Visited a Store and was shunned
I live in an area where brick & mortar stores are not easily assessable to demo equipment. While traveling for business, I decided to stop by an establishment on the U.S. West coast. My interest was in the Dynaudio Confidence 20 since I’m looking to upgrade from the Contour 20i. I’m not here to name names or throw anyone under the bus, just purely to voice my frustration and disbelief on how I was treated.
I was greeted with skepticism and a general lack of interest in discussing the product. There were two gentlemen working that day and neither had any interest in answering questions or providing a listening demo. As a matter of fact, when I asked to listen to the Confidence 20 speakers one of them immediately said “no way”. Both speakers were on stands sitting next to several amplifiers so it wouldn’t have taken much time to setup.
I was intent on making a purchase that day and having the speakers shipped to my residence, but decided to leave the store based on my experience.
It’s a shame that most of us have to relay on equipment reviews when establishments such as this lack interest in the customers that support the hobby.
If you ever get down to the Foothills from Asheville, there is a great store in Winston-Salem called Ember Audio. The owner, Chris, is a great guy and the employees are top notch.
Asheville may be a "new" audio gear wasteland, but with all the high income retirement towns in WNC (Cashiers, Highlands, Blowing Rock, Flat Rock) I’ve seen some great deals on used gear up there. Keep an eye out for some Heresy or Cornwalls for me! |
@pindac - Are you always so upbeat? Not that I disagree. B&M Audio is not for sissys. That business hit headwinds from the start of the Internet and IMO will never be what it was, like so many other things. Just like the retail folks need to find their own niche and secret sauce to have a chance at success, customers should find the buying niche that best suits their personality and pocketbook since there are many more options now.
@dayglow - Maybe so, but the best retail associates know how to figure that out and extract themselves from the tire-kickers with class and without demeaning potential future customers. The best shops should train their teams so that all customers have a similar positive experience. |
Former Dynaudio dealer here, and with the Confidence line the dealer is contractually required to install the speakers in the buyer's home, which they cannot do if you're not local. Same with a lot of high end speaker companies. Selling to you and shipping them would likely violate their dealership agreement. That they didn't tell you this is on them, but that would be a reason not to demo them for you. Not a good reason, but a reason. I would have set them up for a listen (if we'd had the 20's, which we did not) so you would at least know if you like 'em, but we're not a-holes lol. The best under $20k speaker Dynaudio has ever made was the Contour Legacy, but there's only 1k pair worldwide and they've all been sold. Disclaimer, I personally have Confidence 60's which are my daily drivers (pun intended), and Heritage Specials in my 2nd system. We recently dropped Dynaudio for strictly business reasons, the product itself is excellent. Our Confidence 30's will likely show up here if we can't find a local buyer. |
@ericrhodes1 - Indeed; The guys there are nice enough and you can usually get them to deliver and set up speakers and set up cartridges - they've been there forever and have a huge inventory of excellent gear, but they know me - I've been buying stuff there for decades - and it would be nice to be greeted with a smile and a 'Hey, how ya been doing?' or something, but that doesn't seem to happen and I'm usually left alone unless I start a conversation. I don't like to feel like I'm a bother. On the other hand, when I stop into Music Lovers, I am greeted warmly even though I've not bought anything from them; they just don't have nearly as much gear there and concentrate on just a few brands like Wilson and Sonus Faber; a much more welcoming atmosphere. |
Music Lovers in SF is always welcoming, but Music Lovers in Berkeley I had a bad experience with a hard sell salesman (see my earlier post) after which I stopped trusting any dealer for a long time. I sent them an email noting point by point my bad experience, to their management credit they acknowledged my griefs and offered to do better. |
