Demo Fees

There is a store here in Ottawa (I have not been inside the store) that charges you if you want a demo of their equipment. The charge is 2% for 20 minutes if the equipment is under $1,000, and 1% if it's over. They sell ML, so if they have the CLX in the store the price would be $250 for a 20 minute demo!

Has anyone seen this anywhere else before?

Link: http://www.themacgroup.ca/Audio_Gear.html

I haven't seen that in Vancouver. I didn't think the demand for high end was so high that people would pay to listen... I wouldn't. Just saying....

It just occurred to me that if this was the norm, Bonzo might just have a pair of DemoFee paid for CLX's in his living room right now

Hah! They're joking right. There are too many ways to hear gear to pay to do so. I'd never pay but I understand the "use up the dealers time then buy online at a discount mentality" that brick and mortar shops have to deal with. Bad business model IMO.

risabet said:

Hah! They're joking right. There are too many ways to hear gear to pay to do so. I'd never pay but I understand the "use up the dealers time then buy online at a discount mentality" that brick and mortar shops have to deal with. Bad business model IMO.

Click to expand...

Yeah, not well thought out. You build your brand (in this case, audio components) by demonstrating its' advantages to people who are unfamiliar with what you'd like to sell them. This store is essentially making people pay to watch/hear the stores' advertising pitch. I don't know about the rest of you (actually, I'm on safe ground with this), but I do anything possible to avoid advertising for products I'm not interested in (High End Audio, for most people). This store is in our nations' capital though, so they probably have some lucrative gov't contracts to keep them afloat.LOL

They complain their demo->sale rate is unsustainable. Well, they need to look at their business model, don't they? Are they selling the wrong kit? Or is something wrong with their demo rooms that makes the kit sound awful?

Well who cares, that's another high-end store that will be closing soon I'd say. I won't be sorry for that one though. They'll probably turn around and blame the internet for their downfall too. Some retailers just don't get it.