Anyone know if Bassdirect is trading?

[NickA]

21 hours ago, nilebodgers said:

22 hours ago, skej21 said:

 

This is why I don't like trying instruments in music shops, that kind of sneery snobby superior attitude is pretty common. (the Bass Centre back in the 80s in Wapping is the honourable exception, they were great)

On the contrary, I found the wapping lot really snotty but bass direct really helpful ( though I never talked to them about anything that " mainstream" we have a shop in town for that).  The gallery are also really nice; and to my surprise, so are Wunjo.

Still, best to deal with other bass chatters; no VAT no profiteering, very little cow poop.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, NickA said:

The gallery are also really nice; and to my surprise, so are Wunjo.

Still, best to deal with other bass chatters; no VAT no profiteering, very little cow poop.

I always go to wunjo when I am up there, never had a bad experience there, always really helpful. Went to bass gallery a couple of times before I realised they weren't closed and went in, and yes, they were fine.

[Lozz196]

Always had good experiences when visiting Wunjos. A bit meh re BD, no attitude or anything, in fact nothing at all, no acknowledgement or can I help you which in some - make that many - respects is better than over eager pushy salespeople, but given they’re a bit off the beaten track I’d have thought you’re only there for a specific reason, rather than just passing through and popping in to pass time.

[fleabag]

Wunjo were great when i bought an expensive  2nd hand bass from them.  It wasnt advertised with a case, so they included hard case and also knocked  200 quid off the price.

I wouldnt  buy a pick from Bass Direct after the shocking shambles i had with them and my missing  commission sale bass.  To this day it has not reappeared that i know of.  I was so close to laying the lying fart on his derrière in his shop

[Musicman20]

It's now 2021. Emails for business are essential. 

[TrevorG]

On 11/02/2021 at 18:00, FDC484950 said:

Which they do for the vast majority of customers if the replies are anything to go by. A few people haven’t had a reply. I’m not one of them. Once again, who said anything about them not wanting to reply? Human beings sometimes make mistakes. The whole thread would have been solved by the OP picking up the phone. FFS how hard does this stuff need to be?

Ummm... I did pick up the phone. Left a message and everything... then I came here with a simple question...

[Beedster]

The thing with email is that, whilst it's easy to miss or overlook an email in real time, it's a simple (once a week?) admin task for a business to check that all emails that needed a response received a response. Any business that doesn't make sure this is done is likely either missing out on business, pissing off potential customers, or likely both. Email is so easy to get right. 

[JohnFitzgerald]

I've never bought anything from them but have friends who go there as first choice and have had no problems and will certainly continue to use them because of their great focus on more unusual stuff that you likely won't get anywhere else.

I can't get past that from what I can see, they charge top dollar for everything they sell, especially pricing on used instruments which does seem to be 'all the money'.
Good luck to them and I hope they continue to do well, but for that reason I'm out.

[ezbass]

If I’m not mistaken, this is a subject that seems to reoccur every now and again, it doesn’t seem to be an isolated incident with BD. 

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, JohnFitzgerald said:

I've never bought anything from them but have friends who go there as first choice and have had no problems and will certainly continue to use them because of their great focus on more unusual stuff that you likely won't get anywhere else.

I can't get past that from what I can see, they charge top dollar for everything they sell, especially pricing on used instruments which does seem to be 'all the money'.
Good luck to them and I hope they continue to do well, but for that reason I'm out.

You’re not wrong about pricing up used basses. IIRC The Gallery isn't much different in that respect. Having sold 3 basses on commission at BD, people seem fine to pay the higher prices. If I had a bass to sell on commission in future I’d probably take/send it there rather than advertise here as I’m almost guaranteed to get a significantly better price, even after commission. All 3 sold within a month too. I probably got lucky.

I have had one “discussion” with them but it was over the amount of time something took to come from the US - I then contacted the company direct in the US and they explained why, which given COVID was around was understandable, and not really BD’s fault.

To the OP: I didn’t know you’ve phoned them. I was tempted to say follow it up with an email (sorry, couldn’t resist!) but there’s nothing much to say, is there? Maybe give them another ring, but if you don’t hear back they’ve lost your business. 

In the grand scheme of things we can all beach and moan about poor service but music instrument retail is high risk (it’s very likely a large business loan paid for all that stock you can see), low turnover and very small profits, which is why there are so few businesses around. I was in the industry for a while in the 90s and you wouldn’t believe how small fry it is in terms of money compared to almost any other kind of retail. Being the music business it also attracts a lot of “interesting” people! IME for most if not all music shops I’ve done business with until relatively recently, customer service and making money really didn’t seem to be priorities, precisely because there is so little profit to be made. Having said that, I really do welcome the quality of service from more professional businesses like GuitarGuitar and Thomann. I’ve bought 2 basses from each in the last few months, and had minor issues that were quickly and efficiently fixed, and a feeling that they actually cared about getting things sorted. However it’s very unlikely I will ever visit either business, so it looks like online is the future.

I ride motorcycles and I see a parallel with many bike dealers - there’s a lot more money to be made but nowhere near as much as cars (both volume and profit margin). The staff in almost every dealer I’ve been to/communicated with are arrogant, rude, don’t respond to emails, are impossible to reach on the phone and take the gypsy's kiss when offering part exchanges. I managed to build a decent relationship with one dealer, who now always give me discounts on everything I buy there (accessories, service, gloves etc) without asking and don’t lie to me or overstate problems which aren’t when servicing. However, even then, when I was visiting regularly they would drop the ball for probably 1 in 3 transactions. It’s incredibly frustrating given the money I’ve forked out there over the years, and I still go back there, because when I go to competing dealers I get an even worse level of service. It puts discussion here about BassDirect into perspective...

[JohnFitzgerald]

2 minutes ago, FDC484950 said:

You’re not wrong about pricing up used basses. IIRC The Gallery isn't much different in that respect. Having sold 3 basses on commission at BD, people seem fine to pay the higher prices. If I had a bass to sell on commission in future I’d probably take/send it there rather than advertise here as I’m almost guaranteed to get a significantly better price, even after commission. All 3 sold within a month too. I probably got lucky.

I have had one “discussion” with them but it was over the amount of time something took to come from the US - I then contacted the company direct in the US and they explained why, which given COVID was around was understandable, and not really BD’s fault.

To the OP: I didn’t know you’ve phoned them. I was tempted to say follow it up with an email (sorry, couldn’t resist!) but there’s nothing much to say, is there? Maybe give them another ring, but if you don’t hear back they’ve lost your business. 

In the grand scheme of things we can all beach and moan about poor service but music instrument retail is high risk (it’s very likely a large business loan paid for all that stock you can see), low turnover and very small profits, which is why there are so few businesses around. I was in the industry for a while in the 90s and you wouldn’t believe how small fry it is in terms of money compared to almost any other kind of retail. Being the music business it also attracts a lot of “interesting” people! IME for most if not all music shops I’ve done business with until relatively recently, customer service and making money really didn’t seem to be priorities, precisely because there is so little profit to be made. Having said that, I really do welcome the quality of service from more professional businesses like GuitarGuitar and Thomann. I’ve bought 2 basses from each in the last few months, and had minor issues that were quickly and efficiently fixed, and a feeling that they actually cared about getting things sorted. However it’s very unlikely I will ever visit either business, so it looks like online is the future.

I ride motorcycles and I see a parallel with many bike dealers - there’s a lot more money to be made but nowhere near as much as cars (both volume and profit margin). The staff in almost every dealer I’ve been to/communicated with are arrogant, rude, don’t respond to emails, are impossible to reach on the phone and take the gypsy's kiss when offering part exchanges. I managed to build a decent relationship with one dealer, who now always give me discounts on everything I buy there (accessories, service, gloves etc) without asking and don’t lie to me or overstate problems which aren’t when servicing. However, even then, when I was visiting regularly they would drop the ball for probably 1 in 3 transactions. It’s incredibly frustrating given the money I’ve forked out there over the years, and I still go back there, because when I go to competing dealers I get an even worse level of service. It puts discussion here about BassDirect into perspective...

I'm kinda glad that I've got to a stage where most of what I have I could now never part with so am virtually done with any new acquisitions. 

I think...

[Woodinblack]

8 hours ago, TrevorG said:

Ummm... I did pick up the phone. Left a message and everything... then I came here with a simple question...

Yes, the "well I have not had any problems with them so you can't criticise" army is always quite strong. Clearly, if someone is trying to contact a company and they have to come to a forum to ask if they are still trading, there is a problem.