Originally Posted by
Dotha
I wonder if 'mass produced' means knock-off. Of course they don't like that but if it sews to your liking, who cares. It is against the law, I think, to produce knock offs but not to buy it.
Having worked in a quilt shop, though, I did not like it when a customer came in to have ME figure out how much backing she needs so she can go to another shop to purchase.
No, it likely has nothing to do with being a knock-off. Brother has a mass market line and a dealer line. The quality of the machines in the dealer line IS better, they are made to different specifications. The mass market line CAN last a long time (especially if you only sew a few times a year), but the current ones are not as good as the ones that were at Walmart 20 years ago, and even if they are a "Brother" it isn't the same Brother you get from a dealer.
I think your point about people who use the stores and then buy elsewhere is a good one. Yes- we can get much better prices online, but if we do that, the local stores will be gone. I don't buy everything local, but I always keep this in mind when it is only a little less online.
I think it isn't necessarily so much snobbery, as exasperation. The dealer may be having a hard time staying afloat, and seeing mass market machines rubs that in. But then she shouldn't have offered the class to just everyone. The local viking dealer only allows viking machines in their classes (and you have to own it, unlike the Bernina dealer who has classroom machines- and doesn't even try a sales pitch, though their classes are often foot sales pitches...)