I needed to rent a violin for my daughter and this place was unfortunately recommended by the music teacher. I arrived to a small shop crowded with people with no indicator of who was an employee or even how to get assistance. I stood next to a woman filling out some paperwork on a clipboard in the vanity of what could possibly be a line for a counter spot. I eventually asked where she got the paperwork since I deduced that it was for rentals from what I could see. Then I hear a left a say, "I wish I could help you with something," to another person waiting in line. Turns out he is the owner, but absolutely knew not her about his business. A guy comes in after me looking for a perticular type of drumsticks for his kid and the owner could direct him to where they were but had no clue which were which; an employee from behind the counter had to yell at him twice to tell him where they were. So, I continued to wait in "line" while a couple more potential customers entered and undertook the uncomfortable task of figuring out how to get assistance. The owner noticed and kept apologizing that this is "back to school time and it is always busy." Well, if you know you're going to be busy, HAVE MORE EMPLOYEES ON HAND, more than two. At least learn to operate the register in the store YOU OWN so that somebody with a fairly quick transaction, like the drumstick guy, can make their purchase and leave. Then after another customer in line informs another entering customer where the line is, the owner says that they used to have numbers for this. To which another employee behind the counter says that she has them back there and puts them on the counter...sorry, too late. I finally ask the owner for the paperwork for a rental and he awkwardly interrupts a counter person because, again, he apparently knows nothing about the business he owns. Finally, after a 25 minute wait (yes, 25 minutes) I get my chance at the counter. I go in with a little knowledge because my daughter played last year in a different city and I knew the general procedure, like measurements because she could not come with me. After intro and the clerk's inquiry about size, I told her my daughter's measurement, the manner of which was verified by witnessing the same clerk measure the girl ahead of me. I figured full-sized since it aligned with my measurement on the stick they use. When I told the clerk the measurement, she said that she cannot be sure since I did not bring my daughter and maybe we should start on a 3/4. I explained that, as she even told me, that the measurement on the stick is full size and that my daughter is bigger than the girl she just measured. She then seemed to indicate that my measurements could me wrong...now, instead of being annoyed at the unnecessarily long wait, I am annoyed at her specifically. When I doubled down on needing full-size, she told me that they only have new full-sized, but then you cannot get a used in the future if you start with a new one. So, I said used is fine. Shen then explained how they did not have used full-size rentals anymore, so it would have to be a new rental at about $32/month, but a used 3/4 is $16/month. In this discussion, she never gave a price for a uzed full-sized rental until I pushed it because I could see the chart to which she kept refering. I, AGAIN, said we needed a full according to all the evidence and asked why if I rented a new 9ne, I could never go back and get a used in the future. She explained that it is store policy because once "you bring back the rental that was new, they now check it in as used." SO, essentially, they penalize the customer for not having stock of used rentals and then blamed them for making them used products. WTF?! Why have used products, then, if you put it on your customers. I made my point stating, "you don't have the stock, so you charge me more?" "Story policy," she stays again. She now knows I am annoyed. I ask where the closest music store is since they don't have what i want and have a silly policy, to which she says something about not knowing and I will probably have to go across town to their other store. Turns out, there is another store Hauer Music, near by. I am sure losing me as a customer won't break them, but I think this place was awful in customer service and attitude. I usually will give places a second chance, but not here. What I learned in my wasted time there makes me think poorly upon their business and I really dislike the person who "helped" me. Go to Hauer. Though busy with many more customers, they had plenty of staff, clear delineation for customers to understand procedure, and those that took part in my transaction were knowledgeable and friendly. Oh, and they did not penalize customers for their own shortcomings. I leased (I called it rental, but all these places lease instruments) a brand new violin for the same as a used rental at McCutcheons. read more
