Bass Direct

[Ashbass97]

Hi Martyn,

Ash here from Bass Direct. We appreciate your comments and honesty about your experience. We’re really sorry to hear you felt that way—it’s never our intention to send out an instrument in less-than-great shape, and we definitely wouldn’t set something up badly on purpose. We don’t remember hearing from you directly, but we’ll check first thing tomorrow to see if there’s anything in our system. If you ever have any concerns, reaching out to us directly is the best way to get things sorted quickly—we’re always happy to help!

Regarding the Dingwall, we provided the info we had at the time. Based on our stock flow, we’d assume it’s a 2024 model, but we can double-check if that’s important to you. Dingwalls are great for low action thanks to their even string tension. As for returns, we don’t see many, and we don’t recall ever having this model come back, but we can check if needed.

We understand that the £15 delivery charge might seem a bit off on a high-ticket item, but it’s there to ensure safe and secure shipping, and it’s only what it costs us to ship the item to you.

 

We’ll check the emails in the morning, but if there’s anything else we can help with in the meantime, just let us know!

Best,
Ash

2 hours ago, Martyn R said:

Last year I ordered an Ibanez that turned up virtually unplayable , like 4.5 - 5mm action and intonation out, only slightly but enough to bug me. I don't expect a 1 1/2 hour set up or plek or whatever on a thousand quid bass, but I'd at least fancy not having to wrestle with it. I got the feeling they were having a laugh and wound out the saddles to max height as a FU gesture for asking do they check the set up.

Turns out I got it sorted after a while setting up and the bass was otherwise immaculate. Ok, Sorted moved on.

 

 So back to this week; I've been thinking for a while let's see what all this Dingwall fuss is about so asked a few questions on a NG3 5 string in black (that appeared to have been in a while).

I asked what year it was, does it have a nice low action and is it definitely new and not a return.

The answers were: not sure what year it is, possibly a 2024, yes Dingwalls can achieve a low action and no mention of the new/return. I sort of got the impression they aren't that bothered about selling Dingwalls.

I thought mmm, OK we'll let things ride and go with the flow. Hit checkout then up pops the £15 delivery charge. On a 2300 quid item, really???

All the little snags I'd forgotten about suddenly came rushing back to me and I thought I'm out.

Don't know if I'm being a little too arsy or whether music shop staff are right and the customer is always wrong...

Edited 18 hours ago by Ashbass97

[Kev]

This thread is surreal today 😂

[Stub Mandrel]

If you sell 2,000 items a year, bug and small, thats £10,000 of income but probably far less than the cost of actually sending things out.

[Killerfridge]

I think there's just a weird sense of entitlement around free shipping. Places like Anderton's and GAK can offer free shipping because of the volume of stuff they shift allowing them to get better rates with DPD et al. The minimum order is to make sure they are still profitable; because of the volume of sales they just need to be a little bit profitable and rely on huge volume to stay afloat. Somewhere like BD (and I don't pretend to know their numbers) I imagine it doesn't make sense to offer free shipping as it would just eat into their (again, not claiming to know, just a guess) fairly small profits

[petecarlton]

Belated recognition of some superb customer service by Mark, Ash and Marcus (they were all involved at one point or another):
 

I bought an NS Design WAV4 Radius headless bass from them before Christmas, only for the preamp board to blow the first time I connected to my amp. BD not only arranged speedy delivery of a replacement board and paid for its fitting, but Mark also offered half price on a set of LaBella flats as a compensation for the faffing about. So far, so good, but I asked for a set of medium scale TIs instead (for another bass). The next day, a package arrived containing both the TIs and a set of long scale LaBella. My contribution was just £24.50 for two sets of premium quality flats. Now that's customer service!
 

And, by the way, their prices consistently and significantly undercut those of Strings Direct!

[Bass Direct]

1 hour ago, petecarlton said:

Belated recognition of some superb customer service by Mark, Ash and Marcus (they were all involved at one point or another):
 

I bought an NS Design WAV4 Radius headless bass from them before Christmas, only for the preamp board to blow the first time I connected to my amp. BD not only arranged speedy delivery of a replacement board and paid for its fitting, but Mark also offered half price on a set of LaBella flats as a compensation for the faffing about. So far, so good, but I asked for a set of medium scale TIs instead (for another bass). The next day, a package arrived containing both the TIs and a set of long scale LaBella. My contribution was just £24.50 for two sets of premium quality flats. Now that's customer service!
 

And, by the way, their prices consistently and significantly undercut those of Strings Direct!

Thanks Pete, we always try our best for everyone

[IanA]

Having been dealing with Bass Direct for many years I have to say that I have complete confidence in them. Even with items that I have returned the experience has been extremely pleasant professional and civil.

Equally in terms of packaging costs, all items that have been sent to me have been extremely well packed and basses have been in very sturdy bass specific boxes with lots of packaging. They have also been delivered on a next day service.

So, no complaints from me

 

[Bass Direct]

2 hours ago, IanA said:

Having been dealing with Bass Direct for many years I have to say that I have complete confidence in them. Even with items that I have returned the experience has been extremely pleasant professional and civil.

Equally in terms of packaging costs, all items that have been sent to me have been extremely well packed and basses have been in very sturdy bass specific boxes with lots of packaging. They have also been delivered on a next day service.

So, no complaints from me

 

Thank you Ian, it's always a pleasure to see you!

[Martyn R]

13 hours ago, Ashbass97 said:

Hi Martyn,

Ash here from Bass Direct. We appreciate your comments and honesty about your experience. We’re really sorry to hear you felt that way—it’s never our intention to send out an instrument in less-than-great shape, and we definitely wouldn’t set something up badly on purpose. We don’t remember hearing from you directly, but we’ll check first thing tomorrow to see if there’s anything in our system. If you ever have any concerns, reaching out to us directly is the best way to get things sorted quickly—we’re always happy to help!

Regarding the Dingwall, we provided the info we had at the time. Based on our stock flow, we’d assume it’s a 2024 model, but we can double-check if that’s important to you. Dingwalls are great for low action thanks to their even string tension. As for returns, we don’t see many, and we don’t recall ever having this model come back, but we can check if needed.

We understand that the £15 delivery charge might seem a bit off on a high-ticket item, but it’s there to ensure safe and secure shipping, and it’s only what it costs us to ship the item to you.

 

We’ll check the emails in the morning, but if there’s anything else we can help with in the meantime, just let us know!

Best,
Ash

Hi Ash no probs at all, maybe next time!

[Sean]

What I ordered yesterday, turned up today. Perfect.

 

The first patient will be on the bench in the next few days and I'll document it in the Repairs forum.

[Bass Direct]

39 minutes ago, Sean said:

What I ordered yesterday, turned up today. Perfect.

 

The first patient will be on the bench in the next few days and I'll document it in the Repairs forum.

Awesome stuff Sean, glad to hear it!