Fee for home audition

I once read a church reader board that stated: "A Good Friend Stabs You in the Front"

At least the dealer was forthcoming about the rules of engagement and gave you the opportunity play, or not play -- upfront.  Your call.

@ghasley

It was good to see someone with actual dealer/customer experience share their observations related to the dealer in question. The more important comments for the OP would have been not such much an invitation to "pile on this dealer", but rather, ask the question: "Does his policies work for you?" If not, choose another dealer. Or: "Why didn’t we connect?"

As I read thru the early posts, and being an retired dealer, I came up with several scenarios/explainations of my own.

1) the guy IS a jerk. A later post by gasley easily disqualified this option.

2) he’s a hardened and caloused audio dealer, who’s had his fill of being jerked around, and simply taking the position that "enough is enough!" Maybe?

3) he’s reached a "good place" in his audio career and spends the bulk of his time supporting the customers who kept the letters in his sign burning out front for decades. He has already arrived at a point where closing a sale RIGHT NOW is no longer a strong motivator. Instead of a whack-a-mole business philosophy he has learned where to best position valuable resources, including himself, and acts accordingly. Being a "good steward of his customer’s money" is high on his list of priorities. His customers are perfectly okay with him making money -- they want him to stick around for a while. Some may actually understand the element of "fair exchange" and maybe even send him an annual "Thank You" card.

Tales from the Dungeon of Customer/Dealer Exchanges

Customer 1:

A customer visits the store and shows an interest in upgrading a current component. After a nice demo and quality time spent, the customer expresses an interest in the item. The dealer offers to allow him to take it for a home demo. After the home demo, customer reports back later with unit in hand and says he wants to purchase it. One problem, though; he has to get rid of his curernt piece first. The dealer does not do trade-ins (at the time), but later checks a card file and finds someone who might be interested. He makes a call to the prospect, puts the deal together and accepts the cash on behalf of the other customer. The new customer is notified of the good news, drops in to pick up the cash, and tells the dealer "he will be in Friday after he gets paid to pick it up." Friday passes. No customer. Then, the next Friday, and the next. A few weeks later a familiar customer drops in who happens to be acquainted with the other customer. When asked what was going on, he replied: "Oh, he got a better deal online and didn’t have to pay sales tax."

Customer 2:

Customer calls all frantic. It’s the week of Christmas, they just bought something at a Big Box store and want us to install it for them BEFORE Christmas. We explain that we’re booked solid and can’t accomodate. They scream at us and say they’ll never do business with us again!!

Customer 3:

Custom enters the store and asks if we can dispose of an item for them. They knew we had a means to handle this. They explain that they just bought a new one at a competitor and didn’t have a way to dispose of the old one. Since they have done some business with us before, we didn’t want to piss them off, so we agreed to accommodate. A few minutes later, they walk back inside and explain that the item was too big and bulky to handle themselves and asked if we could give them a hand. We did. Haven’t seen them since.

It’s been said that the magnitude of what happened during the first second after the Big Bang is greater than what happened in the billions of years afterwards. I wasn’t there, so I have to take someone else’s word for it.

I’ll like to suggest that the first mintute of your encounter with a someone representing the dealer is the most important. Were they "nice" to you? And, oh yeah, were you "nice" to them? It’s an "interview" by both parties. Sizing each other up, based on some initial reactions to make a (sometimes rapid) determination of whether to more forward, or hit the "exit" button. Next dealer!! Or, next customer!! And, what’s the next step in this "courtship" to reach a mutual objective?

The dealer is IN the business. They should know what to ask, and when to ask it. So, all things being equal, it’s the dealer’s responsibility to make it go right. But, this isn’t always the case. Afterall, these probably weren’t naturally born "audio guys". They were astronauts-in-training as a child, who preferred English Lit in college, only to discover the lucrecisity (is that a real word?) of stated profession caused an unplanned detour into "something else". They loved music and technology, adopted an audio vocabulary, and showed up to work at the Hifi shop on Day One with a pretty good collection of their own demo materials. So, here they are, standing in front of a potential customer trying to salvage some degree of respect and dignity. And, yes, that first minute matters to them, too.

Being degraded to the status of "broker" is frustrating and, frankly, humiliating to the salesperson. Bickering over model #s and price is far less appealing than an accessment based on needs and wants. But, the dealer also has the opportunity to "humanize" the relationship -- if the potential customer will give them permission to do so. If they miss this opportunity, then shame on them. But, the potential customer can fill in the blanks as well. "Why did you get into the audio business?" Or, "What was the most memorable concert you ever attended?" will get you on the right path of a relationship built on respect and trust. On the other hand, you are a guest in their "home" and should be treated as such. How you handle the first minute will make the difference between a being treated as an invited guest, or a time vampire.

As a consumer, I often find myself having to "train" others on how to sell to "me". If we can leave our egos and the front door and focus on OUR objectives, salesmen who are rough around the edges or full of themselves can be "fluffed out" a bit and converted to an asset if you're willing to try. You might just help push their careers in a positive direction while getting what YOU want in the process. A win, win.

So, OP.  How about that first minute?

It seems the consensus my some here that the dealer is the bad guy, and the customer is the good guy.

I’d just like to interject a question: Did the dealer let the customer down? Or, did the customer let the dealer down?

I wasn’t there.

When the customer crossed the threshold of the business, there was some value added for the customer. He is free to wander, observe, touch, and listen. He also may get the added benefit of an intellectual exchange with someone familiar with the products on display. IF the customer was introduced to the brand, presented with all the good reasons to consider it, there is true VALUE for the customer.

So, NOW we get to (in this case) the hard part. How do we put this deal together? There is a rational, and reasonable agrument that the dealer didn’t see the "right" buying signs, and felt the risk (of damaged equipment) was not worth the potential benefit. It was his call. We should respect that.

I can also make the argument that his "fee" was reasonable, based on a number of factors. (Details provided upon request)

I’m not a prophet, but I’m going to predict that the OP is going to get the unit from another dealer, love it, and make the purchase. Which would have happened IF he had just agreed to purchase it and take it home in the first place. So, the dealer who introduced him to the brand, let him see it, touch it, and listen to it gets nothing.

Like I said; I wasn’t there. But, as a consumer, I would have worked pretty hard on behalf of the dealer who introduced me to the product and took the time to fill in the details. As one poster stated: "Why not take YOUR current streamer to shop, and do a shootout with the prospective product?" This would have provided a workable solution for all those financially vested in the outcome.

Gents, I’ll comment once again that the dealer, being in the business, should possess the knowledge (including people skills) to make it go right in MOST situations. I’ll also state once again that I wasn’t there. Therefore, I don’t know the dialog, body language, etc. to accurately judge one way, or the other. We’re trying to assess whether a charge for home demos is "standard", and think there may be circumstances where this could be warrantied. The following comments are going to contain a lot of "IFs". That is intentional because those factors would have to be present (in my view) to justify a charge for a home demo. Again, I am looking from the perspective of the proprietor with an investment in storefront, demo rooms, inventory, rent, etc. -- plus my (or other staffer’s) time investment.

IF the customer begins asking about "deals", it could be a red flag. There is a tactful way to begin a conversation about this topic. And, the wrong way. It very possible for the dealer to get the impression that, yes, they ARE going to buy the piece. They are just not going to but it from them. This is purely subjective by the dealer and could be based on past experience of bad outcomes. This being the case, why would the dealer hand over a piece of delicate gear to aid a customer in making a buying decision who has a low prospect of buying from them? In this case, the dealer WAS willing to provide a service for the customer. He just wanted to get a fair price (and, I think it WAS fair) for providing the service. Quick math: A "typical" business of this type needs to produce around $250 per hour of gross profit to pay the bills. This is varies by dealer, but provides a number to work with. The process of tearing down a piece of equipment from display, boxing it, transporting it, unboxing it, setting it up, etc. will consume at least an hour and a half of the dealer’s time. So, BEST CASE is the dealer will lose 2 1/2 hours of time x $250 = $750. At best, this would be a break even for the dealer given his departure from other business activities for that time period.

Asking for a refund if you don’t like it can also make a dealer very nervous. "Open box",and "B-stock" items have a tangible cost to the dealer. They can not be LEGALLY sold as "new in carton" and therefore must be discounted. Some manufactures provide "inventory balances" or "stock adjustment" benefits. Open goods will cost the dealer around 15%. In the case of the Grimm, this would be a pretty large number. Also, inventory can be "moved sideways" to other dealers who need inventory at times. The dealer would also take a hit in this situation. ALL of the risk falls on the dealer in this case. None on the consumer. Unless the dealer misrepresented some aspect of the product, it would be reasonable for the consumer to take some responsibly or risk in THEIR decisionmaking.

Body language. IF the customer is cold, disconnected, won’t make eye contact, or hesitant to share personal information, they COULD be signs of "something just isn’t right here." The dealer would act accordingly, and hold things close to the vest.

I am not suggeting that ANY of these situtations were present in the OPs interaction with the dealer. I am just providing some sets of circumstances where a charge for a home demo would be a reasonable computation.

@svenjosh

"He wants to charge 5% for home demo. Is this the industry standard? I am not meaning to disparage anyone so not going to name the dealer. I am just trying to see what the standard practice is."

Tossing a question out there in an open forum will yield many responses. That’s what forums are for. And, you received opinions from both consumer’s and dealer’s perspective. Some responded with one-sentence comments. Others drilled down a little deeper. 43 years of experience working as, or for, a Hifi dealer in my case.

I may have missed your system profile, but someone who has the wherewithal to purchase a $12k streamer is probably not connecting it to a Bose Wave Radio. You’ve certainly achieved a level of success that allows you to build a stellar music system and made very good decisions along the way. Congradulations!

I just regret that the guy who took you from 0-60 was not there at the finish line.

@gents 

“you might not be anything more than a wishful tire kicking twit.“

it may have been an oversight, but it looks like you may have missed “doddering dunderhead?”