PI: Good to know you're buying from experts!

[Malcolm]

I was looking in the T&E yesterday, and saw the Parallel Imported ad. I think someone needs to tell them what "DVC" stands for on subwoofer specs, because about half the subs advertised were emblazened with "Dual Voice Cone". Idiots. Atleast they're cheap tho

[snwtoy]

Heh, you sure need to walk in there knowing exactly what you want, cos they don't know jack about sh!t

[AE82 FXGT]

Yeah they sell the stuff but won't know anything about it.

[Malcolm]

I dunno, all those 16 year old boys with acne seem to know their shit every time I go in there to look...

I think they should just be internet based, don't even bother with trying to be 'salespeople' in the sense of attempting to make people like a product, rather they should just be a place you can go to order something nice and cheap when you've made up your mind from going to other places

[Blackrazor]

they should just be a place you can go to order something nice and cheap when you've made up your mind from going to other places

Yes, because thats what the other stores with people who are actually interested in their product and know about it are for : providing information and advice so you can go buy it elsewhere for $15 cheaper...

Only in NZ would you find a thread complaining about how useless a company is, and then a few posts later stating you'll still go anyway because they're 'cheap' Want to know why PI dont know anything? Because they've figured that the average NZer only cares about their wallet anyway, so who cares about useless stuff like 'product knowledge' and 'actually ending up with the right gear'

[Malcolm]

Personally, as much as I'd like to support certain businesses by buying everything I can from them, I currently don't have the luxury of being able to pay top dollar for good service etc. As a result, I tend to shop around for most items over about $50 if there are a number of different shops that sell what I'm after. I'd rather be smart with my money and get the most out of it than be generous and have little to show for it.

[Blackrazor]

I'd rather be smart with my money and get the most out of it than be generous and have little to show for it.

I personally think its false logic. Like with any audio gear, the end result of a car audio system is about 40% the gear you buy, and about 60% how you install and tune it. You might get a good price on the 40%, but if the advice on the 60% is crap, so will the system be.

We see it all the time at competitions etc : guys who 'got a good deal on their systems' by shopping around and buying from the cheapest, almost always get caned by guys who bought what they found they really needed, spending less, and getting it tuned properly.

Now i realise you may not be interested in competition, but the principle still applies. Without being rude, i know of perhaps 20 people in the whole country who know how to properly optomise a system - people like them can make a $200 set of speakers sound like a $400 set of speakers through just knowledge and tuning ability.

So tell me : in that situation - who's getting the better deal? The guy who gets the $400 speakers he thinks he needs for $300 cheap from PI? Or the guy who thinks he needs $400 worth of speakers, and finds out that with a bit of tuning and knowledge he can get the same results from a certain pair of $200 speakers?

[Mr.Phreak]

The $300 guy.....he's happy, whereas the $200 guy is more likely to get bitten by the bug and keep buying more and more gear.

Ignorance is Bliss

[Blackrazor]

Hush you. You havent bought anything for at LEAST 3 months, so you dont count

[Mr.Phreak]

Have to admit, those MS6's look beautiful in the box they came in

[Malcolm]

I understand your logic and point of view, but at the same time, all the car audio shops I've ever been in were full of shit anyway, even the ones that charged stupidly high prices for their gear. Personally I tend to just listen to what speakers sound like, and buy based on what I like vs. what I can afford, very seldom listening to the advice of salespeople

[Blackrazor]

I understand your logic and point of view, but at the same time, all the car audio shops I've ever been in were full of sh*t anyway, even the ones that charged stupidly high prices for their gear. Personally I tend to just listen to what speakers sound like, and buy based on what I like vs. what I can afford, very seldom listening to the advice of salespeople

Yeh unfortunately, the quality of shops in NZ is pretty low There would only be about 3 shops in the entire country i would feel really know the gear they sell and sell good gear

[RAZA]

I agree with the comment re quality of advice - I've yet to find a shop around Auckland that the salespeople were not full of BS.

What I am prepared to pay slightly more for is having no hassles if something doesn't measure up and I need to return it. I've heard of a number of people having problems with returns at parallel importers. Over the last 6 or 8 years I've bought a lot of gear, and I've not had to return much, but I have had the occaisional thing go back, once at Rapid Radio and once at Paul Money, and both time's they've been totally happy and gone to quite a lot of effort to sort me out. Paul Money's were especially good.

While I don't like to waste money paying a lot more for the same product, I do go out of my way to try and buy somewhere that is not a bitch to deal with if I have trouble down the track, if it costs a bit extra then hey - at least i saved some money on petrol not having to drive to albany...

[BigDon]

Customer service in NZ is fa better than in some places overseas. I have just spent 6 weeks abroad and 4 of those in the UK. The peopl in the shops over there don't even know where the product is let alone any thing about it. The don't even get off the phone or stop talking to their mates to sereve you, they just carry on and hold out their hand for the cash etc.