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

When I opened my shop in 1974, I learned two things VERY QUICKLY:

1.  NEVER ask a customer what he or she does for a living.

2.  NEVER judge a customer by his or her appearance.

Made a LOT of money by following these two rules.  In those days in South Florida, cash was flowing by the tens of millions--you can check out the history of the area to learn why--and I had LOTS of it flow through my shop.  Suitcases brought in by young people wearing cut-offs and nothing else were normal.  

(We were the "high-end" shop of the area--Audio Research, Magnepan, Sequerra, Mac, Tandberg, Stellavox, Nakamichi, Linn, B&O, etc.  We made some stands and woofer cabs for the Levinson HQD system but his stuff sounded terrible, so we did not carry it.)  

Quick story--one of my best-ever (wealthiest) customers lived in a double lower penthouse (only gauche people buy the actual penthouse as it has roof issues as well as plenty of social silliness associated with it), and he had WALLS of museum-level art and a wife who was the twin of Mary Tyler Moore.  His business--he made lapel pins and paperweights.  More wealth than many of my big-name Palm Beach and Miami Beach customers.

Most interesting--young man who bought a bunch of stuff lived on Hillsboro Mile--look it up--and his dad sold oil well derricks.  Who goes to school to learn to sell oil well derricks?

Lots of interesting customers back in the day...

Cheers!

The last time I went to a Dealer was twelve years ago. I had just made an $8000 profit on the sale of some big office copiers and decided to drop it all on a new pair of speakers. I walked into the dealer all happy and a salesman with a thick eastern european accent asks me "How much you make per year ? " . Needless to say i walked out.

@rushfan21, apologies if you didn't appreciate my contribution, however, the subject was not audio, but how one was treated.  So I added my contribution to let some know that for you it is rare, but sometimes (in the past) often at some audio stores, but for some of us on a daily basis, this is standard.

Also, my contribution was to discuss how I treated the rude person in order to continue on the path I was on when I walked into the store.

enjoy

I appreciate this thread very much. I've haunted stereo stores since around 1975, and I've certainly experienced my share of places that are unwelcoming. Luckily, I found a store owner in New Haven, CT, who was open and generous, I stuck with him for thirty years even though I moved five hours away. 

What I find especially strange is that there's almost nothing to do in high-end stores unless you're being helped. It's not like a furniture store where you can try the different couches, or even Best Buy where you can fool around with the electronics. I don't feel comfortable moving speakers or cables, connecting speakers to different amplifiers, putting on my own music, or messing around with the gear without permission/encouragement. I had this experience at a New Hampshire store earlier this year; I spent at least half an hour wandering around, I even made a couple friendly remarks to the men working there, but no one welcomed me or offered to help, even though as far I could tell it was a very quiet weekday afternoon with no customers in the place. I would say that I was studiously ignored. After a while I left; needless to say, no one said a word as I walked out. It's a pity; I guess I take Harbeths off my list?? Or cut my ponytail? (I should say that the owner of the store wasn't there. He has a good reputation and I don't mean to impugn the store. And, yes, I had emailed with him before I drove down.)

As others have said, it's a weird experience to be ignored or slighted, especially when one is ready to spend $10k or more. 

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