I don't think the dealer should've said yes instead of no but he could've done your a favour. He didn't.
What was the probability of you buying that 10K piece ?
Auditioning Used Equipment - Am I crazy ?
I reached out to a well respected dealer to see if I could audition an amp they had advertised on one of the used gear websites. This amp sells for over $20k and they were asking around $10k. This mfgr only has 12 dealers nationwide. I've heard their extreme high end equipment at shows but not this particular line. To my surprise, the dealer responded No. The unit was already boxed up to ship (hasn't been sold yet) and they wouldn't set it up for me. So my questions are:
Am I crazy asking to audition a component priced at $10k ?
For any dealers or dealer salespeople, is there a dollar amount where u turn auditions down at ? What is it ?
For consumers, is there a dollar amount that you would buy a component and roll the dice without auditioning it ?
Thanks !
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Here's the problem for the dealer. What happens if the amp is damaged in shipping? What happens if you choose to return it and it is damaged when it is returned? What happens if you scratch it or otherwise mar it and then return it?
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What I got out of the OP is that the dealer wouldn't even set it up at his (the dealer's) place of business? But for all the gear that dealers have sent me for audition or that I have taken home to audition I had to provide a credit card for with the "you broke it/you bought it" understanding. |
This experience I am going to quickly relate is a lot lower $ than yours, but back in ’99 there was a local dealer getting out of 2 ch stereo and getting more into HT and he had an old heavily altered (to the point it would have been hard to sell) SLP90 he wanted to get rid of. I was getting out of HT and way more into 2 ch stereo and I wanted to upgrade my HT digital preamp, so I asked the dealer if I could take his pre home and he let me. I loved it, so I told the dealer I’d buy it but I would want to have Cary undo some of the mods so would he (the dealer) take less than asking? He said he would. Maybe less than a year later, to show off some of his new HT stuff, he had an open house with food and booze . . . I knew he had a pair of those little 15 wpc Cary SET 300B monoblocks for sale and I was thinking I might be interested in the SET experience, so I showed up at the open house and asked if I could take them home. He said no. Which I thought was bad business as I had spent money there before and helped him clkear inventory he didn’t want, but, whatever. |
@ntpc4 while I'm a cheesehead from the football mecca, I reside outside of that area now. To your point, I don't think i would have received the same response from a WI or Chicago dealer. Chicago and Milwaukee have alot of fantastic audiophile stores which has got to be very competitive. |
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