A dumb customer?

M

Matt Bo Eder

Guest
I was in my local music store today and saw they had a DW Performance kit on a rolling dolley. I asked what that was all about and the clerk said the customer was returning it because he couldn't get it to sound right. And since the customer owned a DW Collector's kit, he felt the DW Performance kit didn't give him what he wanted.

After a few more questions, the clerk told me that this customer usually likes Pinstripe heads, and when the clerk offered to give him a set of pinstripes, he still refused to keep the kit. I took a drum key and tuned up that kit in ten minutes with the ambassador-heads it had on there, and no one in that drum department complained about the 'sound'.

I was really surprised that the buyer didn't want the pinstripe heads, because 1) that's what you said you used. And 2) it's a DW PERFORMANCE kit - if you wanted it to be a Collectors kit, I'd think you would've just bought another Collectors kit.

Luckily, this customer bought from a store with a return policy, and I guess he was perfectly within his rights to do so. But buying something almost like what you play, and then to not even put the heads you like on it to begin with, just to me, sounds really dumb.

I would understand if there was some glaring defect, or hidden damage, but that wasn't the case. He bought it, decided he didn't like it without trying his options, and returned it. Part of me believes this guy bought it for a gig, used it on the gig, and is now returning it. Dumb.
 
What a dumb idiot. Buying that drum kit and then changing his mind. I played the same kit for 40 years. Heads and tuning. You're a good tuner.
 
There's a few sayings I'm thinking of here.

More money than sense, poor workman blames his tools are a couple, all the gear no idea........

The biggest question is wouldn't you make sure you were happy with a kit before you bought it? Try before you buy maybe.

Pretty sure most drummers including myself would get a good sound from anything DW puts out with virtually no effort.

I'd love to see this guy with a vintage kit now they are temperamental beasts!
 
You actually hit the nail on the head. He basically rented the kit. He bought it, used it for a gig and returned it. Great way to provide a backline without using your own gear I guess.
 
I own a retail story and people will try to buy things just to try them... We don't allow returns anymore due to that it happens all the time...

And if the guy had bought a DESIGN kit instead of the performance he would have been much happier.. they sound better and cost about 500 less....
 
"Rentals" are pretty common at any retailer with a generous return policy. Companies striving to get every shred of business have trained consumers that they have no responsibility for their decisions.

I worked in the sporting goods industry for years. You would be amazed how many "defective" lawn chairs are returned after a holiday weekend.

Or, maybe you wouldn't, but it's a LOT.
 
I'll do it with a cymbal I want to buy, utilize the return policy, (I'd never gig it, just take it home to see if it fits in) but buying a drumkit for a gig and returning it is morally deficient IMO. That's abusing the good faith of the store.

Plus with any new kit, it takes a while to get the best sound from it. This guy was clearly abusing the store's good faith.

The universe will settle the score with this guy eventually.
 
Fortunately 99.9% of customers are really good. I expected to be dealing with stuff like that a lot in the drum retail business, but it seems like most people out there buy and return with the best intentions.

Did have a guy come in with a DW3000 pedal. He'd sheared off the screw that holds the beater post in. It was slow-ish so I grabbed a file and tried to make a notch that I could get a flat-head screwdriver in (couldn't get pliers or anything onto it). Finally gave up and flat out offered to sell him a pedal that he could return after his show (he was on tour with a Zep cover band). I'm a fan of Zeppelin, and appreciated his mutual nerdiness that we shared with the band.

He then pulled the whole "I've got $75 in my pocket, what deal can you cut me on this $85 pedal?" move, which I refused partly because my company can't do that anymore, and partly because he was going to return it anyways. He then blew up at me and explained to me that "this was why my company was ruining the music business". Which I found hilarious since I'd just spent 35 minutes sweating all over his pedal free of charge (not my job at all).

So anyways I found a price match for it (also not my job) and sent him on his way.

He came back the next day, returned the pedal, bought an Iron Cobra (gave the other drum guy the same wheel-and-deal/you're ruining music thing) and left again.

He was back in the store a few days later when he rolled back through town to return the Iron Cobra. He was livid when we explained to him that we can't do a cash return >$50 (we either have to write a check or put it on a card). This I can kind of understand since touring guys can't exactly cash checks on the fly, but there was absolutely nothing that we could do about it.
We wrote him a check and that was the last we saw of him.

Maybe it's just me, but if I was making a living touring with a band that covered the entire repertoire of one of the biggest groups ever, I'd be pretty gracious to people.

That was my single case of a customer abusing a store's good customer service. Maybe I'm really lucky, but just about everyone that walks in the door seems to be really personable (especially the touring acts).

Tangent, but actually had a big influence of mine (Eric Slick from Dr. Dog) roll in a while back and I was totally floored. He hung around and talked gear and touring stories for almost 45 minutes.
 
Tangent, but actually had a big influence of mine (Eric Slick from Dr. Dog) roll in a while back and I was totally floored. He hung around and talked gear and touring stories for almost 45 minutes.

Dr Dog. Funny you should mention. I lived right next door to the original drummer, Justin (he played guitar at home, he learned drums for the band)

Knowing Justin and his separated Mom and Dad and her boyfriend and all the wacky stuff that went on there, I was completely floored at the success of that band. I was this close lol. Of course I had not one thing to do with the band. Probably why they did so good lol.

They canned him after a few years, you might not even know him.
 
With the GC next to me, they never stock anything that I would ever want to buy. For example, the Gretsch kit on display and in stock is a Marquee. There isn't a single Zildjian A or K in the place, only Custom/Hybrid varieties. Ordering->trying->returning is actually encouraged by the sales staff. I do not understand how they're possibly still in business.
 
Dr Dog. Funny you should mention. I lived right next door to the original drummer, Justin (he played guitar at home, he learned drums for the band)

Knowing Justin and his separated Mom and Dad and her boyfriend and all the wacky stuff that went on there, I was completely floored at the success of that band. I was this close lol. Of course I had not one thing to do with the band. Probably why they did so good lol.

They canned him after a few years, you might not even know him.

I hadn't heard about Justin haha. I was completely floored by Eric though. Just the nicest guy and took time to talk about Ludwig drums with me (he said that the Vistalites are the most versatile drums he's ever played), and just kept asking me questions about my own music and what was going on in my city.

Just a killer experience. In indie-rock circles those guys are a big deal, and it hasn't even begun to go to his head. Seems to me like a blueprint of how to conduct yourself if success finds you.
 
Dumb?

I don't know. He bought a kit, didn't like it, took it back? I guess maybe that's a bit risky but honestly I don't get the issue.

I do this all the time with clothes. Buy a handful, take them home, wear once or twice, decide what I want to keep. You don't really get a good sense of what fits most comfortably with 2 minutes in a dressing room. In the same way, you don't really get a good feel for how drums play, sound, record, etc., just by hitting a tom or two on a sales floor.

And maybe he did grab it for a gig? I'd call that dishonest and inconsiderate, but not dumb. I'm sure if that was his plan, he probably considered the risks involved.

For the record, if I was returning a guitar and the clerk offered to swap the strings for me to sway my decision, I would very politely laugh my ass off.

Not that it's the same thing entirely, but the heads are one piece of the puzzle. If he doesn't like the kit, that's exactly what the return policy is there for.
 
I do feel bad for the drum shop, as this practice of buying shit for recording/gigs, etc., to basically obtain free rentals is becoming pretty common. It does hurt shops, you can only get something back so many times before you gotta mark it "used" or "demo" and take a hit.
 
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