Audio Affairs in The Custard Factory, Birmingham – avoid this straggly piece of ccoocckk cheese.
Went in there today to look at buying some new music equipment to play my I-Pod through, scrote just sat there typing away on his computer and said nothing when i walked in and started looking at the equipment on display. When i mentioned what type of equipment i was looking for he just said he didn't have any. I pointed out a few similar pieces of equipment and asked if i could possibly listen to any of them – "NO, just look at our web site instead" was the rude reply.
I didn't even look like a pauper today, work trousers and shirt and tie – obviously not good enough for this tool.
Know where my money will not be spent.

avoid all hifi persons like the plague or you'll catch it too 🙁

GRAMMOPHONE – Rowan Atkinson – Sketch from Not The Nine o'Clock News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

😉

Seems odd – I used to go into Hi-Fi shops in my younger days and had good service from them all. I did get to know one chap who chatted about the sort of people they get in and he can instantly tell who are the time wasters so maybe that's the impression you gave? No excuse for rudeness though.

I've met good and bad – there's a Linn stockist in York that completely ignored me for the 10 minutes it took me to decide that they would never see a penny of my hard earned cash, but the people in Sevenoaks in Leeds couldn't have been more accommodating – I enjoyed giving them my cash.

Gixer.
If it's an audiophile type of shop, you'd probably need to book a demo of kit – that's how it works typically in a high-end shop.

Most sales people in shops like that are usually very enthusiastic, in the same way that guys working in LBS's are passionate about bikes but like it or not, he's probably made a visual assessment of you, your ability to to pay the price or appreciate the kit or there's something he's decided about you that you were not worth the effort. Harsh, but true.

However, he might just be an awful salesman!

If you feel strongly about his attitude, write a letter to the manager.

Something similar happened at B&Q to me last year, the salesman said he'd not got the £1 in change from the sale of goods at the till and next I was in the store, he'd "sort me out" with the money the till owed me. You can be sure I told him what I thought of that idea and made a point of informing the manager of his sales teams poor performance and attitude towards me, a paying customer.

i dont think its just hi-fi types

i've had the same treatment in bike shops, on one occasion was actually told

'we're really busy, i dont have time to go looking through the stock cupboard for one pair of shorts'

all i asked was if they had a pair in the same size that didn't have the button missing… 🙁

Ti29 – wee shop, no demo room, gear already sitting there connected up. No one else in the shop.
If he had someone else in for a demo, or a customer was due in who had booked one, a simple explanation would have done.

Go in tomorrow and take a steaming crap on his desk.

When I were a lad of about 12 I walked into a large local bike shop and asked if it would be ok to have a look around as I was getting a bike for Christmas. "Why do you think we have big windows" was the reply from the now out of business shop owner. Spent thousands on bikes and bits over the years but never in that miserable buggers shop.

I'm paid handsomely to stand in the far off side rear (very dark) corner of the Royal Krell listening room and occasionally whisper dessert recipes from the 1800's in a hushed, tawdry and slightly menacing manner.

I remember buying my ex a stereo at an AV store about 5 years ago – the cashier was rude and "ungrateful." So I immediately walked round the store, found the manager and summarised her attitude – to which the manager said something along the lines of "I'm sorry sir … we know what she can be like … her attitude has been worse lately … and she was very late in today … I feel it's time I must do something about it."

Fair enough, he may have done **** all – on the other hand, he might have "cautioned" her. Hence, as a customer, I feel we have a right to complain about a store-person's attitude.

Don't even get me started on the kn0bhead 20 yr olds that supposedly work at Vodafone stores. Haven't got a **** clue.

Own him with a pair of monoblocks 🙂

Seriously, that guy is a very poor salesman. Even if he's an audio snob regarding the ipod, he's got the chance to demonstrate why a different source is better. The visual cues aren't always an indicator of wealth. I've met customers with £30k plus systems who dress more shabbily than I do, and that's saying something…

similar instance here.
4 months ago, i decided upon a custom home cinema / theatre install.
got kaka service in one shop,even though i'd bought good kit there previously, then superb service in sevenoaks aberdeen, to the extent that i increased my budget and have a system now to die for !
vote with your feet – it usually pays !

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/1/199143/ShowThread.aspx

Seems as if they have some satisfied and som disatisfied customers then.

lecht – wanted to vote with my ears first 👿

Wasn't intending to spend a mahoosive amount of money as i already have a Myryad Amp, B&W CDM1 se speakers, Project turntable etc in the other room.
Just needed something compact for the computer room. Still, there are plenty of other places to go – just don't see the point of being a pompous ringpiece if you are supposed to be trying to sell a product to a potential customer.

I wet with a very wealthy mate to a west end shop for a demo which shall remain nameless.

We don't dress up for shopping, jeans, trainers, t shirts.

We listened to various of my mates CD's mostly soul funk that kind of stuff not every bodies taste but he likes it and has several thousand cds.

No bass kept swapping stuff out, still no bass, saying to the chap look budgets not an issue its a big room lets hear something better etc

Eventually this cock said something along the lines of I've no time for two Croydon boys wasting my time.

We left and went back to the car, I took great pleasure in his face when we pulled up outside in a Ferrari 360 and I went in to by a banana plug.

Missed a big sale there mate.

Really true. A pretty woman moment I think its called.

If it ain't a BADA dealer, it ain't a hifi shop!

Always use "bell end free" BADA dealers!

He's a Brummie.

Spongebob – Member
If it ain't a BADA dealer, it ain't a hifi shop!

Always use "bell end free" BADA dealers!

You are having a laugh right?

Did you tell him his cables were connected the wrong way round?

Jesus, it ain't just hi-fi shops that treat punters like that. One of my lbs is very bad. They know me well enough but one day I went in wearing tee and jeans and was totally ignored by the whole lot of them. Next time I went in wearing tee, shorts and a pair of Oakleys and it was like flies round shit! Just made me laugh really. As for hi-fi shops any decent one would politely tell you that you may need to book a demo but if they were quiet most will accomodate you. The guy who you spoke to must have been having a very bad day 🙄

You are having a laugh right?

Concur.

That was a wind up wasn't it?

We left and went back to the car, I took great pleasure in his face when we pulled up outside in a Ferrari 360 and I went in to by a banana plug

see that strikes me as a wee bit pompous too.

I used to do Saturday work in a hi-fi shop years ago, nothing really high end, Sony, Rotel, Technics with some decent turntable and various British speakers. This is when cd first came in, and most customers had nasty Amstrad towers and the like. I would never, ever be offhand with a customer, always taking time to demo various options, and explaining the benefits of keeping the system as simple as possible, no graphic equalisers, use good speaker stands, etc. Not everyone saw the benefits, but all appreciated the time I took, and more than one couple came in looking for a cd player to plug into an existing old stereo, and walked out with a nice Rega Planar, Rotel amp and B&W speakers with a decent set of stands to go with the new cd player. It never pays to be offhand to customers, that's just bloody ignorant.

"straggly piece of ccoocckk cheese" "a pompous ringpiece"

Sir, you are gifted in your ability to craft the finest insults. It would be a shame to waste them. Make sure you go back into the shop and share them with said tool.

I like to think it was a lesson learned. Especially if he was on commission.

Own him with a pair of monoblocks

Presumably 4 so you can bi-amp?

Another happy Sevenoaks fan. They let me spend 4-5 hours in their demo room swapping amps and CD players round. They made the sale.

Dunt – i thank you for recognising my talent, does make my missus chuckle when i go on a mini-rant. Says she has never heard expletives and sweary phrases like mine before.

Own him with a pair of monoblocks

The singlechanelworld.com's weapon of choice eh?

Maybe he was really busy with previous customer and sorting the prob out.

I've been busy as astudent in a shop big sale when one person wants a n extension lead.

If the guy is always rude well his business will fail.

Stop waiting for the red carpet treatment you pansies.

I've made a terrible error – our new office is attached to a very nice and stupendously expensive HiFi shop. One of my boys dad owns it so we're leasing the office out the back.

The bstrd sneaked in on MOnday night and put a Naim Uniti in and some very nice speakers and left it turned on for my arrival. He then casually poked his head in about 10am and mentioned the retail price and the price to me.

Bastard.

But anyway back to your point, yeah I find customer service a bit hit and miss esp in sort of niche places. Its like buying a nice car, they don;t often take you seriosuly unless you turn up in a nice car which is odd. I wanted to drive an RS4 as i was seriously considering buying one (an avant), the other option was a cheaper van and 911. Honestly. So the guy in the Audi garage treated me like a big curly turd on his desk. I eventually managed to get a drive in one but the bloke, not knowing anything about me, my profession, my financial situation etc – just my look and a guess at my age, stated that "It would probably be really hard for me to borrow enough money". Ha ha nice one mate. I laughed and said that I didn't actually need to borrow money and explained my options re van/prosche or audi/do it all. He just said "yeah right". I dropped someone off there last week in the 911 to pick her car up that was being serviced and the look on the poor bastards face told me everything i needed to know. Absolute knob, do not ever judge a book by its cover and only ever treat people the way you wish to be treated. My 2 business mantras. 😀

I have a new HiFi by the way. Hopefully my wife doesn't notice too much !

Stop waiting for the red carpet treatment you pansies.

Why not ? Its me with the money and you with the stock and debt (I would assume). Therefore its up to you to make me want to swap money for stock.

Simple.

The singlechanelworld.com's weapon of choice eh?

lol

scrote just sat there typing away on his computer

Come on,give the guy a break…..

He was probably doing something life or death…….like being logged into the stw forum.

😉

put a Naim Uniti in

Raises champagne glass 🙂

mentioned the retail price and the price to me.

Fills it with cava 🙁

What speakers are you running with it NZCol? Had mine for a while now but need to build a pair of crossovers for my old IBLs. I think people at work would actually hurt me if they saw what I'm using at the moment…

And the winner of today's oxymoronic simile award is:

I've been busy as a student in a shop

I'll get battered as well because I actually have some Bose speakers in the lounge at the mo which its connected to – sacrilige.
However I have some nice bi-wired Mission floor standers which I'll dig back out for it. I managed to avoid buying new speakers for the moment !

Tobe fair I got it at cost. Which was still eye watering but worth it.

Bose is better than what I'm using 😯

I need to move the bedroom around to accommodate my floorstanders, tiny though they are. I hope you enjoy your Uniti, they do seem to be very popular. I know they're expensive, but I can assure you that a stupendous amount of work goes into them.

Ti29 – wee shop, no demo room, gear already sitting there connected up.

Ah-ha… 😕