It's amazing how some people can be a GM or a CEO and know nothing about the products/services that their company is offering. I was doing some product research and stock purchasing today with my boss (
who shall not be named). We went to this semi-big music intruments store (
which shall not be named, again) in the city centre to check out what they have. Good stuff there and reasonable prices. So we decided to get a few of their guitars (
ooops.....killed the secrecy a bit :p) to test the market where we are.
The staff there was aquainted to my boss and he gave us top notch service, the management, on the other hand, was a totally different matter. We picked out a few that caught our eyes and waited to inspect the stock that they planned to give us. Bmha #1 came along. The gm actually almost objected to that. Which company is that bad that they do not allow clients to inspect the stuff that they are selling?
Anyway, they brought the stock out and we did get to check the guitars that we ordered. We were satisfied with most of the things they brought out except for two items; a dreadnought acoustic/electric and a Peavey wolfgang (for the uninitiated: a type of electric guitar) lookalike. First off, the Dreadnought A/E. There were chips on the finish on the dreadnought! Imagine buying a brand new car with chips on the paint! They didn't have anymore stock so we didn't take any of that and end of that story.
Next, the electric guitar brought much more trauma. The first one that they took out, there was a ding in the neck! Like a dent on that brand new Saga you just bought; it's a cheap car but it shouldn't have bad quality! So we rejected that one and they brought another one out. The next one had a huge gap between the neck and the body! Imagine the door of your Saga not meeting the body panel. Onto the next one, The finish (paint) on it was horrible, a few big spots were missed! Think about the new black Saga with spots of metal at some places! Another one showed that it had a wood chipped out of the fret board! Let's go back to the new Saga, only this time it has a small chunk of metal missing from the bonnet! A few more horror stories come about but finally we manage to find a piece that we could compromise on; small issues but plays and looks great all the same. What's the point of saying all this? bmha #2 rears its face: The GM was angry at us for inspecting and checking what we wanted to buy!!! WOW! Did she expect us to take the shit that she was trying to push as decent products?
Why bad management? bmha #3: The staff that attended to us told us later that the GM, doesn't know nuts about guitars (and I assume music as well)! How far are you going to get trying to sell something that you know nothing about? So did SHE (the GM) only think of 'money in' and don't really care about the stuff that her company sells. That's disgusting. We were considered a nuisance by her because we insisted on quality. The business world maybe tough, but this is the perfect example of how to lose a customer quick. Her only saving grace is that her company offers products that are cheaper that competitors. Imagine when there are more companies offering the same advantage, i would bet my left nut that she would care more about checking her stock.
All this just reminds me of the Malaysian mentality. Just because some companies *cough*Proton*cough* *cough*BentleyMusic*cough* dominate their sector, it doesn't give them a right to be superior. They couldn't really care much about customer relations and quality control. This really pisses off the market that you're catering to. More so when you're talking about a market as small as Malaysia. When the market opens up, they WILL die out.
Malaysian mentality = me big, you small, me sell, you shut up! ???
You tell me.
For once, I wish I could walk into a big shop, be treated reasonably (not even asking to be treated special) look at products which are consistent in quality and get value for my money. Malaysia oh, Malaysia! Time to wake up.
