NickD Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I loved Thomann, but they've not been the source of bargains they were since the (obviously unrelated to anything) demise of Sterling that started in 2016. In a pinch, for little things I'll use G4M, GAK, or Andertons, and I've not experienced any customer service issues. For Drum stuff I find Drumshack in Sarf London great. Bass-wise, I reckon I've stockpiled enough to get me through until we're using the Euro, or I can escape, whichever comes first. For the inevitable GAS attacks it's the Basschat Marketplace all the way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 hours ago, Happy Jack said: After careful research, I have established that G4M is actually a subsidiary of @ped Industries Inc., a massive conglomerate based in the British Virgin Isles and owned (through lawyers, natch) by Basschat. It was the urgent need to control a $14bn manufacturing complex that led to @Kiwi relocating to China, and they are now the main suppliers of nanochips (for vaccine insertion) to Bill Gates. They also erected the steel monolith in Utah and the huge phallus in Bavaria. Honest guv. phallus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 5 hours ago, Happy Jack said: After careful research, I have established that G4M is actually a subsidiary of @ped Industries Inc., a massive conglomerate based in the British Virgin Isles and owned (through lawyers, natch) by Basschat. It was the urgent need to control a $14bn manufacturing complex that led to @Kiwi relocating to China, and they are now the main suppliers of nanochips (for vaccine insertion) to Bill Gates. They also erected the steel monolith in Utah and the huge phallus in Bavaria. Honest guv. I hope they're the 5G nanochips as well, otherwise what's the point!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huge Hands Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 Based on the Harley Benton thread, I have just pulled the plug on a 5 string MB-5 S (MM copy). My interest was piqued by the stealth one, but it was not in stock for weeks and I am a rare breed that likes sunburst so went for that. I wanted one last splurge before the rules change, but I did have to send a chasey mail for despatch even though everything had been in stock. It took 4 working days before the order was listed as ready to be collected from them by the courier,. i know it is Christmas, but it still seemed pretty slow to me, especially as they used to be so quick (I remember getting "Left Our Warehouse" messages the same day.. I seem to remember my last order was the same and had to be chased too. I just hope it gets through to the UK before the end of the month - I don't want to get caught for any import charges! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 I am in a similar boat now - ordered something yesterday, no answer, rang them and they will not commit to a despatch date, only citing a “backlog” of orders. Given the item is expensive I’m getting cold feet and am tempted to cancel - especially as Guitar Guitar were able to despatch an order placed Saturday morning that was delivered Monday at 8am. I won’t be ordering again and like others have concerns over returns and warranty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr4stringz Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Huge Hands said: Based on the Harley Benton thread, I have just pulled the plug on a 5 string MB-5 S (MM copy). My interest was piqued by the stealth one, but it was not in stock for weeks and I am a rare breed that likes sunburst so went for that. I wanted one last splurge before the rules change, but I did have to send a chasey mail for despatch even though everything had been in stock. It took 4 working days before the order was listed as ready to be collected from them by the courier,. i know it is Christmas, but it still seemed pretty slow to me, especially as they used to be so quick (I remember getting "Left Our Warehouse" messages the same day.. I seem to remember my last order was the same and had to be chased too. I just hope it gets through to the UK before the end of the month - I don't want to get caught for any import charges! Ordered a B-stock MB-5 last Wednesday. Was late Friday when they confirmed it had all gone through and that the shipping process was starting. I then received it on Tuesday (a day ahead of the scheduled delivery date) so hopefully it should be fairly swift... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 8 hours ago, Happy Jack said: After careful research, I have established that G4M is actually a subsidiary of @ped Industries Inc., a massive conglomerate based in the British Virgin Isles and owned (through lawyers, natch) by Basschat. It was the urgent need to control a $14bn manufacturing complex that led to @Kiwi relocating to China, and they are now the main suppliers of nanochips (for vaccine insertion) to Bill Gates. They also erected the steel monolith in Utah and the huge phallus in Bavaria. Honest guv. We're actually just off the Virgin Isles in a submarine based HQ which we can move around the globe as convenient to escape certain legal and assassination requirements. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted December 10, 2020 Share Posted December 10, 2020 2 hours ago, ped said: We're actually just off the Virgin Isles How appropriate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apeneck Sweeney Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 On 09/12/2020 at 20:30, mr4stringz said: Buying from Thomann and other EU based merchants may well become less attractive to UK punters come the new year anyway given the likely increased costs and delivery times to the end user. Personally I’d be holding fire on selecting a new bedfellow until it becomes clear what’s what if you’re not going domestic. I've been wondering about this too. Thomann have Thomastic Spiros at about 75% of the price elsewhere. I usually only change them about every 4 or 5 years and have just put a new set on but am thinking about getting at least one set before the drawbridge goes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted December 11, 2020 Share Posted December 11, 2020 On 10/12/2020 at 15:27, Huge Hands said: I just hope it gets through to the UK before the end of the month - I don't want to get caught for any import charges! Import charges should be a whopping £4.77. Commodity code 92 07 90 10 00, rate 3.7% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbetingfrog Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 On 09/12/2020 at 17:16, NancyJohnson said: I peruse the Thomann site an awful lot, but haven't bought anything from them in a long time; I think it's a great site for browsing and I do live in hope that I'm going to by chance hit upon a nice (unannounced) Les Paul Junior DC (not one of those horrific Tribute models) in the new arrivals, but alas no. Luckily, I only really have GAS for one bass and a) the maker went out of business years ago and b) it dates back to the mid-80s. I own one of those horrific tribute models. Happens to be a truly wonderful guitar , one of the best playing, sounding and looking guitars I’ve ever played! One mans horror is another mans dream I suppose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrane Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, kodiakblair said: Import charges should be a whopping £4.77. Commodity code 92 07 90 10 00, rate 3.7% Plus the carrier’s handling charge. So probably add another eight quid onto that. Edited December 12, 2020 by MrCrane 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 For me Thomann win on just about every level. But their greatest strength is web design. The site is so simple to use, so pleasing and logical, I never struggle to find what I'm interested in and I can organise my searches easily and quickly in many different ways. The fact that it's so easy and enjoyable to browse makes it incredibly fun for window shopping. And because I have the will of a warm kitkat that window shopping has often ended up in actual shopping. Win for the customer, win for the retailer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StickyDBRmf Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 I only opened the post 'cause of the joke - I'm in the USA - thank you fer the chuckle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 I'm waiting an order from Thomann since the 26th of November. In this order, there's a little Joyo MA-10B Portable Bass Amp that is toggling between "in stock" and "in stock between 3 - 5 weeks". So I just rang them right now and what I've heard is a bit of a concern : the amp has been back in stock only the 10th of December and my order will be despatched. The Joyo is now back in the "in stock between 3 - 5 weeks" items. Everything seems ok, but the operator on the phone wasn't able to give me a shipping date, because ... UPS refuses to work with them since a few days and DHL did exactly the same after UPS left !?! Is it me or is there a big problem with Thomann ? How can couriers refuse thousands of deliveries except for a financial issue ? To me, it stinks a lot ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Hmm, ordered mine last Wednesday first thing in the morning. I’ve been told mine was collected on Friday but UPS tracking updated this morning to say “Shipper created label, UPS has not received the parcel yet”. My item is quite expensive. Had I known an in stock item takes nearly a week to be collected I wouldn’t have bought it. Now very concerned this will get stuck in Germany through Christmas... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLowDown Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 On 12/12/2020 at 10:33, stewblack said: For me Thomann win on just about every level. But their greatest strength is web design. The site is so simple to use, so pleasing and logical, I never struggle to find what I'm interested in and I can organise my searches easily and quickly in many different ways. The fact that it's so easy and enjoyable to browse makes it incredibly fun for window shopping. And because I have the will of a warm kitkat that window shopping has often ended up in actual shopping. Win for the customer, win for the retailer. The website has some disadvantages though. It's frequently glitchy, often doesn't load at all, and the huge pop up granny asking if I want cookies is quite annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 At the risk of turning this into a B***** topic (which it is not), if I were doing import/export between the UK and the EU in November I'd have no worries ... business as usual. Doing the same in January is also no worries ... whatever new rules are going to exist will exist by then. The problem is December. If I sell something in December which might cross the border in December, might cross it in January, what should I be doing? Do I charge import duty? Do I charge home country VAT and then importing country VAT on top of that? And if I fail to do the right thing, will I be liable to my own tax people to make up the shortfall? If I was running Thomann right now, I'd be saying, "tell you what guys, let's just slow down on deliveries to the UK, and I mean slow down a lot, make sure that we ship nothing at all until the new rules emerge". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 22 minutes ago, TheLowDown said: The website has some disadvantages though. It's frequently glitchy, often doesn't load at all, and the huge pop up granny asking if I want cookies is quite annoying. How can you hate Granny at Christmas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 29 minutes ago, TheLowDown said: The website has some disadvantages though. It's frequently glitchy, often doesn't load at all, and the huge pop up granny asking if I want cookies is quite annoying. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 25 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: At the risk of turning this into a B***** topic (which it is not), if I were doing import/export between the UK and the EU in November I'd have no worries ... business as usual. Doing the same in January is also no worries ... whatever new rules are going to exist will exist by then. The problem is December. If I sell something in December which might cross the border in December, might cross it in January, what should I be doing? Do I charge import duty? Do I charge home country VAT and then importing country VAT on top of that? And if I fail to do the right thing, will I be liable to my own tax people to make up the shortfall? If I was running Thomann right now, I'd be saying, "tell you what guys, let's just slow down on deliveries to the UK, and I mean slow down a lot, make sure that we ship nothing at all until the new rules emerge". Yes, it is kind of hard to tell what will happen. Leaving the politics aside, something bought in the EU will have local VAT paid. Should it not arrive until after 31st December, I wonder what would happen as a parcel shipped after this date should in theory not have local VAT paid and will attract 3.7% duty then 20% VAT on top (pending a trade deal, which likely as not won't affect this amount). Common sense would dictate that import authorities will recognise the VAT was paid and only levy the duty and other import charges; reality will probably mean levying the full whack and leaving the recipient to try and recover the local VAT off the original sale. Looks like my parcel has hit Frankfurt and says "on time". Fingers crossed. I would have purchased in the UK but unfortunately Thomann were the only retailer I could find for my item in the desired spec (and were £300 cheaper than UK prices, to boot). To be fair they have been in touch regularly; I have no reason to disbelieve what they've told me, perhaps it's just the worst possible time of year (or any year!) to buy from Europe to UK... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Regarding the immediate problems, It's probably worth bearing in mind that Germany has just gone back into lockdown. Thomann just posted on FB that they're closing the store from the 16th. Obviously the online side is still running, but I'd guess everything there is pretty crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLowDown Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 40 minutes ago, stewblack said: How can you hate Granny at Christmas!!! I know, I'll make a special effort to like her cookies for Christmas 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 I'm in Belgium, not in the U.K., and the answers I received today (if anybody reads the previous posts) are a bit of a concern... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 1 hour ago, Hellzero said: I'm in Belgium, not in the U.K., and the answers I received today (if anybody reads the previous posts) are a bit of a concern... So when are the Germans starting a Belgian Lockdown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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