On buying gear from the US!!!

[Renie]

If you are going to venture into the US market from the UK I would
advise you to check the export policy and support options with the
manufacturer first.

My E47 took a long time to get here and then it was factory set to US
power spec's, despite dealer assurances that it would be UK ready. I
didn't realise until after that Soundelux US does not supply European
power spec's and does not approve dealers exporting their goods from
the US.

It took a Gearslutz brainstorm, thanks to Kent, Steve Smith and Brad
Blackwood, to resolve matters. It was suggested I contact Brad Lunde of
TransAmerica Audio Group who deals with Soundelux in the US, and true
to his great reputation, he was helpful and pro-active, arranging
quicky to have Soundelux UK fix the problem for me. Soundelux UK
provided an excellent service and the mic is now a cherished studio
item.

It is cheaper buying from the US, but it is a protracted and somewhat
risky business I discovered. Again, I recommend checking with
manufacturers where you stand before you buy.

[strauss]

I have bought lots of stuff from the states and so far everything went well.
Why don't you put up the name of the dealer you bought your mic from? This way us europeans know who to prevent buying from..

[Curve Dominant]

Renie,

Congratulations on the new mic!

[Ruphus]

Had a BBE BMax-T come with a 110V supply ones ( quit the dealer ).


Ruphus

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by strauss
I have bought lots of stuff from the states and so far everything went well.
Why don't you put up the name of the dealer you bought your mic from? This way us europeans know who to prevent buying from..

I think the point Renie was trying to make is that Soundeux does not ship Euro supply mics to US dealers, depsite the dealer's claims to the contrary. She was lied to-so we had to help. In fact, this dealer presented himself as a Soundelux dealer when in fact he was not. He made a "street buy" from another dealer to sell to Renie.

SoundField in the UK is the Soundelux distributor for Europe with the repair/support facilities that can properly address ANY issue that a non-US user encounters. David busted ass trying to find a proper way to get support to Europe before he starting exporting seriously there. I think that's how it should be; you guys can't be shipping mics back to the US if a tube goes south!

Brad

[Waylon]

Good to see ya up and running Renie... Congrats!

[dlmorley]

I think the problem lies with the UK! The prices are usually a direct $->£ translation. It makes it absurd to buy high end gear in the UK. I am in Belgium and am constantly amazed at the price difference between mainland europe and the UK (25 miles across the sea)
I can get beyer mics that cost £100 for €80 (£55 or so) here and lots of things are like that.
I bought my Fostex D2424 for $1100 while they were £1500 in the UK. ( i got it sent UPS as a gift and paid no import (risky, but hey, you only live twice) As long as this continues, I´ll put up with the "risk" of buying direct from the states, but the UK is just extreme in this situation....

[DavidC]

Yeah thats why they call it ripoff Britain!

I bought the waves mastering plugins (TDM) for $1250 delivered, when they retail here for £1900.

That is a £1200 price difference!!!


I cannot afford to buy new equipment in this country.


Best Regards

David C

[dlmorley]

We´d better not get onto house prices, had we ;-))

[Thermionic]

[rant]This thread has me reaching for the Prozac man! Rip-off Britain indeed! A good example is the price on Eventide gear compared to the US, the US prices are the same in dollars as we pay in pounds... I'm in the process of procuring a Shure V15XMR cartridge, the cheapest I can find in the UK is £300, but I can get it in the US for $275 USD...

I'm screwed if I can see how this is justified...

Don't go there with the house prices, I live on the outskirts of London...

[/rant]
Justin

[Fletcher]

Golly... I know how to switch a Soundelux power supply... it ain't rocket surgery... if anyone needs the information, give me a shout... or I'll be glad to just do it for you...

[steins]

Arghhhhhh! The subject of European prices on audio gear! I feel I´m getting angry.......must not post....must not post.......must not post......think positive.....think positive....think.....best of all, don´t think about it.

Stein Tore

[nelsons]

Some things are, Some things aint'

I should know I have bought a lot of stuff off Fletcher over the last few months such as :-

Big Ben, Josephson C42's, Dangerous 2 Bus etc etc

And I made BIG savings.

But.........

I also just bought an IBIS in the UK for £2000 + Vat this is cheaper than Mercenary when you include the VAT and import duties.

So it pays to shop around as alot of manufacturers are now wise to the conversion rate, in particular manufacturers such as Manley, Crane Song are doing this over here in the UK.

Just an Observation.

Steve

[tee boy]

I have a question - when / how do you pay import duty and VAT. Im in the same boat cuz im planning to order a converter from the US (to the UK). I got a quote for price + shipping, and i know how much duty and VAT is, but i have no idea how or when i'll need to pay it! Do UPS clear goods then bill you on delivery?

[nelsons]

Yes

You usually get billed after the delivery with Fed Ex, however with UPS I have had to pay on the actual delivery.

Thanks

Steve

[cally]

I guess one should just "buy british" audio gear.

[dlmorley]

Better still, just buy Orams gear. That way you are sure it´s British.....

[DavidC]

Hey Steve,

Where did you get the Ibis from for £2000??

Best Regards

David

[nelsons]

David

I am not sure I can let you know that right away, but suffice to say I have spent in excess of 25K with the dealer with another 19k planned.

I'll drop him a line and see if he wants it known and PM the details to you.

Cheers

Steve

[deft_bonz]

Originally posted by nelsons
Yes

You usually get billed after the delivery with Fed Ex, however with UPS I have had to pay on the actual delivery.

Thanks

Steve

i can confirm this... it was very surprising recieving a bil with 200$ vat after 3 months!!!

you all think it's worse in UK, but it's even more pain in the ass here in switzerland. for the orville they wanted 11k € this more than double the price it is in US.

but gladly we have internet, ups and great customer service behind the big blue sea

deft:::

[MIKEHARRIS]

As we deal with customers in the carribean and South America...we have requested 220v versions ...but it is always best to be up front with the manufacturer as to destination...so its no surprise when support requested....some countries have absurd duties..(in some cases in excess of 300%).and creative invoices are needed. BTW.. Dolby requires customer information....and has a support structure in most countries....and prohibits sale into others' territories

[Gie-Sound]

I've bought severeal pieces "in the USA" since prices here are too high...
Only downside is that I had to pay VAT and import-duty in cash when they got delivered.
But when you add all expenses up... it was still cheaper.

But..... not for everything... I bought my 1969 pretty cheap in Belgium

[dlmorley]

There are great shops on mainland europe. thomann.de is good, but just don´t expect personal attention á la mercenary. Still, sometimes they have great deals.
anything high end just seems silly over here though.

[dbock]

While it's true that someone COULD mod one of our psu's, it's not true that they SHOULD, since any repairs not done by an authorized service center voids the warranty.
We reccomend our European customers buy from the autorized distributor, Soundfield UK. That way they will get the correct supply and full confidence of service.
regards,
David Bock
Soundelux Microphones

[chrisso]

To be honest I'm struggling to understand why the flap.

I constantly buy gear from the US, mostly used off Ebay.
As previous correspondants have said...Crazy Britain...it's prices are insane!!!
Some equipment arrives dual voltage, some is switchable, but for pieces that are stuck on US voltage there are easily obtainable 230 - 110v converters.
A converter that costs £20 can run several units at once.
Hell, half my studio is running on US power.
What's da big deal?!?

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by chrisso
To be honest I'm struggling to understand why the flap.

I constantly buy gear from the US, mostly used off Ebay.
As previous correspondants have said...Crazy Britain...it's prices are insane!!!
Some equipment arrives dual voltage, some is switchable, but for pieces that are stuck on US voltage there are easily obtainable 230 - 110v converters.
A converter that costs £20 can run several units at once.
Hell, half my studio is running on US power.
What's da big deal?!?

The flap is that a US dealer told Renie that they would get a Euro supply on a US Soundelux mic, which was mileading and not fair to Renie, because that's not the way it was. Renie got the mic cheaper, but it wasn't usable. They shipped a US supply to Europe, which messed up Renie bad, Renie didn't know what to do (send it back? hire someone to fix it??) and no matter how you look it, it would have cost Renie money making the savings (of buying in the US) go away. Not right, not right at all. Promise one thing only to get another! Messing with power supplies can hurt a person if not done right, and there are very high voltages running around inside there. This is no trivial matter, and a US dealer misrepresented the situation to a Uk customer, who has little or no recourse without spending MORE money.

Do business with folks you can TRUST.
Brad

[DavidC]

Originally posted by dbock
While it's true that someone COULD mod one of our psu's, it's not true that they SHOULD, since any repairs not done by an authorized service center voids the warranty.
We reccomend our European customers buy from the autorized distributor, Soundfield UK. That way they will get the correct supply and full confidence of service.
regards,
David Bock
Soundelux Microphones

David,

That is perfectly reasonable from the manufacturers view, but I could not afford to buy one of your mics over here.

I got a U95s secondhand from the US, which buy the way is an absolutely fantastic microphone.

Best Regards

David C.

[chrisso]

Originally posted by Brad Lunde
Renie got the mic cheaper, but it wasn't usable. They shipped a US supply to Europe, which messed up Renie bad, Renie didn't know what to do

This is the thing....
you go to the local high street store and buy a $30 230 - 110 converter.
I would not have viewed the mic as 'unusable'.
I just bought a s/h Lawson 47 (US power) and have used it perfectly successfully on a number of sessions with a small converter.
I'm with you Brad about someone being misled and not getting proper customer service, I just don't think this was as big a crisis as it's made out to be.

[Renie]

hi Chrisso

I certainly wouldn't describe the situation a 'crisis'. It was a problem to me but it got resolved to my satisfaction.

It's an interesting situation that people contemplating buying from the US might want to know about.

It's useful to get everyone's experiences and input out in the open.

--------

Thanks to the well wishers about getting the mic!

It's heavenly stike

[Brad Lunde]

Originally posted by chrisso
This is the thing....
you go to the local high street store and buy a $30 230 - 110 converter.
I would not have viewed the mic as 'unusable'.
I just bought a s/h Lawson 47 (US power) and have used it perfectly successfully on a number of sessions with a small converter.
I'm with you Brad about someone being misled and not getting proper customer service, I just don't think this was as big a crisis as it's made out to be.

OK, its probably not a huge crisis for ALL users.

BUT for this one user it sure was a crisis, they had a session that weekend, bought the mic for that purpose, and then weren't sure what to do. For them, it was unusable. Should they send it back because it wasn't as promised? No mic for the session. Can't use it. Should they use it (with an converter) and then send it back on the risk that the dealer would know it was used and deny support (which they probably would)? No, that's risky, don't use it.

It easy for the more experienced of the group to know this wasn't an insurmountable problem, but not everyone has the experience to sort this solo. Pretty tough to do so far away from the dealer. Besides, it wasn't as promised, that was the issue-and it froze up a purchaser's assets and time to figure out how to solve it.

There is a catch to this story. The dealer that sold it to Renie told Renie they were a dealer-and they were not. They bought this on the street from another dealer. That means that the dealer that Renie bought it from could not even get the service from Soundelux because they never heard of them, have no relationship with Soundelux. Renie would have been in the spot of sending the mic back, then the dealer who sold it to Renie would have to send it to the dealer they bought it from, who then sends it back to Soundelux, then back to the first dealer, then to the second dealer, then back to Renie. Can you say "long wait"? All this time Renie would have money tied up and no mic. What a mess to be in the middle of. This was a BIG crisis if you're Renie.

The point is, we pick our dealers based on more than "who will buy it". There's a lot of thought that goes into the whole support issue, protecting users from this kind of misrepresentation. We pick dealers we think will "do the right thing" for all their customers. We pick only certain dealers for a reason-your protection (via post sale support, solvency, advice, honesty, etc). So when something happens that puts a user at risk, or even jjust stresses them out over something that came from me, I'm pissed. This is a VERY big deal to us. That is not what we are about.
Brad