Ever feel like a "low dollar" customer that your dealer doesn't think worth their time?

“Studiously ignored” is the perfect way of capturing what I experienced, with one additional fact: I have spent money there already!

Going downhill... too bad, snooze you lose.

There is a local chain here in Northern CA that use to be one of "the" places to go 25 years ago. The owners i use to know well are no longer around, hiding in back warehouses somewhere replaced by 2-3 salesmen up front you don’t recognize and none recognize you or care to. All three salesman sitting behind the counter, looking at their computers with nobody else in the store. Big fancy showroom place with four different dedicated audio rooms - lots of overhead too! Lots of fancy lights on, systems powered on, - idling and playing for nobody, burning energy. Somebody gets to pay for all that, how nice.

So, as i walk in, all three guys are heads down behind the counter, I’m thinking... Hmm, what are they looking at, ugh.. maybe a pile of orders coming in - NOT! Something super important I guess, and it takes all THREE of them to figure it out, whatever it is, um, no. Surfing the internet, yes! Must be super interesting, whatever it is :)

Now with a pandemic, no more surfing at a fancy showroom - now the playing fields are equal, store closed - it’s all about "productivity" and results and who sells products online...can’t blame walk-in customers or lack thereof any more. Retail may be changed forever now. Only those who produce will survive as manufacturers and distributors venture more to online sales, more so every year now.

I was there to check out the newer McIntosh MA-252 tube hybrid den room amp for a friend who asked me what I thought.... As I’m walking in, dressed in work close on and all - got a quick look up and glance, told them what I was looking at, and not one of them got up out of their chair to even walk over and show anything. Lazy pr$%s! I browsed each room quickly having not been there for a while... headed for the door, one of them tried to say something as my hand was on the door handle and I just said no thanks - keep surfing and walked out.

Shared back to my buddy I’d never buy an amp or any gear there any more, customer service was crap and nimrod sales people can’t get their faces out of their phones and off their screens any more - rather order from a hungry sales person online or pay an eager BestBuy/Magnolia guy and tip him to just order it instead. They can order McIntosh, let ’em at it. Can’t imagine this other old store will last too many more years with high prices paying too much overhead for 3 sales people who rather surf the internet.

Must be nice to get paid to surf the internet not helping customers. Decided not to tell the owners, if they are so rich to pay people to surf the internet and not do spot checks on their new generation absolutely useless sales staff - wish them all the best of luck.

Sure appreciate the happy hungry hard working sales people of prior generations. Many I knew long ago all went on to do bigger and better things in life and they all earned it :)

Today you can't even impress the guy when a limo drops you off ,but could be a uber..lol

It's not an audio gear story, but this happened to me a couple of cars ago when I was car shopping.

I had been driving a BMW 328i convertible for almost 4 years and had been saving up for my next new car. The 328i was ordered and my plan was to order another car. 

Put it for sale on the posting board at work thinking it would take me a month or two to sell... oops... sold it in one day!

Had to have the new owner drop me off at Hertz after work and I ended up renting a Mazda 3. That weekend, I drove it up to the Mercedes dealer and asked to test drive a C63 AMG. They wouldn't even show me one - maybe I shouldn't have parked the Mazda by their front door, ha ha. Told them that I have cash ON HAND and was ready to buy, but I didn't get anywhere with them. Instead, they kept on showing me overpriced used cars that appeared to have been waxed using sand paper - swirl marks on black metallic paint galore.

Ended up going to BMW and got an order for an E92 M3 hammered out in an hour. Got to drive my rented "M3" until the real one arrived.

That was 2 cars ago... still miss the redline on that V8!