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Annoying things from shop salespeoples

nlancaster

Senior Member
Messages
36
Locality
Melbourne, Australia
We as customers are always going to be annoying to salespeople, whether it to do with price, conditions of sales or just because we are in a bad mood.

HOWEVER, I would like to raise two different instances in shops that have really annoyed me.

1. I was in a big music retailer in Australia. I wanted a new mouthpiece to try for my alto sax. I walked over to the shop assistant and (shop assistant = a, me = b):
A: How can I help you
B: Hi I was just wondering if you have any mouthpieces with a tip opening of 8 or 9
A: I dont know what you're talking about
B: Oh, the tip opening, the gap between the reed and the tip of the mouthpiece
A: There's no such thing as a tip opening, it's called a lay. I'm a professional saxophone player and I have never heard of anyone call it a tip opening. I can't believe that you are even able to play saxophone with that type of knowledge. As for the numbers, no manufacturer has ever made anything bigger than a 7 lay.
B: Ok, ill go somewhere else then.

2. I was on a holiday in Korea and was trying to find a couple of unique Korean made copies of parts. I walk into a store with my freshly overhauled MKVI 1970 Silver alto to test some parts.

A: Hello (in Korean)
B: Hi, Can I try that brillhart triband ligature copy
A: Okay
(I pull out my saxophone)
A: Oh, that's a mark six
B: Yeh
A: Oh, it's a 1970's mk six.
B: Yep
A: We buy those for $800 each
B: Oh really, that's cheap
A: Not really, any Selmer made after 1958 was crap and will be out performed by a student model fontain saxophone. Any selmer pre 1958 including MKVI we sell for $1300
B: Oh, I just realised this ligature is not right for me.

Some shops really don't do the horn industry any favours
 
I have to say that any 'big music retailer' in Australia will consistently reward the woodwind customer with exactly the BS the OP outlined above. That's why I only ever frequent small independent woodwind specialist shops. Every capital city has at least one or two.

The customer service at your big music retailer is a total joke and to my experience their prices are much higher. They're a complete waste of time - end of story.

Korea sounds interesting! :)))
 
Yeh, Korea is... Be a great place to start a selmer export business. Especially if customers were willing to sell their MKVI to you for $800-$1300. Imagine how much mark up you could make on that if you export to japan or america
 
It's really worrying when this sort of thing happens. How much is sold to the unknowing, by the unknowing. Always a bad sign when a shop assistant has to prove their knowledge with spurious claims about their background. Pro musician? So why's he working in a shop? Pro - earned a couple of bucks at a family party once?

As for Korea, if they have such a diferent opinion to the rest of the world, definately time to relieve them of their excess stock.. Might be worth getting on a plane - you'd more than pay your air fare if you ever came to sell. I'd love one of those crap Mark VIs. Not sure I'd keep it, though - I don't want to be seen playing a pile of crap. I think I'd let someone else play the crap and I'd pocket the difference between that and a Keilwerth/Yani......
 
Blessings be upon the heads of the three Croydon music shops. Jon Myall's staff are mainly last year music under or graduates and the guitar luthier knows his business. Sadly the rock one was looted during the riots, just in the wrong place.

Believe the Korean right.>:)>:)>:)>:)>:)>:)
 
I have learnt, as I go through life and through the shops, to expect varied service. Sometimes, the shop assistant is very good, sometimes not so. The old saying comes to mind: she was a good cook as cooks go, and as good cooks go, she went.

Sometimes, when I go to a shop, I would like a little information. And sometimes my utterances elicit comment. A Yanagisawa dealer told me that Yanagisawas only make saxophones. They do not dabble in motor bikes, lawn mowers and what have you, as Yamaha does. I was quick enough to note that they weren't making these things in the same factory.

I always assume when I intend to buy something that if the shop has it in stock at a reasonable price, I have done quite well. The erudition of sales assistant is not of much interest to me in most cases. All the same, it can be quite surprising how good some can be when you treat them the way you expect to be treated.
 
I have to say that any 'big music retailer' in Australia will consistently reward the woodwind customer with exactly the BS the OP outlined above. That's why I only ever frequent small independent woodwind specialist shops. Every capital city has at least one or two.

The customer service at your big music retailer is a total joke and to my experience their prices are much higher. They're a complete waste of time - end of story.

Korea sounds interesting! :)))
"Big city music shop syndrome" isn't limited to Australia....
 
I have learnt, as I go through life and through the shops, to expect varied service. Sometimes, the shop assistant is very good, sometimes not so. The old saying comes to mind: she was a good cook as cooks go, and as good cooks go, she went.

Sometimes, when I go to a shop, I would like a little information. And sometimes my utterances elicit comment. A Yanagisawa dealer told me that Yanagisawas only make saxophones. They do not dabble in motor bikes, lawn mowers and what have you, as Yamaha does. I was quick enough to note that they weren't making these things in the same factory.

I always assume when I intend to buy something that if the shop has it in stock at a reasonable price, I have done quite well. The erudition of sales assistant is not of much interest to me in most cases. All the same, it can be quite surprising how good some can be when you treat them the way you expect to be treated.

And Yamaha have been making musical instrument since the latter part of the C19th....
 
A: Not really, any Selmer made after 1958 was crap and will be out performed by a student model fontain saxophone. Any selmer pre 1958 including MKVI we sell for $1300

I would have paid for one (or two) there and then.

Actually in Korea, Selmer vintage saxophones are extremely expensive.
 
"Big city music shop syndrome" isn't limited to Australia....

Maybe not, but my experience of music shops here has been very positive. As OG says, Myalls is a good place, sax.co.uk is amazing, Howarths a bit quirky but good, etc, etc. Even my local guitar type music shop was great when I went in for a guitar for my daughter. They could have easily sold me a £200 guitar, but insisted that one for a third of that would be more than good enough.
 
Well, not from the australian music shop, but from the korean guy, it got me thinking selmer may not be the best for me. I since played heaps of other brands, and have just bought a keilwerth sx90r vintage model. It's broader. Not better than the selmer, just different, and for me it suites me... I was having some issues with my MKVI that were through either wear and tear or repair work, not sure, but i swapped it, and am happy

I'm still a little lacking in confidence that someone would say any 1959 onward mkvi would be trumped by a student fontain sax

but at least im not a selmer snob anymore...i believe anyone brought up on selmer should try some of the new yanagisawa, keilwerth etc instruments... They are definately up there with the selmers, just different. Maybe depending what you're wanting at the time, may suite you better.
 
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Heh. Reminds me of what happened over the weekend.

I was looking for sheet music for my NA styled flute, and the good gents at SCUK guided me to a certain music shop that deals with more traditional/ethnic music.

Upon arriving there, I asked if there was such sheet music and was given a lecture about how sheet music is not applicable to such an instrument, flutes of different periods, blah de-blah.

Little does that shop clerk know that I do own books of sheet music for the naf, and I'm not exactly new to the na styled flute. I smiled and left as soon I could.... *sigh*.
 
NA? Native American?

Pity about the shop. Just saying they hadn't got any but would order would go some way to meeting you. Better would be to find their suppliers catalogues.... But I guess they don't wnat to be stocking thigns that only get called for once in a blue moon.
 
A: Hello (in Korean)
B: Hi, Can I try that brillhart triband ligature copy
A: Okay
(I pull out my saxophone)
A: Oh, that's a mark six
B: Yeh
A: Oh, it's a 1970's mk six.
B: Yep
A: We buy those for $800 each
B: Oh really, that's cheap
A: Not really, any Selmer made after 1958 was crap and will be out performed by a student model fontain saxophone. Any selmer pre 1958 including MKVI we sell for $1300
B: Oh, I just realised this ligature is not right for me.

Some shops really don't do the horn industry any favours

Cut to scene of customer (B) going to music shop next door and talking to assitant (C).

B. How much for that 1973 MkVI?
C. $4000
B. But next door they sell them for $800.
C. Go and buy one there, then.
B. They haven't got any.
C. Well, when we haven't got any, they're $750
 
That must be based on the ancient joke about car doors and scrap metal dealers that my father used to say repeatedly..........

I have to admit I have never bought any saxophone equipment (not even a reed) actually in a shop, but have spoken to several folks on
the phone or via email. Service etc. has generally been spot on, so will continue in that way........
 
That must be based on the ancient joke about car doors and scrap metal dealers that my father used to say repeatedly..........

Sorry for the lack of originality ;}. But I don't believe I ever met your father.
 
I have to repeat this one(again), for the newbies, as it is SO relevant(sorry!) :
Specialist Music Shop Owner(who happens to be another RogerB):What sax do you have?
RogerB(me): A Hanson
SO:Oh My God!
Me:Have you ever played one?
SO: I don't NEED to!
(A little later...)
SO What mouthpiece do you have?
Me: A Lamberson
SO: Never heard of it!
Me: (speechless)

I bought a couple of alto reeds and left, slightly gobsmacked!

(To his credit he did let a rank beginner try a couple of BorJarnis...as he pronounced it...which I couldn't get a sound from, a Yani A901..very nice..and a Selmer Ref 54 ...luvverly! All brand-new)

Shop folk can be very odd!
 
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I have to repeat this one(again), for the newbies, as it is SO relevant(sorry!) :
Specialist Music Shop Owner(who happens to be another RogerB):What sax do you have?
RogerB(me): A Hanson
SO:Oh My God!
Me:Have you ever played one?
SO: I don't NEED to!
(A little later...)
SO What mouthpiece do you have?
Me: A Lamberson
SO: Never heard of it!
Me: (speechless)

I bought a couple of alto reeds and left, slightly gobsmacked!

(To his credit he did let a rank beginner try a couple of BorJarnis...as he pronounced it...which I couldn't get a sound from, a Yani A901..very nice..and a Selmer Ref 54 ...luvverly! All brand-new)

Shop folk can be very odd!

I know the Roger you mean,he is a one off,customer service is not one of his strong points but he is a good guy,have bought a couple of horns from him in the past.

Brian
 

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