Have your say & ask the experts

Stanton:

Al 7478

 

i agree everyone is allowed there comments regardless of positive or negative regarding a company what i dont like to see is 5 further posts straight after that have nothing to do with martins saying bad thing maybe you should reread throught the thread from the start. 

 

Well if you read those 5 comments as being critical of martins, you read diferently to me.

They may sound sympathetic to the OP, but they would, if that was the experience he had. but not one of the 5 following posts is directly critical of martins.

what followed was a bunch of posts by people who im perfectly willing to bet...er...have "connections" to the shop, and one or two posts, notably by Thaiman, which are generally sympathetic to the retailer/retailers in general. a nice balance, id say (up to a point).

Everyone is allowed to have their say either way? Why just jump in and call the OP an idiot, then?

Maybe you will reread and rethink before you get all pompous and insulting in future.

Fozzi:

We would like to thank the ‘gentleman’ for bringing the lack of coloured cables to our attention).

Fozzi:

We gave the ‘gentleman’ the benefit of our time and experience free of charge

That use of quote marks around 'gentleman' is shockingly rude coming from a retailer. Yes, I do realise it is a side swipe at the original post; nevertheless, in retail the customer is always right, even if they're not. Personally, regardless of whether the OP's gripe was valid, and regardless of how he expressed it, I find the retailer's attitude pretty offensive, and I don't think their attempts to justify themselves will have won them any fans on this forum.

Not trying to be rude, just speaking my mind.

New to this forum yes but an active member of cyrusunofficial. Thought I'd browse this revamped site (looks good) and saw this thread. Not sure why being new should be seen as 'funny' in some way - we were all new forum members once and you usually make your first post to enthuse about something or defend something - in this case for me it's a bit of both.

I've been a customer of Martins for more years than I care to remember from dealing with Mark at King's Lynn to now dealing with Marcus and Steve at Norwich. I'm sorry that this guy had a poor experience but I can only say that I never have. Loans of equipment, patience in demo rooms, changing speakers without making me feel uncomfortable after I'd had them over a week only to realise that I really did need the floorstanders after all and always recommending great kit. Yes Steve does recommend (not push) Epic cable. Not surprising when you realise that he uses it in his own system!  In this case it was hard not to mention Epic when it really is the only dark coloured cable they stock.

Please don't be put off by one experience - if you're in the area pop in have a look and decide for yourself. I hope like me you'll find what you're looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another first-time poster joins the fray...

tractorboy:

Fozzi:

We would like to thank the ‘gentleman’ for bringing the lack of coloured cables to our attention).

Fozzi:

We gave the ‘gentleman’ the benefit of our time and experience free of charge

That use of quote marks around 'gentleman' is shockingly rude coming from a retailer. Yes, I do realise it is a side swipe at the original post; nevertheless, in retail the customer is always right, even if they're not. Personally, regardless of whether the OP's gripe was valid, and regardless of how he expressed it, I find the retailer's attitude pretty offensive, and I don't think their attempts to justify themselves will have won them any fans on this forum.

Not trying to be rude, just speaking my mind.

I agree completely with the above. I really understand that maybe the customer who originally started this thread might have been a complete jackass. However, for all I know he may not have been and i am not casting judgement on him, but as a retailer you should be above this. I've seen many retailers come back from customer complaints on this forum and all of them have so far done it with good grace and dignity, above all, not insulting the customer. Using the quote marks I'm afraid put me off you. It strikes me of exclusiveism, i.e. the 'gentleman' who came into the shop shouldn't be listened to (nod, nod, wink, wink real hi-fi enthusiasts, let's laugh behind his back). Whether or not that was your intention, that's certainly two of us on the forums who have spoken who got this impression, and I suspect a lot more thought the same.

Fortunately for you I guess, I live nowhere near Norwich so it's unlikely to affect your sales as far as I'm concerned

Andrew Everard:

Another first-time poster joins the fray...

Sorry Andrew - I don't quite get your meaning by this comment. It's not really a fray is it - it's just a hi-fi forum! 

 

professorhat:

tractorboy:

Fozzi:

We would like to thank the ‘gentleman’ for bringing the lack of coloured cables to our attention).

Fozzi:

We gave the ‘gentleman’ the benefit of our time and experience free of charge

That use of quote marks around 'gentleman' is shockingly rude coming from a retailer. Yes, I do realise it is a side swipe at the original post; nevertheless, in retail the customer is always right, even if they're not. Personally, regardless of whether the OP's gripe was valid, and regardless of how he expressed it, I find the retailer's attitude pretty offensive, and I don't think their attempts to justify themselves will have won them any fans on this forum.

Not trying to be rude, just speaking my mind.

I agree completely with the above. I really understand that maybe the customer who originally started this thread might have been a complete jackass. However, for all I know he may not have been and i am not casting judgement on him, but as a retailer you should be above this. I've seen many retailers come back from customer complaints on this forum and all of them have so far done it with good grace and dignity, above all, not insulting the customer. Using the quote marks I'm afraid put me off you. It strikes me of exclusiveism, i.e. the 'gentleman' who came into the shop shouldn't be listened to (nod, nod, wink, wink real hi-fi enthusiasts, let's laugh behind his back). Whether or not that was your intention, that's certainly two of us on the forums who have spoken who got this impression, and I suspect a lot more thought the same.

Fortunately for you I guess, I live nowhere near Norwich so it's unlikely to affect your sales as far as I'm concerned

And another "bravo"! Good God, you're on fire Prof!

Manimal:

Sorry Andrew - I don't quite get your meaning by this comment. It's not really a fray is it - it's just a hi-fi forum!

Purely a figure of speech.

Diamond Joe:

That reminds me of the car salesman that spent almost a whole test drive criticising my current car, which I happen to like so much I've had it for years, needless to say I didn't buy his car and I won't be going back to his garage, back to dodgy car dealer school for him!!

Ouch! Rule no. 1 of car sales - never slag off the customer's part exchange. Quickest way of seeing most customer's walk. Anyone who has to slag the p/x off instead of focusing on promoting the qualities of the product he/she is selling clearly doesn't believe in their product. I never slag off p/x offerings or competitors products - it just makes you look stupid.

I remember buying my first more expensive system (Arcam CD73T, A65+ and Quad 11Ls) and being made to feel like I was 'only' buying a budget system. I won't reveal which retailer it was but it didn't make me feel like going back to them. The man that buys a budget amp today could be the purchaser of a Naim active system in the future. Look after the customer when they are counting the pennies, and they are more likely to look after you when they are feeling flush.

matthewpiano:

I remember buying my first more expensive system (Arcam CD73T, A65+ and Quad 11Ls) and being made to feel like I was 'only' buying a budget system. I won't reveal which retailer it was but it didn't make me feel like going back to them. The man that buys a budget amp today could be the purchaser of a Naim active system in the future. Look after the customer when they are counting the pennies, and they are more likely to look after you when they are feeling flush.

 I also had an experience like this when I was buying my first kit. I was made sure I was aware that what I was buying, was indeed budget. Very uncomfortable. I know use this dealer to demo kit before buying it cheaper elsewhere.

Fozzi:

Simon, ‘Debagio’ requested and I quote ‘a dark colour would be preferable’.

Although we have an extensive range of cable, due to our stock profile, all the cables we have between £3.00 and £20.00 per m are in white! The only cable we have in a dark colour is the excellent Chord Epic Twin @ £40.00 per m. (We would like to thank the ‘gentleman’ for bringing the lack of coloured cables to our attention).

This was explained to the customer straight away - in a friendly, polite way. It was not a recommendation –

We got chatting about Hifi (it’s what we do at Martins) asking the customer about his system – I genuinely believed (after a moment's careful thought) the customer had chosen his system well (not purchased from ourselves). What is wrong with that!

The customer came in for advice – We gave the ‘gentleman’ the benefit of our time and experience free of charge - we did not try to ‘sell’ him anything, we had nothing that fitted his requirements.

I hope this will by way of an explanation help to clear the air.

 

Oh what a professional reply! The use of inverted commas in such a way is quite unnacceptable, and it must be wonderful in these hard-for-retailers times to be performing so well that you can afford to adopt an attitude like this & lose future custom.

 This store must be the envy of every other one in town or this persons sales targets are ridiculously low! Hey chap, remember that you're not the only hi-fi retailer.....and your bosses may read these forums too. Another case of 'we're so successful it doesn't matter if we upset the odd few'? Shame.....

tractorboy:

That use of quote marks around 'gentleman' is shockingly rude coming from a retailer. Yes, I do realise it is a side swipe at the original post; nevertheless, in retail the customer is always right, even if they're not.

I agree with much of your post, and others who have said similar things, but IMO the 'gentleman' jibe is shockingly rude coming from anyone. It's maybe more surprising coming from a retailer, and could be construed as a little unprofessional, but I don't see how it's any worse than the customers initial dig. The initial dig that no-one seemed to pick up on until the retailer did it! They're both in the wrong in my eyes.

And as for the "customer is always right", that's an outdated notion in retail now, for the most part. I don't even know if Selfridges use it any more! It was an admirable maxim, but society and retailing have changed to such an extent that it no longer makes sense. I'm sure there will be many articles on the web that explain why it no longer works,far more eloquently than I could! And adding "even when they're not" is just taking it too far

As someone mentioned earlier, the truth is probably somewhere between the two stories we're expected to believe. In this instance I can quite understand the shop arguing it's case, as there's probably nothing to be gained from making a concilatory gesture. If they did so, it would possibly reinforce their supposed wrong-doing, and would undermine their member of staff. Many businesses nowadays will support their staff member, as the loss of a good staff member is more costly than the loss of a few potential sales.

The store obviously aren't toeing any lines, and they clearly accept the repercussions. That, to me, is more refreshing than a shop undermining it's staff, and apologising simply because they think it's the expected thing to do.

I've just returned to this thread after a lengthy absence: Wow.. didn't realise what a hornet's nest I'd stirred up. All I will say on this subject is, yes, I did have a bad experience. The quotation was inaccurate, I didn't say that 'a dark colour would be preferable' - merely that aesthetics were an issue with my OH. What I took issue with was the patronising manner in which this was addressed.

I'm not going to get into an internet-based argument with anybody over this (it is very childish and always goes round and round without getting anywhere) but I just thought I'd make my side of the debate clear.

Thanks for your time.

You have just denied saying something that you did say you said, in your very first post in this thread. Its there for all to see.