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Bizarre Bass Shopping Experience

#61
Gary G said:
Actually, I wasn't prepared to buy today. I very seldom make purchases that quickly. I usually have to think about things and try different things before I finally pull the trigger. I'm the type that drive car salesman crazy. But, I do eventually buy from someone I'm comfortable dealing with, not always for the cheapest price either.
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IMO, there's only one answer: "Sir, of course I am not sure if I want to buy it, but I'm 100% sure, I won't buy it, if you don't let me try it. You decide."
 
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#62
I visited Klangfarbe in Vienna and I was so thrilled to see all levels of instruments within reach, and playable by all, without restriction. Even the room where they had the *expensive* stuff was open and was where I played a high-end Bass that was causing GAS.

This experience lead to me ordering a bass from the manufacturer, which I never would have done without laying hands on it. Granted, I didn't buy THAT bass that I played in the shop, but I did spend several hundred on other stuff, as did my buddy who lives nearby. He's bought several guitars and a bass there.

It was just such a wonderful experience, and nice to see a place that was so open to letting patrons try out instruments of all levels without begging, positioning, or being made to feel like an idiot.
 
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#63
We have a store like that in my town. A big moat of Amps around all the good guitars that you can only look at from at least 6 feet away. Anyway a couple of other music stores came to town including GC and now this store only has the owner working there. He has no good guitars anymore but only low end stuff and a lot of used stuff. Barely anything worth buying. When some one does go to that store they mention how they feel like they had went to a funeral home. Never seen more than one other person in there at a time. However I have not went there for over a year.
And to change up the story a bit. Years ago I was at a bicycle shop and every time I started to sit on one, or look at it closely the owner would come over
and tell me not to sit on it and just watched me like a hawk. When I was leaving he asked me if I seen anything I liked. I told him "I didn't see anything expensive enough to buy".
 
#65
There are good reasons to be careful about expensive equipment prior to the sale. And it sounds like the store management has a plan, assuming what they said is true. The problem is, apparently they didn't stock enough Tributes compared to the USAs. I'd have asked when they would get more demos in, so I'd know when to come back.

As for how the OP looks, there are tons of people who look reasonable that are irresponsible jerks. It's possible, if most of their stock has been drums, THAT'S who has been "trying out" his basses. I'm not stereotyping, but a drummer, who isn't really interested in buying a bass, anyway, might not pay with as much finesse as a bassist.

If you've ever owned your own business, or had a retail job dealing with the public you might be more inclined to give them a second chance. I'm not saying their policy is the best, but they MIGHT just be over reacting to a bad experience that happened before you ever entered the store.
 
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#66
So out of curiosity, you said you had no intentions of buying a bass, much less the one "he wouldn't let you play" - what you do if he did let you take it down, and you accidently dropped it, and put a large gash in it?

Would you immediately pull out our CC or cash and pay him his price on a +$1000 instrument?

If I am just "window shopping" - then I do just that. If I am serious about a bass (or amp) - then, and only then do I ask to try it out. I let the salesperson know that I am looking to buy.

Now sometimes when I go into a shop I will pull down a cheaper bass that I might be interested in, knowing in my mind, if I damage it, I will be buying it.
 
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#67
dabbler said:
There are good reasons to be careful about expensive equipment prior to the sale. And it sounds like the store management has a plan, assuming what they said is true. The problem is, apparently they didn't stock enough Tributes compared to the USAs. I'd have asked when they would get more demos in, so I'd know when to come back.

As for how the OP looks, there are tons of people who look reasonable that are irresponsible jerks. It's possible, if most of their stock has been drums, THAT'S who has been "trying out" his basses. I'm not stereotyping, but a drummer, who isn't really interested in buying a bass, anyway, might not pay with as much finesse as a bassist.

If you've ever owned your own business, or had a retail job dealing with the public you might be more inclined to give them a second chance. I'm not saying their policy is the best, but they MIGHT just be over reacting to a bad experience that happened before you ever entered the store.
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If someone told me I had to demo a tribute in place of a US bass, I would literally laugh in their face, that is just as bad as not letting the actual bass be tried. Letting customers demo instruments is part of of doing business and to think anything less is beyond ridiculous...if you don't like it, get out of the business.
 
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#68
The salesperson, in a round about away and through conversation, could have easily asked some prequalifying questions to see if in fact you knew what you were looking for and were a potential buyer. That's part of good salesmanship. Sounds like a shop that sunk a bunch of money into the stock and doesn't want it ruined. A couple of things can easily be done. If you really want to try one of the basses out you have to win their confidence, I know sounds funny because your are he buyer, and you just aren't there to bang away on one and possibly dork it up. Or, you wait until their bass line goes on sale because they are not moving anything. They won't see the error in their selling technique/policy and will chock it up to just no market.
 
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#69
I have 2 smaller guitar shops within walking distance to my house. 2 totally different shops with 2 totally different attitudes.
Guitar shop A: This is my go to shop for any random stuff, strings, pots, screws, strap locks ect. I bought a bass from there and my friend I'm always with but 3 guitars from the shop. It's mainly just filled with acoustics, fender starts and like 3 basses. Not really too high quality stuff. Some days when I go in there and ask to play a bass they are fine with it but most of the time they always tell me they don't want to hear it today. Blaming recent gigs or no sleep or whatever. They really fluctuate with their attitude.

Now guitar shop B: So now we get to this shop. This is a boutique shop if I ever seen one. There is no guitar in that store that costs less than a grand. Super high quality custom guitars. Me and my friend stop in there when they are open just to try stuff out. We are metalheads so we always have our band shirts on and it's obvious we like that kind of music. Well when we walk into the shop the owner sees us as we walk in, hands us both 2 guitars and says "This has EMG's, play it!". Keep in mind I don't play guitar like at all and this man is handing me a 4,000 dollar, custom made guitar just because of the pickups it has. We never took anything but free picks from that store and they always remember who we are and let us try anything.
I guess it all depends on the store
 
#72
mdogs said:
If someone told me I had to demo a tribute in place of a US bass, I would literally laugh in their face, that is just as bad as not letting the actual bass be tried. Letting customers demo instruments is part of of doing business and to think anything less is beyond ridiculous...if you don't like it, get out of the business.
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I agree, if you want the US version, ultimately, that's what you need to try, but I would have no problem playing the Tribute first. Different strokes for different folks.
 
#75
Baird6869 said:
You do realize that every single bass on every single music store wall will be bought by someone that walks into the store, right? A large percentage of these purchases will be made by people that came in to buy strings, picks, a cable, etc.
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It's true, when I worked at GC we pushed these String Club cards that gave $5 off strings every month... can't tell you how many people would come in for their monthly pack of free strings and walk out with a new guitar/amp.
 
#80
Funny... the G&L dealer near me is the same way. I don't think the guy near me would outright refuse to let you play the guitar if he thought you might buy it, but he definitely is very hesitant to let people touch the guitars. It's interesting, because many people won't buy before playing, and there really are no other places to play G&Ls than small independent dealers like these.
 

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