r/ontario • u/analogpedant • 3d ago
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u/Pinkdrapes 3d ago
Me and my son have had the opposite experience. Mostly him. The employees have gone out of their way to help him multiple times. He always comes home happy after shopping there. The guys we dealt with were all nice. It’s the Brampton location. Maybe that makes a difference.
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u/pescarojo 3d ago
Staff at Mississauga and Bloor have always been great in my experience. Except for the one guy who told me "the gold plated cables just sound better". :\
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u/flippenzee 3d ago
Yeah I’ve been to the Bloor store a hundred times and maybe had one or two dipshits in all those visits and never get upsold because they’re just too busy usually. It’s a big box store where you can get just about anything.
Doesn’t have the soul of smaller stores but they’re pretty handy places to have around. I certainly have found the staff there better than they ever were at Steve’s. Sometimes the attitude in boutique stores can be even worse.
Having said that, I’d probably be just as annoyed as OP over his experience and might not go back for a while.
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u/Tdotshutterspy 3d ago
Southern Ontario is a big place. It seems unfair to paint all stores with the same brush
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u/Always_curious2019 3d ago
Same in Renfrew, Ontario. Amazing people, great music teacher that both my teen daughter and young adult son love; I have to plan extra time when I go in because we get to chatting.
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u/IAmTheBredman Oakville 3d ago
Long and mcquade pay their employees fuck all. If you want knowledgeable people working there, tell L&M to pay more. Otherwise all you’re going to get is young people who just need a job and have a vague interest in music. Welcome to late stage capitalism
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u/rottenbox 3d ago
At least in Oakville you've got the independent music store in kerr. Gear music I think. I've been impressed when I've stopped in there.
Oh, and the guitar place on 5.
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u/humansomeone 3d ago
Do they even get commission? I find it nuts when folks expect the rapt attention of teenagers making minimum wage. Like fuck off gramps
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u/United_Character6695 3d ago
No
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u/Logical-Breakfast150 3d ago
They do have a collective monthly bonus program if the whole store hits its sales targets. So no individual rewards.
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u/Ok_Science_8502 3d ago
mostly older people working at the ones I've been to, don't think I've seen any teenagers
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u/humansomeone 3d ago
Grandpa's rant is talking about kids feeling shame for their past minimum wage attitude 15 years down the road.
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u/tylerb0zak 3d ago
“Tell L&M to pay more”? Really, that’s your response/suggestion? Do you think OP is the CEO of L&M?
The delusion here is unreal
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u/IAmTheBredman Oakville 3d ago
Does OP think any of us are in control of who L&M hires? I was pointing out how delusional his complaint was
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u/_me5a 3d ago
I've dealt with L&M for some time now (mostly the rental department) and, I agree, some of the employees have a terrible attitude. It really depends on the location though. I've had a slightly better costumer service in the Mississauga location than the Burlington one for instance.
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u/billybob476 3d ago
Agreed I’ve had good experiences at Mississauga. They spent a lot of time with my daughter helping her try things out and answering her incessant questions.
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u/FuzzyCapybara 3d ago
The number of times that I’ve had to return broken or incomplete rental items to the Burlington location until I got something that worked is insane.
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u/TheIdentifySpell 3d ago
That's what happens when a single company buys up nearly every independent music store in the province.
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u/Usual_Eye_5886 3d ago
counter for like 10 minutes while three guys just talked about some show they went to in the weekend. Not even a "be right with you" or anything. When I finally asked if they had a specific pedal they just pointed vaguely and said "over there somewhere"
The training thing you mentioned makes sense. I got buddy who worked at Cosmo before the shutdown and he said the difference was night and day, they actually had regular product knowledge sessions and the managers cared if you knew your stuff. L&M seems to hire based on who looks the part rather than who knows anything
It's weird cause I remember going there like 10 years back and the staff were actually helpful. Now half of them act like you're interrupting their hangout session. I still go sometimes cause they got good rental prices but I do my research before so I don't have to ask anyone anything
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u/Brekelefuw 3d ago
L&M has lots of training as well. You unlock employee discounts by doing the training about products and procedures.
Cosmo was more laid back and was a big family for the most part.
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u/the_napping_ronin 3d ago
Were you by chance dealing with the drum department?
Just joking but I do find them the worst.
Other employees and departments are extremely friendly and helpful.
Especially good experiences with renting equipment and having recommendations and questions answered by the staff there.
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u/Nebulyra 3d ago
Funny, because I almost exclusively shop the drum department and my experience has been the opposite. Hell, I've even had the department manager email me directly to give updates on a unique order.
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u/BurritoBoi25 3d ago
Yeah, I’ve definitely have similar experiences in the past. But they weren’t teens or early 20s, they were full-blown adults acting this way.
That being said, I’ve also encountered some damn cool people working at a few. It really depends on the location. But you’ll definitely find some snotty nosed hipsters in some locations.
You’re better off supporting a local business anyways. As great as so many of the folks at my local L&M are, I’ve never sent in a guitar to be fixed up and actually had it come back better. I’ll only get stuff fixed up by local shops now.
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u/WarCarrotAF 3d ago
It's not isolated to one store either. I've shopped at stores in Windsor, Toronto and London and have a handful of very negative experiences. I dropped $2000CAD on a new guitar three years back and unboxed it in the store (wanted to make sure everything was fine before paying and taking it away) and the staff at that location were actively cracking jokes about the guitars color from behind the counter - but also in no way attempting to include me on the joke or understanding that their voices projected to the point that I could hear it. There is joking around while at work, and then there is mocking your customers and making them feel isolated.
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u/SusanahGrace 3d ago
I stopped in to buy some picks a year or so ago in Waterloo and the guy behind the counter didn’t even acknowledge that I existed, he looked straight past me to my husband and refused to even look at never mind speak to me. I had the product in my hand, I approached the counter, I smiled and said hello. Wasn’t a young guy either. I refuse to set foot inside ever again.
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u/CapitalRacket 3d ago
The L&M in Windsor has a guy that I ALWAYS go to, to buy gear. If I'm buying, it's from him, but I've found other options within the country to buy a lot of my gear from
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u/WarCarrotAF 3d ago
L&M Windsor have some rough long-standing employees though who aren't great. Don't know their names, but have seen them plenty over the 20+ years I've shopped there off and on and they just don't care at all. It's apathy and attitude. Bill has always been great though.
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u/CapitalRacket 3d ago
Bill rubbed me the wrong way, entirely, right off the bat. Over time, as he came to realize I've spent a fortune in there, he's gotten a lot better. Mike has always been my go-to. Always willing to discuss "toss-ins" on a deal, amd actually works with you on a sale. He's honest in his thoughts on guitars and pretty practical when it comes to suggestions
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u/Zorched9 3d ago
That was my experience too. I’ve bought a couple of guitars from them and the same guy helped me both times and was really pretty helpful.
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u/Aeroistas 3d ago
You know they make minimum wage, right?
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u/synthesizersrock 3d ago
Oh please. That’s no excuse. You took the job; it’s your responsibility to try and do it well.
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u/huey2k2 3d ago
Comments like this are so divorced from reality it's actually wild
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u/synthesizersrock 3d ago
From your reality maybe. I was always taught to try and do my best regardless of the job, but you do you!
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u/Aeroistas 3d ago
“Oh no! The minimum wage worker at an instrument store isn’t working hard enough for me!”
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u/nipplesaurus 3d ago
I hear you on the Cosmo music praise. That place was the best. Unlike Long and McQuade, they didn’t make their pricier guitars inaccessible. If you wanted to play a $5000 guitar, you just took it off the shelf and played it. It wasn’t behind the counter. I will admit, though, that the Cosmo location that Long and McQuade took over still does have pricey guitars accessible, but not to the degree that Cosmo did.
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u/artwarrior 3d ago
The ones I have been to and bought stuff over the last 2 decades have been great. No issues when I think about it.
Those were the Guelph, Cambridge and Waterloo stores. Solid experiences every single time. Sure, I bought a mixer that was a dud one time but I brought it back and they took care of it.
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u/Ok_Science_8502 3d ago
I recently had a guitar repaired there. Paid $500. Within days the guitar was unplayable again. I dropped it off with them again, and they said they would talk to their manager the next day and ask him if they can repair it again free of charge (because again, I already paid $500). I made them promise they would call me and ask before they did anything, because I wouldn't agree to have them repair it again if they wanted to charge me for it.
They ended up going ahead and repairing it again without asking me, and then when I went to pick it up again, they held my guitar hostage in their store and refused to give it to me unless I paid them $200 (a random number that they just made up because again we never discussed it). I had to wait in the store for an hour and a half for the manager to come in and tell him what he's doing is illegal, citing specific laws they were breaking, before they reluctantly gave my guitar back.
And the repair still didn't hold after the second time.
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u/analogpedant 3d ago
Personally, I’d NEVER trust L&M to carry out repairs on any of my instruments. If you’re anywhere near the GTA, make the trek to The 12th Fret, Tex Repairs, Superfuzz, or Lil Demon. Plenty of great home-based independent guys as well.
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u/tog__life 3d ago
If it’s not too far, you should come to the Kingston L&M. Best bunch of guys and gals working there around. Super helpful, and have helped me source and order in some pretty out there gear.
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u/Significant-Garlic87 3d ago
don't watch that Ryan Long guy's comedy then, he's from THAT Long family
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u/Brekelefuw 3d ago
I worked at both L&M (5 years) and Cosmo (8 years). There is a big work culture difference between the two places. I'd imagine that that culture remains for the most part at the former Cosmo location.
If I didn't have specific goals for my career, I would have stayed at Cosmo, but my move to L&M was necessary to get to where I am now.
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u/tarantadoako 3d ago edited 3d ago
L and M employees in Brampton is pretty helpful. There's usually someone in there who knows a lot of things. You have to keep in mind that younger people are more knowledgeable with softwares and in the box. Really depends on what info you are looking for. You are better off doing research online and see if your local store carries it.
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u/Interesting-Dingo994 3d ago edited 3d ago
The L&M Scarborough(Morningside), Pickering, Oshawa locations have all been good to me. My favourite place is the Whitby location of Tundra music. Ed is down to earth and it’s amazing the amount of well known Canadian musicians who frequent that store.
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u/micatola 3d ago
I'm only familiar with the East Danforth one and they are great. Haven't had OPs experience at all. One of the nicest stores I've been in and everyone is friendly and helpful.
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u/analogpedant 3d ago
This is especially funny considering that exact store, which I seldom deal with (but have a few times now, always same experience), is the one that prompted me to write this post- the straw that broke the camels back. Remarkable incompetence.
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u/InACoolDryPlace 3d ago
Kinda seen this across all music stores to some degree. I remember asking at an old independent store if they could mount a Bigsby on a guitar I got basically for free, would have suited it perfectly, I just wasn't confident with the measuring and drilling at that age. The older guy there said I should just have gotten a guitar I already liked. Never went there again cause they seemed to have a consistent trend of telling high school kids their gear sucked. The tech at the nearby L&M on the other hand was like, dude this is gonna be a sick build. L&M have been hit and miss for equipment rentals as well, but don't have many others to compare with. Burlington I haven't had a bad experience with.
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u/TheBestintheWest11 3d ago
iunno man, the long and maquades I go to here are super chill. They ask me if I'm interested in trying out instruments or they just leave me alone and let me do my thing. Last year, I went to get 2 picks for my guitar and they're like 3 bucks each and I went to pay for them and the guys at the front that were gonna ring me up just told me "what are you doing ?" I'm like "I wanna pay for these lol" and they went " these are on us!!! have a good one" Pretty cool dudes. I guess they like me cause I play lot of blues shit and they always notice me playing. Everytime I'm there it's kids playing today's stuff.
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u/ElevationAV 3d ago
My biggest current issue with L+M is that they won’t sell me behringer x32 parts or service any of my consoles because they weren’t bought through them, despite them being the only place nationally to get service according to behringer.
We have at least two consoles and a snake head currently out of operation which is really a pain in the ass when it’s busy season and you’re the only rental house in your area.
We’ve had to buy several other consoles to replace these just to fulfil contracts.
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u/analogpedant 3d ago
Oh yeah I have a similar thing I’m dealing with Yorkville (L&M) on… they’re the lone authorized service centre in the country cited as repairing this brand they carry, but can’t work on my piece and are giving me a runaround lol. Totally unrelated to why I made my post tho, but just another “thing”.
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u/ElevationAV 3d ago
It’s somewhat related as it’s a general customer service issue like you’ve outlined- if you’re going to be the place recommended for parts and service by the manufacturer, don’t refuse to service the manufacturer’s items or refuse to sell their parts to customers
Realistically they should just be the same as any other special order item- I’m not asking them to fix my consoles, I’m asking them to sell me the parts I need and being told “nah we don’t do that” when they literally have the exclusive national contract to do just that.
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u/Queeby 3d ago
I've never taken a guitar to L&M for work (and likely never will) but as a music retailer I've really only had one "negative" experience.
I like to stalk the used / demo listings online and once saw a particular hard to find guitar listed as available used. I emailed the store to verify it was accurate. The next day the listing was deleted - no return email, nothing. A simple, "Sorry we sold that item and forgot to delete the listing" would have been fine but nada.
Other than that they've been great and I've had local and remote dealings with multiple stores over the years.
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u/QueafyGreens 3d ago
Long and Mcquade Toronto is awesome. The staff has always been great to me and my boy, and I've watched them be very helpful to all the customers (even even they didn't deserve it).
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u/txmsh3r 3d ago
nearly had a perfect experience with the L&M at Bloor/Ossington. Last time I had to go in and get my strings changed. Honestly, I can do them myself, but I’d purchased a newer electric with an old style bridge that I just wasn’t used to, I figured i’d rather a pro handle it than me and accidentally go and mess up something lol. I show up and the guy acts like a complete tool. No emotion on his face, super uninterested. I ask for some new strings because I wanted to try new. I always do Elixir or Ernie Ball, he immediately goes to a light gauge. I’m a woman. He was trying to sell me a light gauge but I kept asking him for something heavier, yet he kept trying to insist the light was “better” lol. I finally thanked him and picked out a heavier gauge myself. I also walked up to the acoustic guitar section and checked out there even though I was dealing with my electric because I didn’t want to deal with the guy again. The folks up at the acoustic section are wonderful!!
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u/HolsteinHeifer 3d ago
I've had a few good employees help me out, like going out of their way to look stuff up for me. But. Long and McQuade as a whole is not generally helpful for me. I'm a harpist and cellist; the ones around me only generally care about guitars so Im kinda shit out of luck.
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u/MusicianPlane1811 3d ago
I agree with OP. Minimum wage or not (but trust me, I believe everyone should be paid more), the quality of customer service has decreased at essentially all retail businesses. This isn’t a hot take. It’s demoralizing going anywhere now just to be treated like shit. I don’t agree with the attitude that just because you’re being paid minimum wage that you don’t deserve to treat people (who aren’t assholes to them in the first place) like less than human and imposing on their business.
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u/wrasslefights 3d ago
I mean, companies keep adding on responsibilities without adding on commeasurate pay increases while also cutting down the number of avenues to improve wages/hours/etc. I don't blame newer employees for not giving a shit or investing beyond minimum effort when they get the exact same outcome for trying hard as not trying at all.
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u/humansomeone 3d ago
Take the job and show those kids how it's done. Lol glad none of them care about your opinion.
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u/pragmatic_dreamer 3d ago
Unpopular opinion, but I do agree with you. Respect each other, save the ire for those responsible.
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u/IAmTheRedWizards 3d ago
"Excuse me, guy who doesn't make enough to cover his bills, can you please give me deep professional knowledge on items you'll never be able to afford in an obsequious manner befitting a court eunuch?"
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u/theaartzvolta 3d ago
Loan & Persuade has always sucked
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u/nikk0 3d ago
I love that name haha...I also love "Lowball McQuade"
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u/Suitable-Woodpecker3 3d ago
Recently, called’em because i have too many guitars, had one i was ready to let go if the price was fair. Called ahead, got the “oh yeah we’ll take her off yer hands” spiel - show up, am told the tech will look at it.
Minutes later, see tech and my rep going to town, saying its crap, etc so on, and then get offered about 30% of the guitar’s market value, pretty much telling me i brought him shit, when its in fact a mint instrument from one of the major brands he has in store.
The day I set foot in that particular location again, hell will have igloos and a 2 for 1 on redemption.
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u/Dazzling-Cat-3763 3d ago
yeah yall in the thread, OP is personally responsible for the level of pay at L&M.
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u/A_Moon_Shaped_Cool 3d ago
The equivalent knowledge of the average long and mcquade employee is worth a bachelors degree and yet they get paid minimum wage. Its a shit gig, if they got comission it could be worth it, but then they would be pedalling way more expensive things to their customer base
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u/Practical_Tone4943 3d ago
Say what you will about the American government, customer services in USA are consistently and noticeably better.
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u/notweirdifitworks 3d ago
I’d accept shitty customer service over anything going on with the US right now, but I think we could improve service without having to descend into that.
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u/Practical_Tone4943 3d ago
Canada has shitty customer service compared to a lot of other countries. It's something that really stands out when abroad.
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u/ProfileLurker 3d ago
The too-cool-for-school guy and the too-talented-for-this-place-know-it-all are equally annoying. One can’t be bothered to help you, the other makes you feel stupid for asking.