Music Shops

[bass_ferret]

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='162376' date='Mar 23 2008, 08:56 PM']The reason Im not keen on naming and shaming is because I dont want to land the forum in hot water on the off chance any of the management happen to frequent the forum - we have had some estabilishments contact us about some comments mademon here pertaining to the reputation of said business, and although these are my opinions and do not reflect the board in general I would rather play it safe.

If i had the time or was terribly bothered I would write to them, but in honesty I will just avoid that place altogether.[/quote]
As long as you stick to facts and dont colour it with opinions, difficult I know, there is f*** all they can do. But then anyone shopping in Reading will probably know where it is anyway.

[metalmaniac]

I find music shops a lotto.



County Music in Canterbury.. I love, let me try anything, very friendly, well organised etc etc.

However I was really cheesed after visiting a local shop last week.
My wallet jammed with over 300 quid of cash I walk into the shop looking to try out some 12 strings (Calm down people!)
I ask to try one and the lady comes over and passes it over. So far so good.
£300 12 string guitar. Sound lovely. Little bit overpriced than on the net but hey. Support your local shops right.
She then comes over snatches the guitar from my hands after just a few minutes and makes a sour comment.
"You've probably worn it out by now. Problem with you kids is you never have money..." and so on.
Now 2 things. I'm 18, ok still a teen, but i work, pay my way through uni,(thanks to the governemnt who prefer to spend 4 billion a year on war than education, politicians are kids if you ask me) (also have a beard so im not that little lookin) so I expect to have a little respect than be treated like some jumped up 13 year old. (And generally speakin theyre all loaded now and buying more and more expensive stuff)
Also not to blow my own trumpet, but im quite good at 12 string folk style, so im not just messin around.

I didnt even bother replying to such customer service, I just left. Will never ever return. F em!

[metalmaniac]

Oh god, and avoid loughborough at all costs!
We reckon someone has been selling fake fenders!

[geilerbass]

It's astounding isn't it? Good customer service is far from rocket science and yet assistants (and in some cases, probably their managers) appear utterly incapable of providing it.

I know you sometimes get some difficult and rude customers - a friend of mine works in a music shop in London and has many a horror story about nasty customers - but it doesn't take much to try and be helpful. You imagine that people who work in these places, work there because they have a passion for music/instruments - apparently not.

There's a certain place in Denmark St that I've ranted about before on Talkbass, that riles me the most, since they are blatantly exploiting their central London location to charge bumped-up prices and amuse their bitter and frustrated senses of humour at the expense of the potentially money-spending public. What's most amusing is that they stock high-end basses and yet I haven't come across a serious bassist who would even give the place a second glance.

Edited March 26, 2008 by geilerbass

[Machines]

Wow, I've thankfully never encountered service as bad as some of these examples. The worst I've had is having to hunt down staff to ask to try something..

[d-basser]

[quote name='metalmaniac' post='163784' date='Mar 26 2008, 02:35 PM']I find music shops a lotto.



County Music in Canterbury.. I love, let me try anything, very friendly, well organised etc etc.

However I was really cheesed after visiting a local shop last week.
My wallet jammed with over 300 quid of cash I walk into the shop looking to try out some 12 strings (Calm down people!)
I ask to try one and the lady comes over and passes it over. So far so good.
£300 12 string guitar. Sound lovely. Little bit overpriced than on the net but hey. Support your local shops right.
She then comes over snatches the guitar from my hands after just a few minutes and makes a sour comment.
"You've probably worn it out by now. Problem with you kids is you never have money..." and so on.
Now 2 things. I'm 18, ok still a teen, but i work, pay my way through uni,(thanks to the governemnt who prefer to spend 4 billion a year on war than education, politicians are kids if you ask me) (also have a beard so im not that little lookin) so I expect to have a little respect than be treated like some jumped up 13 year old. (And generally speakin theyre all loaded now and buying more and more expensive stuff)
Also not to blow my own trumpet, but im quite good at 12 string folk style, so im not just messin around.

I didnt even bother replying to such customer service, I just left. Will never ever return. F em![/quote]

I would have flashed the £300 in her face then flicked the V's and walked out.

[Viajero]

Yeah, that would have been funny:

"How much was that guitar? 300? Oh, wow, would you look at that? Looks like just about... 300 pounds, just lying around in my wallet. Well, I shan't buy it as it's clearly already been 'worn out' by someone tuning it and wipiing the dust off. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go and buy it somewhere else."

[i]Exit, pursued by a glare.[/i]


Customer service is rapidly becoming something I'm really pasionate about. No-one likes running a shop and having people take the piss, but courtesy goes such a long way and is clearly the most cost-effective Brand Promotion Solution a shop can have. Every music shop I've ever bought stuff from more than once has had that business becuase they treated customers properly, and that seems to ring true for a lot of us.

It is a shame, but the market will win in the end as the crap places fall by the wayside. Really, what we have to complain about is the ludicrous import taxes on basses which drive up the price for both us and the shops. If the governement weren'e busy spending 1700 million a day, they might do us all a favour.

Phew, sorry about that. No more late nights and early mornings for me.

[metalmaniac]

Lol, im far too much of a peace lovin hippie to do that.
I just had my silent protest. It's business lost for them, that's enough for me. I wouldnt want to degrade myself to that level, because then I have no cause for complaint if im equally unpleasant.

[Viajero]

I bet, but if you can't do it in real life you can at least vent it among friends on BC.

[ednaplate]

If only Sounds Great in Heald Green stocked basses (I know it's a lot better than it was but does need more) it would be bass heaven. Excellent staff/attitude/stock... just needs a few more basses. Oh and they have the best selection of MarkBass stuff I've seen in any shop. If you live in the north west a visit is essential.

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='molan' post='161929' date='Mar 22 2008, 07:31 PM']One thing to add to this - I bought a tuner pedal in a store in LA last year. They couldn't have been more different. went out of their way to help, the guy serving was a guitarist who tracked down a bass player to ask specifically how the pedal he liked worked with a bass and the pair of them gave me great advice on both the operation of the pedal and how it would work in a live gigging situation. All done with a smile and a "hope it all works out for you - bring it back if you're not satisfied" attitude![/quote]

i bought a couple of bits when i was in america and spent most of a week trawling round guitar shops in boston looking for something tasty - i found the independent dealers to be a breath of fresh air compared to the typical customer service in the UK, really helpful when i was looking for OD pedals and naturally i bought something from them. I thought the big dealers, Guitar Center in particular, not too different from the big chains over here though sadly.


[quote name='metalmaniac' post='163784' date='Mar 26 2008, 02:35 PM']However I was really cheesed after visiting a local shop last week.[/quote]

was that local to kent or local to leics?

[quote name='metalmaniac' post='163788' date='Mar 26 2008, 02:38 PM']Oh god, and avoid loughborough at all costs!
We reckon someone has been selling fake fenders![/quote]

tell more!!

the guitar workshop in Ibstock (near coalville/leicester) is very good. they don't have a massive range and don't really carry any high end stuff, but they're amongst the most helpful people i've ever encountered in a music shop.

Edited March 26, 2008 by john_the_bass

[burray]

[quote name='lukeward2004' post='162376' date='Mar 23 2008, 08:56 PM']The reason Im not keen on naming and shaming is because I dont want to land the forum in hot water on the off chance any of the management happen to frequent the forum - we have had some estabilishments contact us about some comments mademon here pertaining to the reputation of said business, and although these are my opinions and do not reflect the board in general I would rather play it safe.[/quote]

I don't see how opinions could possibly be a problem on here anyway, as long as it's not just made up rubbish. If that's what happened then that's what happened. If Fender's customer service dept were rude to me and I came on here to warn others of the situation, it's not libellous, it's fact. The shop should deal with the consequences of having crap staff that can't be bothered to do their job properly.

I used to work in a music shop, and thoroughly enjoyed helping people finding the right instrument. Of course there were customers that wasted time, or just wanted to play the guitars with no view to buying them, but the customers should always be treated the same until [i]they[/i] start taking the piss. It's common sense and common courtesy.

[ped]

The most laughable shop I have been in (excluding London's Bass Cellar which I don't even regard as a shop) was Rudy's in NYC. I went up to the bass area and could not have been treated with more contempt if I had gone up to the bloke behind the counter and laid a turn on his forehead.

I made a point of taking down lots of bases and playing really badly and annoyingly on them, hitting things with my rucksack that I would otherwise have taken off, and pointed at several basses and loudly exclaimed 'WOW IS THAT A SADOWZKEY'(sic) really loudly when it was blatently something else so that I could watch the bloke grunt to himself with self important ego-amusement.

It was really quite enjoyable. I went next door and got chatting to a really nice guy in another music shop (Manny's?) who said he was completely with me. I told him what I did and he went right off to do the same!!

ped

[molan]

[quote name='ped' post='163922' date='Mar 26 2008, 05:03 PM']The most laughable shop I have been in (excluding London's Bass Cellar which I don't even regard as a shop) was Rudy's in NYC. I went up to the bass area and could not have been treated with more contempt if I had gone up to the bloke behind the counter and laid a turn on his forehead.

I made a point of taking down lots of bases and playing really badly and annoyingly on them, hitting things with my rucksack that I would otherwise have taken off, and pointed at several basses and loudly exclaimed 'WOW IS THAT A SADOWZKEY'(sic) really loudly when it was blatently something else so that I could watch the bloke grunt to himself with self important ego-amusement.

It was really quite enjoyable. I went next door and got chatting to a really nice guy in another music shop (Manny's?) who said he was completely with me. I told him what I did and he went right off to do the same!!

ped[/quote]

I was in Manny's in December and had a wonderful "Wayne's World - may I help you" experience.

Vaguely wandering around not looking at anything in particular & the staff left me alone (which was fine as I wasn't looking for help). I spotted an interesting looking guitar and went to touch it at which point an assistant appeared at the speed of light and thrust himself between me and the guitar. He was quite friendly but asked how "serious" I was about buying one.

I asked why it was so important and he casually pointed out that the Gretsch 6120 I was looking at was the recently released Brian Setzer model that retailed at about $25,000. . . . . . . . . . .


Interesting footnote is that he said he could offer it for less than the sticker price and when I got home and looked it up over here it was about £17,000 in the UK - should have bought one on my credit card, smuggled it back & sold it for a tidy profit

[bassninja]

[quote name='PaulMartin' post='161960' date='Mar 22 2008, 08:35 PM']...and after a similar sort of attitude from the assistants in Andertons in Guildford I tried Guitar Village in Farnham just on the offchance that they would have one and they did. Wow what a revelation!! The chap I dealt with was so friendly and helpful...[/quote]

+ 1 (including Anderton's amp repair service)

[bigjohn]

[quote name='richy316' post='162826' date='Mar 24 2008, 08:38 PM']AND £650 FOR A MEX FENDER???? ARE THEY HAVING A FOOKIN LARF!! IT'D HAVE TO BE A GOLD PLATED HARDCASE FOR THAT PRICE LMAO[/quote]


Not that I paid it (bought it second hand from ebay) but mine cost £799 new - it came with the price tag. And no hard case. Although it's not a standard.


I had a "funny" experience on Denmark street last spring whilst shopping for a Precision. I was looking around the shop when my vicinity was invaded by a 13 year old boy, coupled with father, aka Wallet. Attending Wallet was a salesman. "He wants a Precision bass." says Wallet. "That's a co-incidence.", I interject. "Do you have any decent ones?". I am ignored.

Salesman gets bass down and hands it to kid. Who's quite enamoured. It's a £700 bass that he can't play yet. He gives it a pluck or two and hands it back to salesman, who puts it back on the rack and hangs around oblivious to the fact he's right in my way so I can't really get out of the cubby hole I've found myself squeezed into with teenager and fat Wallet. Salesman starts fiddling with price labels, including the one he's just put back on the rack. After standing around looking at basses I don't want for 2-3 minutes I get a little impatient and decide to leave. I say "Excuse me," to get past, which despite me being 15 stone and 6'4"gets a look of "where the f*** did you come from?". "By the way mate, that's a Jazz bass." is my final remark as I leave. Teenager and Wallet look confused.

[OutToPlayJazz]

Thomann do the Deluxe P-Bass special (with the gold pickguard/p&j pickups) for £522. It's got an active preamp on-board as well.

[metalmaniac]

@ john the bass

The angry woman was kent area.

The music shop in loughborough just seem to be selling cheapo, fake or damaged stock. I'll take a gander in when im back up see if i can confirm this, but theyve certainly tried to sell me a damaged acoustic for full price. Dent and chips all over.
Im not sure about the fake fender claim, but it is from a very trustworthy friend/source/ fender fan boy.

[budget bassist]

Yeah i find a lot of music shops are like that. I've been asked to stop playing a few times. Why stop playing? If i'm thinking about buying it then i want to try it out don't i! Yes The internet is taking over but only because the high street music shops don't fancy lowering their prices (and their attitudes) a bit. Though ironically I have probably had the best service from sound control nottingham, me and the bass guy there get on fairly well and we actually know each other by name now, haha. their prices are pretty high but they are pretty helpful. The other month i went in and spent a good while trying out 3 basses at around £350 pretty convinced i was going to buy one and think they were too. Ended up getting the sub on ebay instead. But they never treated my badly after that, i bought the ampeg from sound control a good month or so ago, good service but it arrived 3 weeks late (admittedly that was the fault of the other stores, not theirs) but it was service with a smile all the way. I find that if you want a lot of music shops to take you seriously you actually have to show them the money or actually have spent money there before. I've had rude sales staff from a couple of shops in nottingham until i actually bought something, now they treat me like the king or something.

Oh well, until they lower their prices or change their attitudes they're going to be faced by the same problem

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='metalmaniac' post='164473' date='Mar 27 2008, 01:54 PM']@ john the bass

The angry woman was kent area.

The music shop in loughborough just seem to be selling cheapo, fake or damaged stock. I'll take a gander in when im back up see if i can confirm this, but theyve certainly tried to sell me a damaged acoustic for full price. Dent and chips all over.
Im not sure about the fake fender claim, but it is from a very trustworthy friend/source/ fender fan boy.[/quote]

i'd be interested to know which fender stuff it is so i can go and have a look meself! not disputing what you're saying at all, but i'd love to have a look! I very rarely go in there, it's such an unpleasant experience and having to step over other people's guitars that have been left lying around for set ups.

[ZMech]

It seems I've been pretty lucky by the sounds of it! I agree about the Bass Cellar, I bought my starter bass (warwick rockbass) in there, but the few times i've been in since they've never allowed me to play a thing!

My favourite for just trying out things for the sake of it has to be the Bass Gallery. Some nice guys, happilly left me playing on an alembic for 15 minutes, then came back to ask if there was anything else i wanted to play! I feel slightly guilty in that I've never bought more than a pair of strings in there though...

It's just saddening to hear there are so many shops with appauling service. nowadays I think you might get better treatment if you just buy stuff off of eBay.

[Stylon Pilson]

[quote name='Zach' post='166175' date='Mar 30 2008, 12:10 AM']My favourite for just trying out things for the sake of it has to be the Bass Gallery. Some nice guys, happilly left me playing on an alembic for 15 minutes, then came back to ask if there was anything else i wanted to play! I feel slightly guilty in that I've never bought more than a pair of strings in there though...[/quote]

Don't feel guilty. They know that when you have the cash, you'll be spending a bucketload there, which is why they are happy to let you play around with the instruments that you can't afford right now. It's just good business sense.

(Oh, and apologies for resurrecting a 4-month old thread)

S.P.

Edited August 17, 2008 by stylonpilson

[NeonMig]

I got my Ibanez BTB556 from the Bass Gallery, and I really liked the place and the staff. Great bunch of lads.

I'm going to get my Warwick upgraded with a new preamp when I return to England's green shores, and I'll be doing it there.

Bad customer service is one big reason shops are losing out to internet stores. Also the whole 'let's go try one out at a store and then buy it for 50 quid less online' routine, that's one of the big reasons they don't like to let people try unless they really do want to buy...

[phil_the_bassist]

[quote name='NeonMig' post='263916' date='Aug 17 2008, 12:34 PM']'let's go try one out at a store and then buy it for 50 quid less online' routine, that's one of the big reasons they don't like to let people try unless they really do want to buy...[/quote]


Definately, that's something that's killing the stores, fo sure.

BUT

They're just shooting themselves in the foot...if a shop didn't let me play, or did but were arsy about it then I'd take my wedge o' cash elsewhere (and probably online!)

[Bilbo]

Sorry to be a tart but I have no time for high street music shops. After you have passed on from the beginner level basses, you are very quickly into territory that 99% of these stores don't ever go into - professional instruments.

Places like The Gallery are perfectly willing to let people look and play because they know that this time, next time or the time after, they will come back with money. I tried an Eden Metro out at the shop and bought one, mail order, about two years later. Now they guys in the shop wouldn't have made any connection between these two events but they have enough insight to know that's what is happening and so encourage it.

But, in the end, they are businesses and, like all businesses, it is their job to make as much money as they can. I am a customer. It is my role to spend as little as possible. There is a clash here.

They are the enemy.