[Philosofy]

The other day I was at my local "higher end" home theater store: The Little Guys, just outside Chicago. I'm used to Best Buy and CC drones not knowing their elbows from their rear ends, but had the following happen to me:


I asked the woman behind the desk (I think she was one of the owners) which rear projection HDTV they carry gives the best standard def picture, yet won't burn in. She called a salesman over, one whom I know from the past to be what I call an "audio snob." (He's not that interested in home theater, just high end audio.) He tells me that EVERY rear projection TV will burn in. I ask if LCD, DLP, or LCOS will burn in, and he tells me they will. I ask, in the case of DLP, how that would be possible. Would the mirrors stick? He just tells me that they will all burn in. I told him that all my research proved otherwise: that LCD could possibly burn in, but DLP definitely won't. He then says only the rear projection DLP's will burn in, but not front projectors. I replied that it was clear I couldn't change his mind, but disagreed with him, and thought he was giving incorrect information, and left. And these people want me to pay higher prices through them instead of going to the internet because of their stellar customer service? I don't think so.

 

[spidey07]

How about asking for one of their home theater experts instead of talking to the audio guy?


Its very difficult to know everything there is to home theater, that's why the forums are so valuable.

 

[Philosofy]

Well, I did ask for help, and this is the salesman they sent to me. What was really disappointing was his know-it-all, attitude, and he did it right in front of his boss!

 

[spidey07]

That really is a shame. Too bad because I patron a local shop here and am treated like royalty. Once you build a good relationship with a local shop its like having a good attorney or mechanic...its very nice.

 

[mjn]

Yea,


I know that shop well. They really look down on you. It started out as a great store, now there just snobs.


I took a speaker in for repair(bad tweeter). Said it was out of warrantee and they would replace tweeter and quoted my more than the speaker costs. DUH? I sent the tweeter to the manufacturer, got a new tweeter(under warrantee) for free. They tried to scam me in my opinion. Worse for them while screwing me on my under $100 tweeter, they lost a major HDTV commision, because I am looking to purchase a 50+ HDTV soon.

 

[TOK]

... but why would you go into a store asking questions you already know the answers to?


As a test?


It seems silly to me to rely on any salespersons opinion, particularly given the wealth of information available online now. You are also putting people on the defensive right away, which isn't going to help your cause.

I've always been a "car guy", and I discovered when I purchased my first new car that I could read for half an hour and know more about a companies lineup than 95% of the people selling them... Simple things like horsepower figures for all the different powertrains. The reason was that I had interest and passion for the product -they did not. Maybe because I wasn't burned out on it, doing the same thing day in and out.


Its not right for a store to treat people as rabble, but I also really don't consider it right to go in and play match-wits with people over products you don't intend to buy. You're an informed consumer, good for you.

I've found that if you go into a place acting like you're not a dope, knowing your needs and what you want to spend, you will be treated well.

You're making a salespersons job easy by knowing what you need and a roundabout figure for price. Don't go to these places and say "I can get this on the internet for $150 less", go in and say "I'd like to buy this product from you and support a small shop, how flexible is the price?"

You might be surprised. I had $50 knocked off a surround receiver in 20 seconds by knowing what I wanted and expressing an interest to buy from that shop. These guys know they live or die by repeat business, and unless you're dealing with a disgruntled schlub, they don't want to run you out. A lof of the small places are lucky to see 10 people a day come in.


It stinks that place tried to burn mjn on the speaker. I'm not really talking about the place you guys went, just stating a general opinions.