Sianz by Swee Lee's Sales Staff

[Prataz]

On monday, I brought my frd who's a violin instructor to try out a Fender Electric Violin at Swee Lee Warehouse.

After finding the Violin, we ask the sales staff (An Uncle) if we could try out the violin..... then he said NO and gave us lots of BS on why we can't try and that ppl donch try, they just buy and that if we try then the violin is not new condition anymore and they can't sell it.

Kaoz... that's really omg manz. My frd has gone to violin shops and tried violins ranging from 23K to 1k etc. and he gotten that kind of treatment for just wanting to try a S$700++ violin.... It's not as if we have no $$$ to buy the violin. He's own personal violin is above 5K

The basis of going to a showroom is to try the stuff before you buy it. If not, how do we know if it suits our needs?

Sometimes, Swee Lee staff are really "amazing"... Hope that their sales attitude can improve and not judge ppl by how they wear or by age.

Sometimes, ppl may surprise you, especially when we were choosing violins to be purchased in bulk.

 

[iansoh]

i think you could have run into one of the bosses. i doubt the person u ran into was a staff. there is no personal gain for the staff not to let you try the violin. even if he was a staff, he could have been acting under strict instructions from the boss for that particular violin. could be that they had brought in only one precious unit. so don't be so quick to heap the blame on the staff.

when we're talking about sweelee, such pathetic sales mentality stems mainly from the old bosses.

 

[tany]

i think the staff at bras basah are friendly...

 

[lepids]

that fender violin?! that time me and frens went there wanted to try the violin.. we waited for like 1hr before that guy could attend to us. it's a malay old man. at bras basah. me not a racist. just for identification purpose.

so anyway, waited for an hour.. then finally our turn. my fren wanted to hear how it sounds.. so plugged in.. no sound. then he told us violin isn't working.. we were so sian then!!!

 

[drownedout]

The staff at Aljunied have always been really good to me...but I was trying guitars and amps so maybe its different for violins.

 

[Prataz]

Sigh...maybe i'm just down on my luck haha

Should had dress up more instead of just wearing tees and cargo

But then, it kinda defeat the purpose of going to a shop when you can't try it.

Even when you are buying a car, you can test drive the vehicle till u happy then u buy correct?

And a car is like much more expensive then guitars

 

[Yuzy]

but - if i'm allowed to go slightly OOT here - haven't we encountered bad service often enough?

this episode probably just adds one to the list,

 

[purplehaze3691]

What to do , when the shop thinks customer can steal a guitar in their bags or haversack , when you bring a bag into the shop , maybe Felix the cat has stole a grand piano before with his magic bag

cheers
purplehaze3691

 

[edo83]

Have not been posting recently, anyway.....my take on this is if a customer's attire or "look" is their way of gauging whether a customer is worth the while, then it's a pretty shitty way of doing business. Sometimes good service can make someone become a potential customer and they will be back for more when they need stuffs. Look at ppl like keeley or fulltone....through word of mouth about their good service and products, they don't even need a storefront to make business or known worldwide.

Trying out of expensive stuffs in the store is the same too, both the staff and customer must also know what to do....customer to know that they shouldn't "abuse"(crank till vol 6 or 7 on a 50W combo) or "vandalise"(drop or scratched) the product, the salesperson to make sure the customer don't try anything funny. All in all, it should be a 2 way affair i feel......sad to say in reality it's far from that fact. Hope i make sense :?

 

[DrumDead]

If it's a genuine concern about their customer service, why dun u write a formal complaint (which includes ur personal details) and let them give u a reason for their unreasonable "tatics". Their reasoning is so rediculous, I am sure if we bring it up to "CASE" their sales tatics will sure be questioned.

But I suggest u write a formal e-mail first. If they heck-care ur e-mail, then we can e-mail Fender and they will might have a different opinion. The US companies value customer service very highly. Most of us in Sg are a long way from giving that!

SAD!

 

[popeye]

i always go to sweelee on t-shirt and jeans too. And I never have problem with service. Well, not first class service, but I can't say it's bad either. maybe for you guys that received bad attitude service must do self check, have you behaved considerately beforehand or not :lol:

No offense man, but some customer sometime do nasty thing to the displayed item. (e.g. stealing the knob cover)

 

[lowjk]

but - if i'm allowed to go slightly OOT here - haven't we encountered bad service often enough?

this episode probably just adds one to the list,

I agree. The state of service of some music stores are really bad.
I wonder how they stay in business.

1) Swee Lee - doesn't know their own products. Huh what's a Roland VariOS. (it's been out since 2003 for crying out loud).

2) Team 108, Trektech AV, Steinberg - overpriced items. Stony silence/argumentative when asked to match better prices from another country.

3) Daxco - gave a good price but cannot deliver on time.

 

[Dirt]

hey ho let`s go!!!!!!!

if u want sumthing good....of coz it`s expensive mah....
but if u say team 108 is overcharging....i think u`re full of it lah dude.....
i think u go n check the correct product listings n pricing....

 

[edo83]

popeye: it's true that they get shit from those troublemakers at times, but on the other hand i've personally been judged like some low life form even when i've just stepped into the shop. How did i knew it, just a simple enquiry about some amps and all i've got is some snobbish attitude with mockery to boot. Wouldn't mention store's name here, but i feel that the service of some shops would have to be reviewed themselves.

The problem of salesperson not knowing his technical info is quite sad too.....it's like buying chicken rice from a stall and asking for steamed chicken, but the guy just look at you and said "oh, ok steam chicken can!" while pointing at the brown fried chicken :roll: [/b]

 

[Dirt]

hey ho let`s go!!!!!!!

i`ve been to swee lee in shorts n slippers also..but i received a very good service every single time....
maybe it`s ur attitude...
coz if u come in a store n act like u know every sinlge thing in it....of coz if i`m the asst there...i`ll act as if i dunno anything.....i`ll b wasting my time if i entertain u....
i`d rather serve a kid who`s really into music,.....n really wanna learn...coz the people there r musicians too.....good musicians actually...dun b surprised!!

 

[gargamelesp]

2) Team 108, Trektech AV, Steinberg - overpriced items. Stony silence/argumentative when asked to match better prices from another country.

I have done business with team108 before. They have good customer service and always reply to my mails. The stock even arrived 2 weeks earlier than expected. And as for overpricing, please dont expect the prices to be the same as those overseas. You have to pay a little more for them to bring it in, and if you think its too ex, why not import it in yourself?

 

[psionic]

No offense man, but some customer sometime do nasty thing to the displayed item. (e.g. stealing the knob cover)

that is no excuse to treat every customer as potential thieves.
while customer retention is the strategy in today's businesses, sweelee just dont seem to get it at all.

 

[edo83]

Dirt: I don't see how asking, "ermm..can i know how much is that *inserts any amp you like* over there cos i'm pretty interested in it", politely and got back mocking replies. By any measurement of standards, i was very polite as i am to anyone i'm conversing with for the first time or for help.

It's not always the case for me either, but still.......i'm not asking for first class service but acceptable ones will do. No offence to my reply dude :wink:

I'm sure the companies participating in this forum for their announcements, can also use some of such threads for their own evaluation no matter their shop name was being mentioned or not. That's how powerful a forum is.....easily start a flame war or even boycotting. But that boils down to ppl and another issue altogether already...... :roll:

 

[Lombardo]

Ive only been to the bras brasah branch..

I wun say that the staff is unfriendly..

Err more like they have a blank expression ? :roll:

As i work nearby there, i would go ther to take a look quite often, most of the time, the staff have a sorta blank expression...

I had no prob that time when i wanted to see the pearl eliminator, the guy actually open up the box which was sealed, took it out show it to me and even show me the casing.... and i was wearing berm,tee and slipper.

 

[mikemann]

Possible a classic case of customer profileing. Though sometime a really bad putdown, those who cannot accept this reality will never rise to the advantage.

Sallowing ones pride may let you attain your goal eventually.

On a retailler's stand, especially a seasoned one. He will profile every customer he deals with, which experience shows to be a wise move. If you entertain customers you will eventually get the knack on what to expect.

As long as no money is exchanged, the retailler is in no wrong in any third party's eyes. So the case about CASE is really laughable. I myself have experienced from unruly customer who acts like a deity, and tried to use the CASE ruse on me when I haven't even collected a single cent. This is a clear cut bully tactic on the end of the customer, which the only person to gain is me as being wiser, one more experience.

So being enlighthened is a good thing, a wise person learn from his shortfall, and will eventually reach his goal when he got the right stuff.

So the challange now for the customer is to return to the retailer and get the retailer to sell him what he needs. Senario here is similar to a scene seen too often in a kid's toy store.