Question for Rob

I know I am not Rob But...I think it is great! There was only one shop in town who sold eclipse before and he totally inflated prices.  I did not like the way he ran things, eclipse was the only thing keeping him alive and I am sure that he will soon be out.  As well, now eclipse can be cheaper.

as long as you dont mind big box service.... when was the last time you bought a stereo from a big box store and came back with a question a month later and they remembered your name??????

thank god most of our customers are willing to pay a bit more to have it installed properly and to get that personal service you dont get from the chains......

Most of my  views on this as an authorized dealer are best kept from the general public. If you are employed in this industry I would be happy to converse via PM or e-mail ( forbidden@telus.net).  One view that I will make known is that the distributor needed to do more business in Western Canada, they tried putting a line into A&B Sound anumber of years back and failed miserably at it. That line is still trying to recover in Western Canada. Now they have done the same thing again. The distributor has pissed off so many dealers in Western Canada, myself included, that their marketshare out west is nowhere near what it used to be. In Canada most of the business is done in the East, the West well, we are just gravy for them. Seems that their gravy had dried up, wonder why. Now they (the distributor) have gone totally against the Eclipse mission statement and signed with a big box retailer. It should be pointed out though that this in no way reflects upon the excellent service that I have received over the years from my Eclipse rep's in Western Canada. Time will tell.

 Eclipse is a line that requires a huge amount of product knowledge. No offence to Mr. Commission salesperson, but he will sell easy street all day long and what is in his best interest, if he runs into an obstacle on the sales floor he has been trained to get past it any way possible to get the sale, this usually means switching to a different product. It is all too often and primarily found on these forums that customers complain about a lack of knowledge from the retailer, this move by the distributor will be a shining example of that. Not to say that A&B Sound does not have some good and knowledgeable salespeople in their stores or that they are willing to change their way of doing business,  but the one that I worked at had a turnover of 76 people on the salefloor in the span of 1 year, how good do you think their knowledge and sales capabilities are.

Car audio requires a huge amount of product knowledge first and foremost. If I have to take 4 hours to educate a customer I can do it with ease and am glad to do so, be it in person in my store, on the phone or here on these forums. How long do you think Mr. Commission salesperson will be willing to spend with you, especially when you the customer probably know more than him. This is my impression of the Mr. Commission salesperson at pretty much any big box store (save for the few in the know): order please, can I supersize that sir. It's a shame to see a good line like Eclipse start to head in that direction. If Eclipse and the distributor are willing to put hand over foot out for support for these guys and train them properly and constantly, then that is great, the line will do good and good times can be had by all. My question is though, if they are going to do this, why did they not do this on the same level to all of the dealers in Western Canada instead of pissing them off and dealers dropping the line. At the end of the day it was a business decision based on the $. The distributor needed to move more boxes in Westen Canada and A&B Sound needed a new line to butcher. (they dropped Pioneer after butchering the price on it for so many years that they made little money on it). I hope that A&B will prove me wrong and they will give the line the respect that it deserves. So far in my local market they have done just that. How many times does the consumer look at this. You don't go to the store and ask for a deal on oranges, or a haircut, or half price from a lawyer, but when it comes to car audio, everyone expects a deal.

Well maybe I shared a little more than I should have, but these are valid views of both a retailers perspective on the manufacturer, distributor and competitor that may be of intertest to a consumer. I can compete with A&B Sound any day of the week and have one in my local market. My resume is posted for all to see, I would like to believe that I know what I am talking about.