R&B Music: I've had enough

[britheguy]

I have to say somethign here guys.

I presume the "tache/owner" we are talking about is Ross. Although he has some strange habits such as sniffing a lot when he talks to you, or usually plays funny jazzy chords when he shows you a guitar, he has generally been okay with me.

Like some one on here, I first started going to the old shop. From those early days through to the last time I was there (3 weeks ago) I have only ever bought one guitar. A CSB Custom Les Paul. Funnily enough it was sold to me by Steve, who could be a patronising sod, but likeable with it. Anyway, I always feel welcome when I go in and the staff, including Ross, always take the time to chat to me, even though it's clear to see that I'm not buying the PRS hanging no the wall.

If I could aim some critisism at R&B and maybe even Ross in particular, is the lack of willing to do a "deal". Getting an offer of 10-15 quid off a 700-800 piece of equipment is frankly to me a non starter.

So in my opinion R&B are not all bad.

Yes, I do feel bad about the OP amp, and his treatment thereafter, I hope somehow that he gets it resolved. If the OP cares to pm me, I could put him in touch with someone which may take a look at the amp and let him know what's wrong with it.

[triggs]

After rubbish service and atitude not once but twice you'll never see me in there again!

[Localboylost]

I went in the otherday to try out a guitar through an amp i told him i was looking into buying a second hand version of it and thought i'd try it out here first (Hot rod deluxe) even though i didn't make it clear i was also wanting to buy a new guitar/actually looking to make a purchase he still showed me how to work it, the settings, etc and didn't really care about where i was getting from where, he just seemed happy to help.

Only time i've ever felt i've had a problem with the staff is when i was starting guitar at about 14 and was looking to buy a telecaster, guitar teacher told me i should try them out, get a feel of them first, so i went in and seen a shiney new 72 so just picked it up and started having a quick blast of it, nothing wrong there, then some arse came up and asked me if i could put it down cuz the price blah blah blah then i tried to speak to him bout my guitar teacher and he said he was too busy, apologised then waited for me to leave/pretty much escorted me. Music shops should be encouraging beginners and encouraging them to buy from there store.

[Guest idol_wild]

Sounds like James, none of the other would allow that. I really like James and maybe Ivan who work in there, i find they are extremely patronising and on't give a shit if your not there to put down huge money on a bunch of purchases.

You really like patronising people?

[fatboy]

can't say i have any problems with any individual members of staff. theres guys have to put up the same shitty questions everyday, noobs coming in thinking they know everything and want to play all the expensive guitars. the novelty of working in a guitar shop probably wears off pretty quick. still no excuse leaving customers waiting to pay for something while taking on a new customer

[framheim]

can't say i have any problems with any individual members of staff. theres guys have to put up the same shitty questions everyday, noobs coming in thinking they know everything and want to play all the expensive guitars. the novelty of working in a guitar shop probably wears off pretty quick. still no excuse leaving customers waiting to pay for something while taking on a new customer

it's not a tough job. if all they have to worry about is the odd stupid question and some young kid thinking he's ace then they're doing pretty well. retail is all about customer service, there is nothing more important in that industry and clearly something is up if so many local musicians have experienced bad customer service in a local guitar shop. the people of this board should be the most loyal core customers for them, they shouldn't push them away.

i'd like to say though, i've not had any issues with r&b and have found them to be pretty helpful over the years, but i don't buy much guitar stuff. no excuse for the op's gripe though, not much of the other stuff.

[emergency72]

I've never been too comfortable with the owner of that shop, he strikes me as the sort of guy who would rather bolt the doors forever than let anyone in the place, but he seems to excel at selling shite to upper middle class business types who are coming in to buy a guitar for their 14 year old son that can't play worth a shit but will play in a band with a backline that would put Metallica to shame.... "bald guy with glasses" (Steve) was the friendliest one there and took an interest in helping you out and appreciated that people like to hang out in music shops when they play in bands.....I bought my amp from R&B which I paid fucking good money for, they delivered it to me a few days later in broken condition so it had to go straight back to get repaired and I waited 2 months to get it after numerous stories of "our guy has it completely in bits" "just waiting on some parts" "what guitar amp?"

[britheguy]

it's not a tough job. if all they have to worry about is the odd stupid question and some young kid thinking he's ace then they're doing pretty well. retail is all about customer service, there is nothing more important in that industry and clearly something is up if so many local musicians have experienced bad customer service in a local guitar shop. the people of this board should be the most loyal core customers for them, they shouldn't push them away.

i'd like to say though, i've not had any issues with r&b and have found them to be pretty helpful over the years, but i don't buy much guitar stuff. no excuse for the op's gripe though, not much of the other stuff.

I suppose that's a fair point, however I think that it would get annoying if people (probably the same ones) kept coming in and asking to try out guitars with no intention of buying it. At the end of the day those guitars are stock and if they get damaged, or pickguards scratched etc, then other customers come in and try to get money off.

I am usually the type of person who thinks "the customer is always right" but when it comes to people pawing over a 1k guitar just so they can show off to their mates that they can play some super fancy lick....nah!! I can't remember the last time I was in Currys and someone emptied their weeks washing in the new top of the range Hotpoint.

[Monster Zero]

can't say i have any problems with any individual members of staff. theres guys have to put up the same shitty questions everyday, noobs coming in thinking they know everything and want to play all the expensive guitars. the novelty of working in a guitar shop probably wears off pretty quick. still no excuse leaving customers waiting to pay for something while taking on a new customer

So 'noob' guitar players aren't supposed to darken the doors of R&B? What, is it hallowed ground only fit for the 'legends' of Aberdeen guitar widdly-doo?

What a lot of pish.

The fact is that every shop should be showing a good level of customer service regardless of whether they are buying first guitar or are indeed Aberdeen's answer to whatever guitar player is ace these days.

[waltz]

theres guys have to put up the same shitty questions everyday

Most jobs have the same questions every day, like "Can you do these accounts please?" or "Can you stack the broccoli?" or "How much would that cost, because my wife won't do that?".

Silly argument. Also, guitar 'noobs': where else are they going to go? How else are they going to learn?

[Cabbage]

I always found RnB was really helpful, got a bargain tech 21 from them 9 years ago now and its still rocking (holy shit it was even bought for me by my dad!! I shall go chastise myself accordingly...)

Last time I was in I was looking to get a guitar repaired but the guys told me a website where I could get the bits and the best way to sort the problem! Sorted!

"How much would that cost, because my wife won't do that?"

Ah, been there as well dude, booze is usually the cheaper option....

[waltz]

Ah, been there as well dude, booze is usually the cheaper option....

It's a metaphorical wife. Not even my metaphorical wife will have sex with me. BRB, buying rope.

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

Bill was all right too, he still there? Andy Watson was coolio too, and Alan in the Belmont St shop c.1987-cool as fuck, ultra helpful, all good. Bring back Clinkscales.

[Alan Cynic]

I helped paint the ceiling of the Belmont St shop before it opened.

[Graeme]

To make matters worse they won't even let you puy up posters anymore. A bit of a growing trend!

[Alan Cynic]

I think they were stopping posters because the front of the shop was getting painted...they let me put one up last week,

[Graeme]

I think they were stopping posters because the front of the shop was getting painted...they let me put one up last week,

I don't have any problem with them then!

[HateEvent]

Yeah it was just until the place got a new lick of paint.

Anywhere but the glass for the posters

[fatboy]

why would it need repainted it covered in posters

surely the posters would defend the painted surface from the elements

[Monk Rocker]

I've not had any problem with R&B at all. I've been going there since they had the Inverness shop, which was where I first met Steve. TBH if it wasn't for R&B/Steve I'd probably not have stuck with playing guitar. He knew fine in Inverness I had no intention of buying the Kramer guitars that I always wanted to try out, or the distortion pedals, or the JCM800's!!!

Even in recent times, I've found them really helpful, but now when I try out the 1k+ bass it is with the intention of buying it!

When my band get a record deal R&B, and especially Steve will be getting a mention in the inlay notes:-)

[oxbow lake]

Folk and all that

Ross the minge tingler (?) has always been straight with me and helpful as the rest are

I've had the same issue with strings. Self tuning gold covered breatable or whatever they are at 30 for acoustics break all the time mid gig and the cheaper are much better. So advice isn't always right but they feel it is. Fine

But biggest issue for me is they don't have the luthier anymore so it's jimmy moon in Glasgow for any repairs.

But Ross put in petzoie thingy on my Martin. Real neat job and it sounded perfect.

All in I can put up with opinions but you don't have to take them.

[Guest Gladstone]

I've not spent an enormous amount of time in R&B to be honest, but when I've been there, staff have been friendly and helpful on the whole. I bought my bass amp from them and was helped by the guy with long ginger hair (think he's Sloth on here), who showed me a few different amps and what they did etc. Let me use any bass off the wall I wanted to try the amps out.

That's my only real experience of the place though - I don't tend to hang out in music shops particularly often. I've spent more time in Bruce Millers just because it's a bit handier to be honest and have bought two bass guitars and various other bits and pieces out of there. The staff in there seem more approachable and appear more helpful if that makes sense. Ramsay gave me a good 5 minute talk on bass strings once. All for the sake of 20 or whatever. That's proper customer service. And Phil Alkaline spent time with me talking about cables when I didn't have a clue, and helping me find CDs etc. Small sales, money wise, but customers are customers and should always be given as much help as possible because if (for example) I'm in buying bass strings, it figures that I probably play bass guitar, and may want a new bass guitar or new bass amp at some point...

[Lost Persona]

Don't visit Aberdeen often but last time I was up (2 weeks ago) I popped in to see what the craic was in RnB... None of the shops assistants spent even a millisecond verifying they had a potential customer in the shop. Now I don't mean to be rude, it may well have been an isolated incident, but I worked in a music shop not unsimilar to RnB in size and stock for 2 years and my boss would have shit a fire breathing dragon if we ignored customers. Most of our customers were return sales because, lo and behold, speaking to someone about gear and giving them honest recommendations (not selling shit that's useless to them at the time) meant they trusted us as a guide almost, and knew paying the extra tenner was worth the face to face communication and the guarantee that we could help if there was any real issue.

I don't mean to preach or to rant, but our store was the same size roughly and only had 4 staff including the boss who was interested in customers. There was (and still is when I pop in for strings or a cuppa) an air of respect and homeliness almost, exactly how the music community should be!

Fingers crossed OP gets his amp fixed 'cos I know I would hit the fucking roof if some dumbass fucked my amp then refused liability after wrongly repairing something not specified then denied all liability of the amps degenerate condition. As far as I'm concerned, as soon as you open that amp up it's your fucking responsibility to return it in WORKING SATISFACTORY CONDITION to the owner. Gah!

[Guest idol_wild]

Don't visit Aberdeen often but last time I was up (2 weeks ago) I popped in to see what the craic was in RnB... None of the shops assistants spent even a millisecond verifying they had a potential customer in the shop. Now I don't mean to be rude, it may well have been an isolated incident, but I worked in a music shop not unsimilar to RnB in size and stock for 2 years and my boss would have shit a fire breathing dragon if we ignored customers. Most of our customers were return sales because, lo and behold, speaking to someone about gear and giving them honest recommendations (not selling shit that's useless to them at the time) meant they trusted us as a guide almost, and knew paying the extra tenner was worth the face to face communication and the guarantee that we could help if there was any real issue.

Are you suggesting that when you enter the shop, you want staff to acknowledge you and approach you asking if you want assistance?

Because that's the last thing I want when I go into a shop. If I want assistance from staff, I ask for it.

[ca_gere]

Are you suggesting that when you enter the shop, you want staff to acknowledge you and approach you asking if you want assistance?

Because that's the last thing I want when I go into a shop. If I want assistance from staff, I ask for it.

Acknowledgment is nice. A wee hello and such. But, yeah I hate that 'can I help you' crap.