Hey lads
Happened to be in the city the other day. Went to a hobby shop that I normally do not frequent (prices a little too steep comparitively, too far out of my way, etc.)
The owner/manager fellow there never smiles, reluctantly goes about getting things out of his locked display cases for the cutomer to peruse, has 0 manners, and only seems remotely interested in you once you have brought a kit to the counter... Normally doesn't bother me, but totally sh!tted me this last visit. Gave him exact money, then had to sweat on him to even give me a receipt...
He has the demeanor of "Oh, here we go again. Another customer..."
For Christ's sake! Where are the customer relations?!
I could reel off 2 or 3 other shops I visit far more frequently, where the staff are happy to chat about what you're building, what they have in stock, go out of their way to make you feel welcome... Is this so hard?
OK
End of gripe.
City store will not be visited again. Ever. He has lost this customer.
Cheers
Brad
P.S. Don't feel the need to mention what the store is. Prefer to mention the others and how much better they are.

Hey Brad, if you were in the city and you're from Victoria then I'm guessing that I know what store you are taking about. Even if I am wrong then there is another store with an owner with a similar attitude problem.

I rarely go there myself for reasons already stated but there is always VHC (Victorian Hobby Centre) in which I can usually find some IPMS members at lunch time to shoot the breeze with.

Cheers
Darren

Hey Darren
Is the VHC upstairs on Swanston? They seem a nice bunch there.
Glad you thought along the same lines as me... hate to think it was me getting jaded
Cheers
Brad

G'day mate
My LHS (being in rural west gippsland) is not so local, closest one being Dandenong, so the suburbs is where i have to go if i want to buy from aus.
But as i stated a while back, i more often than not buy over the net from Hong Kong based shops, prices are like half prices and less, and the shipping isnt expensive either, even if i order one kit with shipping, it always works out to be cheaper than these LHS's charge!
I dunno why, but out of everyone ive spoken to from overseas, it seems we have the highest prices when it comes to anything model related, even if you take the exchange rate into considertation, our prices always work out to be far to high
But back on track, there are a couple of LHS' that will never see a cent from me again, one from the city, and another two from the suburbs, one in particular in the 'burbs, the owner, similar to how you described, is simply a grump, never seem's happy to see you, never offers help, and if you ask about something, he either "doesn't know" or seems very reluctant to get off the chair and give some customer service.
I wont names names, but i will name two shops that have very good service, from my experiences, they would be Metropolitan models and hobbies, in Box Hill, and Herns Hobbies, in Melbourne.
Not getting paid to say that :-) just recomending some places where the prices arent too steep, and is a generally plesant place to visit.
Cheers

Hey Honeycut,
that sounds like the owner of a former ACT hobby shop! He ended up closing down and I reckon it was all because of his lousy manner and service.
Wonder if he moved interstate?

Cheers
Lee
:-) :-) :-)

Have to agree Dave, this is my 'pseudo' local, (it is near my missus' house;) always happy to see and chat to a customer...
Also going to mention HOBBYHQ, where Willy is of the same ilk...
Cheers
Brad

I have a great local shop and if they treated me badly i would certainly stop shopping there, I buy all my Dragon models there as they have the best prices in Aus and overseas, only other place i shop is Hobbyeasy the best place to shop on internet, cheers Bob.

Customer Service is one of my favourite rants (LHS or any other place).

My LHS is funny (not :-) ). They're not unfriendly or anything like that, they don't make you feel welcome but they also don't make you feel like they could be doing better things.

Considering the shop is generally fairly quiet, you'd think he'd be waiting for a customer to break the monotony....

I have actually had interesting conversations with him about things but you have to prompt it and you have to pick the right topic. I do buy a bit from him but I don't feel guilty about using the net or going further afield.

my $0.02