Perhaps it's my geographic location, but I've never had such difficulty purchasing like this before!

First, the Yamaha dealer. Quotes me the retail prices of the CLP 400 series for the 300 series. Please, I didn't fall off the truck at midnight. I have done my homework!

Then this afternoon, I paid a visit to my local Kawai dealer.
I told him I was interested in the CN series...CN33 and CN43.
His first words were "oh you don't want a Kawai. Everyone who comes in here buys a Roland". I politely told him I wished to play the Kawai dp's he had on the floor. He had two: CN33 and CA93. I informed him the CA93 was a lovely piano; however, it did not suit my needs. I want the dashboard laid out in front of me. I had to find the CN33 myself. I turned it on and started to play. The salesman then started to pound on the bass keys.. saying "see how awful that sounds?" Truthfully, it did sound terrible. Not at all like the audio clips from the Kawai website. It was as if someone had monkeyed around with the settings. He shuts the piano off and then starts to play one of the Roland's. I told him again, I want the dashboard laid out in front of me. He then tells me I don't need the dashboard the way I want it.

With that I hightailed it out of the store. I wouldn't buy from them if they had the very last dp on the planet and were selling it at a loss. Mind you, my family has purchased acoustic pianos from this store for over 70 years!

I haven't given up - yet. There's another Kawai dealer about 50 miles away I can try in a neighboring state. The next one is about 2 hours away two states away. There's a second Yamaha dealer about an hour or so away I can also try. I try to support our local businesses, but the treatment I received at both dealers was horrible. If I were Kawai, I'd pull the line from the location I visited today.

Perhaps I should take a guy shopping with me?

Hi Ocngypz,

What appalling behaviour from these dealers! I hope you have better luck elsewhere, and I agree with you: I wouldn't want to go back to a place like that except to explain in a clear loud voice what you thought of them.

From the comment that should you take a guy with you, does that say you are a female? If so yes. I own two Kawais. I have been very impressed with the quality both in sound and in quality. I would drive the 50 miles to test one. Salesman like that guy is trying to take advantage of you. They may get a better commission from Roland or wants to move Roland product. By the way I like Roland gear. I own some. Good luck on your piano. And stick by your guns!

As Frank Daddy says, stick by your guns.

I would add this: Salesman are salesman. Everything they say and do is made to benefit them. So don't be offended or insulted. Those are emotions. Leave the emotions at home.

As for being quoted list prices: So what? You shouldn't care. Before buying it's best to have a price in mind. Get some good information, determine YOUR price, and make an offer.

The prices page thread on this forum is a good price reference.

The pianobuyer.com web site is another. But keep in mind that they are beholden to the industry. When they quote a "street price", I'd want to pay significantly less.

I can empathize with you. Salespeople should be nice and listen to what you say. I guess they get into a rush.

I never listen to anything a salesman says about anything digital (and I take the acoustic guys' talk with a grain of salt). At the end of the day they are just salespeople, not experts. You don't have to spend much time on the forums or google before you get more informed opinions. At the end of the day, you just go try out anything they have...he won't stop you. Then you can make up your mind about what you want and see if that shop is the right place to go.

When it comes to negotiating, if you feel like he might have some sexist attitudes or if you feel like you do not come across as sufficiently assertive, by all means bring along someone more intimidating or forceful.

On the other hand, you have really only interacted with two people. Chances are if you went back you would get a different salesperson and possibly a different experience. The way you present yourself will determine how the new person will expect to interact with you.

Good luck!

ask him if no one buys the Kawai then of you could get a discount to move his stock

Go for it. I had to drive 3 hours to get to a dealer that stocked the model I wanted to try. Bonus is that you can use the prices to negotiate a better deal with your preferred dealer (even if they don't have it in stock that particular model, they can order it in).

I usually ask the salesman where the piano is I want to try out, then ask if I can have time to try it out (especially if they keep talking or try to tell me what I want). You may also find it useful to ask the salesman if you can speak with the manager if they're not providing good customer service. That will hopefully get them to behave (unless they're the manager themselves, then maybe it is time to try a different store).

Good point - it's right to be quite cynical about what salespeople tell us.

But sales should be about establishing the buyer's needs and responding to them. A good salesperson gets to understand the buyer's needs so the customer can be sold the right thing. Then the customer is happy and they will return in future. Repeat business is good business. There are some very good, honest and knowledgeable salespeople out there. As long as I can feel someone has good product knowledge and subjectively I feel they are honourable I am very happy for them to make a bit of profit out of me.

Steve

I think it is more indicative of what is happening to our retail environment. There are no salespeople anymore.

A salesperson should listen before they speak. I ought to know. I'm in sales and consistently the top producer for my company. 90% of my business is repeat and referral in an extremely competitve environment.

Further, to tell a prospect that you only carry the dp line because you have to (sells the acoustic line), sends up a red flag. I asked for specific models. His job was to point out features/benefits of said model on the floor, not to "dis" the product.

Additionally, though there were none on the floor, after reading online last night about Roland, an HP 305 or 307 which feature the dashboard I prefer could have been contenders.

However, the floor clerk - I won't call him a salesperson- didn't want to write up a sale yesterday. If the product was sold at a electronics "big box" store, I would have come home with a sales receipt in hand and a scheduled delivery for this week.

Babette

Hi

Thanks for your interest in Kawai. Sorry to hear about your negative experience with one of our dealers. If I can assist you in finding another dealer, please email me at tlove@kawaius.com

Another Kawai employee. Bravo. This is a good trend.

I wish Roland and Yamaha would get some people on the boards (or some employees came of their own volition) at least periodically to learn about and address questions/concerns that come up with their products. I can't see a downside to that.

I suspect the fact that James is on here has done a measurable amount all by itself to augment Kawai's global image in the digital arena.

That's so much true! Although I have some reservations regarding their quality control and feature set I would buy a Kawai piano again just because I feel confident there's a guy around here who can help and bring issues to Kawai.

+1 on this.

Certainly gave me confidence with my recent order of a CA63.

The same here.

[sarcasm] The problem is, that would lead to companies being too human, whereas they should aim at being completely robotic[/sarcasm]

On a serious note, you'll have people in companies frowning upon such practices because, as James does it, it leads to discussions and issues going "out of the usual channels". They could get into trouble doing this by themselves, sadly...

Why is it so many here have absolutely no problem discussing specific brands, specific models with their specific qualities (or lack thereof), but when it comes to mentioning the name or location of a specific dealer, that's almost always off limits.

If only sales people didn't get paid commission. As it stands now, pretty much any shop you go into, you have to ignore everything a staff member tries to tell you about a product, you've no way of knowing if they're telling the truth or just trying to get you to buy the product they get more commission on.