EDIT: 08/24/2016
Since I have written this review, the owner contacted me using his real account to get things "resolved". A few days later, he contacted me again but accidently from his fake account "Ron D". A couple weeks later, he then sends me another message from the same fake account pretending to be a fellow customer forgetting that I already know it is a fake account that belongs to him. The message is barely coherent but he openly states that he has been stalking my facebook account by looking at my photos, going through my friends list, and quotes old irrelevant post of mine. VERY CREEPY! (I have since changed my privacy settings). He then tries to imply that his competition put me up to giving him a bad review which is total nonsense. He also used his fake account to write a fake negative review of his main competition. I reported it to yelp and they removed the review he wrote. If anyone is interested, please message me and I will happily send screenshots of everything as proof.
Original Review:
Worst communication skills ever, poor ethics, and very disrespectful!
I was serious about buying a Bryston headphone amp so I emailed them to ask if they had a demo unit. A month went by with no reply so I went to the store to ask about it. The owner told me they typically don't carry demo units for customers to just listen to. To this day, I still have no idea what a Bryston amp sounds like. What is the point of being a Bryston dealer if they don't have demo units?
They offered to let me hear an A/B comparison between two phono cartridges they had in stock. The catch was I needed to set up an appointment for a few days later. The owner, the salesman, and the secretary, were all there when I explained to them that I would be coming from out of town and rearranging my work schedule so it would be super important for them to be ready in time for the appointment.
On the day of the appointment, I brought along someone else who was also interested. We were stuck in traffic so I called to let them know we might be a few minutes late. The owner picked up the phone and told me that the A/B comparison would be unavailable because the salesman who arranged it doesn't even work that day. No apology even though he was there when I explained the importance of keeping the appointment.
The next day I received a voice mail from his secretary saying that the A/B comparison was ready so I phoned her. She said that it had been ready the whole time. No apology for the mix up and wasting two hours of traveling time.
They now have a Kelowna location so I ordered a VPI product. Before I gave them my money, they told me that it would take 1 month. After they took my money, they then said it could take 5-6 months. I made it very clear to them that I was OK with waiting 1 month but not much longer that that. They agreed and told me they would submit the deposit first thing Monday.
6 weeks go by and I hear nothing from them so I stopped by to inquire. They told me that they were having communication problems with VPI but it should be coming soon. Instead of cancelling my order, I told them I would give them a chance to get a hold of VPI to get a more definite timeframe. They said they would get back to me right way. A month goes by and nothing.
I go in there again to inquire and I am told, "it is on its way". I say "Great! So it is in the mail?" He replies, "Well no, but I submitted the deposit last week". I very calmly say, "Oh, I thought you said you had submitted the deposit 2 and a half months ago". At this moment, one of his employees comes up to me and starts yelling in my ear "THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN HERE...." At this point, I calmly tell the employee I am not talking about the last time I was in there but when I originally placed the order. The employee then stormed off leaving me with ringing in my left ear... I continued where I had left off and reminded him that I was only willing to wait 1 month but ended up waiting 2 and a half months, which made me more than patient. I was no longer willing to wait (especially after just getting yelled at) so I got a refund.
After being yelled at for no reason, there is just no way I am ever going to do business here again. That is just totally uncalled for, disrespectful, and unprofessional. He has had lots of opportunity to contact me and apologize for the behavior of his employee but hasn't.
Plus, if he had known that the product was unavailable and was unable to submit a deposit back when he said he was going to, he should have contacted me. Instead, he kept it and didn't bother to contact me. That is highly unethical.
I went to a different dealer (online) who wouldn't take my money until they first called VPI to ensure the product was available. They had zero problems with communication. Go figure! Had the product from VPI in 3 days with no deposit necessary and at a much lower price to boot! read more
