ShreddySmurf wrote
Geez, must be honest, Marshall Woodmead is one of my favourite stores. Brent, Stuart and Gordy are always eager to let me try out anything I like into any amp I like. When I was looking at buying an H&K amp last year they offered the best price by far. I'd be very interested to hear about specific issues with service in that store.
This was my specific complaint:
I was looking for a 15w valve amp, single channel. Now if i say that most people's first amp that comes to mind would be a Vox AC15, and so was mine. My local music shop in Nelspruit doesn't have a huge variety but i was lucky and they had a ac15 in stock. I tried it but it wasn't my cup of tea. The local sales man suggested i look at a Blues Jnr. Unfortunately they didn't have stock. With my next visit to Gauteng i popped in at Marshall Woodmead in the hope of seeing/hearing a Blues Jnr. I was helped by the salesman(unfortunately i don't know the names) after enquiring about the Blues Jnr, he was helpful and friendly and everything you would expect from a salesman, he informed me that he doesn't think that they have one in stock but he'll just double check. Before he even double checked he saw the other salesman and asked him if they have a Blues Jnr. In stock....... And this is where the problem came........ This guy was standing just outside the door chatting to somebody, he didn't even turn around and had a look, he only shouted an answer back ........ "no we don't have in stock. Tell him(me) to buy a Vox AC15, the Blues Jnr is in any case $£!t".
He didn't ask me what i like/prefer/etc. He didn't even speak to me and had no idea what my needs/taste/etc are. Just k@k attitude, with a k@k comment about his own opinion.
The salesman that was actually helping asked if i'm not interested in a AC15 and i explained that i have tried one and isn't interested. He still wanted to phone to see if they couldn't get one for me but i made a silly excuse and left.
I had the cash, i could have bought the amp or another amp right there and then if they could have given me alternatives and not attitude.
Eventually i did buy a Blues Jnr but not from Marshall.
Recently i bought a Epiphone Sheraton 2nd hand, the guitar didn't come with a case. I vowed never to support MM again i started phoning around to get prices for hard cases. After phoning most of the guys and no one had stock, i decided to phone MM. The answer i got after having asked is...... " no we don't have in stock and we're not sure when we will be getting in again, maybe in 3 or 4 months.", the answer it self isn't to bad, but it is the attitude that it was said with. It seems like these guys recon we do them a favour to buy from them!
I don't know if the Gibson agency has gone to their heads or what is going on because i use to go there and it use to be my favourite shop! It is sad for me that things have happened like they did, as i am a big Gibson/Epiphone supporter/fan, i own 2 Gibsons and 3Epi's.
And i don't think any1 wants to be treated like a rockstar when they go there just with some respect. I have been in sales my whole career and if i treated one of my clients the way they treated me, that client would be an ex-client in the blink of an eye.
Maybe I'll try Marshall Pretoria or South next time and have a better experience but Woodmead will never see the colour of my cash again!
