Sound Exchange

Reviews 4

FO

Forrest Kattner

I want to make my point clear. I called at 11:22 on Tuesday morning, 20 minutes after opening. I could have called as soon as they opened but I didnt want to be that much of a nuisance. I was looking for a specific jazz album and I understand that there is a great chance it would not be there because it was a bit obscure. eBay has very few, so more than likely it was a no. The employee answered the phone and when I politely asked by giving the artist and title, he asked if it was new or old. I said old and he quickly responded with something to the effect of "I can only look up new records in our inventory." I waited a few seconds, chuckled, said thank you and then someone hung up. I dont remember if it was me or him but the point is that immediately he should have offered to look in one of the two sections it could have possibly been in. If he would have said Im busy can you hold or call back, I would have with no problem and would not have left this review. The conversation did not exceed 30 seconds. He was blunt and made it sound like he was not about to look throughout the possible two sections it could be in. Again, it was 11:22 on a Tuesday, I cant imagine he was that busy and again, I would have gladly held or called back if he was polite. Pinellas employees are very helpful, the two older gentlemen and the one lady who have been there for years are GREAT, NICE, offer musical suggestions and make conversation without talking down to you because Im not a devoted audiophile. But as I have read in other posts, the Tampa store is very less likely to greet you when you come in and if you have a question or approach the counter to pay, you are likely to interrupt a conversation between the several employees behind the counter and they seem to be irritated that you are bothering them. Let me also leave a word to the customers, make sure you go to the counter and inspect the bagged records. I used to assume that anything bagged was good to go and no need to inspect. Then, several times, I would get home and the grading sticker was perfectly placed over some writing on the cover or over a noticeable tear. This happened at least three times, I dont believe it was a coincidence and Im not about to go back and try and return or exchange because Im not that type, I learned my lesson. Also, this is the same chain in which an employee gave me a dirty look and questioned why I would want to put back a $30 record that needed to have the seams glued together. $1-$10, Ill buy it, but Im not going to spend money on a record that needs to be repaired. Finally, when I see the response from the owner or whoever operates the Google reviews, there was no sense of an apology or even "Im sorry you felt we were blowing you off" or "Sorry you felt that way." Nothing. Called looking for a specific record, employee would not even look to see if it was available. I was also surprised at how short he was with me. With all of Tampa s traffic issues, I didnt want to drive there if it wasnt available. I have been at this store several times and have been visiting the Pinellas store for over 15 years. Considering how much money I have spent at the store, I was very disappointed. The Pinellas employees are very nice and helpful.

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Paul Daskal

Ok can I just say I Dont mind spending premium $$ as long as I get premium service or product. That being said, Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably caught wind of the resurgence of Vinyl as the Connoisseurs choice of media playback. For the better part of the last 7 years I have continued to collect with much happiness. Today I encountered SNAKE OIL of the highest degree at SOUND EXCHANGE a chain of independent record stores located in Brandon, Pinellas Park, and Tampa. They charged me $5 just to look at 8 records and give me an evaluation in store: credit or cash. Well they Transferred THE WRONG record...so I decided to not trade my records..they insisted on the $5 when I did not purchase the record b/c THEY transferred the WRONG one, and did not have the one I wanted. Every other store in the area DOES NOT CHARGE to evaluate records and give you a cash price or the equivalent store credit. IN FACT every record store I have dealt with (Over 75 in 9 states) does not charge to evaluate...So PLEASE DO NOT BUY OR TRADE ANYTHING WITH SOUND EXCHANGE, they are a small independent business and can easily change their business processes, but they choose to take advantage of the consumer b/c of the current popularity of vinyl. Now in the Owners defense I DID sign a piece of paper when I traded which told about the 5$ charge..I did not read this so this is partly my fault BUT I would expect that since there was a mistake on their end (improperly identifying/labeling a record) that management could waive the charge so that we could continue to do business in good faith. They did not see this as an option hence my less than glowing review. Its sad because a place like this could be so cool.

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Andrew Mortellaro

I recently started to collect vinyls, so I was excited to go back to Tampa and visit Sound Exchange to stock up on some albums. As far as the selection is concerned, there was a wide selection of pre-owned vinyls. Compared to the price of used records at other record stores Ive visited, most were more expensive than what I would normally spend on pre-owned vinyl. Despite the small selection of new vinyl, I was lucky to find two vinyls that I was hunting for. I was happy for the find, but I think the selection could be expanded. After making my purchase, I was asked for the staff to hold my things while I waited for my brother to finish looking around. I understand the rationale behind this policy, but it made me feel untrustworthy and unwelcome. What ruined the overall experience was the lack of professionalism, and even friendliness of the staff. While waiting for service at the desk, two of the staff were more concerned with an order gone awry than any of the customers in line, including myself. Furthermore, one of the staff shouted obscenities because one of her personal items got lost in the order. I respect this establishment as I have for years, and would like to think the staff does too. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was ignored for saying "thank you" as I left the building. Ive worked in the service industry before, and I understand the demands of having many customers. In my opinion that doesnt warrant rude behavior.

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A Private User

Only had to come here once to know ill never shop here again. The store was drab and dreary and the two girls working the counter were spitting F-bomb ladened diatribes about cheating male Hollywood movie stars and ex-US Presidents. Classy! Though to be fair it did make me chuckle. More offensive however was the stores, dismal at best, selection. While you could find pretty much any and all genres here, the store lacked anything truly obscure, weird or rare that one would normally expect at a mom-and-pop music store. The selection was far from up-to-date and too vast...theres no niche theyre trying to carve out whatsoever which, imo = a boring place to shop. If youre looking for run-of-the-mill Top 40 pop, rock, country and classic rock, then this is your place. If youre looking for anything else, Id suggest eBay. 99% of their LPs in the main coffers would typically be found in dollar bins anywhere else and their "budget" LPs you couldnt even give away. The CD selection was marginally better but not by much. The only bright spot is that their prices were somewhat fair in comparison to other stores Ive shopped at. Overall, my time at Sound Exchange was depressing and I wouldnt recommend any true vinyl hounds or true music lovers to waste their time here. Perhaps if Im brave enough on my next yearly Florida visit, Ill entertain the idea of visiting their Brandon store and cross my fingers its not as depressing as the Tampa location.

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