What's your experience with snooty HiFi salesmen?

@richopp 

I lived in Ft Lauderdale in the 70s. What was your store? I bought my first hifi system in ‘73. Well, it was hifi to me. All I could afford was a Nikko receiver, Smaller Advents, Garrard turntable that I bought from the first Sound Advice store on Federal Highway. My first experience was great and that set the standard. I ended up lurking in all the hifi stores I could find. Unfortunately, SA got too big and lost what made it fun.

I remember Luskins, HiFi Associates and of course Sound Advice. 

I find the smaller the shop the better.  More personal service and attention.  The tradeoff of less choices is worth it.  There are many duds out there just trying to move merch but I've had some very pleasant experiences with like minded people who love music.  About a year ago I was demoing a pair of Amatis in NYC and through the entire demo the salesman was standing close by tapping his feet and enjoying the playlist.  Very enjoyable hour with these folks.

Usually one knows very quickly if the person they're dealing with will be a good match.  I've never let a mismatch get to the point where some salesman has the chance to talk downhill to me.  Cheers

hilde45
It isn't the quality of the equipment that these store have. It was their equipment that brought me into the stores. It was My Preparation to make sure they could accommodate me, their arrogance, their inability to provide a professional experience and finally paper thin walls between listening rooms. That just doesn't fly with me. I cold have gotten a better experience at Radio Shack. At least there you know what to expect and can accommodate for that i you own mind.
Another store that yo did not mention and notice again I am not going to say it. Their sales man after hearing about my previous experience went all the wany to ask me what I had for a system so that he might try to match it. Only he connected some tiny 2way bookshelf speakers to a Mac and though he would reproduce my home experience with full sized towers. Also when he couldn't produce anything that I had on a lengthy music list or means to play either a CD or DVD Also, those 2way bookshelf speaker were EXCELENT speakers in their own way. I would love to put some of their towers next to mine and compare them. but a tiny 2way is never going to sound like my towers. Had he chosen to connect to proper speakers that he had in front of him and been able to play something I know! He probably could have made a sale, but I ended up getting a far less expensive AV Receiver just becasue I know what to expect for NAD instead of something that NO ONE was able to demonstrate to me. WhY else would I g to a brick and mortar store?

@esarhaddon 

You're right. Not all my experiences have been good and a couple stores you didn't mention were problematic.

But -- whatever the gear -- I had good experiences at:

Crescendo Audio

Aural HiFi

Gold Sound

Soundings

Salespeople change and sometimes stores get feedback that helps them get better. 

When people on this forum swear, "I'm never going back" they may have hit a wall. That's unfortunate.

They may also be admitting, tacitly, that they don't know how to help the sales people help them. They don't know how to relate to people. Because, we're all people in this thing, I take it.

Can't really recall any. But then I just avoid people who are likely to annoy me and try not to dwell on it. It's like 2nd nature now. Also helps to do due-diligence beforehand, so I can provide my context and targeted questions from the get-go. 

Funny enough, I've encountered a couple big dealers via Facebook friends - not for audio related business - who turned out to be real sh*t-heads. Fortunately there are PLENTY of dealers and manufacturers I really do like. And I've maintained a good relationship with my main dealer for some 15 years. 

So, no problems with bad salespeople here. If anything, it will be entertainment if/when it happens.