't want to pay 10 grand for a product you can get online for 7500, they don't even want to talk to you. Every store i've been in makes you feel like a thief for not buying anything. For the most part, they know no more than we all do... they only have experience with the products they sell, and can only tell you what the company feeds them. Hell, I took a test drive at a dealership and I asked the guy said "this car has an excellent audio system", so I asked him "what kind is it?" he said "uh... a good one".
I won't continue because I have a million and one stories about crappy retail stores with idiots as staff, selling overpriced crappy products, trying to sell you so hard that you feel like an **** walking away, etc.
So, to put it extremely short... yes, you are right, high end audio (and most retail) places suck.
I will speculate though. It seems like many places don't stock too many products because the cost of not selling them is too high, especially with electronics. Since these are shops that make only a handful of sales per week, they can't afford to stock something that might languish on their shelves. This also makes it so they are pressed to sell whatever crap they have so they don't lose money. These businesses prey on rich, ignorant people who will buy anything if told "it's the best". These stores are simply not in business for us money-conscious consumers who want to get the most out of each product we buy, and make the best decisions when purchasing.
As a side note, I wonder what the markup on this crap is. I used to know someone that sold high end furniture, but that's a different story. What do you think they will make on a 10k amplifier sold at MSRP? Maybe there simply isn't enough markup for them to have great return policies, etc. For example, you can return most clothing for 90 days... but the markup on clothing is... insane, to put it mildly. -
Cause there all in the same boat rt now...going broke!
-
yeah, but if they were all going broke, they wouldn't act all arrogant like they do. They act like they are millionaires and we are poverty-stricken. I walk into a place and they show me to a $50,000 system, and I say "that's a little out of my price range" and they become very inattentive and try to get you out the door. Also, when you tell them what you have and what you're trying to accomplish, they tell you that all your gear is crap and you should have shopped here first because you got screwed, etc. It seems like they don't want business! that, or, I am not their target market (more likely).
Also, once you start forming your own opinions, like "actually, I think those are too metallic in the highs" they just don't want to deal with you. I think its just that they want rich people who want to pay a lot for something and know that "its the best" -
The high end HiFi dealer I deal with is the tops. He'll let you take home burned in demo units to try in your system to see if synergy is there. He also has a 30 money back guarantee on all his gear. He is very knoweldgeable not just in what he sells but with other products too. He is also an authorized Polk dealer.
He does repairs on all kinds of gear and has his own product line and gives discounts on all the products he sells plus he has an online store.
Like I said he is the tops. -
lucky ****! :P
-
It's a crapshoot. I've got a couple of good places, and a couple of bad places
around Dallas. The ones I really like have nice trade ins. For the budget minded, that's always a plus."The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson -
I've had good results with high end stores. I went to one in San Jose when I was like 19 (wow was that 8 years ago?) and they must have been bored or were really nice. They demoed every 'awesome' system they had in separate rooms just for the heck of it. I even had an hour long talk with the sales men. They knew i wasn't buying since I walked in off the street (on vacation).
I can imagine though that most others are like walking into Circuit City back in the day... vultures who either don't want to help you or are full of themselves.Main Surround -
Epson 8350 Projector/ Elite Screens 120" / Pioneer Elite SC-35 / Sunfire Signature / Focal Chorus 716s / Focal Chorus CC / Polk MC80 / Polk PSW150 sub
Bedroom - Sharp Aquos 70" 650 / Pioneer SC-1222k / Polk RT-55 / Polk CS-250
Den - Rotel RSP-1068 / Threshold CAS-2 / Boston VR-M60 / BDP-05FD -
okiepolkie wrote: »So am I in this category too
NOTE: *************Okie is exempt from the crappy dealer list********:)
I would say that 2 of the 10 in the area are good. The rest pretty much want the wealthy and unknowledgeble.
I am in marketing and sales.
Lesson 1: Never trash the competition, it makes you look petty.
2 - You never know what is in a person's wallet. If I demo something with a modest price that particular time, how do you know I won't be in there next time to buy the whole store cash and not even blink?
Venom -
Arrogance, bad service, hedging on warranties, sending you to the manufacturer instead of handling locally (if feasible). These are all qualities that are steeped in audio tradition.
-
I think any specialty shop you deal with is similar regardless of what they sell. I work in a bike shop on Sundays to help pay for my wedding, and I am very careful to make each customer feel good about coming to our little shop. No matter how bad the bike - I am straight up and nice.......a lot of times if a sale is not made right then - they are back because of the arrogance exhibited by other specialty shop sales people.
With our local audio shop; "Graffitti Audio Video" they are a nice family run retail establishment, but they are absolutely awful with customer service, and they are only knowledgeable(gross overstatement) about what they sell......at least they are nice people.
When living in Buffalo - "The Speaker Shop"
http://www.speakershop.com/
is an awesome shop - great with customer service - great with letting customers borrow - heck - my best friend bought a few things there and when he got me an old record player for christmas (not theirs)- they set it up for him for free - and the employee who did it was just stopping in on his day off! That is a great shop and I wish them all the best........... -
The people at my local audio shop, "The Audio Video Connection" don't know their **** from their elbow. I've walked in there, and had to educate them on products they were trying to sell me. It's pretty bad.
If you don't show interest in buying a new flat panel TV or a satellite system within the first few minutes, they lose interest. They also do a really crappy job installing car stereos. They installed one in my car some years back, and I've had to fix quite a few of their mistakes.
Unfortunately, I live in a small town, so my options are kind of limited.The nirvana inducer-
APC H10 Power Conditioner
Marantz UD5005 universal player
Parasound Halo P5 preamp
Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's -
comfortablycurt wrote: »The people at my local audio shop, "The Audio Video Connection" don't know their **** from their elbow. I've walked in there, and had to educate them on products they were trying to sell me. It's pretty bad.
I suspect the common problem is these jobs do not pay much, so employees move on. Any knowledge they may have gained then goes with them, while the new employee is starting over at ground zero.
Pay me $150K a year (plus a large employee discount), and I will be glad to give up my job, and work at one of those stores.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
I suspect the common problem is these jobs do not pay much, so employees move on. Any knowledge they may have gained then goes with them, while the new employee is starting over at ground zero.
Pay me $150K a year (plus a large employee discount), and I will be glad to give up my job, and work at one of those stores.
That's what you'd think, but the guys that work there have all worked there for around 10 years. Aside from a few of their installers, all of the employees are long term employees.
I was demo'ing a pair of Klipsch RF-15's(?) a while back, and I was saying that I didn't really like the way that they sounded. I was telling them that I preferred the warmer sound of my Polk's to the sound of the very bright Klipsch. They proceeded to tell me that I was wrong for feeling that way, and insisted that the Klipsch were much better sounding speakers.
The sad part? This place is also an authorized Polk dealer. They barely carry any Polk products anymore though. Currently they have a few CS1's in stock, as well as a surroundbar and a couple pairs of RTiA5's. They have about a million different pairs of Klipsch speakers, and a ton of DCM speakers(which sound like crap). They were insistent that the DCM's were far superior speakers to the Polk's as well.The nirvana inducer-
APC H10 Power Conditioner
Marantz UD5005 universal player
Parasound Halo P5 preamp
Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's -
As said before, it's a crapshoot. There's 2 independent shops in Columbia- Upstairs Audio and they cary Deftech, Totems, and MagnePlanars- they're the good ones. Real mellow, let you sit and listen all day, set up stuff, no pressure.
The other is Sound Advice? They carry Paradigm, Vandersteen, and ??, and the guy that works there sux! Trashed Polk Audio, like they were some white van speaker, and EVERYTHING is 'special order'!I refuse to argue with idiots, because people can't tell the DIFFERENCE! -
Well, as for the low paying jobs and people who quit thing.... I just had my laptop in the service center (only because its under warranty and the motherboard and labor was free if they did the work), and they sent it back to me not working once, and then they called me ASKING ME WHAT I THOUGHT WAS WRONG WITH IT. I told him the possible problems, and how to go about resolving them, and asked if he had already done that... he said 'no'.
So, I went to the laptop shop, went in the back room, fixed my own laptop, and left. Ok... a few things here... they didn't even care that I fixed it on my own,,, it didn't make them feel the least bit bad/stupid. This guy has been fixing computers for 20 years (he says). I am a 21 year old kid.
So, it's not about the years, or even the experience. Hell, he has to have much more experience doing this everyday at like 10 computers+ a day, when the most i've ever done was 2-3 a day on and off. It's really about the individual person. I will work harder for **** pay simply because I feel useless unless I do good quality work.
So, these businesses should be screening their employees better. Problem is, they would rather have high selling employees than smart ones. Most of the time these don't mix.
Edit: is it just me, or am I always off topic? -
Trashed Polk Audio, like they were some white van speaker
Yeah, I've gotten this plenty of times. I went to a guy who sells Dynaudio, KEF, and Parasound. He trashed my LSi system, my B&K amp, and my (maybe with reason) Emotiva preamp. He told me how much better off I would have been if I had let him "hook me up". And to be honest, his parasound/dynaudio setup didn't sound that good. Oh, his lowest price subwoofer was like 2 grand... that kinda put me off... god only knows what his "hook up" price would have been
I went to another guy who was trying to sell me paradigm... he played me "Uninvited" the highs just KILLED my ears, I couldn't even listen for a second (although the sound of the paradigm just washed over me... it was like I was surrounded by it... that was kinda cool)... I told him my polks had a different kind of tweeter (non metallic) that didn't kill my ears and he told me that I was incorrect and the polks couldn't have anything other than a metallic tweeter. He said he used to sell polk and stopped selling because they didn't sound good and were low end. Ugh -
comfortablycurt wrote: »That's what you'd think, but the guys that work there have all worked there for around 10 years. Aside from a few of their installers, all of the employees are long term employees.
Okay. I stand corrected. Still, I wouldn't mind working in a decent audio/video store if the pay was better. Maybe after I retire I can do that to keep me busy.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
Okay. I stand corrected. Still, I wouldn't mind working in a decent audio/video store if the pay was better. Maybe after I retire I can do that to keep me busy.
I've thought the same thing before. That would be a great job for me. I've tossed around the idea of putting in an application at my local A/V store, since I seem to be more knowledgeable about it than the guys who own the store...lolThe nirvana inducer-
APC H10 Power Conditioner
Marantz UD5005 universal player
Parasound Halo P5 preamp
Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's -
comfortablycurt wrote: »I've thought the same thing before. That would be a great job for me. I've tossed around the idea of putting in an application at my local A/V store, since I seem to be more knowledgeable about it than the guys who own the store...lol
Then they will ask you for a resume and cover letter, and tell you that the pay is $6.55 an hour.... then you will know why the employees lack basic cognitive skills.
off topic, but seriously, whats with minimum wage jobs asking for cover letters and resumes lately? -
hearingimpared wrote: »The high end HiFi dealer I deal with is the tops. He'll let you take home burned in demo units to try in your system to see if synergy is there. He also has a 30 money back guarantee on all his gear. He is very knoweldgeable not just in what he sells but with other products too. He is also an authorized Polk dealer.
He does repairs on all kinds of gear and has his own product line and gives discounts on all the products he sells plus he has an online store.
Like I said he is the tops.
I take it you're alluding to Stephen from Quest for Sound. I totally agree, he is tops when it comes to stereo shop owners. I frequent his shop just to hang out for the day.
Oh, he's a hugh tube guy!!! we break each others chops about tubes & SS. He even designs & maunfactures his own tube line called "SoundQuest" & has gotten rave reviews on his line. Stephen knows his stuff for sure. I'm about ready for another visit...are you in Joe?"2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up. -
cokewithvanilla wrote: »Then they will ask you for a resume and cover letter, and tell you that the pay is $6.55 an hour.... then you will know why the employees lack basic cognitive skills.
Well, minimum wage is $7.50 here in Illinois.;) I think anyway...
I'm not looking at it as a new career, but rather as an enjoyable part time job for some extra income.The nirvana inducer-
APC H10 Power Conditioner
Marantz UD5005 universal player
Parasound Halo P5 preamp
Parasound HCA-1200II power amp
PolkAudio LSi9's/PolkAudio SDA 2A's/PolkAudio Monitor 7A's
Audioquest Speaker Cables and IC's -
The only store we have in this Hellhole is Best Buy... I remember fondly the guys at Sound Factor and Shelly's in Woodland Hills California... It was at Shelly's that I bought now deceased 1.2tl's. They have always been awesome to deal with.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
hearingimpared wrote: »The high end HiFi dealer I deal with is the tops. He'll let you take home burned in demo units to try in your system to see if synergy is there. He also has a 30 money back guarantee on all his gear. He is very knoweldgeable not just in what he sells but with other products too. He is also an authorized Polk dealer.
He does repairs on all kinds of gear and has his own product line and gives discounts on all the products he sells plus he has an online store.
Like I said he is the tops.
Could you post the name & address of this shop?:) -
pearsall001 wrote: »I take it you're alluding to Stephen from Quest for Sound. I totally agree, he is tops when it comes to stereo shop owners. I frequent his shop just to hang out for the day.
Oh, he's a hugh tube guy!!! we break each others chops about tubes & SS. He even designs & maunfactures his own tube line called "SoundQuest" & has gotten rave reviews on his line. Stephen knows his stuff for sure. I'm about ready for another visit...are you in Joe?
Indeed I am.
Here's the link; http://www.questforsound.com/index.htm All the info you need is on the website. -
Is this one of the rave reviews for the line he designed...
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue32/soundquest.htmA so called science type proudly says... "I do realize that I would fool myself all the time, about listening conclusions and many other observations, if I did listen before buying. That’s why I don’t, I bought all of my current gear based on technical parameters alone, such as specs and measurements."
More amazing Internet Science Pink Panther wisdom..."My DAC has since been upgraded from Mark Levinson to Topping."
