[anth_c]

I am in the process of upgrading my receiver to separates. I walked into a specialty home theater retailer and told the salesman that I was looking for a pre-amp/controller. He showed me the Rotel RSP-1066 Controller, a component that I have read about in magazines and online. He gave me a brief rundown of the features and specs. I told him that I read a review on the unit in The Perfect Vision magazine (September/October 2002 issue). He was unaware of the review and made a comment to the effect, “I’m glad to see that it is being featured in the magazines…”

I politely thanked him, took his card, and went on my way. As I got in my car, I got angry because I seemed to know more about the unit than he did. I’m sure the store subscribes and probably even sells many of the home theater magazines. I would expect the salespeople to be more familiar with the gear that they sell. Was this guy really knowledgeable about home theater, or was he just a salesman that read the bullet points on Rotel’s brochure?

It is experiences like this that make me gravitate towards buying gear on the internet.

Anyone else care to share their experiences?

By the way, he was offering the RSP-1066 for 10% off MSRP. Is this a good price? In general, what kind of price can you expect to pay from a specialty retailer?

Thanks,
Anthony

[Vincent_S]

I know what you mean, when I was asking about the Denon 2803 about two weeks before it came out, the salesman said it was a 6.1. I told him to check again it should be 7.1. He said "Oh, you're right." Then he was started showing me a 2802 and couldn't get into any of the menu's! And this was one of the better higher end stores in town.

[Dave*WB]

Quote:

By the way, he was offering the RSP-1066 for 10% off MSRP. Is this a good price? In general, what kind of price can you expect to pay from a specialty retailer?

From what I have heard, 10% is a standard discount for Rotel stuff. I have heard of some people getting 15% when purchasing a combo such as the 1066 with 1075 amp, but never more than 15%.

If you go back to look at the 1066, ask the sales rep if he knows anything about "Bass management issues" with the 1066 - this will let you know if he really knows what he is talking about or not.

Later, Dave

[MatthewJ S]

You should expect more from a specialty retailer, however ,consider these thoughts;
1.) he may not be representative of the store's salespeople as a whole...
2.)He may be new
3.) He may not care for the particular brand enough to learn much about it...
4.) He has to keep up with dozens of newly introduced items per week, while your focus is much narrower
5.)while in the past good salespeople in A/V could make 6 figures, it is becoming harder and harder to do so, so it is harder and harder to keep a knowledgable and dedicated sales staff...
......As can be seen with cc's decision to let their best people go in order to compete with the lower profit margins that bb deals with ; we all are starting to see the effects of what happens when we are unwilling to pay for good service....we don't get it!
On a daily basis I get calls from and encounter face to face people who bought their product from bb,cc, or on-line and need help to which I respond why are you asking me?..the response is always "'cause when I first came here you guys seemed to know what you were talking about."....
Apparently, they didn't think it was important enough to shop with us....
I lost an incredible salesman last week to the real estate buisness......

[Alan M]

I was searching for a new sub recently,and walked into 1 of the cc stores for a demo.After asking and waiting almost 20 minutes,I finally got a salesman do a demo.
When he turned the volume up loud enough to be heard in the neighboring state,I mentioned that the bass sounded boomy.His reply was "ya,isnt it great".At that point,I said thx for the demo and left the store.
Its a sad day when an audio salesman doesnt know good sound.

[Evan M.]

Very well said Matt. You took the words right out of my mouth. I think too many times we tend to think we know so much about HT that it may go to our heads. Yes I know that people in the HT business should know a ton about waht they sell but lets not forget that this (for most of us) is a hobby and one that we are pationate and love. Things tend to get different in the workforce because now you have much more items to learn as well as having to deal with customers, a boss, delivering companies, speacial orders and keeping the sales floor orderly and well labled, plus a countless more odd jobs. They have to do all of this with the ever decreasing pay-check. I used to work commission sales and It was the most difficult job I had. So much more goes on behind the scenes than just keeping a smile on your face and selling merchandise. We are always going to have a bad experience with sales people but I think we need to cut them a little slack every now and then. They do offer a great service and local businesses is what really what gives our economy a strong backbone.

[Eduardo Ma]

Just happened to me too

When I buyed my Onkyo TXSR 700 last week, teh salesperson bringed the Onkyo brouchure of home theaters and I had to "explain" to the differences between the 600 700 and 800 models! and teh reason I wanted teh 700 modles all he said was ohh! OK!
Then I payed my reciver, and walked away with my box on the shoulder plus my free brouchure on teh mouth ??
Sales perosn gave it to me for free! for my great effort explaining

Ed

[DanaA]

I get so much pleasure when I run into a sales person who isn't arrogant, yet really knows what they're talking about and shares a true enthusiasm for all things audio. These are the ones I end up buying from. Once you strike up that relationship, they usually are more than willing to give you a fair price and you feel pretty comfortable going back with any questions you have.

Unfortunately, so many, the majority in my experience, don't fall into this category. When I was shopping for my Rotel 1066 pre/pro, I brought up with the double bass issue. The sales person working with me immediately responded, "Well, that's a good thing. Never can have too much bass." The owner of the shop jumped right on in and agreed. Didn't matter that the whole callibration of your system would be thrown off. No siree. That there is good. The next shop I went into was a true pleasure. The owner knew what the positive and negatives were about the goods he carried. We just sat around and talked and listened to equipment, even if he knew I wasn't going to buy that particular gear. It was a very comfortable, enjoyable experience. I bought my Rotel there and have been back to purchase more gear from the shop since then. Each time, he gives me an outstanding deal and each visit is a joy.

[Adil M]

As a semi-salesperson (I'm really a clerk now) when a customer comes in w/ reviews and Consumer Reports. I tactfully make my suggestion and sell them what they want. They are the "enlightened" ones now and not worth the hassle.
Now that I am not on commission I sit back and watch. If they ask what I think, I give it to them straight. If they want technical support I inform them that we have people who come to your house and take care of that for a minimum of 150. Oh, the pleasure. I dont even think "I don't know" can cut a conversation that short.
I do a lot of reading and I copy lots of cd's and generally take lots of "me" time.
I know it sounds like a bad attitude, but as long as the customer is getting a good price they can whine all day about the help they are getting. It's wrong, but if you come at your salesperson w/ the wrong attitude they will drop you like a bad habit in the new economy. Unfortunately, that's how far the dollar is stretching for nowadays.
Also, I think it's pretty damn arrogant to think you know more about the product then all the people in the store. If one person doesn't know, get another person or ask for someone who does know. If you do all of your research on the internet and that makes you buy w/ confidence, then good for you b/c a happy wrong purchase is better to most then a neutral correct purchase.

[MatthewJ S]

I have stopped trying to keep up with camcorders, analog t.v.'s, vcr's, portables, boomboxes, shelf systems, and even most of the low-end sattelite systems.....these are commodity items, they aren't worth my time, you don't need me for that kind of equipment and I will happily hand you off to someone in my store who knows about these items...They will (hopefully) hand you off to me when your questions are about whole-home audio, Home Theater, Speakers, rcvrs, Pre-Pro's, Amps, Structured Wiring, Pronto programming, X-10, Crestron, etc., etc......I will say that I know m,ore about these things than the vast majority of my customers, but I garuntee if you research one particular product to death you can learn as much as I have, or more, about it , with one caviat....You probably would benifit from the fact that I have had some real world applications in so far as integrating it with other components and the wealth of experiance that goes along with hooking up hundreds of differant ,complicated, systems....If you are afraid that a salesperson in a store will not know enough to help you , lay your cards on the table when you come in...tell the salesperson what you already know and what you want to know and ask if there is someone in the store who knows a good bit about this particular product...if he tries to take it on as a challenge and proves to be less than knowledgable then politelty ask him if there is anyone else who knows more .....if he is difficult, ask the manager the same question.....

[RobCar]

Yes, it's nice to be able to rely on the knowledge of an experienced salesperson. But as always, you get what you pay for. Which means, generally, that you should know which stores to visit and which not to, if knowledge is what you're looking for.

But let's not forget that ultimately it's your money and you're responsible for the decisions you make. Caveat emptor. All the information is available to you on the Web, at your fingertips.

If I've spent a month obsessing about an upgrade, reading everything I can find about a particular product before I pull the trigger, I'm not going to hold it against a sales guy if he needs to look at the manual.