High end vs internet

Hey Y'all,

foreverhifi2000, I admire the dedication and passion you obviously bring to your profession. But not everyone in hi-end retail offers the same intensity as you do when it comes to customer service. I've been into audio, albeit as a consumer only, for 28 years and my experience, with most retailers, was almost enough to chase me into another hobby. Please, don't get me wrong, I've come across some very nice and helpful people in retail. But for the most part there has been condescension, pomposity, disregard and much to much ego for one to have to put up with. That is why I include finding Audiogon in my nightly prayers. In just the last 2.5 years, I've learned more and met some of the nicest people, both grunts and sales people, then I had ever before. AND I have been able to put together a system that I would have never imagined before. You do have a point, if the retailer offers everything that you mention, there should be no threat and thus no worries. I feel that the internet and used sales are only effecting the retailers that do not offer the same things that you so strongly point out as being THE most important things they can offer the consumer, an excellent buying experience and great customer service.......John

In the end you get what you pay for. Then internet offers the consumer lower prices, but it also offers substantially less service. Ultimately, I think those who rely soley upon on-line retailers will have a much harder time getting high quality sound than those who have access to a quality bricks & mortar retailer. As evidence I point to any number of Audiogon forum posts where people wonder why there systems composed of quality components doesn't sound very good. Without the possibility of auditioning equipment what is the real chance of proper system matching? Another benefit of using a B&M retailer is that you get the chance to listen to well matched systems in well designed rooms. For myself this exposed me to the limits of what is possible in reproduced sound. In the long run the internet will help the audiophile market because of its greater exchange of information and the fact that it will spur B&M retailers towards offering better levels of service. At the same time it will not be without costs. Many retailers will not survive, manufacturers will alter their warranty policies and consumers will have to rely increasingly more upon anecdotal stories and on-line "buzz" for advice.

I would offer one comment in defense of most dealers on the subject of arrogance, lack of great courtesy, and all that. Consider that many people contributing to A'gon leave after a certain number of years and repetitions of the same topic threads. Now consider that, professionally, you have to hear those same elementary questions 15 times a day every day. Do you think your patience and courtesy will not undergo at least some level of modification? Also, suppose you are pissed about the last guy who just wasted hours of your time without buying, and somebody new shows up 5 minutes later. Can you wash it all away and pretend the day just started?
I'm not a people-type, but I sympathize with dealers who are expected to be.

Flex, as a salesperson, I can tell you that this is a fundamental element of the job, and if you get tired of it, you need to leave the business, or else you will starve. I'm actually not a 'people-type' either, but that has no bearing on how I interact with customers. Doing the job professionally means helping people - anything less, and you're not doing your job. Any salesperson who takes the residue of one sales encounter into the next - or yesterday's questions, or last year's commissions - is unprofessional and will not ultimately succeed. Retail selling is not a particularly demanding job, but it does require some measure of mental fortitude and perspective to be exercised if you don't want to lose money. But at the end of the day, helping people well must be its own reward, and the commissions will take care of themselves. Salespeople who place blame for their failures instead of learning from them are constantly leaving any sales business, and since, as in baseball, you are destined to fail a large proportion of the time, the more quickly you understand this as a salesperson the better a chance you have of surviving. If the high end retail business is to survive, it needs to learn from its failures instead of blaming the internet.

Flex, that's the job, that's how they earn their money.