I'm sick of NYC shops attitude towards customers

Maybe time wasters usually come in pairs ? Red flag.

 

A rather sweeping statement.

 

If the OP accurately and completely described his experience, that is quite unfortunate. But, the OP claimed that this was the case with all other NYC establishments so this does NOT sound like an isolated incident. It is really hard to get any reasonable sense of what really happened. The kind of rudeness described should be extraordinary, not commonplace. I certainly have not had that experience at ANY kind of shop, audio or otherwise. What I do know from experience is that it is FAR more common to see customers at an audio shop behaving badly than the shop treating the customer badly. I certainly don't know if this was the case with the OP, but we have only heard one side. The OP noted that he was from out of town, and just happened to stop in, so it does not sound like he was seriously shopping. If that is the case, and if the OP misrepresented the situation or made unreasonable demands or otherwise angered the sales person, perhaps, this was the case of the salesperson accurately "qualifying" the customer and deciding not only that there is no potential sale, but also that the establishment does not WANT to make a sale (audio sales often require followup service and interactions, so there are certain people shops don't want to make sales to even if that means passing up the sales profit).

If I am in a store just to browse, I make it clear to the staff that that is just what I am doing. I make absolutely no demands, not even to listen to anything that is hooked up. If the sales person is not busy, and I show enough interest in the gear, inevitably someone on the sales staff will approach and make an offer to play something. Only then would I agree, and again I totally let the salesperson lead the discussion/demonstration.

 

I haven't read the whole thread, but Zi have found NYC high end audio shops to be singularly rude and snobbish.

One exception In Living Stereo on Great Jones Street. Unless they have changed I found them to be polite and helpful.

 

Varies by clerk and style - sometimes the haughty attitude is an intended affectation, stupid though it may seem, sometimes it works.

 

I've dealt with snooty clerks before, never a fun experience.... they're probably just miserable people deep down. They need to express that somehow, and unfortunately it's on those around them.

 

It was in jest. Compared to NY some feel Californians dont dress up. Only wear T shirts.

 

Oh okay, I'm pretty thick some days

 

It's not you. I tend to go for the juggler and the internet has ruined the subtlety of humor. You can't know one's inflection in a post.

Carry on.

 

Well, most shops in smaller locations have gone under.

 

Worse than the damned mimes if you ask me.

 

Clowns are worse than either. Especially clowns on stilts or on pennyfarthings.

 

I understand your perspective. But to change the subject slighly- if I am in the market or even just curious about a high end suit/car/watch/home appliance- should I have to make an appointment to view the item ?

In my case, I am respectful of the time of the dealer. If I am interested in a high end/high cost item I try to visit in a time frame when the store is not busy- I tend to avoid Thurs-Fri nights and any time over weekends or holidays. Using this approach I receive a level of service commensurate with the item in question.

Unfortunately I am aware of the NYC Attitude....haveing grown up in the metro area before moving away. In fact the pervasiveness of this attitude was one of the reasons why I left. Problem is there are so many people and potential customers in the NYC metro area that a store can treat people horribly and still become successful. In a perverse way, some customers expected to be treated horribly because they consider the treatment to be part of the purchaseing experience.

 

Now I know why Bowie wrote ¨I'm Afraid Of Americans¨

 

Thinking more about this, the common denominator on both of my visits was that each time the first thing we were asked was where did we live? Maybe because NYC is such a tourist destination that is how they filter buyers from browsers. Did they ever hear of shipping? I've bought from other dealers and had it shipped to me. Then again I might not be the norm either way, they left a real sour taste in my mouth.
Someone previously brought up Sound by Singer, that store was always rude going back to the eighties. I remember in the early nineties I went in for a theta setup and they made me feel like crap. They lost, I went to a NJ dealer and bought there.

 

I do know that Shindo dealers aren't allowed to ship where other Shindo dealers are located. It's just how they run the dealer network. Maybe that was why they didn't want to set them up. They should have at least let you listen to the DeVores.

 

If you are not from the area of the dealer, the dealer might conclude you are not a serious customer. Certainly, from the dealer's perspective, the best customers are those that are from the area because problems can be more easily resolved (meaning you can just bring the gear back for servicing) and a local customer is much more likely to become a regular customer. Still, being from out of town does not warrant rude behavior.

Another possible issue with dealers is sales outside of their service territory. This IS a big issue with some manufacturers. I know a dealer who had a longstanding personal relationship with someone who moved away. In order to sell to this customer, the dealer had to make an arrangement with the authorized dealer for the customer's new location and consult with the product's distributor, to really comply with his contract with the manufacturer; in other words, a lot of extra work and slimmer profit margin (he split the proceeds of the sales with the dealer in the area).

 

I'm just not buying the generalizations. I looked up who the Shindo dealer is in NYC. And I was surprised by how glowing the positive reviews were after reading the OP. I have no reason to doubt the poster's story. But it doesn't jibe with the general sentiment out there about the store. Many of the reviews refer to them as helpful and welcoming.

I am sympathetic to shopkeepers in the face of anonymous online criticism, because I am a shopkeeper and I have been on the receiving end of a handful of completely unfounded negative reviews. Often these say more about the reviewer than the reviewee. I'm not saying that that's the case here, but not knowing any of the parties involved, the real story is essentially unknowable.

Perhaps you're talking about a recent hire who is a jerk. I've hired people who seem great, but were not. You really don't know until you've had a chance to evaluate how they are when we're not around. At my store, if someone behaved like that, I would eventually hear about it and I would address it. That's just an unfortunate reality when you're running a small business. And, frankly, running a business that relies on millennial is like shaving with a dull razor sometimes.

The fact that the poster posted something like this last Summer indicates to me that he went to these places with a set of expectations and biases. This was bound to effect his perceptions. After all it does say on their website to call for an appointment, and they do sell lower end products from Rega and others.

 

I'm treated poorly when I enter HiFi stores more often then not, so I can see how that would eventually become a bias where I don't expect to be treated well in HiFi stores. I don't think its a self-fulfilling prophecy though, because my expectations are pretty modest.

But in general, I don't take this as a thread about not being shown Shindo speakers without an appointment, it's a thread about an overall bad attitude an industry has towards its customers. In the case of the OP, he could have been looked in the eye and had the situation explained to him apologetically. His example resonates with many of us because we've been in this exact situation at other stores, in other states.

I'm glad your store is an exception, assuming you're in the business, but I think this is something the industry needs to recognize.

 

You are correct I do have a set of expectations, starting with "Hi, is there something I can help you with?", followed by "well I'm sorry i can't set up the Shindo just right now perhaps I can set up a demo tomorrow" and finished with "oh I see you are looking at the DeVore's, can I play you something?"
I don't like going into a store and made to feel like I interrupted their day which occurred in both instances. Just so you understand this in nothing new, when I lived in Brooklyn, for the first 40 years of my life, I would travel to New Jersey or Long Island when it came to high end gear. Manhattan has always had the attitude that we are better than you, only now they don't even try to hide their contempt towards customers.
Now to those who say I'm painting with a broad brush, I'm only referring to the high end audio dealers and I know of only four in "The City", the last one I won't even bother with.
I have no hard feelings, I'll still make my bi-monthly trips and enjoy everything else but I'll spend my audio dollars where it's appreciated.

 

Happily, I am not in the audio business. There's not much room for error anymore. If I were the owner of the shop in question, I would love to receive an accurate description of this episode so that I could look into it. It's not particularly fair to judge a business by the behavior of a single employee, but it is fair to judge them for how they respond to it.

 

Thankfully I haven't been treated like that but for a small handful of occasions -- and, interestingly those occasions were in audio shops and record stores. Surprised?

Once in SF a clerk in a store mocked my music choices at the checkout before I'd even paid. I said, "so making fun of your customers is store policy? I think I'd like to speak to the manager." Speed backtrack.

If I get attitude, I return attitude and my attitude says, "OK then, wallet's closed. Bye."

At one audio shop I got the manager out to tell him what a dick his 20-something salesman had been then showed him the several thousand in cash I had intended to spend
there and said, "this is going to your competitor, today." The look on his face was priceless. It was a fine moment.

 

SWEEEEET !!!!!!!!

 

My sentiments exactly. I vote with my wallet.

 

It's possible the salesperson has become cynical of out-of-towners or walk-ins due to too many people using their shop to showroom gear that they plan on buying at Audiogon or eBay. That's not an excuse for being curt. But it's also easy to understand how a salesperson could be like that if they suspect you're showrooming.

The people who showroom knowing they're going to buy the gear online deserve bad karma. Very uncool.

There's a full Shindo system on audiogon right now. Maybe that's a reason the dealer was suspicious.