Topic: Your Thoughts on Philippine Audio Stores?

[levi]

Reposting for audio_tyro,

 

I've known the guys in Upscale Audio Makati for like more than five years already (Den, Nani, Dominic, Jered, Au). I bought some of my earlier HT stuff there (Velodyne VA1012 sub, Onkyo receiver, NHT speakers, Infinity center channel, etc.) and I beg to disagree to some comments against them posted a few weeks back. They are really nice persons once you know them well, polite and very accomodating. But remember, they are humans. They are not robots. Maybe you just caught them in a bad time. Maybe the guy has some little problems, or probably before you came in - they might have talked to some really nasty filthy morons who sneered at their products. These Upscale Audio sales guys, employed in that store for many years now, I am convinced of their loyalty to their employer and to the brands they carry as well that it probably destroys their mode if you talk bad about their products.

So perhaps, if you still consider yourself a Christian, try to be a little more considerate to these store sales persons (and to any store sales guys), they have to stay in that store meeting all sorts of people (good and bad, guwapo, pangit, maganda, mabango, mabaho, etc.). Just imagine, if Jesus Christ comes in to that store, you think He will go out as pissed off as you had been? Come on, the Lord just gave you financial blessings so you can afford your material whims (instead of spiritual, the most important) and now you complain a lot?

Next time you go in there and still you think you're not getting the assistance that you need, tell them up front "Pare, tulungan mo ako ng maayos". I am sure they will hear you. I think it's only a matter of communications problem, that's all.

[Jick]

Reposting for audio_tyro,

 

I've known the guys in Upscale Audio Makati for like more than five years already (Den, Nani, Dominic, Jered, Au). I bought some of my earlier HT stuff there (Velodyne VA1012 sub, Onkyo receiver, NHT speakers, Infinity center channel, etc.) and I beg to disagree to some comments against them posted a few weeks back. They are really nice persons once you know them well, polite and very accomodating. But remember, they are humans. They are not robots. Maybe you just caught them in a bad time. Maybe the guy has some little problems, or probably before you came in - they might have talked to some really nasty filthy morons who sneered at their products. These Upscale Audio sales guys, employed in that store for many years now, I am convinced of their loyalty to their employer and to the brands they carry as well that it probably destroys their mode if you talk bad about their products.

So perhaps, if you still consider yourself a Christian, try to be a little more considerate to these store sales persons (and to any store sales guys), they have to stay in that store meeting all sorts of people (good and bad, guwapo, pangit, maganda, mabango, mabaho, etc.). Just imagine, if Jesus Christ comes in to that store, you think He will go out as pissed off as you had been? Come on, the Lord just gave you financial blessings so you can afford your material whims (instead of spiritual, the most important) and now you complain a lot?

Next time you go in there and still you think you're not getting the assistance that you need, tell them up front "Pare, tulungan mo ako ng maayos". I am sure they will hear you. I think it's only a matter of communications problem, that's all.

That's all rubbish.  It's their job to treat customers right.  It is of no moment that they had a bad day or not.  A judge won't givea guilty verdict just because he had a bad fight with his wife the night he wanted to decide the case.  You'll never see a McDo or Jollibee employee not serve you with a smile and with courtest although they are just normal human beings with normal struggles in lives.  This isn't about them being human.  That is a given.  This is about professionalism. Miscommunication can hardly be the cause since no communication lines were open to begin with and it supposed to be the salesman who will open the communication lines.  Maybe its just because they have been there long enough they have started to be lax, feeling some job security.  It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  On the good side, the people in Upscale Megamall seem to be really nice.

Jovi

[MeowPao]

I kinda agree with Jick here. It is not an excuse if they had a bad day.

Should we be the ones to sort of 'beg' them to sell us their stuff? Who's the customer anyway?

There are other stores that may have better equipment AND excellent service.

This is how I look at it, as a consumer: if they treat me this bad the first time I was there at their store, what the more after I do business with them?

Anyway, the people in the Upscale branch at Park Square has treated me ok naman, but nothing extraordinary. They always seem to look tired and bored though. But the people over at the Megamall branch are very nice.   (I do hope the owners of Upscale are reading this thread).

[afterglow]

The attitude that the sales people of some stores exhibit gives me the impression that they don't need my business.  In this case, I'm more than happy to oblige by spending my money elsewhere.  I hope that there are more people like me who are willing to spend more to get better service because companies with good service deserve to be rewarded.  Stores will not exert any effort to improve their service if people continue to buy from them regardless of the attitude of their sales staff.  Hit 'em where it counts...  give your business to their competitor and let 'em know about it.

The main problem in the Philippines is that we are still very product-oriented.  Because of this, retailers have an easy time selling preferred products even though they give crappy service.  This attitude would probably have been correct in the past when there was a wide gap between "good" and "bad" products.  Now, however, there has been a general improvement in the quality of products and the difference in quality between what is considered the best and second best may be slight or none at all.  In these cases, service should be the deciding factor.

Also, people who let their 'bad days' affect their work should probably not be in the front lines.  Perhaps they should take a job in research or be the one behind the bowling alley setting up the pins.

[cvthunder]

HYPERAUDIO

Location is not so good but he is really accomodating and his products are great and is reasonably priced.  No sales pressure.  Will definitely buy from him.

Very near my place

ARCHITECTURAL AUDIO

Really nice location!  Very friendly and accomodating.  A wide variety of stuff is in there. No sales pressure, they even said that I could inform them if I have ever purchased another product!  Will definitely buy from them.

AMEN! I bought from this guys too and will definitely buy again

exactly the same comment here!  though i haven't bought any equipment from hyperaudio, i get most of my audio cds from him.  if i ever decide to get anything that either of them carry, i will definitely buy it from them.  i have such confidence and trust at hyperaudio and the guys at architectural audio.

[notaku]

here's commentary on two other stores, not much discussed by prev. posts:

CERATEC
- in Megamall, opposite end from Upscale
- Art Audio, Rotel (incl. DVD), AMC (tubes!), Mirage, and of course Ceratec, German "lifestyle"(?) speakers, though more T+A "Talis" than B&O
- surprising & regularly updated collection of audiophile CD's, XRCD & Chesky esp.
- strengths:  you get to meet the proprietor straight away, and Mr. Ybanez is VERY well-informed and accomodating - plus you get to hear those Art Audio tubes, plus you'll often meet & exchange notes with some expats in there
- weakness:  this is just me personally:  Ceratecs sound fantastic, better than "you are there", - "they are HERE"! i kid you not, i'm tempted, but, man, Sonus Faber's just down the hall, these are how real speakers should LOOK - right?

FOCAL
- down Connecticut St., beside Unimart in GHills
- JM Lab, YBA, Marantz, harman-kardon, JBL, infinity (if it's harman group, it's there), nakamichi, denon - whew!
- tons of DVDs, CDs, & coffee
- strengths:  IMHO the BEST store in terms of presentation, aside from the decor it's well-lit, spacious (a problem elsewhere), you can sit down at the cafe, no pressure, and a super demo room (personally i think the JM Lab 'Utopias are the best speakers in town, they kick Sonus butt)
- weakness:  well, i'm 23 - and the staff's my age, they're very nice but we sometimes seem equally ignorant when it comes to some questions

of course i'm posting this 'coz i'm interested in their products, i need yer opinions so dat da hard-earned dough doesn't become a hard-learned "doh!" - thanks!

[afterglow]

With Focal, don't even bother talking to the sales people.  Look for the manager, Keith, or better yet look for one of the owners, Mickey or Hans.  If you're lucky, you might even bump into the local distributor of Marantz or the Harman group since they hang out there.

[Philander]

Tanong lang..

I inquire a certain product at YUPANGCO, particulartly the Yamaha Receivers 420,430,520,530 and the 620.

What intrigues me is, when I asked the prices of these receiver, I was shocked!

Here are the prices:

420   : P 21, 990
520   : P 26, 990
620   : P 34, 990
*30   : Wala pa silang handle ng newer models
 

I called again, baka kasi yung naquote saking price ay may package na NSP 220 speaker system.
But, wala. The price is solely for the receiver itself. I asked them, na  para yatang ang mahal, considering na ang *20 series ay pa-phase out na because of the newer *30 series.

They say na original from Japan daw yung product nila.
Again, anong pagkakaiba nung product nila, na they claiming it was made from Japan while the other stores are selling at a huge price difference, generally lower (the price of the 420 nowadays are at 14K, while the 520 are at about 20K)??

Why are they pricing that much?
 

Anyway, their contact nos is 899-9595.

[levi]

IMHO, because Yupangco is the distributor. It is a way to protect their retailers. No one would sell their product if they will compete with them.  

Levi

[Jick]

I just came from Audio Visual Drivers International today.  I met a salesman named Herman.  He is easily the nicest salesman I have had the pleasure of knowing and he is very knowledgable and accomodating.  Even if you don't show the slightest inkling to buying, he will give you a comprehensive demo and create the demand there and then for you - after all it will just impress you and make you wish you could have a system like that.  No pressure at all to buy.

Jovi

[audio_tyro]

Reposting for audio_tyro,

 

I've known the guys in Upscale Audio Makati for like more than five years already (Den, Nani, Dominic, Jered, Au). I bought some of my earlier HT stuff there (Velodyne VA1012 sub, Onkyo receiver, NHT speakers, Infinity center channel, etc.) and I beg to disagree to some comments against them posted a few weeks back. They are really nice persons once you know them well, polite and very accomodating. But remember, they are humans. They are not robots. Maybe you just caught them in a bad time. Maybe the guy has some little problems, or probably before you came in - they might have talked to some really nasty filthy morons who sneered at their products. These Upscale Audio sales guys, employed in that store for many years now, I am convinced of their loyalty to their employer and to the brands they carry as well that it probably destroys their mode if you talk bad about their products.

So perhaps, if you still consider yourself a Christian, try to be a little more considerate to these store sales persons (and to any store sales guys), they have to stay in that store meeting all sorts of people (good and bad, guwapo, pangit, maganda, mabango, mabaho, etc.). Just imagine, if Jesus Christ comes in to that store, you think He will go out as pissed off as you had been? Come on, the Lord just gave you financial blessings so you can afford your material whims (instead of spiritual, the most important) and now you complain a lot?

Next time you go in there and still you think you're not getting the assistance that you need, tell them up front "Pare, tulungan mo ako ng maayos". I am sure they will hear you. I think it's only a matter of communications problem, that's all.

That's all rubbish.  It's their job to treat customers right.  It is of no moment that they had a bad day or not.  A judge won't givea guilty verdict just because he had a bad fight with his wife the night he wanted to decide the case.  You'll never see a McDo or Jollibee employee not serve you with a smile and with courtest although they are just normal human beings with normal struggles in lives.  This isn't about them being human.  That is a given.  This is about professionalism. Miscommunication can hardly be the cause since no communication lines were open to begin with and it supposed to be the salesman who will open the communication lines.  Maybe its just because they have been there long enough they have started to be lax, feeling some job security.  It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  On the good side, the people in Upscale Megamall seem to be really nice.

Jovi

Well, perhaps the sales reps at Upscale Audio could be guilty of playing favoritism then because ever since my first visit there sometime in 1995 (at their old location), they already treated me kindly and even up to now. It's probably a matter of approach.

Last Thursday, I bought a Sonus Faber Concertino Home there, which I asked them to reserved for me since Sunday without leaving any downpayment. That's professionalism.

[Jick]

Anyone been to Audio Visual Drivers International?

Well, I have been there and even if I'm just young at 24, and wearing
beat up jeans and a t-shirt, their sales guy really treated me with a
lot of courstesy. He was also very knowledgable. His name is Hernan.

First, he let me and my cousin sit in their room for a demo of their
home theater. Then he asked our room dimensions so he could give us
recommendations on how to make it sound as great as their demo room.
Since we didn't have the room dimensions on hand, he told us to fax
it and gave us his card. The next day I called him and verbally gave
him my room dimensions and proposed furnishings. Two days later, I
went back, and he had a autocad print out with all the possible room
resonances and peaks, the angles and optimal distances, He let me
sit with him in the table and we discussed my room as he gave me a
very detailed explanation of in his diagrams. He even asked me if I
wanted anything to eat.

When I was about to leave, he asked me where I was off to. I said I
would go eat lunch. Since I am more of a Megamall and Rockwell kinda
guy, I really don't know much about Shangrila, so he asked what
cuisine I liked and tried to make recommendations. Is this customer
service or what?

After I had lunch, I went back to the store, and Hernan gave me a
clean print out of my room diagram because the one I had was full of
his handwritten notes. He also gave me a catalogue of their Energy
stuff.

Now here's the rub, I have made no plans yet to buy anything from
them. Yet they treated me like a king and have already helped me
tremendously with my room, even if I didn't look like someone old
enough or dressed well-enough to buy their gear. And during the
whole time, there was no pressure to buy, we were discussing more
about room resonances and speaker placements, and not once did we
discuss the merits of the speaker lines they carry.

They are really top-notch class A people there in AVDI, unlike other
audio stores I would rather not name. I have the utmost respect for
the people in AVDI especially Hernan, and if you manage to pass by
there please ask for him to help you and tell him I (Jovi) have been
raving tremendously about his service. When the time is right, I
will definitely buy from them.

I strongly recommend you all pay them a visit and tell them Jovi sent
you.

Jovi

[arnoldc]

exactly the point audio_tyro, namimili ng customer yang upscale audio na yan. i can afford a sonus faber concertino home, but what did they do to me? ha? they treated me like rubbish, like someone who is not capable of spending, like someone who is not there. Den is obviously inis in the kind of questions i asked him, which is clearly shown is his face.  As if his time putting those cardboard under the speaker stand, or rearranging something is bothered by my mere presence in their store.  I am already being insulted, in my face, so don't use the word christian here.  Religion has nothing to do with how they treat people not like you. i know what customer service is, and i expect to be treated like a customer. sobra ba yung mga tanong ko, bobo ba yung mga tanong ko to warrant treating me like that? eh plastic pala yang Den na yan eh. Pag di type ang kara mo, ang itsura mo, ang suot mo walang panahon sa iyo. Yung wala syang panahon, papatawarin ko, pero yung hindi na nga nakatingin sa iyo, hindi ka na nga pinapansin, sasabihan ka pa na iba iba ang tinuturo mo, as if kasalanan mo pa na hindi sya paying attention to you is not acceptable to me.

your definition of professionalism is rubbish! eh ang dami mong nang nabili sa kanila. that's how they measure people. ako wala pang nabili sa architectural audio, but am i treated like a human being. when i auditioned the energy connoisseur at advi, i was treated like a human being. THAT IS PROFESSIONALISM.

Reposting for audio_tyro,

 

I've known the guys in Upscale Audio Makati for like more than five years already (Den, Nani, Dominic, Jered, Au). I bought some of my earlier HT stuff there (Velodyne VA1012 sub, Onkyo receiver, NHT speakers, Infinity center channel, etc.) and I beg to disagree to some comments against them posted a few weeks back. They are really nice persons once you know them well, polite and very accomodating. But remember, they are humans. They are not robots. Maybe you just caught them in a bad time. Maybe the guy has some little problems, or probably before you came in - they might have talked to some really nasty filthy morons who sneered at their products. These Upscale Audio sales guys, employed in that store for many years now, I am convinced of their loyalty to their employer and to the brands they carry as well that it probably destroys their mode if you talk bad about their products.

So perhaps, if you still consider yourself a Christian, try to be a little more considerate to these store sales persons (and to any store sales guys), they have to stay in that store meeting all sorts of people (good and bad, guwapo, pangit, maganda, mabango, mabaho, etc.). Just imagine, if Jesus Christ comes in to that store, you think He will go out as pissed off as you had been? Come on, the Lord just gave you financial blessings so you can afford your material whims (instead of spiritual, the most important) and now you complain a lot?

Next time you go in there and still you think you're not getting the assistance that you need, tell them up front "Pare, tulungan mo ako ng maayos". I am sure they will hear you. I think it's only a matter of communications problem, that's all.

That's all rubbish.  It's their job to treat customers right.  It is of no moment that they had a bad day or not.  A judge won't givea guilty verdict just because he had a bad fight with his wife the night he wanted to decide the case.  You'll never see a McDo or Jollibee employee not serve you with a smile and with courtest although they are just normal human beings with normal struggles in lives.  This isn't about them being human.  That is a given.  This is about professionalism. Miscommunication can hardly be the cause since no communication lines were open to begin with and it supposed to be the salesman who will open the communication lines.  Maybe its just because they have been there long enough they have started to be lax, feeling some job security.  It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  On the good side, the people in Upscale Megamall seem to be really nice.

Jovi

Well, perhaps the sales reps at Upscale Audio could be guilty of playing favoritism then because ever since my first visit there sometime in 1995 (at their old location), they already treated me kindly and even up to now. It's probably a matter of approach.

Last Thursday, I bought a Sonus Faber Concertino Home there, which I asked them to reserved for me since Sunday without leaving any downpayment. That's professionalism.

[HenryH]

I went to Makati Cinema Square (July or Aug 2002)
to see the store selling LP's.

The guy there was entertaining customers (suki
nya siguro o pormang me pambili).  I was browsing
thru the LP's and the guy told me to move away from the turntable as they are trying records or I am
blocking the turntable.

I can take salesmen who are dishonest or stuipid
but not those who doesn't want to have me as a
customer.

I not going to buy anything, ever from the %@&$*.

Henry
 

[rtsy]

exactly the point audio_tyro, namimili ng customer yang upscale audio na yan.

Someone told me that the owner of Upscale Audio printed this entire thread and showed the print outs to the entire staff.  I wonder kung gaano katagal nag-banlaw yung mga staff doon after that session.  

I bought one of my first systems from Upscale Audio (with my first ever Christmas bonus) and I was treated very well by Rico Severino and Dominique even if I have never bought anything from them before.  It was a Friday dress down day at work so I was just in jeans and t-shirt.  In fact, I didn't have a car then and just took a cab going there/bus to go home.

Ditto when I bought my Concertino from Megamall.  I was rennovating my house and I'm pretty sure I was far from being fresh from the shower (I went there to pick up tiles at Mariwasa!).  Upscale Mega was also frantically rennovating that time in preparation for the arrival of the Home series from Sonus Faber.  Hermie and the guys there treated me well also.

Maybe you're right, namimili yung Upscale.  It just so happened that you were there during their not so memorable moments.

The question really is what to do about it as customers/buyers.  There is always the option of not ever purchasing anything from them, no one prevents you from doing just that.  But this excludes you from Upscale's good side like Sonus Faber, Martin Logan, Velodyne, PSB,  Acoustic Energy, etc.  IMHO, that's a lose-lose situation but that's just me, you are entitled to your own opinion that I will whole-heartedly respect.

Another option is to escalate the incident to the store's upper management.  When I got bad treatment at Listening in Style (someone whistled along with Livingston Taylor's Isn't She Lovely while I was auditioning the Audience 52), I sent them email and they apologized and asked for a second chance for me to hear their stuff.  I was pretty satisfied with their handling of the incident.  Ditto when AVDI's repair muffed up my NAD T760, a call to Wilfred/Stefan elicited swift action.

I much prefer this method as it builds some sort of relationship with these stores--without necessarily buying anything from them.  Its quite fun watching them scrambling to treat you right after you've politely and amicably told them you were maltreated at some point in the past.  

They may not be perfect (I don't think any store is), but I won't let that prevent me from benefiting from their good traits.  

My suggested method doesn't always work though.  When my in-laws bought a Sony (turned out to be grey import) Wega from Sights & Sounds, it broke down after 3 weeks.  Patient talks with their frontliners yielded no results on even a timetable for fixing the unit.  We ended up talking to the owner.  He was very agitated, unreasonably defensive, and very, very arrogant--he acted as if we should be thankful that he sells TVs at the prices he does.   I offered to upgrade to a bigger, non-grey import unit so we are not left without a TV indefinitely.  They eventually got the unit fixed but with weeks of follow-ups and long waits on the phone.

[ariel]

these unfortunate incidents can happen in any stores. this should be reported to their superiors to give them a chance to improve. the important thing is the reaction of the owners and managers.

[MeowPao]

Someone told me that the owner of Upscale Audio printed this entire thread and showed the print outs to the entire staff.  I wonder kung gaano katagal nag-banlaw yung mga staff doon after that session.  

Hey, this is good news. I hope their service improves after this.  

[arnoldc]

@rtsy,

thank you for your thoughts. if you remembered my original post, i immediately looked for the person-in-charge. and nothing happened as if he condoned the actions of Den.

i actually email acoustic energy and told them about this incident from their reseller.

i do not generalize on upscale audio. i specifically mentioned 'park square branch'. i will still go to other upscale audio branches, so that i don't miss out on what i'm looking for.

rtsy, chinese ka ba? if so, your looks alone would get you better treatment.  this observation never failed me.

i hope to meet you sometime para may matutunan ako sa audiophile stuff. :-)

exactly the point audio_tyro, namimili ng customer yang upscale audio na yan.

Someone told me that the owner of Upscale Audio printed this entire thread and showed the print outs to the entire staff.  I wonder kung gaano katagal nag-banlaw yung mga staff doon after that session.  

I bought one of my first systems from Upscale Audio (with my first ever Christmas bonus) and I was treated very well by Rico Severino and Dominique even if I have never bought anything from them before.  It was a Friday dress down day at work so I was just in jeans and t-shirt.  In fact, I didn't have a car then and just took a cab going there/bus to go home.

Ditto when I bought my Concertino from Megamall.  I was rennovating my house and I'm pretty sure I was far from being fresh from the shower (I went there to pick up tiles at Mariwasa!).  Upscale Mega was also frantically rennovating that time in preparation for the arrival of the Home series from Sonus Faber.  Hermie and the guys there treated me well also.

Maybe you're right, namimili yung Upscale.  It just so happened that you were there during their not so memorable moments.

The question really is what to do about it as customers/buyers.  There is always the option of not ever purchasing anything from them, no one prevents you from doing just that.  But this excludes you from Upscale's good side like Sonus Faber, Martin Logan, Velodyne, PSB,  Acoustic Energy, etc.  IMHO, that's a lose-lose situation but that's just me, you are entitled to your own opinion that I will whole-heartedly respect.

Another option is to escalate the incident to the store's upper management.  When I got bad treatment at Listening in Style (someone whistled along with Livingston Taylor's Isn't She Lovely while I was auditioning the Audience 52), I sent them email and they apologized and asked for a second chance for me to hear their stuff.  I was pretty satisfied with their handling of the incident.  Ditto when AVDI's repair muffed up my NAD T760, a call to Wilfred/Stefan elicited swift action.

I much prefer this method as it builds some sort of relationship with these stores--without necessarily buying anything from them.  Its quite fun watching them scrambling to treat you right after you've politely and amicably told them you were maltreated at some point in the past.  

They may not be perfect (I don't think any store is), but I won't let that prevent me from benefiting from their good traits.  

My suggested method doesn't always work though.  When my in-laws bought a Sony (turned out to be grey import) Wega from Sights & Sounds, it broke down after 3 weeks.  Patient talks with their frontliners yielded no results on even a timetable for fixing the unit.  We ended up talking to the owner.  He was very agitated, unreasonably defensive, and very, very arrogant--he acted as if we should be thankful that he sells TVs at the prices he does.   I offered to upgrade to a bigger, non-grey import unit so we are not left without a TV indefinitely.  They eventually got the unit fixed but with weeks of follow-ups and long waits on the phone.

[rtsy]

rtsy, chinese ka ba? if so, your looks alone would get you better treatment.  this observation never failed me.

i hope to meet you sometime para may matutunan ako sa audiophile stuff. :-)

Perhaps, and I'm not saying you should've since I wasn't there when it happened and I'm not sure myself if I would've thought of this if I were in your shoes, you could've gone even higher than the party in charge at that time at the store.  I'm often at Upscale but I've never really met/seen the current owners.

I'm half Chinese but I certainly don't look it.

I hardly meet up with audio friends and do most of my audio-related interactions online at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pinoydiophiles.  

[cvthunder]

Someone told me that the owner of Upscale Audio printed this entire thread and showed the print outs to the entire staff.  I wonder kung gaano katagal nag-banlaw yung mga staff doon after that session.  

Hey, this is good news. I hope their service improves after this.  

wow! i think this is true. i have visited upscale audio in makati several times before but i really didn't like the way they treated me until my visit last friday.

in fact, i can still recall my first visit in that shop (i was only beginning to setup my first system). i went in and asked if they can recommend any speakers within the 15-20k price range.  the guy answered me with a very sarcastic smile, "wala." so i pointed at the speakers on display and asked how much is that pair.  he looked at me from head to toe and said "60k."  i looked closely at the back panel of these 60k speakers.  since it was my first time and i knew nothing about HT except BOSE, i told myself that it must be too expensive to build a decent HT setup.  so i thanked him (wow! i really did that) and left the shop thinking of buying a boombox instead.  

but thanks to the internet i found out that it's possible to get decent speakers at the price point i'm looking at.  in fact, i found out that the speakers that i pointed to at upscale audio makati were not 60k speakers-- it was a pair of ae100i which closely resemble the flagship ae1 (i don't think the ae1 cost 60k).  how did i know? because i bought the 100i in upscale mega for less than 15k a week after my bad experience in makati.  the people in upscale mega were really helpful and treated me well.

since i work in makati, i still visit upscale makati after the bad experience (mostly for accessories) and i don't think they treat me well, at least not as accomodating as other shops i've visited.  despite this treatment, i still buy accessories from them (interconnects, speaker cables, etc.) primarily because their location is convenient for me.

but last friday, i was surprised when i came in.  i was approached with a smile.  my questions about the ae307 and the aegis evo series were properly addressed. and if i remember it correctly, he is THE SAME guy that "handled" me during my first visit!  kewl! this forum should have improved their service.

[Jick]

but last friday, i was surprised when i came in.  i was approached with a smile.  my questions about the ae307 and the aegis evo series were properly addressed. and if i remember it correctly, he is THE SAME guy that "handled" me during my first visit!  kewl! this forum should have improved their service.

This is great news, I guess the internet goes a long way in improving the customer service of the places here.  Anyway, what did you ask about the evos?  When are they going to have the evos?

Jovi

[cvthunder]

but last friday, i was surprised when i came in.  i was approached with a smile.  my questions about the ae307 and the aegis evo series were properly addressed. and if i remember it correctly, he is THE SAME guy that "handled" me during my first visit!  kewl! this forum should have improved their service.

This is great news, I guess the internet goes a long way in improving the customer service of the places here.  Anyway, what did you ask about the evos?  When are they going to have the evos?

Jovi

he said they'd probably have new arrivals next month but my wife informed me that the guys in upscale mega told her that they do not expect any arrivals within the next month or so.

[RMN]

Visited Sights and Sounnds in Shang and got bad service. The guy  that entertained me was totaly clueless.

[bunkieboy]

went to upscale alabang yesterday. the guy in the store was a bit helpful but was giving me this stupid look. he had this face, like he felt i was wasting his time. the idiot was busy watching some tv show when i came in. i was honestly about to shell out a few bucks for maybe a speaker and some good interconnects, but the monkey's stare just turned me off.

wonder where the owner of upscale finds these clowns?

i am sticking to the friendlier stores like architectural and hometheater, where you are treated by smarter and better people.

[rtsy]

I've said my piece about Sights & Sounds after-sales service in the past.

Passed by Megamall with gjtech to unwind from a not so pleasant Monday a.m. meeting.  I checked out the AMC CD6 w/ tube output stage that Sonny Tuason said was at Ceratec.

Well-dressed Chinese guy was there chatting on the phone.  I waited patiently, looking around at those expensive XRCDs, SACDs, etc.  Noticing that I've seen almost every single thing in his store and I might inspect whether his socks had holes next, he puts down the phone and I start asking questions like where's the tube output AMC CD player?  Does he sell the CAL Aria he has on one of his shelves?

I'm pretty sure he heard me as gjtech who sat farther heard my questions.  I repeated each question at least thrice before I get terse and rude responses like "isang taon na wala yun" (referring to the AMC) and "di ko benta yan" (referring to the CAL Aria).

Trying to save the day, I told him that I'm in the market for an analog sounding CD player and asked for his recommendation.  Rudely, he pointed to a Rotel RCD961 which he quoted me at PhP30k.  The 971 is OK but the 961 sounds too thin for me and he is pushing it to me at the price of almost the Rotel 1070!

One of the reasons I went there was to check out the CDs several Pinoydiophiles have talked well about.  I did and except for price, they were OK.  I really wanted to offer Pinoydiophiles Marketplace to him as a free venue to reach us Pinoydiophiles.  But with what he did to me, forget it!  Maybe other Pinoydiophiles would have better luck with that guy.

Store people like that Chinese man at Ceratec this morning aren't helping our little hobby spread to the mainstream.

To end on a possitive note, passed by 5th Avenue and Audio Studio also and was attended to my people who don't know me.  They were busy preparing merchandise in the store but found the time to greet and assist me.  Hats off to those guys!

[Jermi]

Audition Experiences...

Today was officially the first day that I lost the virginity of my ears as I went around to audition some equipment.  One fault of mine was I did not heed everybody's suggestion of bringing my own DVD.  But here are some of my feedback, more of experiences with the stores, less of my experiences with the equipment. =)

First Shop that I went to: (forgot the name, the person who assisted my also forgot to write down the name of the store, he only had his number and name [Rey de Vera]...)
Mordaunt Short (Fronts, center, sorround and subs), Yamaha 620's.  Watched Eagles' Hell Freezes Over and Kiss of the Dragon.  Noticed that the right sorround had nothing coming out, mentioned this to the guy and he just said "meron yan..." turns out his connections were wrong.  Also turns out that some of the models that he wrote down weren't the ones that were being used...ang labo ng tindahan na toh!  Somehow, I felt that the guy was doing me a huge favor for letting me audtion--what gives?

Sound Dimension
This Eugene guy was okay, perfunctorily helpful.  But as I noticed that he was consulting someone else whom I was assuming was the owner, I decided to strike up a conversation with the owner.  Lo and behold: one of those I'm-opening-my-mouth-and-doing-you-a-huge-favor type of thing.  I mean, gosh, here I am walking around literally wanting to park my near 100K hard-earned money and I have these people who are treating me like I'm buying tinapa!  What gives?!

Sights & Sounds
Was assisted by this Freddie guy.  I mentioned that I was interested in their Yammies and wanted to audition them.  He went throught the "heavy" motions of moving my preferred equipment back and forth.  You could see that these people AREN'T making enough commissions.  In fact, while I was already speaking to him and specifying the equipment that I wanted to audition, one of the sales ladies was still sitting pretty in the couch busy READING a magazine, not even bothering to look up at us!  Grabe talaga ang Park Square gang...a little customer empathy naman, a little common courtesy.  I mean, I get more polite treatment from the parking attendants for crying out loud!!!!

Upscale Audio
Had a certain Nani to contend with.  Service was not any significant improvement from the cr*ppy treatment that I received from the friggin' stores above.  Auditioned their Denon 1802 with their PSB's, Velodyne CHT10, his total quote to me was P104k++

Architectural Audio
Buti na lang, I chose to end my day at Nico's New World Nook.  It was a delight and a pleasant experience to finally speak with someone who treats customers properly, he was intelligent, helpful, attentive and warm.  Auditioned his Denon 1802's with JBL Xti 20, Xti Center ---->pretty good.  Also tried his Infinity Alpha 20 ---> not as good as his JBL's.  Gosh, I really wished this shop had a wider range of products to offer, I would gladly pay a premium just to get the service and respect that he gives to clients.  Iba talaga pag may ari ang kausap mo.  Nico also suggested that I NOT get floorstanders, its gonna be "too boomy" daw for my small room.  You guys agree or disagree?  He also suggested that I get real expensive cables, as in 300++/meter, ganyan ba talaga kamahal ang cable?!

Hyperaudio
Was really suprised by the shop, was NOTHING I expected an HT shop to be, no offense meant Rene, at least managed expectations for the potential visitors.  Rene is nice and accomodating, kaya lang may taong grasa na medyo may topak nasa labas, kakatakot tuloy lumabas ng kotse.  Anyway, thanks Rene.

Image (Harrizon Plaza)
Spoke with Alex.  Very accomodating.  Best prices in the country   da best!

Home Theatre
Sonny Tuazon.  His authority on HT and his articulation of his knowledge not only borders on arrogance, his is very comfortably esconced in his realm of HT deity.  He should be more patient with newbies even if we insist on "stupid" combinations, rather than insist on customers taking his word as gospel truth, he should encourage them to listen for themselves and make their own conclusions!

I wanted to hear the B&W 601's but he only had a RX-V430 hooked up.  When I insisted on listening to the 601's he goes, "taga PinoyDVD ka noh?  Ang titigas ng ulo ng mga tao diyan eh, kung tutuosin, mga begginers lang naman yan eh..."    When I requested that we use higher powered AMPs, he goes, mahirap ang mga wiring eh...grrrrrrrrrrr! What a total jerk!

Finally, he didn't want to give me ANY written qutoations ..nothing...all he said was "sige lang, canvass ka lang ng canvass tapos, AKO ang ihuli mo, ako nang bahala!"

(two days later)

"Mr. Tuazon, magkano last price mo ng 601 s3?" says Jermi.  "Ah...hanggang P14,XXX lang eh..." says Mr. Tuazon almost hesitatingly.  
"Sir, mukang talo kayo ah..."  I said.
"Eh, hirap kasi ng ibang tindahan, P100 lang kinikita...Chinese kasi"...
If you can't compete, you can at least avoid making racist remarks, Mr. Tuazon.  

[groucho]

I refer to Upscale Audio Makati in Park Square:  Kung sinabon sila ng may-ari dahil nabasa ang thread na ito, makatwiran lang 'yon para sa marami sa atin.  Read: karma.  Kasi, panis sila.  And after a few weeks of "smiling" to their customers, panis na naman sila.  Hindi naman ganoon sa ibang branches ng Upscale.

[old_age]

Hi guys

I went to Electro Depot yesterday while i'm doing my usual branch visitation at work.  I had a nice accommodation from this certain Alex Torres even if i am just looking around and not buying.  he is quite knowledgable on what they are selling and even toured me around.

Kudos to E-Depot!

[nerveblocker]

I auditioned at Upscale Audio Megamall yesterday and met Jun.  He was very accomodating in taking out his Jacintha and Diana Krall CDs for us to listen to Martin Logan audio speakers.  I just wanted to hear what a P270k/pair speaker would sound like.  The thing that really amazed me is the electrostatic technology that these speakers are made of.  It emits the mids and the highs from this metal grill without any drivers!

Upscale was accomodating even if I went there wearing just jeans and a shirt.  

[Hamann]

I just came from Ceratec at the 5th floor of Megamall, and as it says above, I had just had a horrible experience. I went in his shop, and there was one guy sitting on the couch listening to some cd's with the guy who looked at the owner just standing around. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the guy I'm referring to is named Paul Ibanez.
As it was my first visit, I was surprised to see that his shop did not have much, so I just proceeded to browse through his CD's. After a couple of minutes, I already found it strange that he was acting as if I wasn't there at all. So I went to the other side of his shop and looked at the display of speakers and home theater chairs. I turned around just to catch him looking at me suspiciously then shifted his gaze, as if he didn't want me to see that he was observing my movements. I went back to look at his cd's, and by this time I had already spent more than ten minutes in his shop.
Not wanting to go there empty handed I decided to ask him what I came there for. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Excuse me, do you happen to sell LP's?
Paul: No
Me: Oh, I see that you have the Panasonic projector there, how much would that be?
Paul: 98,000 with the screen.
Me: How good is it? What's the ANSI Lumen rating on that one?
Paul: Why do you have to ask that? That's a home cinema projector we're talking about you look at the resolution not the Lumen rating.

- At this point I could see what kind of a person this guy was, but didn't mind it anyway.

Me: Ok, so whats the resolution on that thing?
Paul: It has a high resolution
Me: Alright, would you mind if I looked at it?

At this point he raised his voice and told me: Can't you see I'm talking to a customer?!;
So I told him, yes I know he's talking to a customer, I didn't say I had to look at it at that exact moment anyway. Because I was so irritated, I just told him to forget it, he was so rude from the moment I walked in anyway.
Then he shouted and told me that I was the one who was rude, since I should have known he was talking to a customer. Flustered, I told him that the least he could do was tell me that he would get back to me in a while, which I would have perfectly understood. Besides, I did not expect him to entertain me at that exact moment. I had to ask him because I had been in his shop for a good 15 minutes already and wanted to know if I would be able to actually demo something since he didn't even say a word to me that whole time.

As much as I wanted to strangle him already, I thought that it wasn't worth it, so I just left his shop. But guess what? He wasn't done yet. He opened his door, shouted at me while I was walking away to get out of his sight, called me a punk and even shouted an expletive.
At this point I couldn't take it anymore so I went back and asked him that if he wanted trouble, he was gonna get it. The customer who had been listening was visibly disgusted so just left. And at this point Paul had started swearing more and more. I really wanted to deck him right there and then, but fortunately for him I was still able to contain myself.

So right there in his shop, we were having a shouting match, and I couldn't believe this guy. I don't know how many four letter words he used against me, and believe me, it was enough for anyone to just blow his top. I knew that I wouldn't be able to contain myself any longer so I just walked out again and told him that he hasn't heard that last from me. This didn't appear to affect him since he once again opened his door and started swearing at me across the Megamall walkway.

By far this is the worst case of bad customer service that I have seen in my whole life, in the whole world. I could not believe how arrogant this guy was. So anyway, the whole point of this post is to warn you guys from even thinking of passing by his shop. I am appalled, shocked, disgusted, and sickened, and revolted all at the same time. The audiophile circle is already quite small, and I believe that in this hobby, people are generally  well educated beings. It's sad how a creature like this should even exist among us. I do know that I am not alone in having this experience with this guy, and I do hope that something will be done about it.

He should remember that how you say something is as important as what you are saying.