# Kijiji Ottawa



## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

Someone posted this o n Kijiji and before it is taken down:


I had the worst retail experience ever at Intercontinental Music today!
I'm looking into taking up Guitar as a hobby so I'm trying to educate myself about Guitars and Amps. I noticed some of the guitars in this store are Gibson and Fender knock offs/ imitations. Never heard of the names on them Baron and IMC. I asked a couple questions and the older guy kept saying who cares about the name if the quality is good, would not speak to any specs of the guitars only the price... also told me many times that I didn't need anything more than a cheap guitar and amp.
On my way out I thanked him for his time and that's when it started......
He told me to come back when I grew up, I replied "Grow Up, I'm just trying to learn about different makes and....." he cut me off
He told me "To go to hell, stop wasting his time"
I couldn’t believe how rude he was!
I tried to respond and be as rational as possible under the circumstances. He kept going...
Told me again to Go to hell and Get out,
I yelled back That he was lucky he was old and he had no clue how to treat people otherwise I'd teach him some manners...
He yelled again to get out and once more "go to Hell"

I will encourage everyone; do not give this store one cent of your hard earned money!

I am going to try to contact Gibson and Fender and let them know there is a store in Ottawa trying to sell imitation Gibson and Fender Guitars......

How is this place in business??????????????
They don’t want you on your cell phone because they probably don’t want you to take pictures of their fake Gibson and Fender Guitars……


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

A fake call from a fake Fender lawyer might be fun


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2012)

Yes indeed: how _is_ that store still in business? Front for something?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I saw that one too. Rather bad consumer experience, eh?

These days just about everything is a Strat or Les Paul copy, if it isn't a PRS copy. So, given that all those jobbers are tooled up for cranking out things that LOOK like fenders and Gibsons, all it really involves to sell fakes are decals and chutzpah. If there _were_ fakes in there, my brief experience with the store staff suggests that they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. A lot of the stuff they sell tends to be brands you will NEVER see advertised in any major gear-oriented magazine, which further suggests that a chunk of their typical clientele wouldn't be able to tell either. (a lot of folks in the surrounding neighbourhood are new Canadians, and not the sort that comb Guitar Player or the NAMM website).

I just wish they'd change their name, or International Musicland would, so that the two stores don't get confused. The latter is a pleasant place to shop with a nice assortment of gear, even if they don't have the cheapest prices around. The "Inter" and "Music" prefixes, though create the mistaken impression, if you aren't paying close attention, that they are the same store or two outlets of the same chain. BIG difference.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

I wonder if this was the owner or an employee? If I was the owner and that was my employee, he would be gone in a flash.


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2012)

Steadfastly said:


> I wonder if this was the owner or an employee? If I was the owner and that was my employee, he would be gone in a flash.


I'd bet good money it was the owner. And I'm not betting man.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

I would certainly not go there.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Same here, never had any good experiences with them when I went to the Montreal Road store back in the 80's. Dont know how they have stayed in business all these years. You needed a special permission to handle the instruments.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

marcos said:


> Same here, never had any good experiences with them when I went to the Montreal Road store back in the 80's. Dont know how they have stayed in business all these years. You needed a special permission to handle the instruments.


Sad thing is that that store is cloned through out the country ...run by the same kind of bitter people.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Back in the 70s and early 80s, he had the best store in Ottawa. He carried almost every major brand back then. Then all of a sudden the brands didnt want him selling their guitars. Then it became a sad, sad, sad place with the old dude selling crud, and bitching at anyone who would step inside the door...........


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## Astroman86 (May 6, 2010)

haha if you google the store name the whole first page is almost all links to negative reviews.

Thats a sad story Accept2. I wonder what happened.


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## 10409 (Dec 11, 2011)

I've never been there myself, but i'm tempted to go and inquisitively window shop with a my phone recording audio and see if he flips out on me.

The google map reviews are hilarious, this guy sounds like he should be on hardcore manic depressive medication.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?cid=17926505588856300426&q=intercontinental+music&gl=ca&cd=1&cad=srcpiwlink&ei=lWAfT_fBHaO1wQGllLzrCg&sig2=spZBQZ7p35euhEmfmI6SNg&dtab=2


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

This review is beautiful



> *Stay Away!!!! *I mean it! You're better off buying a cheap pawn shop instrument than dealing with this grumpy, delusional old man. My review is based on about 6-7 visits over the past 12 months. So it's not like they treated me badly because they were having a bad day. Here's a summary of stuff that happened to me: -He gives me all sorts of warnings that I cant use my cell phone, I cant browse and look around on my own, he can kick me out at any time, I cant jot down any prices...etc. -If I want to check out some guitars and play them, I can only do so for five minutes...that's it! -I've never heard of the brands he sells, Intex, Baron, TCM...so when I ask for more info on these companies, he gets all mad and asks me, "are you gonna buy today or not?" -I ask what kinds of woods are these guitars made of. He says he doesnt know but "it's good"! (We're talking about $1000 guitars here). If you're shopping for drums, forget it! Dont even think of touching or playing the drums!! He'll flip. -Every time I go in there, there's a 50% off sale for "today only". -He makes prices up in his head. One guitar had no tag. He told me that it was $1000. The thing had very poor workmanship and was a piece of crap. He tells me that's because it's a demo and people have been abusing it. Really?, the fretboard warping and coming apart is due to customers playing it??Later he says he made a mistake and can let me have it for $200. -If I ask, how much is this, He answers, "How much are you willing to spend today?" -Twice, there were people in there trying to get refunds for defective instruments (Guitars coming unglued) and it was like World War 3. He was swearing and accusing the customer of abusing the instrument...yikes. -But the last time I was there. I was looking at Alhambra guitars. I checked out a few on my own and then went to the counter to ask about certain model. Out of nowhere, he looks at me and says, "Get the hell outta here!" I stood there, speechless, and he walks down and escorts me out of his store!! I should have told him to f*** off, but I get the last laugh since I spent my money elsewhere and will never spend a dime in that hell hole. I guess you're supposed to be instruments like you're buying soup with the Soup Nazi: Come in, shut up, dont ask questions, dont test or touch the instruments, plunk down your money (over $1000), and walk out with a mystery box that's unopened. But seriously, I'm not a trouble-maker nor do I look to provoke these situations. But this store sells entry-level instruments that have poor workmanship and ridiculously high prices. No wonder there are tons of used Intex, Simon and Baron instruments for sale on the 'net. And the old man running the stores has no manners or customer service skills whatsoever! How he stays in business, I have no idea. Like I said. Save yourself the aggravation.There are lots of other *music* stores in town that will sell you quality products with great service.


Fabulous stuff



> *Intercontinental insult!* DISCLAIMER, THIS REVIEW WAS GIVEN A STAR ONLY BECAUSE I COULDN'T LEAVE THE FIELD BLANK... If you're browsing for a new guitar, and want to be cut off mid question by a grumpy old man wearing a cheap suit, looking like he would fit in better as a funeral director, please go to*intercontinental music*. If it seems normal to read signs like; "a good customer knows that time is money" and "customers are not allowed to write down prices of the instruments", then *intercontinental music* is the place for you. If you enjoy overhearing the same grumpy old man asking a customer if they've "made up their mind yet" and swearing at them as they walk out of the store because they didn't buy anything, I urge you to look no further. To the old man at*Intercontinental Music*: You're customer service skills are the worst I have ever seen. The fact that you would even be allowed to work in (let alone own) a place where musicians get the materials through which to express their art is an insult to *music* itself. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! DO NOT SHOP AT *INTERCONTINENTAL MUSIC*, UNLESS YOU LIKE BEING TREATED LIKE CRAP!!!


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## cwittler (May 17, 2011)

OMG I have been in a few of those shops. Talk about hard done by. It seems like they are all drinking from the same bottle. Their invoice costs are higher than most other stores retail pricing. They can't stock anything good because they can't afford the minimum purchase order. No one will let them stock anything on consignment (duh!). They complain about their competitors and hate their customers. Time for the silver bullet and end the suffering I would say. If only I could press the rewind button and get those precious moments of my life back. LOL!




shoretyus said:


> Sad thing is that that store is cloned through out the country ...run by the same kind of bitter people.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

mike_oxbig said:


> I've never been there myself, but i'm tempted to go and inquisitively window shop with a my phone recording audio and see if he flips out on me.
> 
> The google map reviews are hilarious, this guy sounds like he should be on hardcore manic depressive medication.
> 
> http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?cid=17926505588856300426&q=intercontinental+music&gl=ca&cd=1&cad=srcpiwlink&ei=lWAfT_fBHaO1wQGllLzrCg&sig2=spZBQZ7p35euhEmfmI6SNg&dtab=2


Those google reviews are hilarious. Thanks for the heads up.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

iaresee said:


> Yes indeed: how _is_ that store still in business? Front for something?


It's possible. We have a TV shop here in town that has not sold a TV in 15 years. I went in there one time and there was like 5 old tv's in there and a bunch of junk on the walls. I never see a customer in there.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

cwittler said:


> OMG I have been in a few of those shops. Talk about hard done by. It seems like they are all drinking from the same bottle. Their invoice costs are higher than most other stores retail pricing. They can't stock anything good because they can't afford the minimum purchase order. No one will let them stock anything on consignment (duh!). They complain about their competitors and hate their customers. Time for the silver bullet and end the suffering I would say. If only I could press the rewind button and get those precious moments of my life back. LOL!


We had a store like that in Bancroft at one time. Thank god a musician type started another store. They were quickly run out of town after 30 yrs in business.


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