disgrace of bass

It might sound cliche, but definitely Bob Dylan. Bass players - Ray Brown, Jaco Pastorius, Suzi Quatro, Chris Squire, John Entwhistle ( hence the avatar) and my first bass teacher, Sam Walker of JoanOvArc (www.joanovarc.co.uk), who like a modern day Quatro, is a damn fine bassist and lead singer! All of whom are inspirational, but none of whom I can ever hope to equal (or even get close).

I second the positive review of PMT! My local store (Romford) is equally full of great guys and girls who are enthusiastic and cant do enough for you.

To those who feel I should have contacted the store in question...please re-read my original post! It was the first thing I did. Before starting this thread. It was meant as a general sound-off, not to demonise what I otherwise regard as a reputable business, which is why I took pains to keep the identity of the offender's totally anonymous. It may not be the way you would have done it, but hey, it's a free country for us all. An update. I received this morning a very nice email from the store owner. Very professional, very apologetic, very positive. As in all these situations, there was more than met the eye. Suffice to say said employee feel below the standards expected of him by his employer, and it has been dealt with. I can't say fairer than that.

Well I tried to summarise the visit, so there is a lot more I could have said and haven't. Said organisation hasn't answered my email as yet but I'll give them a week. I'm actually quite an accomodating personality as those who know me well will attest. So it takes extremes to rock my boat. This was such a time. I don't think the lad was having a bad day, he seemed quite happy with life. He just didn't make any effort to sell! Problem is a sales professional myself (selling engineering equipment in seven figure sums) I do know a thing or two about good sales practice. If that makes me a pedant so be it!

This topic certainly touched nerves! And I meant it to be a cathartic exercise....😄😄😄😄

But I was so disenchanted I begrudged them my money...it wasn’t as if the price was better than elsewhere. I can think of other shops who I could give my custom to and feel good about giving them my cash.

I’d sort of agree, but in my experience, specialist shops worth their salt are staffed by passionate enthusiasts. I think I should clarify - the ‘young fella’ is not temporary staff, I’ve seen him there on previous occasions. He’s just a lot younger than me! He may well have had an off day, but the art of selling is to get past your personal woes and project a positive image to the customer and make them feel like you really want them to buy your product...probably one reason why I seldom shop for electronics in Curry’s/PC World!

I have no problem with a sales person saying 'can I help you?' (although almost invariably it invites 'no thank you'!). My usual response is then, I'll browse for a bit and shout if I have any questions. As a total contrast I offer the following tale: I took my youngest into London for a day, towards the afternoon we found ourselves in Denmark street, yes, in the cellar shop that is Wunjo Guitars Bass shop. On that occasion I was approached by a young sales assistant and I can't praise him and his manner, his interest and his helpfulness enough. He was polite, keen and above all a good salesman! (It's my profession, and you know when you are being sold to and there is a certain pleasure in seeing someone work your own craft on you and get a result!) Guess what? I bought something!!!! I went home with a nice minty pre-owned bass that I never intended to buy! Two year warranty, and he walked me down the road to their guitar tech workshop and got them to fine tune the setup for free. And before you ask the price was reasonable, and he accepted my negotiation! A certain professed specialist shop could learn lessons....

Anonymous for a reason! LOL. im one of those funny people who expect that all too rare phenomenon ‘customer service’

I’m not going to name and shame. I’ve sent my thoughts direct via email, but I had a perfectly awful experience at a specialist Bass dealer today. I don’t for one moment think this is necessarily representative, indeed I hope it isn’t! I was on business in the area, and as I am in the market for a new amp head, I thought ‘what better opportunity?’. I drove there, parked up and walked in. Ignored. For quite a period. When a young fella came into the sales area he was - how shall I put it? - apathetic. In fairness he was never unpleasant or rude, just disinterested. I told him my interest, but getting info out of him was like pulling teeth. I asked about the relative merits of different products, but got non- commital replies. Asked about used, told they had a head I was interested in, asked about its age and condition, just told ‘its in very good condition’. No effort made to bring it out or show it to me. At the price quoted if it really had been that good I’d have purchased then and there. No offer of demonstration. No feeling that my presence, let alone my business was valued. No incentive for me to buy. I left with a wallet full of cash that they could have taken off me. I have to say the whole experience was most disheartening. And someone else will get my business.