O.T. used gear music store bullcrap!!

[broken81]

Man I'm stuck in a hard place here and its all because of this store MUSIC GO ROUND!!!!


I called them like 2 weeks ago spoke to a feller on the phone and offered them 700.00 for this recording hardware. The dude said they were actually willing to go to 650.00 cause they have had so long and wanted to get rid of it.
Well i said sold let me get the money and i will be up to buy. Well i just sold my old recording gear to upgrade and now i got the money and i called them today to make sure they still had it and i told them i spoke to a guy and said they would sell for 650.00 just making sure everything was cool.

Now guess what happened...........

Guy said well i don't know about that you know who you spoke with and fuck its been like 2 weeks i totally forgot his name and i even asked him it just for that reason and i fucking wrote it down but i can't freaking find it!!
Well he called the owner and owner said no deal for that price and said no one would have quoted me that and I'm crazy!

Well now i have my gear sold and i was planing on having a extra 50 bucks to pay my practice space rent with money and now I'm totally fucked on both cause they want 800.00. I am starting a recording session in less than 2 weeks for my band and am so freaking pissed at this music store i really don't know if i should go flip out on owner or what

What would you guys honestly do in this scenario???

I know i should go bash this guys face in the counter till i get for 650.00 but lets be real i can't do that!!

 

[JeffTD]

Go in and offer 700, they're likely to take it if you've got cash in hand and will walk out otherwise.


If that doesn't work, you're shit out of luck, and need to stop counting chickens .

 

[broken81]

well I'm thinking of calling owner tomorrow and explain to him that his employee quoted me 650.00 and i sold my gear for this price and explain i have recording session coming up and ask if he is willing to cut a deal since the only reason i sold my stuff was on there word of price!!

I know its my fault in the end but i mean I'm hoping the owner will take somewhat responsibility for his stores action in prices and take 700 or would i really be better off to drive all the way out there with cash.

I almost think there worse when your there and want something and offer money they know you want it and they got you by the balls and thats when they never budge on price.

I'm so freaking frustrated about this......

 

[JeffTD]

That's a stupid theory - they will never go down as much on the phone than when they have a person with cash in hand. What idiot is going to give you a lower price when they're not sure if you're going to buy it?

 

[Nebulous]

A store never has you by the balls. You're the customer, with the money. The only person holding you by the balls is the company that made the gear and set the price.
Go to the store with the money, tell them you want to walk out with it, and offer them the 700/ 650. If they give you a hard time, take steps away from them, saying "thank you" and watch them try to stop you.

 

[broken81]

Yea you guys are right im just not in my right mind they got me fired up!

cash talks

 

[006]

Yeah the cash-in-hand-or-walk method works very well. I can't recall all of the peices of equipment I've bought over the years doing that and saved tons of money, but it's probably the better half of all the stuff I own.

There is a store here in San Antonio that kinda does shit for business but stocks some cool stuff, so long story short they try to sell anything they can while you are there and have a decent amount of money with you. Both my PRS Custom 24 and Custom 22 I got for $1,000-700 (respectively) off just by coming in with cash-in-hand and saying I wanted it and this is all I have. You can get away with a lot as a customer, they assume you don't realize that stores mark-up products almost obnoxiously and that it only cost them a fraction of what they put on the sticker. For example, an RME FireFace800 costs any retailer (online or physical establishment) about $550 per unit from RME, then they turn around and sell it for $1,500...making their money back three times basically. Unlucky for them business practice and "secrets" are becoming more widespread knowledge nowadays.

~e.a

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Im not sure how it works in the states but in the UK the dealers price is usually one third off the retail price. Often dealers are selling for less than the retail price anyway so their margin is even lower. I know for a fact that some products for example Audix mics in the UK the mark up for the dealer is tiny. All thats really in it for them is a few quid and the prestige of stocking these mics.
If Im in a situation where I need to sell gear to buy new gear Ill buy the new gear on a credit card there and then and then pay off the card when Ive sold the old gear. Ive actually just bought an ex display Mac G5 from a dealer on 6 months interest free for £500 and then got offered £500 for my old G4. When I have to settle the 6 months interest free on the G5 the money will have been in my account for 6 months earning interest and I will have made money on it.

 

[wishtheend]

Yeah the cash-in-hand-or-walk method works very well. I can't recall all of the peices of equipment I've bought over the years doing that and saved tons of money, but it's probably the better half of all the stuff I own.

There is a store here in San Antonio that kinda does shit for business but stocks some cool stuff, so long story short they try to sell anything they can while you are there and have a decent amount of money with you. Both my PRS Custom 24 and Custom 22 I got for $1,000-700 (respectively) off just by coming in with cash-in-hand and saying I wanted it and this is all I have. You can get away with a lot as a customer, they assume you don't realize that stores mark-up products almost obnoxiously and that it only cost them a fraction of what they put on the sticker. For example, an RME FireFace800 costs any retailer (online or physical establishment) about $550 per unit from RME, then they turn around and sell it for $1,500...making their money back three times basically. Unlucky for them business practice and "secrets" are becoming more widespread knowledge nowadays.

~e.a

Actually, you are WAY off about the FireFace800. The average retailer cost on this unit is about $1K. This is what they pay RME for the unit. Most music equipment has a 30-45% markup. That's about it. Some recording gear (DigiDesign, Apple, Bose) has almost no mark up. It really depends on the unit. But the idea that a unit is sold for 3X what the company paid is ridiculous.

 

[cobrahead1030]

as others have said, go in there with $700 cash (assuming your best price would be $650 + tax) and see what they say...be suspiciously polite about it

if that doesn't work, ask to speak to the manager and explain your situation

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Oh man your the customer and your fucking right, end of story. If that shit happened to me in the store I go and right to the manager I speak. First off pissed customers are bad for buisness, especially this one because word of mouth is way more inportant than TV ads. So trust me there is a 90% chance they are going to come down if you display how pissed you are.

IT's there fault for hiring someone who quoted that price, so it's there problem to fix.

I got someone fired one time for being a dickhead at a music store, the customer has alot of leverage. (unless your dealing with Sam Ash or Guitar Center).