Retailer Rant

N

numcwrt2

New member
Joined
Jul 21, 2021
Messages
4
Location
United States
Hello all, I very much enjoy this site as there is little drama and much to learn. I generally don't post anywhere, let alone here. While not an absolute, actively participating in online boards or social media is not my thing. I do like to learn though.

I've gotten into this audiophile thing somewhat seriously a couple of years ago after a long hiatus from the early 90s. In the intervening years, I have purchased gear but generally for the purposes of background music. Ironically, my interest now is similar to way back then when I was in my 20s because my living circumstances are similar. Alas, that is another story.

I have a modest system and have spent a lot of time listening and making improvements. At this point, I think I've taken it as far as it will go and it is time to upgrade. In the coming months, I plan on adding a TT, upgrading the integrated and bringing in some better speakers from another system (at another property) that gets little use.

I'm in an area of NC with no hifi stores nearby. However, I did find Audio Advice (pretty good youtube presence) in Raleigh that carries a couple of the brands I am interested in. I called earlier this week and the gentleman confirmed he had a couple of the models I am considering. I told him I'd be in on Saturday afternoon. I was really looking forward to this. Sadly, in very short order, I walked out completely pissed off.

I show up and a younger fellow greets me and I tell him I am there to listen to a couple of TTs. He then proceeds to explain all of the home theater and home automation they offer. Whatever, I ask him again where the TTs are and he brings me into the room and gets another salesman. As it happens, on one of the tables was an album I had just streamed that morning so I was even more excited.

Welp, heres where things start going off the rails. After greetings, I tell the new dude why I am there, pointing to the models on display. He then starts with '20 questions'....all of which I sensed were to size me up and determine if I'm there to kick the tires. The questions in of themselves weren't bad if part of a conversation, but they were persistent and increasingly irrelevant. He had an iPad to record my answers which was off-putting. His tone and responses were snarky and arrogant. For example, asked where I was coming from (a military town) and he replied that their business is not like Best Buy. Even before this condescending and biased comment, he lost me.

He eventually states that they don't audition TTs on weekends and that I would need to make an appointment. I explain that I called earlier in the week and was not told this and drove 90 minutes. He says that we are very busy on Saturdays yet there were no other customers in the store. Throughout the course of the conversation, he was more interested in arguing with me than figuring something out.

I gave him a couple of chances to dig himself out of the hole, but he kept on digging deeper. I was incredulous. The dude has no business selling anything. I thanked him for wasting my time and walked out.

I'll be writing the CEO. It's no wonder that there are so few brick and mortar stores these days.

Sorry for the rant and lack of meaningful contribution. I needed to vent.

Bob
 
Jack said:
Have you looked at Ember Audio in Winston-Salem?

Ember Audio + Design
Click to expand...

+1 on Ember. Also in W-S Custom Home HiFi. May be worth a trip west this summer to cool off in the mountains, hit Winston on the way.

I see AA is still living down to their rep after all these years ...
 
numcwrt2 said:
Hello all, I very much enjoy this site as there is little drama and much to learn. I generally don't post anywhere, let alone here. While not an absolute, actively participating in online boards or social media is not my thing. I do like to learn though.

I've gotten into this audiophile thing somewhat seriously a couple of years ago after a long hiatus from the early 90s. In the intervening years, I have purchased gear but generally for the purposes of background music. Ironically, my interest now is similar to way back then when I was in my 20s because my living circumstances are similar. Alas, that is another story.

I have a modest system and have spent a lot of time listening and making improvements. At this point, I think I've taken it as far as it will go and it is time to upgrade. In the coming months, I plan on adding a TT, upgrading the integrated and bringing in some better speakers from another system (at another property) that gets little use.

I'm in an area of NC with no hifi stores nearby. However, I did find Audio Advice (pretty good youtube presence) in Raleigh that carries a couple of the brands I am interested in. I called earlier this week and the gentleman confirmed he had a couple of the models I am considering. I told him I'd be in on Saturday afternoon. I was really looking forward to this. Sadly, in very short order, I walked out completely pissed off.

I show up and a younger fellow greets me and I tell him I am there to listen to a couple of TTs. He then proceeds to explain all of the home theater and home automation they offer. Whatever, I ask him again where the TTs are and he brings me into the room and gets another salesman. As it happens, on one of the tables was an album I had just streamed that morning so I was even more excited.

Welp, heres where things start going off the rails. After greetings, I tell the new dude why I am there, pointing to the models on display. He then starts with '20 questions'....all of which I sensed were to size me up and determine if I'm there to kick the tires. The questions in of themselves weren't bad if part of a conversation, but they were persistent and increasingly irrelevant. He had an iPad to record my answers which was off-putting. His tone and responses were snarky and arrogant. For example, asked where I was coming from (a military town) and he replied that their business is not like Best Buy. Even before this condescending and biased comment, he lost me.

He eventually states that they don't audition TTs on weekends and that I would need to make an appointment. I explain that I called earlier in the week and was not told this and drove 90 minutes. He says that we are very busy on Saturdays yet there were no other customers in the store. Throughout the course of the conversation, he was more interested in arguing with me than figuring something out.

I gave him a couple of chances to dig himself out of the hole, but he kept on digging deeper. I was incredulous. The dude has no business selling anything. I thanked him for wasting my time and walked out.

I'll be writing the CEO. It's no wonder that there are so few brick and mortar stores these days.

Sorry for the rant and lack of meaningful contribution. I needed to vent.

Bob
Click to expand...

Bob-Did you make a formal appointment or did you just say to an employee that you were stopping by on Saturday?
 
mep said:
Bob-Did you make a formal appointment or did you just say to an employee that you were stopping by on Saturday?
Click to expand...

I did not have a formal appointment. As I already noted, I spent some time on the phone earlier in the week with a rep discussing a handful of models and brands. I made it clear that I would be up on Saturday since he had 2 models on the floor available for demo. I had no idea an appointment was needed. The onus was on the the person I spoke with on the phone to set an appointment once I made my intentions clear. In the end, I see that as a relatively minor point given the in-store experience which I've already described. The interaction was handled poorly.
 
Fellow NCer here and can parrot your sentiments on AA. Chris at Ember in WS is great but not a huge inventory depending on what you wish to hear. Call Mike at Suncoast and plan a audio vacation to sunny FL and your frustrations will be resolved. PM me Bob if you would like to be included in our local GTGers.
 
Bob --

I feel your pain, not necessarily about Audio Advice since I've never been, but the dealership experience in frustration.

I would like to direct you to the Raleigh page of the Audio Advice website (Raleigh, NC - Home Theater, Home Audio, Smart Home | Audio Advice | Audio Advice) where the last paragraph says:

"We're located on Glenwood Avenue, just minutes from Brier Creek shopping center and Angus Barn. Walk-ins are welcome, so stop by for a visit or contact us to schedule an appointment!"

So it looks like they do both types of visits and you probably have to indicate if you need to set up an appointment. Yes, I agree that the person you spoke with on the phone should have informed you of the policy when you said "stop by to check out turntables on a Saturday", but maybe he had assumed you had already checked out their website. You assumed they didn't have a policy and he assumed you already knew theirs?

Not trying to cause trouble, just adding a post mortem perspective.
 
Thanks for finding company policy that reinforces my post. Go figure, a retail business that welcomes walk-ins AND takes appointments. Importantly, I actually called as they suggest and made it clear to the person I spoke with that I was coming in.

Perhaps I'm missing something. Did you happen to find any fine print about a requirement for an appointment to actually listen to something? Bad on me for not scouring their web page for the rules of engagement of visiting a retail business.
 
numcwrt2 said:
Thanks for finding company policy that reinforces my post. Go figure, a retail business that welcomes walk-ins AND takes appointments. Importantly, I actually called as they suggest and made it clear to the person I spoke with that I was coming in.

Perhaps I'm missing something. Did you happen to find any fine print about a requirement for an appointment to actually listen to something? Bad on me for not scouring their web page for the rules of engagement of visiting a retail business.
Click to expand...

[emoji38]
 
Oh, dear ... I seem to have poked the sleeping bear on this one.

You made a bad assumption and got called on it by the dealer. Learn from it and move on.
 
It's never a good look when you join a forum and your first post is a rant about how you were wronged. This is the second time this has happened recently on AS.
 
To the OP, the sole Member of the Exclusionary Police (aka "mep") has spoken!:panic:
 
+2 regarding Suncoast Audio. They are exemplary in every aspect and I highly recommend them. I found them on the net while researching a new system. I hadn't been into high end audio for 40+ years, so I had a LOT of catching up to do and a LOT to learn. I read and read and read and read some more. Mostly home audio forums and reviews. It took me 2 years before I finally felt like I knew something and could competently put together a solid system. I even put aside enough money to travel from my home in Iowa to Suncoast Audio on a weekend and audition integrated amps and other components. Mike Bovaird, the owner of Suncoast Audio (and this forum), was outstanding. Mike is dead honest and extremely knowledgeable. To make a long story short, we put together a superb system (see my signature). I did schedule an appointment for Saturday, fly down on a Friday and returned home on the following Sunday. I auditioned components (mostly integrated amps) all day Saturday, to my heart's content. The trip allowed me to pick a great sounding system from Suncoast Audio. It was a wonderful experience. Mike even took me to a great seafood restaurant and footed the bill. Initially, I had no intention of traveling 1400 miles to audition audio components. I'm sooooooo glad I changed my mind. The trip was VERY well worth my time and money. Anyway, my 2 cents.
 
bluegrassphile said:
+2 regarding Suncoast Audio. They are exemplary in every aspect and I highly recommend them. I found them on the net while researching a new system. I hadn't been into high end audio for 40 years, so I had a LOT to learn. I read and read and read and read some more. Mostly home audio forums and reviews. It took me 2 years before I finally felt like I knew something and could competently put together a solid system. I even put aside enough money to travel from my home in Iowa to Suncoast Audio on a weekend and audition integrated amps and other components. Mike Bovaird, the owner of Suncoast Audio, was outstanding. Mike is dead honest and extremely knowledgeable. To make a long story short, we put together a superb system (see my signature). I did schedule an appointment, fly down on a Friday and returned home on the following Sunday. I auditioned components (mostly integrated amps) all day Saturday, to my heart's content. The trip allowed me to pick a great sounding system from Suncoast Audio. It was a wonderful experience. Initially, I had no intention of traveling 1400 miles to audition audio components. I'm sooooooo glad I changed my mind. The trip was VERY well worth the money. Anyway, my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Thank you! That was a real fun day. You were so prepared with your music and exactly what you wanted a system to sound like. I just had to make sure we had the right pieces together. That was fun!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mike, that was definitely in my top 5 most fun things I've ever done. I'm heading downstairs right now to do some serious listening. I'm in a Basie kind of mood. LOVE to hear that brass on my system.
 
Interesting. I've been to both Audio Advice stores many times. When I drove up from SC, to the Pineville store , a simple phone call and bingo, The guys were always helpful and I even got taken out to lunch and didn't buy a thing. I'd stop in to the Raleigh store when I was on business at Alcatel and Nortel at RTP years ago and the guys were always talkative and helpful. So you never know.
 
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