Post Mortem: Swee Lee Mid-Year sale

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Hi everyone.

yes, the Swee Lee sale isn't over yet but having been there, i'd say that it's one worthy grab-&-pay event to have taken place thusfar. thanks to the swee lee people who make the SALE really worth it.

however, i've noticed really irresponsible behaviour on the sale day itself. there's much anticipation going on, no doubt, but is that a justified cause to be self-centred?

*the hard cases were left unlatched/ opened & left for dead. it's a reflection of how much positive after-thoughts were employed by those who inspected these items.

*lots of instruments were also not returned to their rightful hangar/ stand after a physical inspection. it might not really matter to you but there is a reliance on location to vouch for availability. this isn't a critical oversight, unless you are the selling party. some really juvenile characters in the glass-walled enclosure even inverted certain price tags intentionally- cheap thrill & a sad reflection of the suppossedly educated minds of today's youth.

*there's also this individual who got worked up when the sale personnel went away & was occupied thereafter by some other enquieries- the chap made a fuss about it. please, it's a sale event, if you're expecting personal services, it's available on other days.

on Swee Lee's part, they could have set up a post-purchase item deposit corner, so that those of us who already bought an item & would wanna enter the store subsequently with friends who arrive later, can do so without lugging items in the crowded store. it would serve as a security measure also since these paid items do not get mixed with the unpaid wares in the store.

for those of us who were skeptical about the sale, especially when a 50% offer is in store, maybe this serves to be a time for reflection- do not be dismissive of an event before it commences. you also have to understand that the sale details were not even privy to the employees themselves, so no clear-cut details were released before the event took place.

my apologies to anyone who feel offended after reading this post. it wasn't started to be a hostility fodder, if you wish to reply, please be courteous & critically constructive.
 
was there pretty early so i guess i didnt see too much of any terrible behaviour.

It would be nice to go back to the previous posts on the sale thread to see who are the skeptical ones, and being skeptical for no reason at all.

Obviously it pays to go down before the actual sale started to have a look around and test out the guitars.

Its no fault of Swee Lee's but they didnt allow too much testing. As a result, MANY people just took the guitars off the rack and proceeded to pay for them, without inspecting it. I guess thats the mentality of most people, if there is a sale, grab first, problems later. Hope not too many people went home to find flaws on their guitar on closer inspection.

I also saw one guy grab like 6 packets of planet waves cables. Oh come on, even after the 15% , i repeat 15% discount, its like 0.75 cheaper that davis. Maybe he really needed that many cables , but my guess is that he didnt bother to check on the pricing. Again, the grab first, problems later mentality is shown.

Nothing against kids or anything but if you do notice, there are so many around, and this probably attributes to the little acts of mischief that you observed. Of course, you can tell the maurity level of a person by the way they behave in a sale. Even if an item is at a very good price, dignity should come first instead of rushing to the stands to get your favourite guitar. Sure, at the end of the day you get what you want, but i dont think it makes you a better person.

If swee lee takes the hint, they should organise these blowout sales more often. Im sure they made a decent profit and they have space to display the new arrivals which im sure will be eagerly anticipated
 
hmmz ,

kudos to those at swee lee for organising the sale and the massive discounts but i feel certain things could have been better managed.

(1) payment queues

perhaps a designated , $ / nets / Credit card (CC) counters to ease the payment processing and make the shopping experience more worthwhile

(2) try your own guitar stations

maybe swee lee could in future set up a few designated amps in certain corners , with labels stating that the amp is a self service station allowing customers to try out various guitars before they buy.

on the whole a generally nice sale except for a rather nasty personal experience with the staff i would rather not disclose here in public.
 
well i think the staff are pretty helpful! one guy helped me take the gig bag that comes with my strat! and the woman was there trying to help ppl fit their guitars into hardcases! quite helpful! i think more friendly than those in sims drive... :lol:
 
Yar...the staff were pretty good.....though they were pretty busy.....service wise's good looking at the number of customers around.... :eek:
 
Cynicism shouldn't be considered a bad word.
You set your expectations low, you won't be that disappointed if you don't get what you want. Conversely, if you do get it, you'll be brimming with joy.
Cynicism also lowers your chances of getting cheated.
If you believe everything people say, esp business people, you're setting yourself up for a big fall.

So IMO, it pays to be wary of any offer that sounds too good to be true. Of course, in this case, I was glad to be proven wrong.
 
Vaiyen said:
Cynicism shouldn't be considered a bad word.
You set your expectations low, you won't be that disappointed if you don't get what you want. Conversely, if you do get it, you'll be brimming with joy.
Cynicism also lowers your chances of getting cheated.

So IMO, it pays to be wary of any offer that sounds too good to be true. Although in this case, I was glad to be proven wrong.

ya and the stuff werent that bad aint it? didnt find any scratches on my fender :lol:
 
yep, i have to agree the service of the staffs were pretty good, although they could have increased their efficiency by having 2 seperate counters instead of having their staff asking people who were queueing to pay if they were paying by cash or credit one by one and then allowing those paying by cash to "cut queue" (in a sense). :lol:
 
i think..in my humble opinion..they handled the crowd very well and professionally . Thats the most impt aspect i realised cos i've been to Yamaha Music PLaza sales..once..i've seen salesman throw temper,crumpling reciepts written wrongly in front of the customers and stuff... :wink:
 
they did a great job handling the crowd...and provide real good help...eventhough there's hell lot ppl over there...the cashier also did a great job by handling the payment so quickly

10 stars for their performance...haha
 
yeap..the sales persons are friendly and helpful..and they manage the que well before letting ppl in. entering in groups really make things more organise and fair.

cheers for the swee lee people :D

they actually forget to give me my trem bar and theres a few scratches at the back of my rg + a screw for the pickguard is missing @.@ but thats oki :)
will get from them some other time

but overall this is a really nice sales..hope we will be getting that more often :twisted:
 
yeah..well i guess your RG was most prolly scratched by some pure fool who had no intention to buy at all.the guitars were really handled sorely that day..but if the price is right..i guess nobody's complaining...even the glass room models were subjected to the multitude of palms
 
i think those scratches were made before the sales..coz i should be the first person to laid hands on it yesterday..but it aint no serious matter :)

lol palms marking seems inevitable during such crazy sales..but hopes everyone get a good bargain from the sales and hope the swee lee management enjoy it too :)
 
stars said:
(2) try your own guitar stations

I have to disagree with this man.

If there's such station, I can imagine the queue outside will even be longer,
because the people will take more time inside to test this and that first. So you will see people queuing outside, people queuing to test and people queueing for paying.

In this case I agree with Sweelee's policy of no testing. We need to know what we want to buy. We could try it few days prior to the sale like I did :D So when the sale come, it's just like a collection day (if you can get the item, that is).
 
seems like a nice sale..
wasted i was occupied on that day..

anyone knows when gonna be the next sale?
so i can plan and do some saving...:)
 
subversion said:
for those of us who were skeptical about the sale,.

I think I can be classified as one who was skeptical (but not dismissive about the sale). I take no offence and am happy to be proven wrong and to see that Swee Lee can offer many good discounts. All credit to them, I think this goes a way to redressing their image somewhat; I think it does pay to be a little cynical (remember their Sims sale, where Squier Bullets were advertised as Squier Stratocasters for $99...) but it is always nice when you get there and are pleasantly surprised.

Didn't buy anything though - just went for a look-see. :)
Thought about buying the EC Strat for about 10 seconds - anyone know if that was on 50%? I think I would have regretted such an impulsive buy though (saving up for something really special this year.)
 
it's good to have a little pessimism with regards to anticipation, but the sentiments displayed here reeks of distrust. reminds me of the Fender Highway1 2-for-1 promo...

anyway, i'm glad that there are people in Swee Lee now who pay attention to the buyers' concern 8)
 
It was a pleasant surprise.
But the crowd was very irresponsible.
I saw someone leaving a highway 1 P-bass on the glass door area, yep, sad.
But I walked away from some cool straplocks anyway. :D
 
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