Buying a guitar on a shop's "best price guarantee"

A cautionary tale...

So, I was in a very large music shop the other week. No names, but it is in the process of being extended and is in Sonnen Strasse Munich

I tried a guitar € 999 and then went home to check the price.

The store offers a "best price guarantee" and when I enquired, it seemed very straight forward. They check availablity at the "other" store and match the price.

The same guitar is available at 2 other places for €888, but only in stock in one. I went back last saturday and attempted to buy at €888.

Well...The assistant first proceeded to give me (and the assembled throng around the till area) a very loud and long lecture about how there was no money in these guitars for them and that I would get the guitar for cost price and etc etc... She went on and on and on while I "showed" her the link to the shop.

Now, because my memory is fading (age) I couldn't remember the name of the other store for love nor money (Professional Equipment in Ratingen) and went away without said instrument.

Needless to say, i shall be buying said guitar from PE and not the Munich store. I suppose it gives them the chance to sell at full price but I wouldn't go back here again other that for emergencey supplies.

As well, the guitar had a couple of minor dents so was not in new condition...can you imagine the reaction if I had asked for further discount because of the condition.!!

Now , I went along badly prepeared but the lecture would have taken place regardless...Not good buisness

Ask to speak to Claudio if in Lindberg, he might give you a lecture but will always give you the best price you found on the internet (or if in doubt use www.thomann.de ) and most probably even throw in some free strings or something.

I use Musik Eck in Corneliusstr. Why? Because I can walk in, ask for Thomann prices, get the price and then they'll order the piece of equipment just to try. If it don't fit what I want then they ship it back into Thomann's stock. Big flashy music shops cost money to run... and that's gotta come from somewhere.

I know the shop you mean and I got a load of complete bullshit from them a few years ago about how to set up a truss rod, which was funny as the guitar didnt have one as it was an old Martin clasical, I tend to buy my guitars from Manhatten Music, I find that they give proper advice and they dont rip you off

Dents and scratches put on by the Fender Custom shop command a premium.
http://www.guitarvillage.co.uk/product-lis...=33&catid=3
Otherwise, if its been added by some sticky fingered Ritchie Blackmore impersonator, throw it back at them and demand 20% off.
The link, by the way, is to the best UK shop and site.

I just don't understand why they offer the best price if they don't want to do it.

I certainly don't need any lectures about about business practices from a shop assistant and will not be getting any more them.

Yes...I find this strange too, but I suppose if you can distress a 900 euro guitar and sell for 3000, its good business.


yes...she mentioned this name many times during the "tirade"

obvious, because there is a chance the will find someone that will pay the higher price

Oh how the word "distress" used in this context brings back happy memories of my early days in Munich. I worked in an antique furniture shop which sold "real Chippendale furniture" to gullible Americans. We spent many hours distressing "new Chippendale" stuff and polishing off our sales pitch which had the Americans oohing and aahing over the awsome fakes they were about to spend their dollars on. We used to invent quaint stories about the origins of the furniture which were lapped up and are probably related today in American homes here and abroad which have our "antiques". Look for a pencilled set of initials in a semi-hidden spot and if you have one of these pieces you can now at least boast that you have a genuine Garibaldi fake! The proprietor of the place has long since gone to the Great Antique Furniture Store in the sky. God rest him!

can I take a chunk of sandpaper to my 63 strat and sell it for millions of euros?
it is a black body...so i could claim its was played by slowhand

Only if it is a piece of authentically worn out sandpaper from Eric's own garden shed, Scogsie, me old fruit.

I've also had unhelpful and not exactly friendly service at a large musical instrument store in Sonnenstrasse. I wanted a set of guitar strings for my first ever guitar, and being a novice in such things, I asked a sales assistant for advice (well, we all have to start somewhere, right?). He evidently thought that advising a guitar novice on which strings to buy was far beneath his status, and just pointed me to a rack with a bewildering array of strings of different types, brand names and tensions. Hmm. D'Addario perhaps? Medium? Light? So he impatiently grabbed a set and said "Here, take these". We went to the cash desk with the strings, which were priced at something euros and 95 cents. Then it turned out the cashier couldn't give out 5 cents change because he had already done whatever it is they do with their cash at the end of the day. Never mind that there was still half an hour to go before the store closed. But what really got me was the way the sales guy tried to explain this: "Haben Sie fuenf Cent fuer meinen Kollegen? - weil er hat seine Kasse schon fertig gemacht und kann nicht rausgeben" - this said in the kind of half-whining, half-insolent tone that some beggars use when they say "Haben Sie ein Euro fuer mich?" Grrr. Then when I got home and looked at what I'd bought, I found the idiot had sold me the wrong thing - extra high tension strings, which were the ones I didn't want. I suppose I could have taken them back and exchanged them, but I had no great desire to go in there again.

I suppose a big store like that, right in the city centre, doesn't need to put a lot of effort into customer service. People will crowd in there anyway.

Buy online

You can do that Mr. Baldi, but as GreenTea points out, which product do you need? I'm all for the encouragement of everybody getting musical, and we were all novices once (I'm the longest serving beginner I know). The combination of Thomann prices and face-to-face friendly and helpful service is important, which is why I use the shop I use rather than the Serrasalmus awaiting to gnaw my already thin enough wallet to the bone at the big stores.

Mr Sin. OK point taken. However, you can also support the many music teachers advertising here on TT by using their services and having them accompany you to a store of your choice and they will gladly help you out choosing an instrument and giving the specialist advice you need. 'tis easy.

Oh poo - I was going to go there (the infamous sonnenstrasse store) to get a shoulder support and a violin book of some sort (Giegenschule von Renate Burce-Weber) so kiddo can play better on my old violin. Shall avoid them like the plague now.
Do these other stores also do the violin thing? (need the stuff by Thursday )

Go to Peter Benedek, Petersplatz 9 in Munich (closed Mondays. Tues.- Fri. 9:00-13:00 & 15:00-18:00 Sat. 9:00-12:00). He's a master fiddle maker who also speaks English and will give you just what you need. His workshop is a haven for fiddle freaks and you can try out everything in the rooms provided. Make sure you have the fiddle with you. Stay away from Sunnystreet for anything to do with fiddle accessories.

I have a stupid question...

Why didn't you just buy it the other place for 888 ?

have now vs wait for delivery is my guess

No, not stupid at all...I had tried it a couple of weeks before in this very emporium and decided to go back and buy it from them, as long as they would price match, the rest is documented.

I will buy it from the other store.

I've had both good and bad service from there.

Bad - went to try flutes, salesman knew absolutely nothing about what he was selling, started putting each one away as soon as I had tried it even though I said I might want to try some again. He didn't have time to get a couple out for me that I wanted to try. Bought elsewhere.

Good - went there to try recorders (high-end ones, not kiddie instruments), the saleslady who I ended up with knew what she was talking about and let me try a rather good instrument even though I told her I was not looking at spending that much money but wanted to know what such an expensive (and beautiful) instrument sounded like.

Just depends on which salesman you get really.

Why didn't you drop us at JMS Music a line?? :-)

JMS Music