I have spent a considerable amount of money on a couple of new guitars and amps this year and have been amazed at the difference in some shops and their attitude.
If you take a major chain of stores across the country like Sound Control it is interesting how each store varies in its service although they all stock pretty much the same range of products.
The staff make a huge difference in the sales process and their ability to make a customer want to buy. I have found Derby and Leicester stores in the Midlands particularly good yet some other stores have appallingly lazy and miserable staff that shouldn't be facing a customer under any circumstances!
Earlier in the year I called a local store prior to driving over as they had a particular Ibanez guitar I was after (value £650). When I arrived the guitar was unplayable! the trem was incorrectly set and the action was large enough to slide a brick under.The tem arm was also somewhere else in the building! I told the sales guy that I wanted this particul;ar guitar but as it wouldn't stay in tune and wasn't playable in its current state that if he had it set up I would call back a few hours later and most likely buy it.
When I returned he had made a half arsed effort to just lower the action (buzzing in abundance) and hadn't even bothered about the trem!
He shrugged his shoulders when I said it was still not saleable ..so I walked and bought one from a shop miles away that had a better attitude!
So last month I went in search of a new American Srat and a Laney amp trawling most shops in the midlands.
The very worst shop I have ever come across is in Loughboro! -it is piled high with junk, boxes and amps all on top of each other. There is only room for three people in single file with no space or any kind of area to sit down and try a guitar!
They stock some fairly expensive guitars that are all squashed together on stands covered in dust with corroded strings! When someone wants to look at a particular instrument they have to try and lean over and pull a guitar out over the top of all the other....no wonder the new stock is dinted and scratched!
The phone has a ring linked to some funny classical music tape so when left ringing you can't hear a damn thing!
I actually managed to get a guitar out and plug it into an amp which was tipped backwards on top of an other. I then sat on the side of another amp and tried to play! At this moment a mother and two daughters came in the shop and due to the lack of space the mother fell onto me and we both ended up on the floor!
What a joke of a shop!
The whole place is amazing and I can't believe anyone would buy an expensive guitar from them!
If you take a major chain of stores across the country like Sound Control it is interesting how each store varies in its service although they all stock pretty much the same range of products.
The staff make a huge difference in the sales process and their ability to make a customer want to buy. I have found Derby and Leicester stores in the Midlands particularly good yet some other stores have appallingly lazy and miserable staff that shouldn't be facing a customer under any circumstances!
Earlier in the year I called a local store prior to driving over as they had a particular Ibanez guitar I was after (value £650). When I arrived the guitar was unplayable! the trem was incorrectly set and the action was large enough to slide a brick under.The tem arm was also somewhere else in the building! I told the sales guy that I wanted this particul;ar guitar but as it wouldn't stay in tune and wasn't playable in its current state that if he had it set up I would call back a few hours later and most likely buy it.
When I returned he had made a half arsed effort to just lower the action (buzzing in abundance) and hadn't even bothered about the trem!
He shrugged his shoulders when I said it was still not saleable ..so I walked and bought one from a shop miles away that had a better attitude!
So last month I went in search of a new American Srat and a Laney amp trawling most shops in the midlands.
The very worst shop I have ever come across is in Loughboro! -it is piled high with junk, boxes and amps all on top of each other. There is only room for three people in single file with no space or any kind of area to sit down and try a guitar!
They stock some fairly expensive guitars that are all squashed together on stands covered in dust with corroded strings! When someone wants to look at a particular instrument they have to try and lean over and pull a guitar out over the top of all the other....no wonder the new stock is dinted and scratched!
The phone has a ring linked to some funny classical music tape so when left ringing you can't hear a damn thing!
I actually managed to get a guitar out and plug it into an amp which was tipped backwards on top of an other. I then sat on the side of another amp and tried to play! At this moment a mother and two daughters came in the shop and due to the lack of space the mother fell onto me and we both ended up on the floor!
What a joke of a shop!
The whole place is amazing and I can't believe anyone would buy an expensive guitar from them!
