Hi Fi Retailers and the Future
Various remarks have been made to the effect that I'm bad news on Forums and that I've been spamming them to sell my Company. It's infuriated me because I don't believe that I have and I certainly didn't have that intention. All I wanted to do was defend ADM9s from a hatchet job by people who don't understand the implications of the technology. There only a tiny number of UK Forums where this has happened relative to the number Worldwide that are discussing us in a much more positive light.
I see myself as a victim rather than the aggressor and also that the instigators have been more dealers than enthusiasts. It's not surprising since ADM9s are replacing expensive and upgradeable systems, but I don't think that's all it is. In the days before the Internet, dealers were king, far fewer customers spoke to manufacturers and they controlled the customer and the deal. We were always suspicious of how good they were because so many leads were lost compared the number number of conversions we made here, but there was no way of knowing why.
The Internet changed everything (we've had a website for 9 years or so), there was a huge increase in correspondence from customers and many were very angry with the dealers and the advice they were giving.
I particularly remember one quite famous customer of ours saying: "Thank you for recommending dealer X, however I don't want Attitude because I get more than enough at home!" There's no need for me to elaborate and you might argue that since we disagree with much of the subjective stuff discussed on message boards, it's our fault for being different. Maybe, but I think if you look round a few, you'll see a lot of aggression from dealers and also arrogance. Exactly what I'm accused of! However I'm surrounded by highly qualified and trained engineers who try to keep me accurate, they are not.
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. Below is what I found:
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