Disappointing experience at Chicago Music Exchange

[chrisrocksusa]

I came in with the objective of trying a silver sky and ‘running the racks’ until I found my new guitar.

I came in and asked for an available salesperson (I’m semi handicapped, recovering from surgery). I got an annoyed ‘we’re very busy’ answer.

no big deal. I get it.

i found a salesperson that looked available but he was quick to let me know he was finishing something up on the computer.

no problem, i can wait.

I waited for maybe 10 minutes and watched the dude on the computer strike up casual conversation w a couple of other folks and stop what he was doing to entertain the conversation.

that’s when I called an Uber to go home. I guess I’ll buy online.

Ive been there a bunch of times and always had good experiences until today.

 

[3waytie4last]

Sorry to hear.

I haven't gone to the current location many times, but I know the store from its original location. Always seemed to me that if you don't look like you have money, they don't much care to serve you.

 

[Gig Young]

I'm sorry to hear that.

It would not have been rude for you to speak up though.

 

[chrisrocksusa]

Sorry to hear.
I haven't gone to the current location many times, but I know the store from its original location. Always seemed to me that if you don't look like you have money, they don't much care to serve you.

tha
that certainly didn’t used to be the case. I showed up in Chicago in 2013 after getting out of the Air Force. I had no money and I looked like it - they were still very cordial to me and let me play everything.

im grateful to be able to actually buy some of these things now, but it was a real disappointment to be dismissed today.

no big deal lesson learned, I’m just venting

 

[Rod]

Did they get bought out by Etsy Too?
when employees treat customers like you were treated, I attribute it to bad management.....
sorry you were treated like that...
I would have called them out on it.. that’s BS.... hello Wildwood

 

[jamester]

Sounds like the GC around here, IF you can get them to acknowledge you at all.

Even store managers are quick to turn their head and walk quickly by, to not make eye contact with a customer who clearly is looking to be helped.

 

[dazco]

Welcome to earth. You got here about 50 years too late.

 

[3waytie4last]

tha
that certainly didn’t used to be the case. I showed up in Chicago in 2013 after getting out of the Air Force. I had no money and I looked like it - they were still very cordial to me and let me play everything.

im grateful to be able to actually buy some of these things now, but it was a real disappointment to be dismissed today.

no big deal lesson learned, I’m just venting

I hear ya. I've been in the old store and the new and was perfectly willing to drop $2-3k on an acoustic, but they didn't give me the time of day, so I left. Considering we pay 10% tax, I avoid doing any purchases through them.

Next time, have your mom come in with you and say she's buying a guitar for her boy.

 

[Johnny Ballache]

For me, there's no questions to ask the staff.
- they're just kids that are being trained to sell by a company that is only interested in profit.

I'll Walk in and play the guitars.
The first ones I'll play are the ones with a sign saying' don't play before asking'
-Anything in reach, I'll play it.
If it sounds great unplugged, then I want it.
My thinking goes like this in relation to features.
' if it has six strings and some tuners and a place routed out for pickups, then that's all the features I need. Typically, I change out pickups from my stash to fine tune the chassis.'
When you indicate to them that you want to buy a guitar, they seem very eager to serve you after that.
- Easy.

 

[olejason]

Always be up front and assertive in situations like that. Never passively sit waiting to be helped, tell them what you want to look at and feel free to approach any salesperson or manager you see.

 

[PaisleyWookie]

CME has jumped the shark, IMO. All the good employees are gone.

 

[musicman1]

It happens in retail. Not an excuse but just saying.

 

[BigGreggoTX]

Always be up front and assertive in situations like that. Never passively sit waiting to be helped, tell them what you want to look at and feel free to approach any salesperson or manager you see.

This. "We're too busy" should not be in a salesperson's vocabulary. Sometimes you have to remind them of that.

 

[Snorktop]

I woulda walked up to Mr. Casual and asked him again.

And again.

And again and again and again.

 

[Benz2112]

A sales guy giving someone 5 minutes of attention, can leave an impression that can lead to recommending the store to scores of people. I regularly recommend stores where the sales people put in even a small amount of effort in. That's a bummer.

 

[DrumBob]

I recently bought a guitar from CME, a coral pink Danelectro 59M NOS, a very limited run, exclusive to that store. Prior that, my experiences at CME were uniformly negative, but this one was good. I signed up for their emails, but if I go to their site and look at a few guitars, I get another email later in the day or that night saying something like, "You were looking at guitars before. Didn't you find anything you liked?" I feel like, don't bother me, don't follow me and this is too creepy. If I want to buy something, I will, but don't pursue me to do so. I called the store and complained about it, and while the sales guy agreed that it was creepy and intrusive, he didn't know how to stop it.

 

[slide13]

I’ve always had great experiences at CME but it’s not the place to go and expect to get 1:1 service within 10mins if they’re busy. They get a ton of traffic and when I go I always plan on spending at least an hour there, often a couple. So maybe my expectations are just a better fit but I’ve always enjoyed my visits. The salespeople are often busy and helping multiple people at once and trying to have the quick chats here and there in between that, but they've always been very nice and helpful when I needed it and let me play anything I wanted which is always fun. Look forward to going back one day soon. Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t similarly enjoyable.

 

[MattC]

Did they get bought out by Etsy Too?
when employees treat customers like you were treated, I attribute it to bad management.....
sorry you were treated like that...
I would have called them out on it.. that’s BS.... hello Wildwood

Wildwood? The same one that recently sold my friend a $6,400 R9 brand new and shipped it with a massive ding in the headstock and a massive chip on the lower bout? That Wildwood?
Not trying to crap on Wildwood in specific but the point is no place is perfect. CME always treated me well in the past, but it’s been a few years since I bought anything there. I hope OP’s experience is an outlier, as it seems my friend’s experience was judging by all the great stuff I hear about Wildwood.

 

[GitGeek]

I called the store and complained about it, and while the sales guy agreed that it was creepy and intrusive, he didn't know how to stop it.

You called a store about annoying spam emails?

Ok, well, there's a link to Unsubscribe at the bottom of those emails, usually.

No phone calls to disinterested parties necessary.

 

[Golem]

I've had this experience at CME. I got their almost every time I go to Chicago. I pointed out that they had an issue with one of their guitars that needed to be looked at. They just ignored me.

Overall, I still like them better than Eddie's which is local to me. Before COVID I tried to get an appointment with them. I emailed, I asked via FB, and I couldn't get a response for weeks. And, you definitely need an appt for Eddie's.