And shop owners wonder why people buy online!

[gafbass02]

Sounds like my local one

[surfinbernard]

Yep, not all shops are created equal and it's not always the bigger shops with the poor customer relations/ lack of helpfulness. I love PMT in Brum which is a big shop but they go way out of their way to help, are always willing to get you stuff, always ready to try to sort something out, will let you take stuff home and bring it back and exchange for something else if not suitable, will knock money off and price match even internet only shops. It all pays off for them because people keep going back.

[jaydentaku]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1340497773' post='1705416']
Soundslive will do it. In fact, any Musicman stockist can do it and it is a Strings & Things policy to send them out for trial.

In my experience, Guitar Guitar don't understand bass and need an expert in who is up to date.

If they had a Bongo in, maybe more people would buy one?!
[/quote][quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1340497773' post='1705416']
Soundslive will do it. In fact, any Musicman stockist can do it and it is a Strings & Things policy to send them out for trial.

[/quote]

I know, they is why I was rather miffed. He clearly didn't know what he was doing. The young lady upstairs however, she was very nice to me and give a very good discount on some cables.

[Monckyman]

I hate music shops.
Shop online

[Cjd191]

Ive always had a good experience shopping in Electromusic in Doncaster they have always been really helpful and endured me mucking around with compressor pedals for quite a while helping me find the one for me.

Thomann is also a brilliant shop to go and look around it is like an aladdins cave, its just huge!! A bit of a spur of the moment trip took me and my mate there last November, 3 days and 1500 or so miles later we arrived home with some good memories and some quality gear. The staff were very friendly and helpful with the language barrier being no problem what so ever. Online and instore an excellent shop.

[chris_b]

I understand why shops feel they can't stock every piece of gear. Many importers won't ship individual items, so the shop has to buy many times what they will be likely to sell.

And with banks not lending to small businesses this kind of "unfriendliness" to customers will only increase in all shops.

[SlapbassSteve]

There was an odd little independent music shop near me last year, specialised in the cheaper end of vintage stuff(early bullet squiers, eko, egmond, dano etc) and repairs. Always struck me as strange going in there and getting a distinct impression the owner didn't actually want to sell anything, none of the guitars had prices on and the only acoustic guitar strings he had in stock were in completely unusable gauges. Always strange walking into a music shop and feeling like you're intruding somehow!

Oddly, one of the better places for both prices and service(depending what gear they have in/who's working/who priced it) is the London Road branch of CashConverters in Liverpool. Had some absolute bargain guitars and basses from there and the staff are always welcoming and more then helpful, if not always 100% sure what they're selling.

[neepheid]

As I've opined on here a few times before, I have never been in a shop with any inspiring bass gear in it (admittedly I have never visited a specialist bass shop). Seriously - a five minute look around and then out. I used to play a game with my wife when we used to go into one of the (now defunct - [i]quelle surprise[/i]) music shops in Aberdeen - "bet I can name 3 basses that are still on the wall from the last time we were in". More often than not, I could.

I find music shops (up here anyway) to be as much use as a chocolate fireguard - trying to be everything to everyone, as long as you're a guitarist (or like Fender basses). I will shed no tears when they eventually wither and die because they cannot compete and they cannot evolve within the constraints they find themselves in. It's not their fault, but it's the way it is. I have no time for rose-tinted nostalgia for a time when you had no choice but be held to ransom through the circumstances of the day by your local music shop. We are better informed than ever, we have a wealth of product information available to us, we have the widest choice of products ever to choose from. I'm not sure where a little local shop with limited buying power, limited storage space and limited display space fits into all that.

Sorry, little local shops, but you're just no use to me, my forward planning (I always have spare strings, batteries, cables and sundries - procured online well in advance of their requirement) and my somewhat esoteric tastes in equipment.

[EBS_freak]

Music shops just annoy me. It's as though the people that they employ don't have any idea what they are selling, any idea about the brands that they are not selling (e.g. the competition) and their lazy attitude towards selling would mean that if they worked for me, they would be out of the door.

It's not just music shops. I have been round a lot of car main dealerships of late and they are exactly the same. I knew more about those cars from what I had read online and from the sales brochures than ANY of the salesmen/women. At that point, I hadn't seen any of the cars I was looking at in the flesh but knew more about each of the models than the people that are paid to know and sell this stuff. Not acceptable. I had great pleasure in Mercedes having phone me up for a survey... I don't think they are used to people slating them on their sales techniques.

[4 Strings]

Local drum shop in Hornchurch, now called SoundAttak run by Gary who, over the past 5 years or so, knows me and my drumming lad, ALWAYS the best service, Always gets what we want, will price match, will also pull apart and oil and adjust and fix and find spares needed, often for nothing and offers coffee and chat if we need to wait. Will buy from him always, he's an enthusiast, an excellent and busy drummer and knows stuff.

Local PMT, wanted some lemon oil for an unfinished MM neck, had 'Lemoil' I asked if it was actually lemon oil, he researched online, told me it was and then, unprompted, 'phoned MM suppliers to see if they recommended it for their necks, which they did - all for a £5 sale. They also have an excellent amp repairs service (albeit slow) who find odd missing knobs and other bits as necessary as well as fixing and guaranteeing the actual fault.

DV247 up the road a bit further, well, these are on-line people really, will knock money off if you ask and are more than helpful if you want to try out some of their valuable stock and are always friendly and helpful (and, of course curried dollops of favour by hosting Victor Wooten a little while back!).

Me, I go to shops whenever I can and continue to enjoy excellent service for which I'm happy to pay a little extra if needed. However, I know they're not a charity and I've just bought a pair of straplocks from ebay for a fiver instead of £17 or so for a proper set of Schallers from a shop. They won't be as good, I know, but I've spent a bit too much recently!

[chris_b]

The business model has to be an online business that is run from a shop. There are several of those around. I've no idea if they are any good but a shop on its own can't compete any more and like fishmongers, butchers and Woolworths they have to either specialise or fade away.

[Commando Jack]

[quote name='jaydentaku' timestamp='1340487957' post='1705281']
Guitar Guitar in Newcastle wasn't willing to get a bongo in for me.
[/quote]

Could be worse, you could be stuck with a policy of "if you want us to order it, you must pay a non-refundable deposit and promise to pay the rest when it comes in".

Of course, this is the norm over here in Belfast music shops. But then, one time I ordered a Warwick 2U Rackcase, expecting a call in a couple of weeks to say it had arrived. I went back after 3 weeks having not received the call, and it turns out he hadn't ordered the bloody thing. I got the "well I have to order multiple items [b]to make it worth my while[/b]". I should have told him to cancel it, but I wanted to build a good relationship with the shop (another thing you shouldn't have to do), so I waited the extra while because he promised he'd order it that week. I think in the end it took 4-5 weeks to get to the shop, but only something like 4 days delivery time from Warwick. Then, it turned out he'd ordered the wrong one, even though he knew the dimensions of my amp because he sold the thing to me! So, including the return of the case I think it took about 6 or 7 weeks.

Guess where I shop now

Edited June 25, 2012 by Commando Jack

[jaydentaku]

good lord! That is shocking

We have a local shop in Durhamcall EBGB's. He has a dog, which stands by the guitars and growls at you. I went to pet it and he said, "I really wouldn't, she WILL bite you".

It had no muzzle, it wasn't tied to anything and I couldn't get to the guitars to look at the.

He did nothing about it, so I assume he was happy that I left without making a purchase.

[cheddatom]

We have a selection of good music shops in stoke! The only complaints I hear are about servicing work (and that's not at Pete's store by the way).

what I like is that a couple of the shops actually have a decent amount of 2nd hand gear to look through.

[skankdelvar]

Music shops - frequently useless and overpriced

Online shops - take your money and make you wait

Buy secondhand off Basschat - get a bargain and meet nice people. In the four years I've been here I haven't needed the services of a retailer, thank God.

[Evil Undead]

[quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1340547783' post='1705944']
Sounds like my local one
[/quote]

I wonder if that's the same one that I don't go to any more because they're so unhelpful?

[4 Strings]

I'm sure there are fewer tales of incompetence from ordering on-line as you don't actually have to del with any humans, just tick the box yourself.

However, please lets not think those who work in the warehouses putting labels on packages know any more about musical gear than our shop assistants, they just don't need to.

[megallica]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1340481317' post='1705179']
Sounds right for Machinehead, always had quality service from them.
[/quote]

Me too, bought a few different basses from them over the years, great stock and service every time.

[oggiesnr]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1340624018' post='1707079']
Music shops - frequently useless and overpriced

[i]Online shops - take your money and make you wait[/i]

[/quote]

Yup, that's because a lot of them don't actually stockhold that much but use your money to buy it from their supplier. It's also why they can afford to discount because they've not got lots of their own money tied up in stock. Doesn't apply to all of them but there are a lot like that out there (in many fields).

Steve

[ThomBassmonkey]

I used to work at a small music shop a few hours on Saturdays and it's NEVER worth being an arse with people.

We used to have 5-6 kids come in in a group regularly and play all the guitars. I always kept my eye on them but they were never rude or rough with the instruments. In the end one ended up spending about £500 with us (it was only a small shop that sold beginner instruments in the main so that was a good sale for us). It's always worth encouraging people to try instruments as you never know what they're willing to spend. Imagine Seasick Steve (for example) coming into your shop, he might be scruffy as hell but he'd definitely have the money to spend if you treated him right.

It drives me nuts when people treat me like dirt in a music shop. I might not have a huge income, but as my gear list shows, I'm willing to invest in my gear and if people treat me like crap, I won't be risking my money with them, any problems with stuff I buy and I wouldn't feel I could trust them to fix it.

I took a trip a while ago that's about 2 hours each way to get to a shop (I won't mention the name because I've been told repeatedly that it was an isolated incident) and after walking in there was a guy there that obviously knew the owner playing bass at full volume, the owner asked me what I was looking for and after telling him, he shoved a bass in my hand, handed me a lead and told me which amp to plug into then disappeared into the back to make a phone call for the next 30 minutes while the other guy kept twiddling on the bass he was looking at. I had a quick noodle and as I was serious about buying an instrument (about £1200 budget) I actually just wanted 5 minutes on the bass to give it a go then try some other stuff. In the end I just left after trying one bass as I don't like helping myself to everything there (especially in my price range), I couldn't hear properly anyway and if the guy couldn't spend 20 minutes with me, I wasn't going to spend a lot of money with him.

[4 Strings]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1340639703' post='1707434']

....and if the guy couldn't spend 20 minutes with me, I wasn't going to spend a lot of money with him.
[/quote]

Tricky isn't it, as buying online you're bound to get a few minutes out of the warehouse boy.

" ...it's NEVER worth being an arse with people." This is the key and, unfortunately, people are often given one chance and if they come across as one that's it.

[ThomBassmonkey]

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1340644196' post='1707497']
Tricky isn't it, as buying online you're bound to get a few minutes out of the warehouse boy.

" ...it's NEVER worth being an arse with people." This is the key and, unfortunately, people are often given one chance and if they come across as one that's it.
[/quote]

When I buy from a shop I expect good service, buying online just gets me the gear. I get a discount because people don't have to be nice to me and I don't get to see my gear before it's shipped, at least that's how I see it. If I'm paying a premium to support a shop, I'm doing them a favour by giving them extra money, being treated like I'm not welcome is a sure way to get me to give my money to someone I feel does deserve it.

And yeah, even if the person you're being an arse to doesn't intend to buy anything, word will spread quickly (even on a forum like this) about your attitude problem and you'll earn a bad rep for your shop.

[Len_derby]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1340668376' post='1708014']

And yeah, even if the person you're being an arse to doesn't intend to buy anything, word will spread quickly (even on a forum like this) about your attitude problem and you'll earn a bad rep for your shop.
[/quote]

When I worked at Boots the mantra was 'if customers have a good experience they [b]might[/b] tell other people. If customers have a bad experience they[b] will [/b]tell other people'.

[gafbass02]

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1340624601' post='1707095']


I wonder if that's the same one that I don't go to any more because they're so unhelpful?
[/quote]

I'll bet. Grumpy, condescending and unhelpful.

[gafbass02]

Somebody earlier mentioned knowing more about a few products they were interested in than the sales guy, but as a former sales guy I should probably add a bit of balance I s'pose, I used to get this a lot, folks that had researched the ass off a few things and knew them to to the nth degree, they would then get all snarky cause they knew those three things better than me, thinking they were a huge expert and I was a mere pleb before them; of course what they forgot was that I had to also know a huge range of info about every. Other. Single. Thing. In. The. Shop!!

However that was hi-fi and I would rather chew my own face off than deal with hi-fi customers ever again. -literally.


But yes, I lament the death of the high street music store, but every single time I've given a local one a chance it's ended up a poor experience. Back to thomann