Im with Newbie and macdad by and large.
There are now four high end dealerships in my area, I believe, unless one or more has recently exited. Two of these locations will never have my business
nor from what Ive gathered here and elsewhere online, will they have the $$$ out of other peoples pockets native to this area
. As they maintain a level of people skills that push more away from their doors than they keep returning. The air there is so arrogant its become more a joke than a concern. How these places remain open confounds me. Their sales expectations are for lay downs, and the discounts asked for when actually given are laughable
On a $3500 MSRP Ss preamp, they offered me a $50 discount
. For cash. The audition was about 10 minutes, and I was forced to wait for about an hour and forty five minutes to hear THEIR musical selection, not mine. This wasnt my only attempt to do business with these folks
. Yet the end result and ongoing practices were continuely evident on each occasion. Ive since learned my lesson with these goobers. As far as Im concerned, they no longer exist.
One other dealership in this region does go out of his way to be assistive and informative, and is far more flexible on pricing. He also carries now consignment merchandise, and sells demo units at times with attractive price points
yet remains well away from me.
I usually attempt to do business with this dealer first
IF a thing I want is something that he does inventory.
As a former seller of electronics and other major home products I found out a few things
dealerships or outlets require a certain amount of profit to stay in business. No question about that what so ever. Thats just fine with me.
Sometimes -folks eat steak
sometimes they eat beans
. But they will always eat. Determining those who are of either ilk is the key. Being flexible with pricing and having attributes conducive to recurring sales is vastly important. .. such as service, on site support, setup, installation, sales upgrades, etc. The more the better.
I suspect those which afford such things to their customers these practices are all but gone now
. Or are in the slightest minority.
Online purchases dont afford me any of these items
as for all intents and purposes, and they arent available locally then it makes sense to buy online
at your own risk, for the savings alone these days.
When local B&M dealers come to realize some of their buying public arent the steak eaters, theyll get more competitive with pricing in order to get that slice of business away from web sales. Even poor profit margins on a sale now and then are better than walks or no sales.. Always.
Personally Ive no problems paying a little more for a piece from a local dealer than I could have gotten online
but Ill not pay a lot more. A $100
$200? Even $300? Possibly. $500 $800 or $1,000 more? Nope. Never.
Especially when thereafter no added support is available and for all intents and purposes Im in the same boat as if I bought the item via the web. It simply does not make good sense to pay far more when nothing more is being added into the deal .. Period.
