- May 30, 2015
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I was up in Edinburgh again today briefly and was near one of the city's long standing hifi shops which moved to new premises on the outskirts of the city a few years ago. Seeing as I'd been thinking about a new phono stage, I thought I'd pop in and see what was instore.
Parked up, walked in to an otherwise empty, but well stocked, shop and one of the team was at the front desk. I briefly explained that I was looking at a new phono stage, probably up to around £500 (which was around the price of the Project phono stage I thought I heard last weekend in the Dooleys HiFI room at Cranage).
Guy looks up, says "we haven't got much in here, there's more on the website, you're probably looking at the Musical Fidelity". I opt to extend the conversation a tad, explaining that I already have one of their phono stages in the shape of the X-LP in the tubular design they put out in the mid-90s and we had a brief chat before "yes, but it's all on the website". Thanks mate.
It turned out, as I found out a few minutes later, that he was busy with some gear that was due to go out (and probably worth a few more notes than I had in mind for a transaction), but it didn't half say a lot to me as a potential customer. There was another sales guy in the back office who had come out to front-of-house and was chatting to the first guy I saw (hence how I discovered he was busy).
But was it really beyond the wit of the guy, to get the other bloke out and just chat over the options, ask about my deck, current phono stage, what I'm looking for? Or even just say "look, we're a bit busy just now with an order going out and there's only two of us here, but have a look at the website, feel free to give us a call next week and we can go through your options". I don't expect the red carpet at all.
Instead? They lose a potential customer.
And yes, that's you Hi Fi Corner at Joppa with the fantastic showroom and absolutely nobody in it.
Parked up, walked in to an otherwise empty, but well stocked, shop and one of the team was at the front desk. I briefly explained that I was looking at a new phono stage, probably up to around £500 (which was around the price of the Project phono stage I thought I heard last weekend in the Dooleys HiFI room at Cranage).
Guy looks up, says "we haven't got much in here, there's more on the website, you're probably looking at the Musical Fidelity". I opt to extend the conversation a tad, explaining that I already have one of their phono stages in the shape of the X-LP in the tubular design they put out in the mid-90s and we had a brief chat before "yes, but it's all on the website". Thanks mate.
It turned out, as I found out a few minutes later, that he was busy with some gear that was due to go out (and probably worth a few more notes than I had in mind for a transaction), but it didn't half say a lot to me as a potential customer. There was another sales guy in the back office who had come out to front-of-house and was chatting to the first guy I saw (hence how I discovered he was busy).
But was it really beyond the wit of the guy, to get the other bloke out and just chat over the options, ask about my deck, current phono stage, what I'm looking for? Or even just say "look, we're a bit busy just now with an order going out and there's only two of us here, but have a look at the website, feel free to give us a call next week and we can go through your options". I don't expect the red carpet at all.
Instead? They lose a potential customer.
And yes, that's you Hi Fi Corner at Joppa with the fantastic showroom and absolutely nobody in it.
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