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

I go back to the days of the old Audio Lab in Harvard Square when a salesperson was as likely to share a puff or two and sell you whatever he had or whatever you liked. The existing Audio Lab, now in a different location is very hit or miss but generally a worthless pursuit. I used them for yearly service on my old Mac gear for years until I just didn't have faith in their work anymore.

If others here are referring to Natural Sound as that Framingham, Ma. store, I regrettably  second their experiences. When looking to upgrade my Mac gear a few years back I paid a visit or three and found them to be aloof and mostly uninterested. Even worse at Goodwins High End in Watertown for non Mac gear. So much for even trying to support the brick & mortar places near me.

Eventually I too found Audio Classics in Vestal, NY and never looked back. Bought a mess of Mac gear from them at fair prices, peerless shipping and continuing advise and tech support.

 As a successful commissioned salesperson for a couple of decades, I can tell you this:  I went to work to make money, not friends.  Of course, I made some friends from the hobby that became my source of income, but when a customer was looking at a Ducati or Harley with a near-thousand dollar commission,and one was looking at a BMW that sold for cost to just get these people out of our way, and get their service business, which one did I talk to?  Better still, when we sold SeaDoos at cost and paid $25 per unit, I, who owned a very successful race team, would say, "Let me get you a watercraft salesperson".   When Sound Advice started doing in home A/V systems with thousand dollar plus commissions,  it was impossible to get help on anything else.  Salesmen need to eat, too!  I  also needed B&W's and Audire's, and sports cars, etc.

Hilde - I forgot to add I love your thread and the even handed tone you set :-)

In my Poverty bay system pics there is a picture of our Labrador listening to power amps during an all day demo at Audio Alternative ( now hi Fi buys in Atlanta ) talk about welcomed in !!!!

also for those wanting to bookmark used gear pages try Gig Harbor Audio and Hawthorne in Seattle. Eric at GHA is expanding !!!!!

I have experienced both sides of the coin. One as a middle school kid. A life long friend of mine and I would ride our bikes to the local Hi-Fi store, Alma's. There was a salesman in the store that could have easily ran us off. There was little to no chance of us being able to buy anything in that store. Instead he was very gracious and allowed us to experience high end audio that was well past our means. We were unabashed Rush fans and he would pop in the "Moving Pictures" CD for us in the "big" room. All the highest cost gear was in this room. He would turn up the volume reasonably high and as he was closing the big glass sliding door, grin and say "enjoy!" This actually fostered our appreciation for the technology that is Audiophile. This was not a one off event, we would go in there weekly during the summer. Again, he could have easily tired of this and told is to srcamm, but he never did. The other Audiophile retailer, The Gramaphone, has absolutely no tolerance for us and shoo us away promptly. Thanks to the dude at Alma's my friend and I developed an appreciation for high end audio and still love it to this day. Flash forward to adulthood. Living in St Louis area and I happened into one of the high end retailers and was summarily ignored in spite of having much deeper pockets now. So I left. I visited the other store " Music for Pleasure" and was greeted immediately and with respect and a real desire to establish my needs and budget. They did an excellent job of assessing both and they helped me load up the $10k I just spent in their store. 

@danvignau - good reminder that B&M businesses are just that, businesses, and that the owner and sales people who work there need to make sales to earn their living.  I had two friends that sold stereo equipment and when I started purchasing direct from manufacturers and used on-line, I quit going to their stores.  We are still friends but I didn't want to waste their time.