Was I Expecting Too Much
Hi everyone. I'm looking for a heading check with a situation I encountered yesterday.
Background:
I'm planning to upgrade my turntable later this year - Q3 is my target. After my research, I've narrowed down to AMG and Brinkmann. I was able to audition an AMG Viella yesterday, and was looking to audition a Bardo or Taurus for comparison. I know my thought of trying to fit in a Brinkmann demo was last-minute, and some dealers are particular when it comes to appointments and allowing them time to setup their demo.
The Situation:
So I called the local Brinkmann dealer and inquired to see if a bardo or taurus happened to be setup. The salesman I spoke with said they had both, and he was going to check if a demo was possible. After a few minutes, I get a phone call back from the owner who seemed rather dismissive of my request. I explained that I'm currently doing my research and looking to hear some demos to help down-select, and that my purchase would be a few months from now. He asked for my budget which I found strange as I already stated what I was interested in demoing. Then the conversation turned to what gear I already own, which I understand sort-of. Then the owner basically said it doesn't make sense for me to demo anything now and to call back when I'm ready to purchase.
How am I going to know what I want to purchase without demoing the options?
Was I expecting too much by asking to hear equipment that I'm interested in? My opinion is a sale isn't guaranteed and an audio dealer, just like any other dealer, needs to invest some reasonable amount of time to capture a sale. You don't capture all the sales, but I didn't think I was being unreasonable in my request and certainly was not trying to waste anyone's time. I was pretty transparent with where I'm at and I guess he was reciprocating my transparency by telling me to go away. I felt "less-than" by this experience. As if I wasn't worth investing any time into.
Thoughts?
@viridian the dealer frequently uses this forum to push product by respond to posts “I’m considered A,B,C” with I have X for sale.” Not cool, IMHO. To the argument that the dealer is protecting himself from someone auditioning a something, and then buying it cheaper on the internet, this seems highly unlikely with a high end turntable, especially a Brinkmann. |
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This discussion just seems to be a preference between the extremes of "the customer is treated as always right (reminds me of me Sears retail days) vs the seller can do whatever they want as they are not obligated to serve anyone (Seinfeld soup nazi). One one hand, the customer should be treated with dignity regardless if their perceived economic ability appears to be inadequate. On the other hand, the seller is trading his time, energy, resources for income aka money. It’s not unreasonable for the seller to try to maximize his efforts to maximize their income which is especially motivated if they have a family to support. This can entail weighing the probability of their spending time and effort vs making a sale, this seems reasonable. Perceived avoidance of wasting time/effort, especially in a work environment, is quite common. So, on the scale of things, the seller has freedom to be self serving vs the buyer not satisfied with the seller’s lack of proper customer service I’d have to side with the seller as having more weight. To choose otherwise would seem to enslave the seller to the buyer’s expectations at the seller’s expense. |
@viridian My comment about internet sales was a general comment, and not a response to anything you posted. Sorry for the confusion. |
I would say, it depends. In the short term, then maybe yes. However, any seller playing the long game will likely lose more than just that one potential buyer over (perceived?) rude service since the individual with the bad experience is likely to share with their audiophile friends and even with random strangers on forums such as this. I would vote the other way based on the golden rule; “treat others as”…no, not that Golden Rule, this one - “Whoever has the gold rules”. |
