The Construct

This is in line with my previous post. I love Raon (formerly called such, now it’s G. Puyat St.) and Quaipo for the assortment of cheap stuff you could buy there (Yup, that includes, in the words of the hawker, “Bago, mainit, pamapa-init, ser!” porno DVDs ). I love Raon because of the stretch of pro-audio stores located there. As for any commercial area, there are great ones, there are sucky ones.

Okay, it doesn’t take much to piss me off. But Sanjun music store can really piss anyone off with such attitudes they give to a customer. Here’s the anecdote:

So were looking for a low wattage guitar amp. They’ve got the Boston Engineering M6 displayed by their window so what the heck, we decided to ask inside. They’ve got this bunch of attendants who were huddled in corner.

Attendant: Ano yon? (What are you looking for?)
Moi: May guitar amps kayo? (Do you have guitar amps?)
Attendant: Andun, sir! (Over there.) *Points at their guitar amps by the window* Ilang watts? (What wattage?)
Moi: Mababa lang, mga 10-20 watts. (Just low ones, around 10-20 watts.)

One guy made the remark, “10 watts?” I thought, “The fug he cares, 10 watts is all we needed.” I’ve sensed there that this fug’s a jerk.

So there was this fattish guy (the Fug) who was standing there, texting on his cellphone. So I asked him how much was the BE M6 amp. But he just stood there, taking his sweet time texting. Well I was with my sister and her friend then so I refrained from engaging him in a lecture on customer service. ‘Cause bottom line is that they sucked.

Finally the guy kept away his cellphone and rudely asked “Ano yon?” (What was it?) Now that has got to be the rudest thing I’ve heard that day. I probably asked him three times how much the amp was.

The Fug: Yan? 3.8K. (That? 3.8K.)
Moi: Pwede ba i-test? (Can we test it?)
The Fug: Kung sigurado lang na bibilin. (If you’re buying it.)
Sis: We don’t need this shit. Let’s go.
Moi: *To the Fug* Ampanget ng customer service niyo. (Your customer service sucks!)

I was in no mood for a fight then ’cause I really wanted to have a grand time testing guitars and amps so I just let it slide then. And we left the store and bought an amp at a different store.

This time, the store has a very great attendant who let us test the equipment thoroughly. So props and free publicity for Manila Audiostore and Marvin (who should be labeled as a company asset for being very accommodating). We got the amp with big discounts (which led us to believe that even Sanjun’s pricing sucks).

So for Sanjun, your customer service better shapes up. ‘Cause as it is, even if you carry great brands, with people (maybe the Fug’s even the manager) like that, they’ll lose sales. They don’t deserve our hard-earned bucks. Even if 3.8K’s a relatively small amount, no customer deserves being dissed like that.

PS. Props too for Personna Music and A. Salonga Music for being friendly and courteous.

Check out these other posts:

1. Computer store salesmanship goes a long way
2. More on Boston Engineering guitar effects
3. Boston Engineering guitar effects and audio stuff
4. Why buy a second-hand guitar
5. Things to ask a seller of a second-hand guitar