In praise of Richer Sounds
Discussion
Red 5 said:
hyphen said:
Disagree with the above.
Sounds like a poor sales guy to me. It's the job of the salesman to find out the needs and expectations of the customer and find a solution to meet them.
....QUICKLY and only from commission rich items in stock NOW!Sounds like a poor sales guy to me. It's the job of the salesman to find out the needs and expectations of the customer and find a solution to meet them.
He was just trying to being the most efficient employee and earn money.
No quick route to open wallet? Politely show them the door ASAP.
From a customer and professional perspective, I will always agree with you 100%
This should always be the case, but is NOT what the RS rule book and commission structure teaches!
is RS playbook looks like that then they will go down the pan as one of the strengths has always been great, knowledgeable staff who give you the time you need to make a decision, without that you can just buy on price online with no added value.
FYI i really like the RS Southampton store as they have been very helpful the last three times i have been in and i'm always buying at the lower end of their stocking
Went to the MK store yesterday to get some ceiling speakers. Slightly odd in that the guy didn't ask my budget or what they were for (luckily what he bought out from his 10 minute disappearance into the storeroom were suitable.)
That said they did price match an online price and carry the boxes to the car so not bad.
Despite being a bit of an odd experience yesterday it was still much better than any other shop I have been in lately!
Ben
That said they did price match an online price and carry the boxes to the car so not bad.
Despite being a bit of an odd experience yesterday it was still much better than any other shop I have been in lately!
Ben
DoctorX said:
Richer Sounds is great, I’d shop there more often if it wasn’t for their city centre locations with little parking nearby (at least where I live). Put one on a retail park and I’d be very happy (yes, death of the high street etc...)
Leeds store will help you carry it to the car or bring it out to your car if you stop on double yellows. They also have a very short term customer parking space, IIRC.vaud said:
Leeds store will help you carry it to the car or bring it out to your car if you stop on double yellows. They also have a very short term customer parking space, IIRC.
Thanks, I think most will give you a hand like that. Doesn’t solve the ball ache of driving into Leeds though. Red 5 said:
Sadly, I think you were setting yourself up for that unsatisfactory encounter!
It was one of the busiest retail days of the year ..
You want to consolidate your speakers, get a sub and replace your AVR in stages, starting with spending £300-400 on two or more items, but also ask if a sound bar would be a suitable replacement for a full separates AV system?!?
That sounds like a lot of time is needed to help and assist. More of an educational visit and planning for the future.
What brand was the suspect fake reduction on?
I didn't mention...but I also arrived 20 minutes before closing time. So yeah, I probably wasn't helping myself.It was one of the busiest retail days of the year ..
You want to consolidate your speakers, get a sub and replace your AVR in stages, starting with spending £300-400 on two or more items, but also ask if a sound bar would be a suitable replacement for a full separates AV system?!?
That sounds like a lot of time is needed to help and assist. More of an educational visit and planning for the future.
What brand was the suspect fake reduction on?
They recommend a Denon of some sort, I think a 7.1 atmos jobbie. Not the cheapest one, but I can't recall the number now (might be x2600h). Can't see how it was an £800 amp for £450 though, as it's been at £500ish for ages.
Red 5 said:
That Hi-FI and speakers didn’t come from RS.
Good spot! My uni flatmate got some b&ws first (though the credit card firm reposessed all his possessions shortly after), and after initially getting some Gale monitors from RS, I decided they weren't as good, so took em back. They were from another hi fi chain (might have been the sony or panasonic store?) but I just went in and pointed at the ones I wanted.Lemming Train said:
You can write with your complaint(s) via the email on their website and Julian will reply personally.
Hmm, I not sure this will solve my problem really. My brief was probably somewhat optimistic. And on reflection, if the guy had sold me a £250 box to "solve everything" and it turned out sounding crap, they wouldn't have done their job either.
I am tempted to just upgrade my 5.1 piecemeal, but i'd probably start with a decent centre, and wait until the avr properly packs up.
Ian
Whatever you do decide to spend the money on, make sure to plan the whole ENTIRE new system first!
Make sure every box is ticked for the specification you’d like.
Make sure you can see a genuine improvement in each item selected.
Do you genuinely desire the chosen items? If not, start again, as your enjoyment is long term and worth extending yourself a little to achieve now.
Ensure the whole system is in the realms of affordability, before you buy anything.
Set a realistic achievable timescale to achieve a finished system.
With help, plan the order of things to purchase and time things for sales, or end of line periods, where there are more bargains if you can.
Controversially.....
Don’t poo-poo the 12 month Hitachi buy now - pay later schemes, as they only cost £29 if you settle the balance before interest charges. Have it all now, why don’t you?
I’m 50/50 on them. Just don’t up the budget beyond your initial plan, should you take these plans.
Cheap money, as long as you then don’t get silly
How does that sound Ian?
Make sure every box is ticked for the specification you’d like.
Make sure you can see a genuine improvement in each item selected.
Do you genuinely desire the chosen items? If not, start again, as your enjoyment is long term and worth extending yourself a little to achieve now.
Ensure the whole system is in the realms of affordability, before you buy anything.
Set a realistic achievable timescale to achieve a finished system.
With help, plan the order of things to purchase and time things for sales, or end of line periods, where there are more bargains if you can.
Controversially.....
Don’t poo-poo the 12 month Hitachi buy now - pay later schemes, as they only cost £29 if you settle the balance before interest charges. Have it all now, why don’t you?
I’m 50/50 on them. Just don’t up the budget beyond your initial plan, should you take these plans.
Cheap money, as long as you then don’t get silly
How does that sound Ian?
Fundoreen said:
I have no idea why people have decided every shopping experience should be with a meat bag google that knows the cheapest everything and only pushes you toward that product.
Yup you have no idea.You know why websites pop up with instant chat availability? As with anything other than the likes of simple clothing, many people don't want , or don't have the aptitude, to do their own research.
They want to speak to a person, ask questions and even take their recommendation.
Oh yeah, and Google isn't your mate. They will factor in what makes them the most commission!.
Not used them until recently but a fairly positive experience on a purchase in excess of 2 grand.
Ordered a projector, AV amp/receiver, UHD Blu-ray player, and a 5.1 speaker set on Black Friday, best prices I'd seen to date so a genuine sale. Delivered by DPD the following week so using a decent courier gets another thumbs up. The following weekend thought I should probably test all this stuff...
Phase 1, projector fired up against a wall, plug the Blu-Ray player into it by HDMI, and then much head scratching. Why won't this thing eject, bit of Googling suggested a child lock on the player, nope, tried a few other things and concluded it was knackered. For the sake of testing the projector I plugged my laptop in and played a movie from there, at least that worked. Thinking this wasn't a good start thought I'd better test the rest of it.
Phase 2, hastily find some spare speaker wire, hadn't ordered what I needed for the install yet, and connect the speakers to the amp and the amp to the projector. Fire that up, the amp seems okay so I go into the speaker test mode. White noise output to each speaker in turn, that's odd one of these speakers sounds a little different, further head scratching and put my ear to it, nothing out of the tweeter. Swap it to a different output on the amp just to be sure, still the same.
So 2 out of 4 items duff, not so good. A call to them on Monday and there was no quibble that I had some duff kit. Simultaneous drop off of new stuff and collection of broken stuff arranged for the next day. That went to plan and the replacements worked!
It's when things go wrong that you really see a retailer at their best or worst and in this instance they couldn't have been any better. Bit of a shame that the stuff I had didn't work in the first place, unlucky I guess. They can't test stuff before sending and as a consumer I want something in a sealed box as it left the manufacturer.
Would definitely use them again.
Ordered a projector, AV amp/receiver, UHD Blu-ray player, and a 5.1 speaker set on Black Friday, best prices I'd seen to date so a genuine sale. Delivered by DPD the following week so using a decent courier gets another thumbs up. The following weekend thought I should probably test all this stuff...
Phase 1, projector fired up against a wall, plug the Blu-Ray player into it by HDMI, and then much head scratching. Why won't this thing eject, bit of Googling suggested a child lock on the player, nope, tried a few other things and concluded it was knackered. For the sake of testing the projector I plugged my laptop in and played a movie from there, at least that worked. Thinking this wasn't a good start thought I'd better test the rest of it.
Phase 2, hastily find some spare speaker wire, hadn't ordered what I needed for the install yet, and connect the speakers to the amp and the amp to the projector. Fire that up, the amp seems okay so I go into the speaker test mode. White noise output to each speaker in turn, that's odd one of these speakers sounds a little different, further head scratching and put my ear to it, nothing out of the tweeter. Swap it to a different output on the amp just to be sure, still the same.
So 2 out of 4 items duff, not so good. A call to them on Monday and there was no quibble that I had some duff kit. Simultaneous drop off of new stuff and collection of broken stuff arranged for the next day. That went to plan and the replacements worked!
It's when things go wrong that you really see a retailer at their best or worst and in this instance they couldn't have been any better. Bit of a shame that the stuff I had didn't work in the first place, unlucky I guess. They can't test stuff before sending and as a consumer I want something in a sealed box as it left the manufacturer.
Would definitely use them again.
Cant fault that. And they have a high street presence, well worth supporting local in my book.
Did the same with the fridge freeze units earlier this year, local kitchen and white goods shop matched AO on price, great on the phone and via email, took aware the packaging. Happy days, two lovely 185 tall Liebherr units with foil backs.
Last night I popped into the local 'Oddbins' off licence, bought a cracking Whiskey as a gift, nice chat with the chap, certainly do that again, ditto the local Majestic who spend 45mins talking us through wine choices before selling us some cracking wine a supermarket prices. Couple of or friends comment specifically on the wine, which was only £6-8 bottle.
Customer service makes such a difference, often saves more than it costs, yet is stripted out of the ebay/amazon/asos business model.
Daniel
Did the same with the fridge freeze units earlier this year, local kitchen and white goods shop matched AO on price, great on the phone and via email, took aware the packaging. Happy days, two lovely 185 tall Liebherr units with foil backs.
Last night I popped into the local 'Oddbins' off licence, bought a cracking Whiskey as a gift, nice chat with the chap, certainly do that again, ditto the local Majestic who spend 45mins talking us through wine choices before selling us some cracking wine a supermarket prices. Couple of or friends comment specifically on the wine, which was only £6-8 bottle.
Customer service makes such a difference, often saves more than it costs, yet is stripted out of the ebay/amazon/asos business model.
Daniel
Fantastic service from our local branch.
Bought an Audiolab 8200CD used from a local chap.
Absolutely mint condition, however it developed an issue with the drawer very quickly. Having spent a reasonable amount of cash i contacted the seller who confessed having a similar issue previously. The manufacturer talked him through adjusting the drawer to fix it.
So i did the same went through all the checks and it would work briefly. It was just of warranty and the seller took it back to Richer. As he was a regular customer and spent a lot of money they agreed if he extended the warrant they would repair it.
Cost £45. I now have a fully working CD with another years warranty for very little money. Split the cost with seller.
Happy bunny.
Bought an Audiolab 8200CD used from a local chap.
Absolutely mint condition, however it developed an issue with the drawer very quickly. Having spent a reasonable amount of cash i contacted the seller who confessed having a similar issue previously. The manufacturer talked him through adjusting the drawer to fix it.
So i did the same went through all the checks and it would work briefly. It was just of warranty and the seller took it back to Richer. As he was a regular customer and spent a lot of money they agreed if he extended the warrant they would repair it.
Cost £45. I now have a fully working CD with another years warranty for very little money. Split the cost with seller.
Happy bunny.
dhutch said:
Cant fault that. And they have a high street presence, well worth supporting local in my book.
Did the same with the fridge freeze units earlier this year, local kitchen and white goods shop matched AO on price, great on the phone and via email, took aware the packaging. Happy days, two lovely 185 tall Liebherr units with foil backs.
Last night I popped into the local 'Oddbins' off licence, bought a cracking Whiskey as a gift, nice chat with the chap, certainly do that again, ditto the local Majestic who spend 45mins talking us through wine choices before selling us some cracking wine a supermarket prices. Couple of or friends comment specifically on the wine, which was only £6-8 bottle.
Customer service makes such a difference, often saves more than it costs, yet is stripted out of the ebay/amazon/asos business model.
Daniel
^This. Did the same with the fridge freeze units earlier this year, local kitchen and white goods shop matched AO on price, great on the phone and via email, took aware the packaging. Happy days, two lovely 185 tall Liebherr units with foil backs.
Last night I popped into the local 'Oddbins' off licence, bought a cracking Whiskey as a gift, nice chat with the chap, certainly do that again, ditto the local Majestic who spend 45mins talking us through wine choices before selling us some cracking wine a supermarket prices. Couple of or friends comment specifically on the wine, which was only £6-8 bottle.
Customer service makes such a difference, often saves more than it costs, yet is stripted out of the ebay/amazon/asos business model.
Daniel
Which is why I always eschew Amazon and use the local bookshop, too.
We will only have ourselves to blame if the local high street dies.
I had to visit RS again at the weekend. One of the tweeters in a speaker had given up so I called them about a possible warranty claim as the speakers were just under two years old and had been supplied with a 6 year warranty. I anticipated being told it was wear and tear and as they weren't the dearest in the shop I was preparing to buy some replacements. My speakers had recently been superseded and although some RS branches had a few of the old ones left Milton Keynes did not, but the guy suggested I could drop mine in to RS and simply pay the difference in price for the new upgraded ones. Result. Two brand new speakers for £50.
Small gestures like that give you a warm feeling inside.
Small gestures like that give you a warm feeling inside.
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