Hi all,
I've been a lurker and browsing the buy/sell forum till now. An incident happened to me that I feel others should be warned about.
I've 'met' a couple of nice people on this forum so far.
Last Saturday, my family and I went to Bras Basah branch to narrow down on a nylon string guitar. When we decided on a purchase, we we told that there was no new piece and the only other piece was also a display piece at Star Vista. No problem.
We went to Star Vista at 8pm and the 2 staff - a Malay girl and boy did not bother with us. No problem.
We found the guitar we wanted - a 'low cost' $500 introduction Ibanez GM600 nylon guitar and asked if there was any new piece, just in case. We were greeted with an unfriendly one word answer - 'No'.
We looked the guitar over and even though it had scratches, we decided it was acceptable. After we paid for the guitar, the staff simply handled the guitar over to us. When I asked about the box, the lady staff curtly replied that there is no box. I then asked how were we to carry it home without a box - how do they sell a guitar without a box and the girl staff curtly replied they do not have boxes and most people buy a guitar case. The male staff stared at me and said that it was perfectly normal to sell the guitar without the box - that most people would buy a case. I then asked what cases do they have for a classical guitar and they did not reply. There were none on display. The way they replied was nothing short of rude. I asked if they were implying that I was being a difficult customer by requesting for the box - any box to carry the guitar home. They rolled their eyes and curtly replied 'I never said that'. I then asked if they could at least wrap the guitar for protection.
They wrapped the guitar in cling wrap - I expected bubble wrap for protection as cling wrap would not offer any protection. They handed the guitar over in the cling wrap. I had to ask for a plastic bag.
I thought I was done with it and just focus on the guitar and forget about their attitude and lack of service.
When I unwrapped the guitar at home, I found 2 thumb impressions on the soundboard. The guitar's sound board did not have any blemish when we decided to purchase the guitar. These 2 thumb impressions were deliberately left by the staff while they were wrapping it in cling wrap. I only vaguely remember the male staff's name as 'Tariq' or something like that.
Not providing service is one thing, giving customer attitude is another issue, but to deliberately damage a customer's purchase is not something unacceptable.
Ps: they also refused to offer new strings to replace the display set. Another store I frequent will even change the strings if I wanted to properly 'audition' a guitar.
Buyers beware.
I've been a lurker and browsing the buy/sell forum till now. An incident happened to me that I feel others should be warned about.
I've 'met' a couple of nice people on this forum so far.
Last Saturday, my family and I went to Bras Basah branch to narrow down on a nylon string guitar. When we decided on a purchase, we we told that there was no new piece and the only other piece was also a display piece at Star Vista. No problem.
We went to Star Vista at 8pm and the 2 staff - a Malay girl and boy did not bother with us. No problem.
We found the guitar we wanted - a 'low cost' $500 introduction Ibanez GM600 nylon guitar and asked if there was any new piece, just in case. We were greeted with an unfriendly one word answer - 'No'.
We looked the guitar over and even though it had scratches, we decided it was acceptable. After we paid for the guitar, the staff simply handled the guitar over to us. When I asked about the box, the lady staff curtly replied that there is no box. I then asked how were we to carry it home without a box - how do they sell a guitar without a box and the girl staff curtly replied they do not have boxes and most people buy a guitar case. The male staff stared at me and said that it was perfectly normal to sell the guitar without the box - that most people would buy a case. I then asked what cases do they have for a classical guitar and they did not reply. There were none on display. The way they replied was nothing short of rude. I asked if they were implying that I was being a difficult customer by requesting for the box - any box to carry the guitar home. They rolled their eyes and curtly replied 'I never said that'. I then asked if they could at least wrap the guitar for protection.
They wrapped the guitar in cling wrap - I expected bubble wrap for protection as cling wrap would not offer any protection. They handed the guitar over in the cling wrap. I had to ask for a plastic bag.
I thought I was done with it and just focus on the guitar and forget about their attitude and lack of service.
When I unwrapped the guitar at home, I found 2 thumb impressions on the soundboard. The guitar's sound board did not have any blemish when we decided to purchase the guitar. These 2 thumb impressions were deliberately left by the staff while they were wrapping it in cling wrap. I only vaguely remember the male staff's name as 'Tariq' or something like that.
Not providing service is one thing, giving customer attitude is another issue, but to deliberately damage a customer's purchase is not something unacceptable.
Ps: they also refused to offer new strings to replace the display set. Another store I frequent will even change the strings if I wanted to properly 'audition' a guitar.
Buyers beware.