X -Music

PaulBrewer

dav nagle wrote: »

There are a few factors that make a quality service:

1. No matter what you ask for the shop will do everything in their power to get you what you want, when I get treated like this I am a customer for life.

2. That level of service must continue

3. The customer should be given time and care and never hear the words 'no'

Really is that simple


There is no better feeling when a shop looks after you and takes the burden of finding something away, and then delivers.


Best of luck

Cough ...

dav nagle

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Cough ...

I have some 'cough' bottle for you here in the house if you need me to hook you up. I have said this before quality service = customer for life and when I get my capital grant I know who I will be spending it with. AW.

fret_wimp

Im going to ask a cheeky question but If you dont ask you wont know, right?

Can xmusic guarantee that they can match the prices on sites like Thomann or some of the uk sites?

I was out there a few days ago and the price that was quoted on one specific guitar was about 280 more expensive than on thomann and even more expensive than on some of the UK sites.

Im happy to pay a little more for the ability to go to a store and walk out that day with the item in question, but paying anything over 100 quid more than internet prices is out of the question and I will wait a few days for delivery from an online store if it will save me over 100 quid.

Sorry to say I feel most of the irish public will do the same. A guarantee to match some of the online stores would really really help xmusic out, by letting customers see they are committed to giving the best value possible. just a thought.

PaulBrewer

fret_wimp wrote: »

Im going to ask a cheeky question but If you dont ask you wont know, right?

Can xmusic guarantee that they can match the prices on sites like Thomann or some of the uk sites?

I was out there a few days ago and the price that was quoted on one specific guitar was about 280 more expensive than on thomann and even more expensive than on some of the UK sites.

Im happy to pay a little more for the ability to go to a store and walk out that day with the item in question, but paying anything over 100 quid more than internet prices is out of the question and I will wait a few days for delivery from an online store if it will save me over 100 quid.

Sorry to say I feel most of the irish public will do the same. A guarantee to match some of the online stores would really really help xmusic out, by letting customers see they are committed to giving the best value possible. just a thought.

Good Idea!
I'm not sure it would be entirely practical though as the sell price is often dictated by the price the store pays.

So if Fender (for example) sell a batch of guitars to Mr.T and an end of line price and X bought the same ones a month earlier for 15% more there will be a price difference.

However, if X buy in a similar way they could be cheaper on some things -

Swings and Roundabouts I guess ...

PaulBrewer

unclebill98 wrote: »

Maybe they should have a meeting monday morning and discuss the tread There is more to the Irish shopping than those looking for startup guitar packs.

Its a savage shop but come on, get the simple things right.

I'll be out there Monday for a meeting, I'll mention this thread ...

PaulBrewer

dav nagle wrote: »

I have some 'cough' bottle for you here in the house if you need me to hook you up. I have said this before quality service = customer for life and when I get my capital grant I know who I will be spending it with. AW.

No, I actually do have a cough, blocked nose etc ...

Savman

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I'll be out there Monday for a meeting, I'll mention this thread ...

So are they your competitors or your compadres?

PaulBrewer

Savman wrote: »

So are they your competitors or your compadres?

Customers! We supply them with sE now.

unclebill98

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I'll be out there Monday for a meeting, I'll mention this thread ...

Good, they all have PC's so maybe there should be some kind of branch calender to put in reminders to call people back etc....

This is the last time I'm talking about it. I promise.

seannash

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Good Idea!
I'm not sure it would be entirely practical though as the sell price is often dictated by the price the store pays.

So if Fender (for example) sell a batch of guitars to Mr.T and an end of line price and X bought the same ones a month earlier for 15% more there will be a price difference.

However, if X buy in a similar way they could be cheaper on some things -

Swings and Roundabouts I guess ...

of course theres factors dictating the price but even if they only make the tiniest profit on something,its more than likely that the customer will return to xmusic for other purchases.

120_Minutes

i'm just saying that if i got my knickers in a twist over every "non call back" then i'd have a lot of twisty knickers. its an irish thing, we always do it, i've gotton it from bt, 3 and loads of other companies. its a fact of life, in this country you have to chase people for everything. i'm used to it, and at this stage i accept it, and i dont see the attitiude changing anytime soon.

my advice? take smiler up on his offer and move on....

fitz

To be fair, as long as we accept it, it's never gonna change.
The service industry in this country is a disgrace.
As suggested, it's easy enough to log enquiries in a freebie helpdesk type database, or just add callbacks to a shared calendar. It just needs to be thought out and put in place.
If this was done, you wouldn't be long about having a vast difference in quality between your service and everyone elses; something any business should be serious about.

frobisher

120_Minutes wrote: »

i'm just saying that if i got my knickers in a twist over every "non call back" then i'd have a lot of twisty knickers. its an irish thing, we always do it, i've gotton it from bt, 3 and loads of other companies. its a fact of life, in this country you have to chase people for everything. i'm used to it, and at this stage i accept it, and i dont see the attitiude changing anytime soon.

my advice? take smiler up on his offer and move on....

I've experienced it outside Ireland too. As service cultures go we might not be the best but we're not the worst.

PaulBrewer

I agree it shouldn't be accepted and should definitely be complained about.

However I can be guilty of the odd slip up myself ... I ain't a Robot, Daddy-O I'm an Artist!! That's the way we fly ...

seannash

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I agree it shouldn't be accepted and should definitely be complained about.

However I can be guilty of the odd slip up myself ... I ain't a Robot, Daddy-O I'm an Artist!! That's the way we fly ...

thats a ballsy move calling yourself an artist round these parts

PaulBrewer

seannash wrote: »

thats a ballsy move calling yourself an artist round these parts

Don't worry, Dav will be around shortly to clarify things with a poem.

fret_wimp

seannash wrote: »

of course theres factors dictating the price but even if they only make the tiniest profit on something,its more than likely that the customer will return to xmusic for other purchases.

exactly. As i was treated well in Musician Inc, i returned for all music purchases, strings, gadgets, cases and most recently an acoustic. I do this because they went out of thier way to help me out.

I brought in my 5 year old ibanez one day as it wasnt playing so well and they adjusted the truss there and then for free. very decent and made me take my custom back again and again.

Im in the market for a new strat and amp and If they can offer it at close to internet prices il purchase the whole shibang there. Also, if there is good service, as with musician inc, i will bring my business back again and again.

so this purchase may be only 1500 - 2000 euro ( i say only, relative to a stores daily intake), but over the next 10 years the total amount i spend there would be much more.

lets hope it works out that way.

seannash

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Don't worry, Dav will be around shortly to clarify things with a poem.

hel put you back in your box,you and your delusions of artistic granduer

PaulBrewer

fret_wimp wrote: »

exactly. As i was treated well in Musician Inc, i returned for all music purchases, strings, gadgets, cases and most recently an acoustic. I do this because they went out of thier way to help me out.

Well, as it's the same guys it shouldn't be a problem. When I was in the MI side they were the only ones with a good rep.

jtsuited

controversial this might be but.....

i think it's almost impossible to have the type of customer service we want (or at least seem to be talking about) in a place the size of X-Music.

I've always been both a supporter of German Mega-music-stores and the local guys (well not the instrument shops in town, they're a disgrace). The local small places are good for a bit of a chat, gettin the low-down from the inside and general personal interaction. Not to mention repairs, returns, demoing gear, and all the rest.

From a purely economic point of view it also makes sense. If anything ever goes wrong, I know of at least two places that can get me sorted quickly. That means less gig cancellations etc.

However I think that X-Music may (and the may part is very important here) fall between the two bar stools so to speak. As in, they could end up too big and impersonal to satisfy the customer needs, and not big enough to realistically compete with thomann. Just a thought though and I would hope for this not to happen.

dav nagle

I agree with Jsuited on this one. I think x music will end up exactly like he explained there. Anyhow this one is for Paul as always.


The artist paints
A dream
To good to be true
Yellow and whites
Pink green and blue
The artist can sell
Record mix and gel
The customers fix
Arrangement and licks
The artist can change
From one day to the next
Be your best friend
Or dump you on the road side
Like a dog on the street
Not loved anymore
With only one leg
And one red eye soar
The artist can fall
Down on his knees
When business is calling
Listen, you hear the word please
Please may I have some time with you
To paint you a picture
Pink green and blue

PaulBrewer

Dav for Poet Laureate !!

dav nagle wrote: »

I agree with Jsuited on this one. I think x music will end up exactly like he explained there. Anyhow this one is for Paul as always.


The artist paints
A dream
To good to be true
Yellow and whites
Pink green and blue
The artist can sell
Record mix and gel
The customers fix
Arrangement and licks
The artist can change
From one day to the next
Be your best friend
Or dump you on the road side
Like a dog on the street
Not loved anymore
With only one leg
And one red eye soar
The artist can fall
Down on his knees
When business is calling
Listen, you hear the word please
Please may I have some time with you
To paint you a picture
Pink green and blue

dav nagle

Yes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet_Laureate

120_Minutes

just to add, when i rang x music a while ago to get info on something and tere was no one in the relevant dept at the time to help, i got a call back 24 hrs later.

and also, slightly off topic, my wife who's american wonders daily how businesses stay afloat over here, she's amazed at the shoddy customer service in almost every industry.....in her words "if they were american and they did that, they'd be gone long ago"

seannash

120_Minutes wrote: »

just to add, when i rang x music a while ago to get info on something and tere was no one in the relevant dept at the time to help, i got a call back 24 hrs later.

and also, slightly off topic, my wife who's american wonders daily how businesses stay afloat over here, she's amazed at the shoddy customer service in almost every industry.....in her words "if they were american and they did that, they'd be gone long ago"

well on the other side of the coin,being irish and living in america i hate how intrusive the cutomer service is over here.they hover over you.you constantly get asked are you okay.and its all a little too fake,the whole how are you today,how about the weather nonsense.
theres obviously a balance somewhere.
i like to look around without being asked am i okay but when i do need help i dont wanna have to search for it.:D
but if im honest the music shops over here sound the exact same as at home.there customer service is just as bad but in other areas of industry its too much

fitz

The only way to do it properly is have a process that gets followed every time.
Look at how a query from a customer can go, it either gets answered straight off, or you have to get back to them. For every query where you have to call a customer back, you log it, with their name, number, and what info they wanted. Then it's just as case of having a list of open callbacks to work through. If you want to scale up and provide good service, you have to have a consistent process that everyone follows. It makes life easier for staff in the long run too, cause they know exactly what's expected of them, and they can go off a central list of work that they have to do, not having to rely on remembering to do it.

It's common sense, but the service industry in this country hasn't copped on to it.

dav nagle

fitz wrote: »

The only way to do it properly is have a process that gets followed every time.
Look at how a query from a customer can go, it either gets answered straight off, or you have to get back to them. For every query where you have to call a customer back, you log it, with their name, number, and what info they wanted. Then it's just as case of having a list of open callbacks to work through. If you want to scale up and provide good service, you have to have a consistent process that everyone follows. It makes life easier for staff in the long run too, cause they know exactly what's expected off them, and they can go off a central list of work that they have to do, not having to rely on remembering to do it.

It's common sense, but the service industry in this country hasn't copped on to it.

Agreed, such a basic simple underestimated effective mislaid concept :mad:

fret_wimp

Just a note folks. I mailed in a query to the xmusic folks lastnight and got just recieved a response. less than 24 hours for a response. I find that terriffic.

No complaints from me regarding service so far.

PaulBrewer

fret_wimp wrote: »

Just a note folks. I mailed in a query to the xmusic folks lastnight and got just recieved a response. less than 24 hours for a response.

The Bastards .... how could they??;)

PaulBrewer

This may be of interest to Posters -

For December SSL are running their 'Take me home' promotion in conjunction with us and X-Music whereby we supply X with a working demo rack and a duplicate contents of the rack.

On December the 9th myself and Richard from SSL will be at X-Music to answer your questions.

If you are interested in getting an SSL product you can take it home and try it beforehand.


www.solidstatelogic.com
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