Music shops -any wonder they're going under?

[Jakester]

Recently went into one of the larger national purveyors of music ephemera, and spotted something I quite like the look of.

Went back a week later and it'd gone, so I went to the front desk and asked if they'd be getting another one in. "Don't know sir, but we can definitely get one from another store if you're interested?" says them. "Ooh, yes please, if it's not too much trouble" says I. "No trouble at all, sir" says them.

I wuz pretty impressed by this point.

"It'll be in tomorrow, sir". "Really?" ask I. "Oh yes, definitely in tomorrow, absolutely. "

I explained I'd be looking to do a trade - no problem, just bring everything in tomorrow.

Can you guess what's coming?

So, today I duly carry my gear in on the train, and at lunchtime schlep it halfway across town.

Wander in, explain what I'm there for to different clueless stoner employee (chap I spoke to wasn't there today). Guess what? It's not there.

No apology, no explanation, no assurances they'll have it in definitely by 'X' date - and apparently it's my fault for not checking with them it was In stock before I came over.

It's really made me question whether I want to do business with them at all, particularly when the thing is £50 more in store than it can be had for online.

Now, it's not a massive ticket item, but it's a few £hundred. Quite vexed by that treatment.

[gareth]

I would phoned on the day they said it would be in to ensure it was infact in

[Funky Dunky]

Name and shame!


Truly, I have about half a dozen similar stories.

A big part of the problem is simply staffing. These stores always happily employ at least a couple of stoner types - you know the ones - about 20 years old, sleeve tattoos, tunnels, wallet chain - know a bit about guitars, calls you 'man' repeatedly. Those dudes. But customer service is of noooo interest to these fellas. They want you to play the instrument for no more than five minutes, and they don't want to do any sort of deal with you. If you want to try any more than two pieces of gear on any given day, they start to sigh. They plug in a guitar, noodle for twenty three seconds, hand you it with a "there you go man" and walk back to the counter to resume their vital conversation about Zakk Wylde. You have a question, but he's nowhere to be found. You try to get his attention but you can't catch his eye. You try the "may I help you" riff, but it fails to entice him. So you put the bass down and approach him. He sees you, but continues his conversation which has now turned to "I'm thinking about getting my nipple pierced".

You wait politely until you become exasperated, and blurt out your question. He looks at you as if you're rude, and replies "Danny'll help you, man - I'm just going for muh break."

I hate guitar shops. Especially the big chains. Approximately one-fifth of the staff care about you. The rest appear not to.

Sorry. Touched a raw nerve.

[Jakester]

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1475072536' post='3142813']
I would phoned on the day they said it would be in to ensure it was infact in
[/quote]

Why didn't you tell me this earlier?

Edited September 28, 2016 by Jakester

[Hobbayne]

I had a similar experience with everyones favourite London bass shop in Camden. I took a P Bass there for a minor tweak and a setup on the recommendation of other BCers.
Popped it in and was told it would be ready next Tuesday.
Being a bit bit of a journey from the other side of London, I thought it would be wise to ring them first. "When did you bring it in?" they asked.
Last Tuesday I told them. "Then it would be ready then"
OK so I trudge back to the shop only to find they hadnt even started on it!
The guy on the phone couldnt even bother to check, and I had a wasted journey.
Strangely enough, I have not been back since.

[chris_b]

Staff in music shops haven't changed much in 60 years.

[gareth]

[quote name='Jakester' timestamp='1475072982' post='3142817']


Why didn't you tell me this earlier?
[/quote]you had but to ask

[RhysP]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1475073439' post='3142822']
Staff in music shops haven't changed much in 60 years.
[/quote]

Neither has the stock.

[skidder652003]

hmmm, never had that sort of experience in Mansons, always very very good, sales and repairs, both excellent, mind you, its not a chain...

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1475073439' post='3142822']
Staff in music shops haven't changed much in 60 years.
[/quote]

I dunno about 60 years but I know from personal experience they've certainly been of - shall we say - [i]variable quality[/i] since 1973.

The very first time ever I went into a music shop the guy eventually looks up from the organ he's playing, eyes me up and down in a disparaging fashion and says '[i]What?[/i]'

[FinnDave]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1475073439' post='3142822']
Staff in music shops haven't changed much in 60 years.
[/quote]

That would explain the smell.

[BrunoBass]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1475072738' post='3142814']
Name and shame!


Truly, I have about half a dozen similar stories.

A big part of the problem is simply staffing. These stores always happily employ at least a couple of stoner types - you know the ones - about 20 years old, sleeve tattoos, tunnels, wallet chain - know a bit about guitars, calls you 'man' repeatedly. Those dudes. But customer service is of noooo interest to these fellas. They want you to play the instrument for no more than five minutes, and they don't want to do any sort of deal with you. If you want to try any more than two pieces of gear on any given day, they start to sigh. They plug in a guitar, noodle for twenty three seconds, hand you it with a "there you go man" and walk back to the counter to resume their vital conversation about Zakk Wylde. You have a question, but he's nowhere to be found. You try to get his attention but you can't catch his eye. You try the "may I help you" riff, but it fails to entice him. So you put the bass down and approach him. He sees you, but continues his conversation which has now turned to "I'm thinking about getting my nipple pierced".

You wait politely until you become exasperated, and blurt out your question. He looks at you as if you're rude, and replies "Danny'll help you, man - I'm just going for muh break."

I hate guitar shops. Especially the big chains. Approximately one-fifth of the staff care about you. The rest appear not to.

Sorry. Touched a raw nerve.
[/quote]

That's brilliantly accurate.

[Big_Stu]

Not that many years ago I was in a large Manchester guitar store, a salesman was trying to sell a package to a woman who I assumed was with her teenaged son, iirc the bass was an Encore. I stood observing for a while and the woman asked me what I thought of it. I said it was OK but if she was going for the package deal I'd be inclined to go for the Squier one which was similarly priced. She asked why, and I said because if her lad made a go of it he could upgrade it more easily with better pickups and machines for reliability to do bigger gigs - and if he didn't it would hold it's price better for selling on.
As I was leaving the salesguy asked me how I'd feel if he went into my place of work and started to chip in. I said if he had a valid point to make he'd be welcome. The woman appeared to be getting her purse out so I thought all was good.
The shop's gone, forget the name, under the arches at Oxford Road station.

[stuckinthepod]

Sound Control - Now a live venue

[stuckinthepod]

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1475072738' post='3142814']
Name and shame!


Truly, I have about half a dozen similar stories.

A big part of the problem is simply staffing. These stores always happily employ at least a couple of stoner types - you know the ones - about 20 years old, sleeve tattoos, tunnels, wallet chain - know a bit about guitars, calls you 'man' repeatedly. Those dudes. But customer service is of noooo interest to these fellas. They want you to play the instrument for no more than five minutes, and they don't want to do any sort of deal with you. If you want to try any more than two pieces of gear on any given day, they start to sigh. They plug in a guitar, noodle for twenty three seconds, hand you it with a "there you go man" and walk back to the counter to resume their vital conversation about Zakk Wylde. You have a question, but he's nowhere to be found. You try to get his attention but you can't catch his eye. You try the "may I help you" riff, but it fails to entice him. So you put the bass down and approach him. He sees you, but continues his conversation which has now turned to "I'm thinking about getting my nipple pierced".

You wait politely until you become exasperated, and blurt out your question. He looks at you as if you're rude, and replies "Danny'll help you, man - I'm just going for muh break."

I hate guitar shops. Especially the big chains. Approximately one-fifth of the staff care about you. The rest appear not to.

Sorry. Touched a raw nerve.
[/quote]

This is painfully accurate. But add in... every bass is grossly out of tune and horribly setup; dead battery in all the active basses; and some 14 year old is sat 4 feet away from you, attempting what he tells his friend is "sweep picking".

Edited September 28, 2016 by stuckinthepod

[Funky Dunky]

Y'see, it boils down to this: EVERY independently owned music shop I've ever visited has had friendly, helpful and genuine staff, who love to chat with you but seem to know exactly when to back off.

And the opposite is true of the big stores. The friendliness is as fake as: "mate" "man" "buddy" etc, you're competing for staff's attention with other staff, whose conversation is apparently far more appealing than the notion of helping a customer......compare guitarguitar in Glasgow with somewhere like Strung Out and it's polar opposites in terms of the experience. Now, not ALL sales staff in ALL big music shops are like this; there are some good guys in the big stores - but they seem to be hard to come by in my neck o' the woods. And having dealt via email and/or telephone with some of the big stores down South, I've had great service. Andertons were excellent, very helpful and quick to reply etc. So I'm not condemning all - but in my experience, it's either good service at a higher price, or a good deal on your instrument, but service which leaves a lot to be desired.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='stuckinthepod' timestamp='1475080584' post='3142906']
Sound Control - Now a live venue
[/quote]

Yeah, it's a venue now, but I thought Sound Control was on the main road near Music Ground? Was it not A1 or something like that? I'm suddenly feeling very old.

[Luulox]

I once called a brighton based music store with an enquiry and the person who answered treat me like I'd just asked if I could tea-bag him.
I wasn't impressed and would never deal with them again.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1475080208' post='3142905']
...the woman asked me what I thought of it ...
[/quote]

And there's the reason why the shop boy should have zipped it. You were quite right.

It's happened to me before now. Last time, this obviously well-heeled guy was buying an acoustic for his son and I talked him up to a Martin D18. The assistant didn't even thank me, the shonky bastard.

[molan]

You should hear the stories the people in music shops tell about some of their customers 😂

[Twigman]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1475083774' post='3142948']
You should hear the stories the people in music shops tell about some of their customers
[/quote]
go on then humour us

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1475082373' post='3142929']


And there's the reason why the shop boy should have zipped it. You were quite right.

It's happened to me before now. Last time, this obviously well-heeled guy was buying an acoustic for his son and I talked him up to a Martin D18. The assistant didn't even thank me, the shonky bastard.
[/quote]

As with the Squier story above though this is looking at it as both an outsider and an enthusiast, the cheap package deal the assistant was trying to sell to the lady probably had twice as much profit available for the store than the Fender (squier) one, possibly more, same goes for the Martin D18, its possible that a ticketed £250 acoustic has more margin for the store than a £1250 acoustic.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1475086642' post='3142980']
As with the Squier story above though this is looking at it as both an outsider and an enthusiast, the cheap package deal the assistant was trying to sell to the lady probably had twice as much profit available for the store than the Fender (squier) one, possibly more, same goes for the Martin D18, its possible that a ticketed £250 acoustic has more margin for the store than a £1250 acoustic.
[/quote]

£1850 and the previously considered alternative was a £729 Martin DRS. I suspect the shop probably made more out of the deal.

Anyway, I wasn't [i]actually[/i] looking for thanks; experience has taught me to expect very little from guitar shops

[ricksterphil]

Best music shop experience I ever had was in a store in Birmingham

Me and my band were buying a Traynor PA.....well actually the drummers dad Harry was paying (we were in our teens)

How much we asked? £400 said the salesman (should point out this was the 70's)
How much can you knock off asks Harry (the drummers dad...keep up folks)
Oh I reckon no more than 10% off says salesman bloke. Well Harry wasn't happy with that and a session of good old fashioned haggling went on which culminated with us half way out of the shop, with Harry sticking to his offer, before the manager gave in and we got the PA. £240 Harry paid ....that's a 40% discount!

Never forgot that encounter, learnt much about the art of haggling that day

[lojo]

I think when dealing with anything these days it's about your point of contact , if I arrange something with a specific person I'll always now ask if they'll be there on my return or what days / times they are in and even sometimes call to check . Don't assume anything , but at least if you deal with the same person at least they'll remember the conversation so you don't have to start again

It's not just music shops

Edited September 28, 2016 by lojo