[Marbles]

The Sound by Singerbull thread got me to thinking that we should have a positive expereince post.

I live in Indiana, but have occaision to visit my Inlaws in New Jersey every year.

Many years ago I went through the yellow pages for audio stores that sold high end brands.   I saw one that sold Krell gear among others.  Since I would have to travel the 2 hours in Indiana to listen, or just 45 minutes in NJ...and knowing it would get me out of my inlaws house for an afternoon, I went for it.

I ended up at Freehold Audio (and Visual I think) on Route 9.  The night before they had had a tornado go through right by their store and had unhooked everything VERY quickly.  Anyway I went in and told them that I was from Indiana and was visiting the inlaws and basically just wanted to get away from them for a few hours and that the likely hood of me buying something was extremely remote. That if they got real customers to go ahead and take care of them and not to worry about me.

Anyway, they couldn't have been any nicer.  They set me up in the three rooms they had, let me listen to their nicest gear etc...

The impression I got was such that years later I still promote their store with posts like this.

What positive stories do you guys have?

[eichlerera1]

If you are ever in Silicon Valley, stop at Bay Area Audio. Good people, good prices and they stand behind their products. If any salesman treated a potential customer like Singer's people did, they probably would be fired on the spot. At Bay Area Audio, every customer is valued.
                                                                          Paul G

[Bwanagreg]

I am very fortunate to live a few miles away from Holm Audio, in Woodridge , IL. They are by far the best B&M retailer I have ever done business with.

For one thing, they always manage to carry brands I am interested in (see www.holmaudio.com). Secondly, they have a home trial period for everything. No downpayment or strings of any kind (other than you have to bring it back or buy it   ). They also have a great trade-in program: 100% of the price paid can be applied to a higher price item within a year of purchase. I just bought an NAD surround receiver, and this policy let me buy a lower-end floor model, save some $$$, and not be worried that I'll be unhappy (or obsolete) in a year. By then I can check out a newer model or a standalone processor.

Lastly, they are really good guys. I bought a Jolida tuner from them several years ago. This thing was a total lemon, and they worked with me, including out or the warranty period, to keep fixing it for no charge. They are also very accomodating to tire kickers. They get it -- today's tire kicker is tomorow's customer.

[JoshK]

I have had really great experiences with Innovative Audio in Brooklyn.  I was pretty new to the audio scene and wanted to audition some of the speakers I have heard a lot about.  It was clear to the salesman that I was mostly in the researching phase of system buying and not yet quite ready to buy.  The salesman, a semi-retired english engineer, was very friendly and took quite a bit of time lugging 4 pairs of speakers into a room and set them up one by one so I could compare.  He sat and auditioned with me, we spoke of great music and all in all he gave me a 4 hour audition.   That is what it is suppose to be like.

In the end I did not buy any of the speakers I have heard, but I never forgot the experience and have forwarded many friends to his place, who spent a great deal.  I have been in SBS three times in all.  All three times were miserable experiences with three different salepersons.  I have often told friends to skip over SBS.  In the end their bad attitude does hurt them even if they are only targeting the richest of audiophiles.

[jackman]

I have had several great buying experiences at Holm Audio near Chicago.  The guys there don't try to push you, they have excellent service, carry excellent brands and are very helpful.  I've demo'd tons of gear from their shop and have purchased several items through the years.

J

[zybar]

Had good experiences in the Tri-State (NY, NJ, CT) area at the following locations:

Audio Outlet (Mt Kisco, NY)
Accent on Music (Mt Kisco, NY)
Audio Odyssey (NJ)
Analog Shop (Victor, NY)

There were also a couple of nice places in Boulder, CO (I think one was called Listen Up and I can't remember what the other was...)

To be honest, the majority of my bad experiences have been down in NYC.  It seems dealers that expect you to listen very little, buy on the spot, and receive no discount!

GW

[gotmikey]

San Diego - Stereo Design.  Walk in, smile and say hello to store manager, look around.  He says in a genuine tone, "Make yourself at home."  Of course I didn't look completely clueless.  I had my CD's, but wasn't wearing a suit or anything.  Actually, I was wearing a pair of boardshorts and flip flops.  Got to listen to anything I wanted - Levinson, Krell, Aerial, Linn, Magnepan, and Quad to name a few.  He came and checked on me every so often to see if I was doing okay and then left.  No, "hurry up and buy" attitude - no attitude at all really.  Almost like he knew I wasn't gonna buy anything and he didn't care, but that's cool with me.  I got to hear stuff some people won't ever hear in a lifetime.  I think the guy's name was Dave.  I actually haven't bought anything from this place yet, but was SERIOUSLY close to buying a Krell Showcase for the HT.  When the time comes however, this is my choice in San Diego.  A true class act business.

Stereo Unlimited - Same thing here.  Shot the shit for about an hour with a sales guy about finding NOS tubes and such.  He was a bit older and told me some cool stories about when his pops was into tubes and how easy it was to get kick ass Amperexes and Siemens back in the day.  Also, my brother and his buddy went in there one day and a different sales guy was in working.  The brother is just getting into two channel systems (somewhat clueless) and the salesguy he was talking with sat and helped them for about 3 hours demoing $14,000 turntables, top-of-the line Vandersteens, CJ amps.  He said the guy was just opening records saying, "check this out".  Fucking awesome!    I think these guys have the idea down.  Speaking with my brother about it one night, he stated the guy kept mentioning, "You never know who's gonna buy what.  I've seen guys who I know can't afford 'em come in and buy a $10,000 turntable." (Audiophiles make things happen when they want gear!)  In my opinion, that's what customer service is all about.  It's about dealing with each and every customer regardless of what they look like, how busy you are, or whether they're in the "hi-end community" (whatever that means).  Guess I'm kinda lucky to have two great stereo stores in my area.

Note - I've never been to Sound by Singer nor do I ever plan to visit considering it's about 3000 miles away.  (I refuse to go to New York City and visit a stereo store of all things to do and see over there.)  Mr. Singer, I've never met you and cannot justify callling you any derogatory name but, based on the NON-ANONYMOUS negative posts dealing with your company's reputation, perhaps a revamping of your sales objectives and strategy is in order.  You're making a lot of money?  Great, but for how long, who knows???  I'm sure that all of these posts aren't a blatant attempt to put you out of business just because the people feel like it.  Someone has been wronged here...

By the way, your ads in Stereophile are kinda dorky.    

Michael Nepomuceno (Non-Anonymous)

[gary]

I've had great experiences at Son Ideal in Montreal, a little shop on Bishop just off St. Catherines. Last time I was there I traded in a used Audionics amp & preamp (they gave me 100% credit for what I paid) on a Clearaudio Emotion turntable. They had no problem with me hanging around the shop listening for a couple of hours, swapping out and letting me audiotion some numerous speakers that i never ended up buying. and then gave me a great price on the Clearaudio.

Closer to home, the Analog Shop in Victor, NY is a great place as well, but I've only been there once and never actually bought anything from them.

-Gary

[Ron D]

Gary - couldn't agree more about Son Ideal in Montreal. Claude is a permanent audio fixture in the Montreal scene and one of the last analogue places to visit. He has been in that location since I can remember (over 20 years) and I bought my first Bryston combo (.5b pre & 3B amp) from him in the late 80's. Never one to carry the "high end" gear he always found a niche for his stuff and has a loyal following.

[mgalusha]

There is an outfit in Denver called Cherry Creek Audio and my experieces there could not have been better. I've shopped there three times and every time they have been as accomodating as can be.

When shopping for my current speakers they had them set up in the back of the room. I asked if they were willing to move them around front and connect them to the main system. No problem. They completely rearranged the room and had it all set up within a couple of minutes. The sales person handed me the remotes, asked me to let him know if I had any questions or needed anything and left me alone. I probably spent an hour spinning CD's and tweaking the speaker positioning.  When I was finally done he offered me 10% off and a very generous trade in on my current speakers. When they arrived he delivered them personally and helped me unpack them. About as good of customer service as one could ask for.

There is another store close to my home called Denver Audio Designs. While they mostly sell high end home theater they do have one room of high end 2 channel. The first time I visited I was inquring about a new cartridge as I had balance problems with the current one. I wasn't certain if I had a problem with the cartridge or the phono stage. The gentlemen offered me a VAC phono stage to take home and try. I didn't ask for anything, this was just an out of the blue offer. Mighty nice of him to go the extra mile to assist me in finding the problem. I recently stopped in to see if they had any record cleaning brushes and while they didn't I ended up shooting the bull with the owner for about an hour and helping him audtion some new speaker cables that had arrived. Damn nice folks.

There is one other local audio salon that I have visited called Listen Up. Suffice to say I won't ever visit again.

mike g.

[TheChairGuy]

JS Audio in Bethesda, MD is recommended.

A lot of fine brands with totally low-key, no hassle salemanship.  They advertise regularly in Steroephile, so I was a little suspect of their customer service the first time I went in.

I went in for Grado headphones the first time - they didn't have them and they called over to another shop to see if they had them in stock!  I was so impressed I bought a few accessories (Nordost Anti-Static spray, I remember) on my way out.

Another time I wanted to try my first real pair of 'audiophile' speaker cables.  They asked about my system, my spending comfort zone and suggested a realistically priced pair of Cardas Quadlinks (I think that was them).

I had the upgrade bug the last time I went in.  I wanted to hear what all the fuss was in SACD and DVD-A (they had several players there).  They sat me down, went over my musical tastes, budget and current equipment and suggested I stay with my MSB Gold Link III DAC/Power Base for my tunes.  They even dissuaded me from new TT talk...they gave me a very educated lecture about frequency response, noise floor, channel separation and why digital was superior (despite it's quirks).  They suggested for the money I had to spend to upgrade my speakers...and they proceeded to let me listen to many in their shop and pointed me in the direction of a Revel F30.

I didn't buy that speaker, but I wouldn't hesistate to buy something from them.  Too bad I live 2800 miles away now.

[cjr888]

I'm in NJ.

The folks at Audio Connection in Verona, NJ, specifically the owner, John Rutan have always been pleasant and accomodating.  John, like anyone, does have his opinions and preferences in audio, but provides excellent customer service, and has that excitement about audio, where he wants to show you gear.  That attitude is a great one to have, and makes you feel that the dealer has the same interest as you do...in addition to 'making the sale'.  Because of this attitude towards equipment and music, I've been turned onto interesting products, and a lot of music I would have never been exposed to otherwise.

Audio Nexus in Summit NJ is alright as well.  I believe its two people primarily running the show.  The owner is extremely opinionated, and the second person is very friendly, but I've had good experiences here and excellent conversations.  These guys provided some of my first exposures to great sound with some BAT, CJ, and Vandersteen gear.  The fact that they were willing to take someone who at the time was about to spend too much money at 6th Ave Electronics, and show them something in my price range, as well as letting me hear how absolutely good things could sound well out of my price range was one of the factors that turned me to the darkside of high end audio, and the continual want to have things better...because I knew what they could sound like.  That exposure makes the customer happy, helps the sales person and the 'repeat customer' situation, and drains the customer's wallet for year's to come.  And strangely, everyone ends up happy.  

I have only been into CSA Audio in Montclair, NJ once while I was in town for another appointment.  I got the impression that they would definitely work with you if looking, but I have little experience here.

In NY, I actually found some of the friendliest people to be the people at Red Rose.  Was in the area, had a system I had settled on, but had to stop in, and mentioned that at the time, I wasn't buying.  They provided a demo, talked about their philosophy, we chatted about music, and I ended up walking out buying a number of CDs.

There are a handful of dealers in NJ that I will not walk into any longer that I will not mention names unless brought up -- horrible attitudes, horrible customer service, and surprised they are in business as I watched them treat other customers in the same manner.  I believe they are only surviving off of local custom installs for home theatre, and only because they are the only game in town, or the general area.

I have family in Evanston, IL, and am envious of people that live in this town, outside of having a University, it being a great town, and absolutely beautiful?  Why?  A random stroll down the street brought me to multiple music shops, and at least 2-3 audio stores in the same town.  I can't recall the names, so someone in the Chicago area could probably comment, but each were very friendly.  One I believe is closing up shop (or already has), had Avantgarde and either Art Audio or Audiopax gear, and I walked in mentioning that I was from NJ and not buying, and they were happy to give me a tour and talk audio.  One of the other shops was much smaller, carried less expensive gear, and had a decent amount of used gear.  I ended up bringing my father in, who ended up doing business with them when he saw what was possible on a smaller budget, and that he was receiving excellent customer service from a sales/questioning perspective, as well as assistance with servicing old gear.

Even from a browsing and conversational experience, both stores provided me with an experience where if I was buying a product not available locally, that I would make it a point to do business with them at a distance because of the service provided while I was just visiting.

[gotmikey]

It's most outstanding to see that out of something so negative, bloomed something so extremely positive.  Also, it's encouraging to see that there are companies out there that still cater to the CUSTOMER first.