Why are Thomann so good?

bingefeller

Rocker said:

Hi-Fi shops, CD shops, bookstores, music shops, little corner shops. And so on. If we buy local, the local businesses will survive and be there if we need them. We didn't so most of the local shops are gone. It is important to distinguish between value and price. Thomann and others are good but if you give the business to your local shop instead of exporting your cash, everyone wins in the end. It is not worth saving £20 at the expense of the guy on High Street. Is it?

It's worth it for me.  I don't earn that much so £20 is better in my pocket than some local shop.  That £20 can go towards my train journeys to work and I have some nice new gear.

Fortheloveofguitar

Guitar guitar won't budge on item prices as most of them won't either

Wanted a les Paul classic that they had in the used section at £1199 and they wouldn't knock fuck all off it.

Fuck em' greedy bastards. And they wonder why we go to Thomann

GuitarZero

GuitarGuitar will price match, well the Birmingham shop does anyway. I got nearly £300 of a 2014 Traditional because Dawsons had it marked down at the time.

Dave_Mc

siremoon said:

Now the exception that proves the rule.  My last three orders with them all arrived damaged due to ridiculously inept packing.  It took me ages to sort the problems out and it was a constant battle against the rigid bureaucracy and lack of empowerment within their customer service organisation to achieve a resolution that was even remotely acceptable.   I may well be in a minority of one but I will never use them again

I normally defend them, but the last order I was much less impressed- as I've said before, they seem to be turning (more) into a box-shifter. They sent me a couple of guitar stands which looked like they'd been stored in a dumpster for about 5 years- and which were really poorly packed, too. Actually, that's unfair- they weren't really poorly packed, they weren't packed at all. They came in the manufacturer's packaging, with no extra bubblewrap etc. and didn't even seem to have been sellotaped at the top of the box as they were open on delivery and had no sign of tape around the top. )

When I contacted them they asked me to take pictures- not a massive problem but I had to charge my camera battery (i.e. find the charger) which held me back a couple of days- with the amount I've bought from them and with how little I've returned/complained about I thought they should've taken my word for it. It's not like I was asking them to send me new ones without returning the old ones, they could of course have inspected the stands when they received them back from me.

When they got them back they then sent me back one stand, not two. I noticed when I received the email dispatch notification, so contacted them almost immediately, but it still meant the second stand was sent out the next day- which ordinarily would have meant having to stay in an extra day to take delivery, except in this case for some reason the second stand only deigned to turn up about a week after the first.

Hmmm.

hotpot said:

I've been buying from Thomann for over 12 months now, I cant see me changing anytime soon. the UK stores cant even get close on price or efficiency. Is it a case of "rip off Britain" I don't know I'm not sure! but my hard earned goes a lot further in der fatherland than here in the UK.

in dem

sorry >:D<

Whitecat said:

A lot of the price advantage at the moment is coming from a declining Euro value... that may not last forever. MAP prices in Euros will vault upwards...

I don't think that's true. If anything, I've seen the prices on Thomann (in Euros, I mean) go up to compensate for the weakening Euro, at least on some products.

The absolute sweetspot to buy is just as the Euro starts to weaken, but before they get round to adjusting the prices to compensate.

Rocker said:

Hi-Fi shops, CD shops, bookstores, music shops, little corner shops. And so on. If we buy local, the local businesses will survive and be there if we need them. We didn't so most of the local shops are gone. It is important to distinguish between value and price. Thomann and others are good but if you give the business to your local shop instead of exporting your cash, everyone wins in the end. It is not worth saving £20 at the expense of the guy on High Street. Is it?

My local hi-fi shop wants £12,000 for a power cable!

bingefeller

Dave_Mc said:

siremoon said:

Now the exception that proves the rule.  My last three orders with them all arrived damaged due to ridiculously inept packing.  It took me ages to sort the problems out and it was a constant battle against the rigid bureaucracy and lack of empowerment within their customer service organisation to achieve a resolution that was even remotely acceptable.   I may well be in a minority of one but I will never use them again

I normally defend them, but the last order I was much less impressed- as I've said before, they seem to be turning (more) into a box-shifter. They sent me a couple of guitar stands which looked like they'd been stored in a dumpster for about 5 years- and which were really poorly packed, too. Actually, that's unfair- they weren't really poorly packed, they weren't packed at all. They came in the manufacturer's packaging, with no extra bubblewrap etc. and didn't even seem to have been sellotaped at the top of the box as they were open on delivery and had no sign of tape around the top. )

When I contacted them they asked me to take pictures- not a massive problem but I had to charge my camera battery (i.e. find the charger) which held me back a couple of days- with the amount I've bought from them and with how little I've returned/complained about I thought they should've taken my word for it. It's not like I was asking them to send me new ones without returning the old ones, they could of course have inspected the stands when they received them back from me.

When they got them back they then sent me back one stand, not two. I noticed when I received the email dispatch notification, so contacted them almost immediately, but it still meant the second stand was sent out the next day- which ordinarily would have meant having to stay in an extra day to take delivery, except in this case for some reason the second stand only deigned to turn up about a week after the first.

Hmmm.

hotpot said:

I've been buying from Thomann for over 12 months now, I cant see me changing anytime soon. the UK stores cant even get close on price or efficiency. Is it a case of "rip off Britain" I don't know I'm not sure! but my hard earned goes a lot further in der fatherland than here in the UK.

in dem

sorry >:D<

Whitecat said:

A lot of the price advantage at the moment is coming from a declining Euro value... that may not last forever. MAP prices in Euros will vault upwards...

I don't think that's true. If anything, I've seen the prices on Thomann (in Euros, I mean) go up to compensate for the weakening Euro, at least on some products.

The absolute sweetspot to buy is just as the Euro starts to weaken, but before they get round to adjusting the prices to compensate.

Rocker said:

Hi-Fi shops, CD shops, bookstores, music shops, little corner shops. And so on. If we buy local, the local businesses will survive and be there if we need them. We didn't so most of the local shops are gone. It is important to distinguish between value and price. Thomann and others are good but if you give the business to your local shop instead of exporting your cash, everyone wins in the end. It is not worth saving £20 at the expense of the guy on High Street. Is it?

My local hi-fi shop wants £12,000 for a power cable!

What shop is that?  :O

Dave_Mc

I don't want to say because it's right in my town and it'd pretty much tell everyone exactly where I am (and I like my anonymity). They don't seem to have it any more It's a while since I checked.

They do have a speaker cable at £11,500, though. )

EDIT: holy shit they have 20% off when you trade in your old cable.

Will they take a stagg speaker cable, I wonder? It nearly seems good value with that special offer.

EDIT #2: what the absolute fuck?

That was only the price for a 1m pair.

You can buy a 14m pair.

Almost £140,000.

I am not making this up. Here's the name of the cable, if you want to look it up: Audioquest WEL Signature Tree Series Speaker Cable.

My house cost less than that (admittedly before the boom, but still).

Chalky

"If we keep buying from Thomann the local shops will close down". Why is this nonsense still being raised? Seriously? You sound like a union rep from the last century!

The UK distributors will NOT say "Oh yes we will maintain our high prices to the retail guitar shops until Thomann gets all the UK business! Then when all the UK guitar shops are closed down, we ourselves will be out of business! Aren't we clever!"

The UK distributors will have to do like every other business in a falling market - drop their prices and improve their services to win more sales.

thomasross20

UnclePsychosis said:

thomasross20;667362" said:

I'd rather pay more for a guitar I'd tried in a shop if it cost more than a couple grand!

£250+ more?

When they have a no quibble returns policy?

Next time you're throwing money away would you mind sending some my direction?

Depends. £250..... I'd still rather buy the store version as I believe guitars are SO unique you could be getting a duff one online. 

Maybe if it came to £350+ difference

thomasross20

crunchman said:

I looked at plane tickets.  It's probably cheaper to fly there in person and pay for a hotel if you want to try one than it is to buy in the UK.

Well, there we go then!

UnclePsychosis

thomasross20 said:

UnclePsychosis said:

thomasross20;667362" said:

I'd rather pay more for a guitar I'd tried in a shop if it cost more than a couple grand!

£250+ more?

When they have a no quibble returns policy?

Next time you're throwing money away would you mind sending some my direction?

Depends. £250..... I'd still rather buy the store version as I believe guitars are SO unique you could be getting a duff one online. 

Maybe if it came to £350+ difference

If you get a duff one you return it. 

thomasross20

You know what I'm saying though, right? I've tried several of the same model of guitar and it's so difficult to get two taht are the same. One might be SO Much better in terms of look/colour, playability etc. I've bought online before and been lucky though...! But for a guitar worth a couple £k? I'd probably only take one from a shop I'd tried it in (I'd travel)

guitarfishbay

Thomann prices might be unmatchable by some dealers, but I'd be surprised if there'd be a £250 difference after haggling.  That isn't my experience anyway.  I'd take the shop tested guitar every time.

badlydrawnbanjo

My local PMT have priced matched Thomann on every occasion I've asked with haggling.

underdog

guitarfishbay;668141" said:

Thomann prices might be unmatchable by some dealers, but I'd be surprised if there'd be a £250 difference after haggling.  That isn't my experience anyway.  I'd take the shop tested guitar every time.

It's been the experience of more than a few people on here, someone got a les Paul for £400 less than they could in the UK, that was after going around various UK stores trying out guitars and haggling.

£400 is a hell of a lot of cash.

Grumpyrocker

My Les Paul Studio Deluxe 60s was £300 less at Thomann than at UK retail. It was a limited edition and hard to find as it was - even if I did want to try it at a store.

Not only did I save £300 at Thomann, they sent me a goody bag including a clip on tuner, 3 sets of D'addario strings, a stand, a shielded cable, Gibson guitar polish and picks along with it.

littlethoughts

badlydrawnbanjo said:

My local PMT have priced matched Thomann on every occasion I've asked with haggling.

That is very good to know. I never had any joy haggling in soundcontrol but haven't tried in the years since the takeover.

usedtobe

I don't see why you should have to go through all that haggling bullshit, to get the best price. Thomann all the way for me.

jeztone2

I've bought lots of small stuff from Thomann, I notice all their PRS accessories are cheaper than PRS UK which is hilarious. Not made a big purchase from them. Regarding killing off small retailers, that's happened already in the photography world with DigitalRev & their grey imports. But to be honest that has woken up apathetic UK distributors. I've noticed a lot more inclusive lens & body deals than their used to be. Plus accessories seem to be cheaper. I bought a battery from my local Jessops & it was £5 cheaper than WEX Photographic. So I see all this internet competition as healthy tbh.

Dave_Mc

thomasross20 said:

UnclePsychosis said:

thomasross20;667362" said:

I'd rather pay more for a guitar I'd tried in a shop if it cost more than a couple grand!

£250+ more?

When they have a no quibble returns policy?

Next time you're throwing money away would you mind sending some my direction?

Depends. £250..... I'd still rather buy the store version as I believe guitars are SO unique you could be getting a duff one online. 

Maybe if it came to £350+ difference

But will the absolute cherry-picked best one be better than the average quality £350 more expensive guitar from Thomann? I dunno, but in my experience I'd say not. I'd rather have the average quality £700 guitar (which Thomann sells for £500) than cherry-pick a £500 guitar that a local shop is selling for £500, but that's just me.

Don't get me wrong- I'm always worried with online sales you might get palmed off with a dodgy one. As UnclePsychosis said, if you get a lemon, you return it, but it's still a pain. On the other hand, I've also seen lemons hanging up on guitar shop walls for years, so
:-S

downsideup11

So how does it work for amps etc? Are they UK compliant with correct plugs, voltage etc. - do you need to say that you need a UK version?