middleaudio.com

clinton wrote:geesh man, it's a music store, it's not like they knocked up your sister or something.

No, you're right. I probably wouldn't care about that.

clinton.

the haiti crack, was to bring to light that there are far bigger problems for people in the world then, not being able to consume some goods.

but, your dislike of my "crack" is duly noted.

jammy jamz wrote:clinton.

the haiti crack, was to bring to light that there are far bigger problems for people in the world then, not being able to consume some goods.

but, your dislike of my "crack" is duly noted.

For the record, I got your meaning of the Haiti "crack", and see no poor taste in it whatsoever.

...and not because I do know you.

clinton's profile thingy wrote: bronze member

Going back to the tanning salon, I see.

Chuck Teed wrote:

clinton profile thingy wrote: bronze member

Going back to the tanning salon, I see.

Finally got to read this thread (internet works again)... Jumpins. I bet the forum got a lot of hits after that rant...

Chuck Teed wrote:

clinton's profile thingy wrote: bronze member

Going back to the tanning salon, I see.

quit looking at my member Teed.

clinton wrote:

Chuck Teed wrote:

clinton's profile thingy wrote: bronze member

Going back to the tanning salon, I see.

quit looking at my member Teed.

He's just jealous Clint.... "Newbie"

couple more posts, and i think imma have a bronze member too.

uh.

i think this will be my last post.

Apparently if you stay on this forum long enough you end up with a bronze member. Which threads should I avoid in order to be spared of this horrible affliction?

P.S. Sarah insisted I use an emoticon when replying in this thread. She's really into them, I guess.

P.P.S. The blue one is her favorite.

jammy jamz wrote:couple more posts, and i think imma have a bronze member too.

uh.

i think this will be my last post.

hey it turns out I DO know you in real life. NEAT!!!

so yea,

as it turns out, my member is bronze now

meh, i'll get used to it i guess.

if it goes platinum, maybe it'll be worth something....ah, who am i kidding.

dont hate me cuz i think you're beautiful clinton.

jammy jamz wrote:so yea,

as it turns out, my member is bronze now

meh, i'll get used to it i guess.

if it goes platinum, maybe it'll be worth something....ah, who am i kidding.

dont hate me cuz i think you're beautiful clinton.

Man, I wish I had a bronze member. All I have is a Matt Benoit. What the hell good is that going to do me?

Chuck Teed wrote:

clinton's profile thingy wrote: bronze member

Going back to the tanning salon, I see.

Nice to see you on here Chuck. Don't be a stranger, it's been too long since we've seen you around these parts.

Wow, I justed noticed that 1230 people have viewed this thread so far in 11 days. This is the most popular thread we've had on this site ever perhaps.

yes

good job matty. not everyone would have the .... backbone, to voice a concern about a local business, and then back up your complaints, with point form experiences.

you felt that it needed to be said, and, now, its being discussed.

so, my hats off to you fella. sometimes change has to come with uncomfortable things first.

and here's hoping the problems you've experienced will be rectified.

Hahahaha, yeah. Here's hoping...

It took me at least an hour to completely read through this thread. And then re-read some of the comments. For the record I’m a newbie – so I guess that makes my colour green –but give me a few weeks and we’ll see.

First I want to say I am not a musician, nor do I have any musical experience what so ever – other than a fine appreciation for it and having grown up with and around musicians and performers. I do however have the privilege to work with musicians and perfromers.

For the record. I am not speaking on behalf of my place of business, or for anyone that works in it. These are simply my personal observations and feelings about this entire matter.

Over the last five years had many opportunities to deal with Musicstop/Long & McQuade, and I want to say that I truly agree with what Steve Zaat has said about his employees enjoying their work and wanting to make a difference. I have never been treated badly or disrespectfully by any of the staff.

Now I want to put this into perspective. I don’t BUY very often. So the bulk of my experience is with the rental side of the business. That being said I think the ultimate discussion here focuses around customer service and satisfaction. So whether buying or renting the issues remain the same.

The staff have always been helpful, not making me feel like an idiot because my terminology is terrible or don’t quite know what I need. So I don’t have any complaints about this aspect.

Here is what I can say. Malcolm highlighted CONSISTENCY and its importance.
I can say that renting from them is consistently terrible. Without exaggeration I can say that in five years I have never had a easy or accurate rental from them. These are the issues I have encountered:

1.) Incomplete rentals – key components are always missing
2.) Reservations – Long & McQuade stopped reserving gear in advance and moved to a first come first serve basis – no exceptions.
3.) Long waits – I have spent as long as and hour standing at the store waiting for them to put my rental together, because it's first come first serve – so no one gets it ready in advance.
4.) No delivery. Because of our rental requests consistently not being filled accurately, we have had to resort to sending managers out to pick up the gear and ensure nothing gets missed. Then we have to hire a delivery service to get it to the venue. Inconvenient and time consuming.
5.) Equipment not working – on more than one occasion we get gear that has been damaged by a previous renter – obviously when checked back in no one has tested it. And not once have they ever offered to bring us the replacement or missing component – so then we have to drive out AGAIN! More inconvenience!

I could go on but I think you get the point. Now here is the kicker. Each time I make a complaint or have to go back to store to straighten something out the staff are helpful and apologetic. But they have no reason as to WHY it happened. What the standard story seems to be is that Long & McQuade aren’t in the business of renting they are in the business of selling. The rates are cheap as a way to encourage musicians to buy. Fine I understand that concept. However at this point I would be willing to pay more if it meant I was saved all of the hassles that accompanies this process. We deal with professional artists every day. It is absolutely embarrassing to have to postpone sound checks to run to Long and McQuade because of a screw up on their end.

So my point – because I do have one, is simply this: the staff at Long & McQuade want to help. They want to do a good job. They want to enrich the lives of others. I really believe this! Steve talked about purchasing your first instrument –and what an awesome experience it was. The first step. He is right. But service goes past that first hook. You have to retain your customers past the first big purchase.

At the end of the day I think the answer is simply this – it’s not a staff problem. It’s a management problem. Does it go as high as the corporate level? I can’t say for sure. My observation is simply that the accounting system for inventory and rentals is flawed. Or perhaps the staff have never been given the proper training as to how to effectively use it. But if orders for product are never placed and the mistake isn’t discovered until you go to pick it up three weeks later or rental orders are not complete there are balls being dropped somewhere.

This is such an easy fix. Procedures create order! With a well working system in place the staff have the tools they need to serve their clients to the best of their abilities and the customers always have recourse. Everyone wins.

Mike was that worth 5 cents?

Crazy Lady wrote:So my point – because I do have one, is simply this: the staff at Long & McQuade want to help. They want to do a good job. They want to enrich the lives of others. I really believe this! Steve talked about purchasing your first instrument –and what an awesome experience it was. The first step. He is right. But service goes past that first hook. You have to retain your customers past the first big purchase.

At the end of the day I think the answer is simply this – it’s not a staff problem. It’s a management problem. Does it go as high as the corporate level? I can’t say for sure. My observation is simply that the accounting system for inventory and rentals is flawed. Or perhaps the staff have never been given the proper training as to how to effectively use it. But if orders for product are never placed and the mistake isn’t discovered until you go to pick it up three weeks later or rental orders are not complete there are balls being dropped somewhere.

Really well put and I've emphasized the parts that I feel really need to be outlined here. But overall your entire post really makes sense on a fundamental level.

I normally get friendly service, with a couple of very rare exceptions. It's just that things seem to go wrong a lot. Now again you are right: Maybe it's not a local management issue, maybe it's on a corporate level but something, somewhere doesn't seem to work fundamentally.

I am not impressed with the specific naming of staff in this "public" forum. I would consider the slander to be uncalled for, unprofessional and hopefully it is not resulting in anyone having any panic attacks at work or nervous episodes while pondering why some people would be so uncouth as to be so specific. This is a small community that we live in and we should try to have each others backs a little bit and not sweat the small stuff. If the store is not to your satisfaction, shop elsewhere ... I consider myself to be a senior member of the Saint John "music scene" and I am ashamed of the mud slinging that is being condoned on this site. I personally have sided to protect certain people from public scrutiny and slander in order to avoid this type of thing, some of those people will read this. When anyone from this forum produces a perfect track record of excellence then you will be aforded the right to rip and tear at the personalities at L&M at your liesure ... until then, loosen up a bit, peoples "lively-hoods" are at stake.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean Roberts

Dean,

Your comments are part of the balance that is a public forum. The only content that I would consider to have been truly unnecessarily inflammatory has been removed by the poster himself. All comments, positive and negative stand on their own merits and are available for anyone bored enough to read this puny little online community. If people disagree with the content or tone of the posting here, they are welcome to join in and respond as you have, or contact any of the moderators or myself directly. Most comments that I have privately received indicate that Matt's concerns have real merit, some from people directly involved in the situation being discussed here.

streebor wrote:If the store is not to your satisfaction, shop elsewhere

I think the owners and senior staff of L&M have shown, and would disagree with your sentiment.

streebor wrote:When anyone from this forum produces a perfect track record of excellence then you will be aforded the right to rip and tear at the personalities at L&M at your liesure ... until then, loosen up a bit, peoples "lively-hoods" are at stake.

If perfection were a requirement for debate or commentary, none of us would be involved at any level. Fortunately for all, that is not the case.

I also appreciate Matt revisiting some of his posts and removing some details that were unnecessary to demonstrate his point. I know he was second guessing his original actions, and Dean's comments sealed his opinion.

Good on you Matt.

There is more here than witty dialogue and casual banter ... as well as some unsatisfactory service from L&M. It is about the "personal" attacks and the feelings of the people that are reading this foolishness ... I truly thought that you would see that component of my post as the prime mover. It isn't very funny when real people are singled out in this type of manner. You will no longer hear from me ... my opinion is stated[/list]

Hey Dean, I've known you long enough to know that you are as respectable a person as I've likely ever met. Whenever you talk I listen and I've always learned a great deal from you over the years. There is none more senior in this community in my opinion.

streebor wrote:I am not impressed with the specific naming of staff in this "public" forum.

I've read back and I must say that I agree with you, and I've edited my post to reflect that I now realize that in hindsight I should have been more careful in that regard. However that was a really small part of a much bigger issue and I wouldn't call it slander per se.

As for posts made by others, there was certainly a point where this thread went sideways. But neither Malcolm or I condoned it, and I personally called the poster about it.

streebor wrote:I personally have sided to protect certain people from public scrutiny and slander in order to avoid this type of thing, some of those people will read this.

I respect your stand on this. Again, you have and will always have my respect. You are one of the few people I know who's word is stronger than anything. However I will stand by everything else I've said.

I said that there would be nothing more from streebor however, you gotta give credit where it is due. Matt, I am not trying to brief anyone on social ettiqutte, that is not my place. I just thought that some of the recent posts were a bit aggressive and I HAD to say something. I am glad that you feel the same way, I was truly hoping that you would not respond negatively. I know and understand the frustrations that you have had with L&M, I have had a few experiences of my own. I have since rectified my concerns with management and we have moved on in a positive direction. I now know what I have to do to get the service that I wish and they know what to expect when I walk up to the counter and I am fine with that. The service industry is at an all time low in a lot of respects ... at least the L&M gang are improving as a team and hopefully the best is yet to come. I am now officially moving on from this post ... thanks for taking the time to consider my thoughts ... "There is a fine line between a man standing on the shore fishing and a man simply standing on the shore"