# L&M Sale



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Just a heads up for you guys in the Toronto area.

Jack's Bargain Attic Sale is taking place Friday and Saturday September 23rd and 24th at 925 Bloor Street West
- featuring lots of free swag, door prizes and incredible bargains in all departments!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Now they just need to do this across the country.


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## Guest (Sep 21, 2011)

zontar said:


> Now they just need to do this across the country.


Yea. That's be nice.

Jack's Bargain Basement Sale is where I picked up my '95 PRS so many years ago. Good times.


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

The Ottawa L&M could use a jolt like this-I find their selection is getting lame.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

the last time L&M had a sale here it was rather disappointing. 

axemusic here does pretty good sales from time to time.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Did anyone make it in? Any good deals? I couldn't make it in...and a week after buying a guitar from them I thought it best not to go.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

blam said:


> the last time L&M had a sale here it was rather disappointing.
> 
> axemusic here does pretty good sales from time to time.


I got my AF95 at Axe 3 years ago at a sale--they should be having another one soon.
I'm on their mailing list, but haven't heard anything yet.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

A co-worker got this boxed with a Boss TU-2, Fender Bassman and Fender Reverb pedals for $99!



http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=748


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

hardasmum said:


> A co-worker got this boxed with a Boss TU-2, Fender Bassman and Fender Reverb pedals for $99!
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetails.php?ProductId=748


That would have been hard to pass up--unless you had no need/desire for that at all, or already had all of it.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

I just noticed L&M are now displaying Boss/Roland prices on their website. Roland used to forbid dealers to post prices online.

http://www.long-mcquade.com/departments/39/filter/


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

Yeah, thats odd. USA sites have had process up for a while now


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

meh. No sale at L&M is good enough to get my business back. They've utterly lost the thread. Completely corporate these days. I just tried one last time to business with them, they quoted me $2235 on a returned mixer, I said "I'll take it". Deal's done, or so I think. Get a phone call a few hours later, "oh, actually we made a mistake on the price, it's actually $2750". Like that's somehow MY problem. I said, we had a deal in place, honour it. They refused. Last dollar I ever spend in that chain. Amateurs.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

That's too bad fudb, not very professional.

There's a pile of the stores down south to choose from though, have you tried another?
They're the biggest source in Canada for a lot of gear, too bad.

I'm only able to order off of them as there isn't a L&M in town.
As long as the items are in stock, I've recieved the order in a day or two.

Never had a problem.


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

Yah I've brought stuff up from the south before, but with the duties and etc, it's often not really worth it. Anything I need in Canada these days I either buy used, or from Axe Music in Calgary (best stores in the country, not just because I used to work there, lol). I'm in Guelph, so I also often go to Folkway to fall in love with more stuff out of my league!


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

fudb said:


> meh. No sale at L&M is good enough to get my business back. They've utterly lost the thread. Completely corporate these days. I just tried one last time to business with them, they quoted me $2235 on a returned mixer, I said "I'll take it". Deal's done, or so I think. Get a phone call a few hours later, "oh, actually we made a mistake on the price, it's actually $2750". Like that's somehow MY problem. I said, we had a deal in place, honour it. They refused. Last dollar I ever spend in that chain. Amateurs.


That's unfortunate. With some irony I've always hated L&M until very recently. Staff at the Bloor Street and Burlington locations have won me over with excellent service and the best prices.


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

In the interest of fairness I feel I should clarify that the mixer was at an another location, I did not pay them upfront, although I've bought quite a bit of stuff and always pay on cue, and maintain a friendly relationship with many staff. This was also not a one-time chat, the price was confirmed and reconfirmed over a Friday to Monday set of conversations. I'm not targeting the worker bees, that decision had nothing to do with them. L&M's prices are very competitive, as shown by my past cash support. I'm more talking about their... retail business practices. They had a nice loosey goosey thing for many a year, and helped support a community of musicians in Canada. I worked for their direct competition, but never had a bad thing to say. These days though, it's big and so of course there's bigger money in the sights, and the business practice has become far less personal, far more in line with the competition. That's all fine and good, BUT then why shop there over the competition? No reason. I'll spend my dollars elsewhere, and b*tch about it online a couple places and move on, lol. When people ask me where to go for guitar stuff, I'll just send them to someone else.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

I've always dug L&M. For new stuff, you can't beat them. Their prices are already the lowest (or damned close) and they'll price match if you find a lower price. The 30-day return policy is also handy.

For used, well, the prices aren't great. I've only bought I thing used and I wasn't happy with it, so I returned it and got my money back, which made it ok.

This last attic sale was great, there was some REALLY good deals that were tough to pass up, but money was tight. I saw a Traynor YCV50 for $299, a Mesa Road King combo for $999 and a really, really nice Tak acoustic for $649. All I ended up getting was a mic stand


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

It doesn't seem like all of the L&Ms are consistently good, but the one in Burlington is great. I've bought a lot of stuff there and the prices have been fair (if I do find a better price somewhere else, they'll usually match it). They have a pretty good selection of used stuff as well. I've managed to find some good deals - some of them were even cheaper than what I could find on Craigslist or Kijiji at the time (I bought my Carbon Copy there for $100, a Line 6 Pod for $60, a Mexi Jazz Bass for $300, etc).

As for service, well that's where they really won me over. I ordered a (Yamaha) powered mixer from them and it took longer to arrive than what I was told, so they gave me free rentals until it arrived - two months later. Wasn't happy that I had to wait but at least they took care of me while I did.

I will say though that some of the younger kids working there aren't the best ones to go to when you're looking for something. I asked one of the younger guys to order me a 15 foot insert cable - he looked at me and told me he didn't think they existed since he'd never seen one. I had to pull the reorder tag off the wall to show him that yes, they actually do...


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

fudb said:


> meh. No sale at L&M is good enough to get my business back. They've utterly lost the thread. Completely corporate these days. I just tried one last time to business with them, they quoted me $2235 on a returned mixer, I said "I'll take it". Deal's done, or so I think. Get a phone call a few hours later, "oh, actually we made a mistake on the price, it's actually $2750". Like that's somehow MY problem. I said, we had a deal in place, honour it. They refused. Last dollar I ever spend in that chain. Amateurs.


They did the exact same thing to a buddy of mine! He bought a guitar and they called him up 2 days later with the same story. And he still shops there! I couldn't believe it. I haven't shopped there myself since hearing the story! I only use the Arts in Newmarket now (and I miss Woodshed in Guelph).

I can't believe I am hearing of this happening twice though. I thought it was some ridiculous thing specific to the location he bought it at.


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## Guest (Oct 10, 2011)

I am not a fan of L & M but I think it would not be fair to the corp. if every time a staffer screws up a price they have to honour the mistake. With the huge amount of diverse products and the lack of experience of some employees they could be taken down by employee errors.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Player99 said:


> I am not a fan of L & M but I think it would not be fair to the corp. if every time a staffer screws up a price they have to honour the mistake. With the huge amount of diverse products and the lack of experience of some employees they could be taken down by employee errors.


Are you serious? If you have paid for an item, and walked out of the store with it, you seriously think they should be able to call up and tell you to come back and pay more for it? What other business does that happen in? You discipline the employee for their error, not go after the customer who did nothing wrong.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

torndownunit said:


> Player99 said:
> 
> 
> > I am not a fan of L & M but I think it would not be fair to the corp. if every time a staffer screws up a price they have to honour the mistake. With the huge amount of diverse products and the lack of experience of some employees they could be taken down by employee errors.
> ...


Had the items been paid for? Had they left the store? I didn't read it that way.


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2011)

hardasmum said:


> Had the items been paid for? Had they left the store? I didn't read it that way.


Exactly. He had only been given an erroneous price. When the salesperson actually checked it was discovered and he was told the bad news.

I think it is very poor business, but again L & M would go broke if every time a price was incorrectly quoted, no matter what the size of the error, they had to sell it for that price. I was told by a L & M manager some clients buy $400,000 per year from them. Imagine if they where quoted $250,000.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Player99 said:


> Exactly. He had only been given an erroneous price. When the salesperson actually checked it was discovered and he was told the bad news.
> 
> I think it is very poor business, but again L & M would go broke if every time a price was incorrectly quoted, no matter what the size of the error, they had to sell it for that price. I was told by a L & M manager some clients buy $400,000 per year from them. Imagine if they where quoted $250,000.


My interpretation was they called him after the fact which is EXACTLY what happened with my friend. They called him for days harassing him at home AFTER he bought the item and took it home.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Player99 said:


> I am not a fan of L & M but I think it would not be fair to the corp. if every time a staffer screws up a price they have to honour the mistake. With the huge amount of diverse products and the lack of experience of some employees they could be taken down by employee errors.


Yes L&M have a diverse product line, but wouldn't it be the employers duties, in their own interests,
to school the employees on the correct pricing of items? 
One thing I personally can't stand is knowing more about the item you are interested in, or purchasing,
than the person you are buying it off.
If somebody called me after I had purchased something to come in and pay some more dough,
the item I bought would be going back before they saw another dime out of me.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

If you've already paid and left, then you have no obligation to go back and pay more. The retailer screwed up and they have to eat it. If they quote you a price, but make a mistake, yes it would be nice if they stuck by the price they quoted, but they have no obligation to.

Also, you have to realize that the people who work at L&M are not well versed in every category of product. You have people working in guitars who are DJs or pianists; you have people working in Keyboards who are bassists, etc. Sometimes someone has to cover someone else who is sick, etc. etc. There's a million reasons why someone won't know every minutia. Also, just because they work at L&M doesn't mean they're a giant gear-head like most of us are. They're certainly musicians of some degree, but they're salespeople first, not hobbyists. Their job is to know how to sell a product to beginners as well as experienced players, not to know what brand of tubes come stock in a given amp, or other details that you and I may obsess about, but most people wouldn't care about at all. The vast majority of players buy a guitar or two, plug it in and as long as it works, they are totally happy. There's no drive to buy dozens of guitars, hundreds of pedals, vintage tube amps, mod their gear, etc.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I understand your point hollowbody, you can't know everything about everything.
Pricing though, should be a clearly defined number in their system.

Once, locally at a small mom and pop store, I enquired about pedals that they carry.
The young guy there wasn't even aware of what was offered in the line they were selling.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

sulphur said:


> I understand your point hollowbody, you can't know everything about everything.
> *Pricing though, should be a clearly defined number in their system.*
> 
> Once, locally at a small mom and pop store, I enquired about pedals that they carry.
> The young guy there wasn't even aware of what was offered in the line they were selling.


Yes, but the other issue here is you're dealing with a used product. Or at least that's what I understood from the OP. There's no set pricing on used goods, it's just a percentage of what they think they can sell it for, so it's easy to give an incorrect quote. But yes, if it's a new product in the system, anyone should be able to tell you the price.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

OK, I see where you're coming from.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> Yes, but the other issue here is you're dealing with a used product. Or at least that's what I understood from the OP. There's no set pricing on used goods, it's just a percentage of what they think they can sell it for, so it's easy to give an incorrect quote. But yes, if it's a new product in the system, anyone should be able to tell you the price.


The thing is, I have seen them make errors on products in the system as well. They make a LOT of errors at the locations I have shopped at. 



> If you've already paid and left, then you have no obligation to go back and pay more. The retailer screwed up and they have to eat it. If they quote you a price, but make a mistake, yes it would be nice if they stuck by the price they quoted, but they have no obligation to.


Of course you are 100% correct! That didn't stop L&M from harassing him for over a week with phone calls, and making empty threats towards him. I have no huge issue against L&M. I have no reason to make up stories. A bunch of little annoyances had forced me to use them less and less over a 2 year period. Once this stuff happened with my friend, that was the straw that broke the camels back. If your experiences at L&M have been nothing but great, than that is fantastic. I was happy with them for years. But there is a whole other side of things that other people have experienced.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

torndownunit said:


> Of course you are 100% correct! That didn't stop L&M from harassing him for over a week with phone calls, and making empty threats towards him. I have no huge issue against L&M. I have no reason to make up stories. A bunch of little annoyances had forced me to use them less and less over a 2 year period. Once this stuff happened with my friend, that was the straw that broke the camels back. If your experiences at L&M have been nothing but great, than that is fantastic. I was happy with them for years. But there is a whole other side of things that other people have experienced.


Yeah, it is annoying to have that happen to you. I'm surprised they didn't just swallow the mistake and move on. I'm glad your friend didn't break down and pay more.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

hollowbody said:


> Yeah, it is annoying to have that happen to you. I'm surprised they didn't just swallow the mistake and move on. I'm glad your friend didn't break down and pay more.


The thing that shocks me is that he still shops there lol. He has no choice because the only way he can get gear is to finance it. I moved on to the Arts, which isn't much more of a drive from here.


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