Have you ever been turned off by an Arrogant Dealer? Thoughts

Audio consultants in Chicago.  I was new in my career and the first question was what is my budget.  Told him I had a good job and had a modest system already. His response was when you know what you can spend I will put together a system for you.

mever went back

When you walk in to one of these places the thing is not to internalize their attitude.

Treat them like the servants they are.  They're there to SERVE YOU, not the other way around.

I'm too old for that sh#t.

I was going to help a freind moving and I knew I had lots of time in front of me

so I brougt with me , my McIntosh MC8027 power Amp. ( front glass screen broken ) for repair by this dealer new to me. I parked my rusty pickup truck in front of his fancy place.( it is a heavy gear)

I was wearing ovealls and big boots. The saleman opened the door and let me in.

The first thing he asked me : Is it yours ? I said : no , I have just stolen it three blocks away, can you keep it for a while.
It took sometimes before he undestood I was joking.
He let me sit in a demo room with ,as he said , a real  good HT system..

All McIntosh gears with JBL syntethis speakers .....

I ending up pruchasing an audiophile power bar and highend Power cables.

You never know.

This isnt just audio dealers this applies to specialty stores of high priced items in general

If you enter and it looks like you just want to pay as little as possible the owner might come off as Arrogant.

In the early spring I went to buy a pump for my bike. Just wanted a hand pump you know, looking to spend $20-30 bucks max. This guy had nothing cheaper than $120.. and acted like he was donald Trump and that you were wasting his time. Definitely talked down a lot. I simply took my bike to the gas station and filled up there....

These small shops rely on high revenue/high margin sales and get frustrated when they think you arnt trying to spend "real" money

dealers definetly make strong judgments fairly rapidly. The last dealer i went to I happened to drive my bmw m5 that day. I purposely parked it as far away as possible; i didnt see any cars in the front lot and didnt want attention so i parked in in the rear lot

Well, they saw it on camera and kept asking me about it. It’s a nice car but its not like its a McLaren. Didnt matter i was treated like a king.

I think a dealer will judge you right away by how your dressed, how serious you sound, what you drive, your age, ext

if you come in dressed like a slob and you say your "just looking" they may not like that very much and may come off to you as arrogant 

I'm just saying point Blank. Just because you sell it don't mean you are the only one that knows about it and you never know when a person will splurge to pay for it 

I learned a valuable lesson long ago. A man walks in my office overalls with a hole in the knee driving an old truck.  Older gentleman walking slow and bent over.  Told me what he needed I said $2500. I said I will give him a payment plan. He said no need you fella. He raised his pant leg. Had a wad of cash on it. Peeled of 25 100 dollar bills smiled and walked out. That guy was the wealthiest guy in southern dallas. Owned 8 million in property alone and sn historic theater.  I learned that day that you must treat all people with respect regardless if you think they have money or not! 

@ejr1953 ,

That is what many salespeople don't get. The high earners go for the obviously moneyed client and ignore anyone who looks like an average person.

I experienced it at Sound by Singer when they were on 8th Street. They let my very nice umbrella get taken by another 'customer', while doing business and just shrugged their shoulders when I told them what happened. I cancelled the transaction and let them know what I thought of them. Of course the reaction was a smirk and a shake of the head that let me know what a loser I was.

I swore off dealers for years. Then the internet allowed me to buy used directly.

It took more than 30 years for me to find a dealer that not only respected me, but understood me- Audioconnection.

Bob

Have you ever been turned off by an Arrogant Dealer?

Arrogant dealer or arrogant anybody - why waste your time?  I know too many wonderful people at all levels of competance in all types of professions to spend time with someone who is simply going to irritate me.  

The summer of 1978 or 1979 I worked at a high-end audio dealer in the Georgetown neighborhood in DC.  What appeared to be a "smelly homeless guy" and his friend were enjoying our Bang & Olufson display; all the other salesmen left the front of the store, instead of engaging these two customers.

Long-story-short, the "smelly homeless guy" was a neurosurgeon who was on duty so long, he hadn't shaved or probably showered for a few days, catching whatever sleep he could, in between surgeries.

I sold him $38k worth of equipment.

He returned in a few weeks to snag a pair of Yamaha NS1000's for his garage, which was home to his Rolls, Ferrari and Benz.

You never know who will walk into your shop.

Not everybody is built to work with public.

And , salemen must interact with all sort people .

How much time , would you spend with someone with ragged cloths , asking about

laws informations in front of your office door ?

Next time you go to demo audio gears, give your lawer business card to the receptionnist or a saleman ...... you will be offered a coffe .

Dealer make no money why have high nose? Import maybe and they the lazy type don't hard lift finger. Dealer don't even wear alligator shoe.

For me, it's not so much arrogance as it is being ignored or taken for granted... I like stores where I'm greeted by a friendly person; I don't like stores where I walk in and nobody says anything to me, even if nobody there is doing much of anything else. 

+ oldhvy - Such a wide variety of experiences. When I was a kid in highschool, I use to go every week to the 2 good audio shops in Hawaii, no problems they were away willing to demo equipment for me. Much different here on the "mainland".

I have the opposite problem in that everywhere I go people fawn all over me.

It’s become so bad that my standard reply to "How may I help you" is now "You can go away and leave me alone".

DeKay

I wear a 25.00 doller Timex and bib cover alls.. They can ALL kiss my fat wallet pocket in my wifes purse with a pistol in it to boot..  I've told the 60K story.. It's like 120K now..

Put me on "THIS LIST". My list is hangin' I was at a place in Sacramento it took the guy a few minutes to look up and tell me where the repair facility was. You'd a thought I was asking for a kidney.. Bars on the windows, shotgun in the corner, I felt right at home.. Glad I wore my vest..

Regards

Get great treatment as i wear 50k Rolex.

I totally understand that time is money.  Hell I'm a lawyer. But when folks think you just listening and won't buy if you like is agitating AF. I try to only demo stuff I intend on actually buying or consider buying. If I ask about a specific item that means I have heard researched it and I might be ready to go in it.  A dealer would have to at some point realize that people that run businesses or can afford this stuff probably researched it pretty damn good. In the past that wasn't the case but now it is.  They have to adjust 

I will say this.  We all have been in the hobby awhile and typically we have the money to play in the hobby so we are going to get more knowledgeable as we go on. I guess I get disappointed by some who think that a person that does this 15, 20,30 years isn't going to know more and more.  In addition there are a lot of greedy folks out here. There is a place up here in Dallas where they take your name down the first time you come in. The second you come and don't buy they literally will turn equipment down or off so you can't demo or hear it. If you are too iffy too bad for you. In addition to that in this Information Age one would be foolish to think that folks aren't going to do their research before dropping mega bucks on gear. Some with these attitudes really take the fun out of it 

I almost mentioned Lyric and Sound by Singer the other day. Horribly arrogant.

Unfortunately this is becoming even more common. You need to wear a nice suit to get service. For me, if they're arrogant I just turnaround and walk away.

I seem to recall another thread with a similar topic.

Salesman/saleswomen not on this list

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Salesmen I know are well over the million dollar mark selling heavy equipment.

I said salesmen, not Best Buy

Look at realitors, I know a FEW that made millions, went to school with two, still see them in their old PU trucks.. Sold commercial and farm land leasing.. BIG money.. Salesman..

Buddy I made more than a surgeon did acording to your "Top Ranking Jobs"

As a Heavy Duty Master Machanic, 5 years ago.. Drilling platforms when I was younger and tieback rigs when I retired from a broked everything, including my neck.

The difference is the surgeon won’t need 500,000.00 worth of work to stay mobile and alive when he retires.. My insurance was actually more than a friggen one handed surgeon (bonding). They paid though.. NOT ME.. Never a claim.. Ever..

Regards

Yes many many times, when I started driving Mercedes Benz parking near their store, where they can see it, problem solved.

Salesman/saleswomen not on this list

https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/best-paying-jobs

The highest paid people in the world are salesman/women.

That being said, the lazest people in the world share the same title, Salesman/woman.

They show up every day to stand there and consume air and because they show up, they actually expect to get paid.. Their function, to keep every other yacking employee as far off his or her game as they can..

The work force is full of FAT LAZY, cell phone talking people.. What's left over call themselves "out of work".

From the day I was born, I was working. The difference now I think about working..

I talk to the Dog and the Rabbit and they both make more sense than most folks I talk with including my own kids.. My brothers are pretty like minded as long as we stay in our neutral corners most of the time.. We are brothers after all. Not a lot to say, but a whole lot is understood. WORK and pay attention. LOL

Regards

I will play Devils Advocate here. So many people use the remaining bricks and mortar stores to audition a dealers wares, and then buy it on the Internet, that instead of perhaps considering them as retailers, some of them wish to be viewed as consultants.  Think of them along the Financial Planners model.  Some Planners charge a yearly fee based upon your net assets.  Others base their fee as a percentage of the assets that they actively manage.  Others charge a straight hourly fee for their advice, the same for Princes and Paupers.  In this case, the audio dealer could argue that he is some sort of hybrid of these models.

  Where this analogy breaks down is that a FP can discuss multiple products without having to physically demonstrate anything, a high end audio dealer has to have a physical product that we can listen to.

  I would appreciate a dealer whose model is the following:

1) Charges a flat fee, for a defined time period (say, yearly) for their advice

2) will demo, as part of that service, components that they may actually have in stock, and charge the usual markup should you choose to purchase from the dealer (the dealer would presumably provide additional troubleshooting service above and beyond what the manufacturer can provide).

3) the dealer would provide access to many other manufacturers who can then ship components to the dealer for the customer to pick up and return to do home auditions.

In 1978 I made the trip into Manhattan from Stamford, CT to visit Lyric HiFi. I wanted to purchase a Dynavector 20B homc cartridge ($240). I arrived at Lyric's uptown store and was met at the vestibule by Mike Kay the owner. When I told him what I wanted he sized me up as a peon not worthy of his time. He did sell me the Dynavector 20B - but would not let me into his store!!! What a pr*ck!

Yes, I mentioned on another thread that a dealer wanted $250 deposit just to talk about what I needed and wanted. I walked out and I will never return. In this day and age for a dealer to be arrogant, unhelpful or dismissive is just plain dumb. There are so many other places to buy equipment. 

The list of turnoffs is a long one, but the closest to arrogant I have seen was really more elitist than arrogant. Or greedy. What is the word for when they radiate the impression you aren't worthy to lick their shoes? That you should write a check or better yet shower them with cash then make an appointment to see if they will grant you an audience to negotiate your worthiness to hear one of their magical marvels. That one. Hey maybe it was arrogance after all!