WORST customer service experience (Eddie's Guitars, STL)

[Eskimo_Joe]

I have been looking for a R9 Les Paul for a while and I'm getting close to being able to pull the trigger so I stopped in to Eddie's Guitars (St. Louis)today after work to check out their selection.

They have a beautiful Ice Tea burst weighing in at 8.2 lb (non-chambered). This could be the one I'm thinking.

I ask if it would be OK to plug it in and play it. Without hesitation, the salesperson (owner's son), says "no, you'll have to make an appointment." Did I mention I was the only person in the shop (aside from the two salespeople)? I thought he was joking, so I said, "are you being serious?" Very matter of factly, the guy says, "Yeah we started going to appointment only about 5 months ago." There was no empathy or coolness in his voice. I said, "Are you serious?" The reply I got was something to the effect that they used to have a lot of people come in and waste their time. (Gosh, unless a person buys a guitar or amp the first time the plug it in, it is a "waste" of their time).

He then asked me if I wanted to set up an appointment for Saturday. I said, "well, I do want to play the guitar, but I have an idealogical problem with having to set up an appointment to play a guitar, especially when it's right there on the wall and it would take 30 seconds to get it down". I pointed out that I was the only person there. Then the 2nd salesperson pipes up and says "well we are working". For the record, the 1st guy was staring at the internet and 2nd guy was doing some work on a guitar. Clearly I would have been interrupting critical work. I said, "give me a break, it's about customer service". He said, "exactly".

As this was happening the 1st guy went and grabbed the guitar and started tuning it up. At that point I just thought to myself this is ridiculous. Even if that Les Paul is the best I've ever played, I wouldn't buy it from these people. So, I put my coat back on and said, "guys, I'm out. This is ridculous. I'll buy the guitar somewhere else like Maken Music" and walked out the door.

For context purposes, I bought an amp from them a few years ago (i.e. had established that I will spend significant money with them). Also, I was dressed in nice work clothes (i.e. I didn't look shady or like I couldn't afford the LP in the first place).

Eddie's has been bad the other times I've been in there (generally, they have made me feel like a trespasser, like it is a privilege to be in their presence and that any sort of service is a gift of their time -- with the exception of Matt, he's the only one that provides any sort of normal service/interaction). Needless to say, this was rock bottom, and the end for me. If they had been polite or empathetic, that would have been one thing, but they weren't. They were jerks.

Afterward I went to another local shop and told them the story and they said multiple people come in each week and complain about the service / lack of at Eddies.

Memo to Eddie's:
-- There are a thousand places I can buy a Les Paul. Service matters.
-- At minimum, you should treat people like you would want them to treat you (Golden Rule).

Here's a link to the TGP discussion: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=456008

[analoghog]

with that sort of customer service they won't be in business much longer....wait for the going out of business sale, i bet you'll be able to play it when you walk in then!!!!

[Eskimo_Joe]

with that sort of customer service they won't be in business much longer....wait for the going out of business sale, i bet you'll be able to play it when you walk in then!!!!

Unfortunately I think they have a strong base of wealthy folks who buy guitars to look at them, so the going out of business sale may be a while, but I do believe someday it will get them.

[Donner]

HA! Yeah they have some nice guitars and an amazing amp line, but its more of a lookee library mostly..... they do have some fun stuff in the basement and I bought my niece a guitar there last christmas....

if he wasnt the owners son he would have been fired long ago

[DocRock]

Yep, no love from me either.

I've had hit-and-miss experiences there ... haven't had ALL bad. But yeah Nate, the owner's son, is the main reason that place sucks.

So ... where are you going to get your Les Paul from?