I'm sick of NYC shops attitude towards customers

Probably no point in employing them to prevent me from demoing hi-fi gear. But then I may not have the best mind for business.

 

I hate most HiFi shops with a passion.

I recall walking into a store without a single customer and the staff doing nothing at all and being told I had to leave if I didn't have an appointment.

Recently I had a store tell me that installing the phono cartridge I gave them $1300 with tax for was a "favor" to me that they'd "do when they got around to it". Additional context there is they sold me on the cartridge based on their installation service. But any way you slice it using the word "favor" to a loyal customer puts them on a different planet of customer service then the one I live on.

There are exceptions to this; both of my local McIntosh/B&W dealers rock, but in general I'm done romanticizing "the local HiFi shop" that I should be keeping alive with my business. F 'em. I'm never buying anything local I can mail order ever again.

 

I would be grateful if I had more than an ABC Warehouse to audition in

 

LOL see how the curmudgeons in CA in the LA area treat you. Stop in some of the stores on Rodeo Drive and you will think you are royalty back in NYC.

 

I don't live in the USA but some shops in the UK have given me a snobby attitude (and they ate not in business anymore) but I say expose the names that have given you the poor customer service.

 

Along with the ones who treat you right!

 

Agreed.

It is a fine line the salesman must walk between prequalifying a customer and rudeness - particularly in a high-traffic environment - when their personal survival is at stake, not to mention that of their dependents.

 

and that is PRECISELY why the hobby is DYING.

if you were a Hedge Fund manager or a Saudi Sheik there would have been caviar and champagne waiting for you.

i've been on a mission to expose and destroy snobbery in this industry and posts like yours are great...thanks.

 

wow. i know somebody exactly like this. simply can not turn it off and is in a mode of constantly having to get over. likely a sociopath as well. very well said...

 

You posted almost the same thing in July. Ya think it's maybe time to give yourself a break and stop visiting those stores?

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/everything-wrong-about-nyc-audio-stores.369489/

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned how the economic demographics of the U.S. have changed in the last 10/20 years.

For every X number of people whose fiscal situation has changed to the point where high-end gear is no longer accessible, something like X/1000 people are created who wouldn't think twice about dropping 6 figures on "a stereo". In places like NYC (especially Manhattan), the arrival of the new uber wealthy is impossible not to notice.

If you're a brick and mortar high end shop audio in Manhattan, and you want to survive, who are you going to cater to? I think the uber rich expect to be breathing rarefied air when they walk into a high end audio shop.

I'm not making excuses for any rude behavior. But I've certainly experienced some affluence snobbery in this very forum. Just sayin'.

 

That's all true, but I don't think Good Customer Service is a commodity in limited supply by which it has to be saved for elite clientele.

Even if you have to tell a walk-in that you don't have time to show them something because Prince Bandar will be there in five minutes, there's the wrong way to do it and the way that will make that customer understand he genuinely came in at a bad time but you'd absolutely welcome them at a later date. Smug is never appropriate in any customer-facing situation.

 

I think it is more inline with our general lack of civility toward one another. I doubt there is much money to be made working in a stereo shop anymore unless you might own it. There is a great deal of financial frustration in retail these days. It is a hard way to make a living in 2014. We are too much of a nation of wanting everything for a cheap price and why manufacturing has left this country.

 

No, actually, this is how it has ALWAYS been. When I would go to certain shops in NY with my dad as a kid he was treated like garbage 50% of the time, despite being a professional in appearance and
employment.

 

Unless you're 12 or have a mental issue that's not really the way adults deal with others. Also it's a good way to get charged with assault or get your ass kicked.

 

Based on my experience I wouldn't expect to be able to audition something on the day I walked in as most places I've been to generally require advance notice. Maybe it's just an England or Canadian thing. It sounds reasonable to me as they need to set up and there maybe other people auditioning that day as well.

However, the treatment the OP received was well out of order.

 

exactly. the best way to deal with this is find another dealer or have a conversation with the importer/distributor.

 

He sounds like Jack Black in "High Fidelity".

 

So you went into a record store(not Academy) and the folks were snooty. If you care to look here, that seems to be a prevailing attitude in many record stores.
You went into a hi-end audio joint and the guy was snooty, so you now extrapolate that to all of NYC? Please get the title changed to this thread as you are slamming an entire city over a few lousy experiences. If it bothers you so much, don't come back.

 

Funny, lots of Americans slam all of France over one 'rude' experience in Paris. Just sayin'?

 

I didn't say you were a wannabe, I said "most of us" -- e.g., the general public who walk in unannounced. My guess is that most of their sales come from networking and recommendations from previous customers, while the chances of an unscheduled visit resulting in a sale have probably proven minimal.

 

That rude dealer is inviting LOTS of competition.

 

I wouldn't even say a single rude experience, since most Americans have never been to Paris.

 

I'm a native New Yorker and my way of dealing with it was to give it (the attitude) right back, usually by answering a question with a question, that generally lets them know you're not going to DEAL with an attitude. There is also nothing worse than getting an attitude from some PUNK who's years younger but thinks they know it all...

 

Not really. Which is why they can afford such attitudes. I'm sure it would cost several million dollars of capital to open a new audio store in NYC, with an ROI of several years.