Grumpy Customer

L

lindydanny

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
351
Reaction score
0
Location
Kansas City, MO
A little over three weeks ago on a Monday off from work, I went by my local shop (whose owner I happen to know from a concert band I was/am in) and told them I wanted to buy a Kala Baritone Ukulele. I gave them the price that I was willing to pay and asked if they could do it. After researching and calling Kala, the guitar guy for the shop called me and said they could order it and it should be in the next week.

That following Monday, no uke. I was told to check back later in the week.

Went by later in the week and the guitar guy said it hadn't shipped yet. He said he had another guy wanting to buy a tenor, but that fell through. That conversation sort of implied that he hadn't actually placed the order yet.

Called the next Monday... No uke, but it shipped and will be here Wednesday.

Came into the store Wednesday and it wasn't there. They guy behind the counter who told me it would be here (not the guitar guy) was obviously irritated that I even asked. He said they would call me when it came in.

Now, it has been three an a half weeks and still no baritone. Luckily, I haven't put any money down on it either. So, as I see it, I have two options:

1) Keep waiting and calling and possibly getting less friendly with the staff.
2) Give up, call and cancel (or not) and order what I want online and have it arrive in a week or so.

Part of me wonders if I'm being a bad customer. It is this thought that has kept me from calling every day this week to check on it. Honestly, I'm almost afraid to go in (even though I need other things from the shop) because I don't want them to think I'm badgering them about it when I go in.

Any thoughts?
 
You've ordered something and they don't seem bothered to sell it to you. I'd say you're acting perfectly reasonable, especially after going there when told it would in.

Ring and tell them to cancel, telling them it's taking too long, and move on.
 
As a consumer, I think you have every right to ask. Should the sales staff get irritated, cancel and press on with life.
 
Kanaka916 said:
As a consumer, I think you have every right to ask. Should the sales staff get irritated, cancel and press on with life.
Click to expand...

Especially since you're not asking for anything beyond the ordinary. Kala has a decent rep and I'm sure you can find one elsewhere. Get your refund and move on.
 
Since you know the owner, and wanted to give him some business, I think you should tell him how this has been handled. I would think in these economic times, this kind of customer service would really affect sales. He should know how his employees are handling the orders. Are they not estimating the delivery time properly, and end up misleading the customer? They should at least pretend to care.
One advantage to having it at the store, is you can try it out first, before buying.
–Lori
 
I think its reasonable to be a little irritated specially when you can order a uke from Music Guy Mike (MGM) and get it to your house within a week (from HI). I agree with Lori, you would think customer service would be better specially if the owner is your bud. Good luck and I hope it all works out.
 
I wouldn't even say that the owner is my bud. More of a guy who happens to be in a group I play with (one guy out of thirty people). So, he is more of an acquaintance. But, I see and talk to him regularly (especially during the summer time when we are doing pit music together for musicals).

I'm torn a little on this even more because I really want to work with a local shop. My wife and I are avid fans of going local for things; food, furniture, music, you name it! It just really gets to me that the store is not being very friendly about this.

Contrast a little bit here and I'll say that Guitar Center rocked my world when I bought my first uke (a Mitchell MU-70) three months ago. After a week, the sales guy called me. Yeah, called me. He asked if I was doing alright with it and if it sounded okay. A month later I bought a case. The same guy called and asked if it fit alright. He wasn't even the person who I worked with on the second trip!

It's like night and day in customer service. I don't expect that Guitar Center experience from everyone (not even from GC), but I do expect to at least to not be treated like my measly $200 purchase isn't worth their time (which is exactly how I feel).

I'm kind of at the end of this. I'm looking at it from this perspective: It has been a week since I last talk to them about it and a week and a half since they said it shipped and I still don't have it. Something is wrong with that. I'm going to go elsewhere and not bother with them. If they call after I place my order with another company (likely MGM), then I'll just tell them that they took too long and I've already got my money's worth somewhere else.

~DB
 
No way to really know, but I'd bet they've never ordered it. They may be waiting for further orders to consolidate shipping or something. Bad customer service, if you ask me. I'd notify them first that you're cancelling your order, and then get your bari from MGM....
 
Business must be so fabulous for them that they don't even need your money! Call MGM, he's a good guy.
 
lindydanny said:
I wouldn't even say that the owner is my bud. More of a guy who happens to be in a group I play with (one guy out of thirty people). So, he is more of an acquaintance. But, I see and talk to him regularly (especially during the summer time when we are doing pit music together for musicals).

I'm torn a little on this even more because I really want to work with a local shop. My wife and I are avid fans of going local for things; food, furniture, music, you name it! It just really gets to me that the store is not being very friendly about this.

Contrast a little bit here and I'll say that Guitar Center rocked my world when I bought my first uke (a Mitchell MU-70) three months ago. After a week, the sales guy called me. Yeah, called me. He asked if I was doing alright with it and if it sounded okay. A month later I bought a case. The same guy called and asked if it fit alright. He wasn't even the person who I worked with on the second trip!

It's like night and day in customer service. I don't expect that Guitar Center experience from everyone (not even from GC), but I do expect to at least to not be treated like my measly $200 purchase isn't worth their time (which is exactly how I feel).

I'm kind of at the end of this. I'm looking at it from this perspective: It has been a week since I last talk to them about it and a week and a half since they said it shipped and I still don't have it. Something is wrong with that. I'm going to go elsewhere and not bother with them. If they call after I place my order with another company (likely MGM), then I'll just tell them that they took too long and I've already got my money's worth somewhere else.

~DB
Click to expand...

I also try to use smaller, local businesses and am willing to pay a bit more because the theory is that the smaller, local business gives you great service and a more personable experience.

However, if the smaller, local business treats you poorly that then I don't think you have a duty to use them. In fact, I think it is important you let the owner know about your experience especially if you know him. Poor service is a bad stigma for a smaller business, especially if the owner built up the business on good service. It can take years to build up a good reputation and only months (or shorter since the advent of internet) to tear it down.
 
My friend was at our dress rehearsal tonight and walked up to me to explain a bit. The order had come in sometime in the last week and my baritone (and another special order) where not in the order. They padded it and got everything else, but not my bari. I told him I would have liked a heads up about it. He apologized, but I'm just not going to be able to take it.

Two things: First, I'm glad it wasn't all the fault of the shop. Yes, they could have communicated better and I would have still bought it if they had. However, I will still be shopping there for other things. Just not special orders.

Second, Kala screwed up. I'm going to have to take the shop's word on it, but Kala did screw up. I'm not exactly sure how much that means to me. I love their ukes. I've never picked one up at a shop I didn't like and I really want to own one. Someone please give me a reason to still want this one as an alternative to a baritone.

~DB

P.S.: Tonight's rehearsal was just a long and tiring one for me. Outside of the news on the baritone, my guitar wasn't working very well (lots of feedback and electrical problems that I've been fighting there), it was freakin' hot at the amphitheater, we were later than I needed to get setup and ready (I was tuning my guitar on the fly against the band), and I was just in a rotten mood which means I couldn't play worth sh!t. (Sorry, monitors. I needed that one.) Now there is a beer and some sleep in my future.
 
Since you have not put any money on the ukulele yet, buying from someone else is not a big deal, really. With the popularity of ukuleles these days, they will sell it soon enough. I have mixed emotions, though, if the sale of ukuleles comes relatively infrequently, it would be another story if the company actually ordered a uke for you - since they are taking a risk with no money down.

Here is what happened to me on a camera lens. I ordered a lens about three weeks before my birthday several years ago. A month after my birthday, I was still waiting. I had paid in full in advance. I found out that Sigma did not ship the lens right away because the company had been added to their "do not ship" list due to a forgotten payment in the previous order. TODAY, that company has closed many of their forty-some locations and their corporate office building is now empty. If they last another six months it will be a miracle. What a shame... they were in business over fifty years and the most recent generation of management just screwed things up really well.
 
Just to add: at the beginning of my purchasing ukes, I had ordered a Kala solid wood soprano. A concert showed up, on time. The local dealer offered me the concert at the soprano price. Took it home, less than a week didn't like it. Ordered a soprano, also told it would be in in less than 10 business days (per the Kala rep via the store's uke-guy). Long story short: about 3 weeks later I cancelled the order, got my money back...so long.

One of the things Kala has no problem getting "right" are shipping charges to smaller local dealers...ask your friend about that.
 
I agree with Lori, talk to the owner. He may not know of the attitude of the others. Lots of retail musicians think they're rock stars and making fun of customers makes them feel superior. I once was checking back at a store for music stands they said would be in. I checked every week, and then they started laughing in my face about it. I didn't go back there, and I had bought a couple of $1,000+ instruments from them in the past. And hey, speaking of Guitar Center, I have had some great service pros there but last time out this clown who started making fun of me because I had questions about their cables. I got even, though, and capped him to the manager who was right there. So he was red-faced and sullen for the rest of the transaction. Anyway, don't take bs from some clowns but the owner might not be aware of it. Personally I would tell them to forget it, but if you haven't put down a deposit, they aren't obligated to get something in for you. Or better yet, don't tell them, let them order it and call you and hear you say, "Sorry I already bought one from a better store".
 
clayton56 said:
I agree with Lori, talk to the owner. He may not know of the attitude of the others. Lots of retail musicians think they're rock stars and making fun of customers makes them feel superior. I once was checking back at a store for music stands they said would be in. I checked every week, and then they started laughing in my face about it. I didn't go back there, and I had bought a couple of $1,000+ instruments from them in the past. And hey, speaking of Guitar Center, I have had some great service pros there but last time out this clown who started making fun of me because I had questions about their cables. I got even, though, and capped him to the manager who was right there. So he was red-faced and sullen for the rest of the transaction. Anyway, don't take bs from some clowns but the owner might not be aware of it. Personally I would tell them to forget it, but if you haven't put down a deposit, they aren't obligated to get something in for you. Or better yet, don't tell them, let them order it and call you and hear you say, "Sorry I already bought one from a better store".
Click to expand...

Here's a few phrases to carry in your mind when dealing with condescending store help: "insecure people," "compensation." Also watch a Simpson's episode that features that comic book store owner...
 
I wouldn't even bother calling. They did not bother to update you, right?
Unless you want to keep being friends with them.
 
lindydanny said:
Part of me wonders if I'm being a bad customer.
Click to expand...

No, my dear, you are not being a bad customer. You are not looking to take advantage or get over on the retailer. You are not abusing staff.
Alas, because you're not getting your chance to make your purchase, you're going to wind up not being a customer at all. This is no fault of your own. You've tried.
 
It might have been a good time to ask the owner how Kala works with small stores.

I'm involved in one hobby where Mom & Pop shops that are not authorized dealers have almost no chance of getting product even when they special order it.

Depending on the product and manufacturer, sometimes small Mom & Pop shops have a to take a back seat to "authorized dealers" or larger volume retailers. Some manufacturers require an authorized dealer to carry a certain volume each month. The manufacturers make sure these dealers get that volume, and that their orders are fulfilled. The small Mom & Pops can be left waiting in line for the left overs from production runs.

So if the run of product has already been spoken for, your small local shop may be waiting a long time until an unspoken one becomes available.

Not saying this is how Kala works because I don't know.
 
Move on and don't worry about it. Like the others said, they probably haven't placed the order yet, and they've probably already forgotten about you.

I used to frequent a local shop even though he was a little pricey because I wanted to help the little guy. One day I asked a question he thought was dumb and laughed at me...and I never went back. It's good to help the little guy...but if they're a dink they shouldn't be in business anyway.
 
For the record, this store is an authorized dealer. They are listed on the website.

I think the thing that has bugged me the most is that when I first asked them to order the instrument for me I asked how long should I expect. I was told about a week. Now, that isn't a lie, but the next time I spoke with them about it and they said they had already ordered it was. I know this because my conversation with the owner indicated that it wasn't ordered until a couple days after I was told it was ordered.

Strike one: They lied.
Strike two: No communication.
Strike three: I was blown off on at least one occasion when I asked about it.
Strike four: It's almost a month into this. (They got the extra one cause I'm too nice.)

~DB

P.S.: I really need to stop my b!tchin' go to work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Hi , Gretting from a Frenchy grumpy Opi living in Frankfurt Germany
Replies
7
Views
726
igorthebarbarian
igorthebarbarian
Trader Todd
Vintage Uke and grumpy old tuners
Replies
6
Views
788
WhenDogsSing
WhenDogsSing
Timbuck
Grumpy Start to the day.
Replies
3
Views
537
Bill Mc
B
Ken Middleton
6ster, Boozelele, Grumpy, Russ and Me
Replies
1
Views
466
Dominator
Dominator
Ken Middleton
Grumpy and Ken - Wine Country Uke Fest
Replies
3
Views
393
DAPuke
DAPuke
Top Bottom