Hi Fi Retailers and the Future

[Ashley James]

I arrived as a consequence of the celebrations that took place when it finished!

I'm not sure JC was conceived in the conventional way, he could even be from another Planet. And he's not honest about his age!

[jcbrum]

Try a bit of this, it's 1934 (pre-war), the cars are wonderful and the people are starving and out of work. All because of a bad deal at the end of 1918.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckrk1iqYdfM

See if you can spot your grand-dad.

[snapper]

I grew up in quite a posh part of Glasgow (yes they do exist!) and the 'daddy's girls' were randier than the local scrubbers



Marco.

Especially those 'daddy's girls' that frequented Whitecraigs tennis club.

[Marco]

Snaps knows the score. I've been to a few of the parties where it was de rigeur to 'soil a fresh one', if you get me

Marco.

[Ashley James]

My father reckons the war would have been over a damn site quicker if we'd had the German's music, he says ours would put anyone off fighting.

[Marco]

Yeah some Rammstein would have gone down well!

Marco.

[Chris Frost]

Anyhow the reason that I've started this thread is because this morning I needed the telephone number of one who hasn't paid his bill, he sells very little and is always late paying. I searched google and came up with a forum for shops in his area and where the service he and the other give is commented on.

Nice shop, interesting products. Knew their stuff.
Was this review useful? by Teaser, 03 Jan 2008
Staff here are rude and dismissive. Won't be using this place again.
Was this review useful? 1 by Andrea Shaw, 07 Feb 2007
Gave item for upgrade. Delayed. Numerous unreturned phone calls to find out what was happening. Did not even phone when item arrived back. Rubbish.
Was this review useful? 1 by Anonymous, 22 Jun 2006
Top of the range. You can't get much better than this.
Was this review useful? by Anonymous, 21 Jun 2006
Top of the range hardware and services. If you have £100,000+ to spend then these guys are for you.
Was this review useful? by Anonymous, 31 Jul 2005
I found the person there quite unhelpful. Normally when I go into a hi-fi shop the staff are inquisitive and friendly. Instead, I had to pry all the information I wanted. The staff just didn't seem to be interested.
Was this review useful? 1 by mystical, 28 Jun 2005
Expensive.
Was this review useful? 1 by Anonymous, 08 Jun 2005

In the old days if someone complained about a dealer, he was usually shit stirring because he hadn't got what he wanted, but now most of the complaints seem reasonable and there are far more. Some will happily pay us the full price rather go into one!

We've got a quite a few dealers and they are our friends, most do pretty well and if they don't or we get customers complaining, we sack them quickly, but it seems to me there is a problem and that it's worth inviting comments on AOS. Dealers are a significant chunk of these Forums so they can make observations provided they don't hide behind a psuedonym.

Ashley

I know this dealer through selling to the company when working for a distributor. I also know the type of client that they want to deal with, and also the type that they don't. The review site has no back story to each comment, so with respect I don't think you are being fair in using those "reviews" to support your argument.

You chose not to name the dealer so neither shall I, but it is important for other readers here to understand a little more about the dealer when judging the comments that prompted you to start this thread.

This company is at the top end of the market. Much of what they sell is integrated in to bespoke whole-house AV & control designs. Many of their customers "have people" to deal with specification and purchasing. So although the company has a retail frontage and it sells typical Hi-Fi and AV brands it is very far from a typical Hi-Fi dealer. However, this distinction isn't made clear from any manufacturer's Dealer List that I've seen.

The company is very focussed on what it does and the type of clients it works for. Just as you wouldn't expect to buy a £99 micro system from a proper Hi-Fi dealer then similarly this is not the right dealer if you want to shoot the breeze chatting about the latest interconnect.

Please understand, I have no need to defend this dealer and their actions; rude is rude. But there are times when a prospective customer is barking up the wrong tree and won't be happy to be told so no matter how gently one breaks the news.

Ashley, I'm all for 'outing' bad dealers, but both sides of a story need to be heard first. Equally I find that customers are more receptive if I've helped them to make their own discoveries rather than spoon-feeding them a solution.

Regards

Chris

[jcbrum]

One of the reviewers suggests spending £100,000 , fortunately we know better these days, although I have heard that a few dealers are still chasing the very small "footballer" market.

We are able to recognize the "charlatans" who claim to be "High-end" when reality shows their stuff to be largely expensive junk.

Good loudspeakers will never be cheap, but with digital sources and modern electronics available only in the last year or so, the very best system is unlikely to exceed £10k.

Leaving t/t's out of it for the moment, (but everyone with a record collection needs one) it's very difficult to justify spending more than £1000 on a source. It'll be a computer of course, because nothing else is required.

That leaves dac, amps, and spkrs. Well we know about those already, and we have upto £9k available. I use £1k for the lot.

"Hi-end" is dead, no wonder this dealer can't pay his bills, and if the other dealers don't wake up and realize what's happening they'll soon be out of business too.

I don't mean you Chris btw

[Marco]

Leaving t/t's out of it for the moment, (but everyone with a record collection needs one) it's very difficult to justify spending more than £1000 on a source. It'll be a computer of course, because nothing else is required.

Hahahaha... Dream on, sweetheart!

Marco.

[Ashley James]

JC if you have a look at Graham's or Access Control Systems Websites you'll see that hi fi is a small part of what's being installed, the rest is automatic curtains, garage doors, lighting, lavatory flushes and music coming out of every orifice. Hence the very high prices, however Access Control reckon they are doing it now for a third of what it cost a few years ago and this is what has made it difficult for the hi enders who got involved, they weren't able to keep pace with pace of change and the falling prices.