Chris Sharman

I was very much into The Police in the early eighties and then Simple Minds. In fact, their "Live in Rotterdam" gig was one of the things that really made me want to focus on playing bass. in particular the playing on 'Once upon a time' and 'Ghostdancing'. Thank god John Giblin was playing with them at that time. The late eighties I descended into a Mancunian originated farce of disco biscuit fuelled Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpetry. I shook that off by joining a punk band and basically skipping back to before the eighties started. No wonder I'm confused...

My Deko 5-string acoustic has now arrived. If these things are QC failures they are very minor. I can see a small mark on the Top wood below the bridge that is under the lacquer and that's it. (Other than the "D's" stamped on the back that is). First impression is that it is bargainous, in desperate need of a setup and some decent strings as the ones that are on it are possibly the worst strings I have ever seen. Bright and bronzey - yes, but you can see that money has been saved here. Not that it matters as they are the first thing scheduled for replacement. Once done, I still dont get my hands on it properly as Mrs S is determined to wrap it up for my birthday in August. NBD to follow....

Mine has arrived! Now its off to our own AJR1515 to be fettled with in a re-stringy and neck-adjusty fashion. Less than 36 hours in the country and it was here with me, credit due to Parcel Farce for that. Ususally when I have had something shipped from overseas it has been the foreign end that was quick then items just got laid up for days when they entered the UK. Not this time though. [quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1436773653' post='2820511'] I think the real issue here is communication, or in this case, lack of. It's not really enough to take orders and let the customer work out what is happening... If they had been on the front foot and put a warning notice on the checkout page that due to Dahl strike there will be delays, you have the option to not place the order. Then once ordered they could send out an email with confirmation of order AND advice on delays and expected ETA, with a general update every 2-3 days. I work in sales, occasionally there are delays, but bad news is always better than NO news! [/quote] ^^^^THIS! ALL THIS^^^ I also used to work in sales and hope to do so again in the not too distant. It is alwasy better to keep customers informed, even when it is news they may not want to hear. As has been said, a simple notice when proceeding to checkout to say [i]"We are currently experiencing delivery days of 3-5 days"[/i] could have saved me a load of keyboard based venting on here. Anyway, all is sorted now.

Indeed. Arrived at 17:21 in the destination country. Guess they were in the same truck then and have probably passed through the international immigrant barrier (AKA Calais) without incident. I also was very surprised to see movement on them over the weekend. Lets see what happens now parcel farce have them in hand...

[quote name='Subbeh' timestamp='1436549231' post='2819137'] it is nice to have this thread, share the annoyance with likeminded BC'ers [/quote] Remember "A problem shared is a problem halved" and "A friend in need is a bloody nuisance"

Interestingly if you put the tracking number into the Parcel Force tracking system it shows up that it has been collected by the partner in Germany and taken to the international shipping centre and is in a status of "Advised" which means they have been advised that it is on the way but it hasnt reached them yet. This means that Parcel Farce know more about it than the people who currently have it. Cosmic!<end Rodney Trotter>

Email now sent to Thomann. I will spare you the majority of the bile but pointing out that of four things I ordered one was delivered, two had apparently already sold out (even though their system told me they were still available) and the fourth was handed over to DHL for delivery although DHL's system does not agree that this is the case. 25% success rate? Not great in my view. Your Experience May Vary.

[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1436540691' post='2819025'] Sounds like a plan. However, just to piss me off a bit more..........I decided to go on the DHL website and try entering the tracking reference on there and see if it said anything different to what it says on the Thomann website. It does say something different. It says that it doesnt recognise the reference number!!! What the f*#@ have they done with my bass? [/quote] I wish you hadn't put that as I have just done the same with DHL and got the same result. Seriously concerned now for receiving anything from them EVER! Looks like we have to go to Germany to fetch it. I suppose we could do it how they did in my grandads day. Take a boat over to Normandy then head up towards Germany from there...

[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1436531694' post='2818930'] Chris, I think we ordered at about the same time last week and mine is still stuck in bloody Cologne as well. Thinking about contacting DHL directly to see what the hell is going on. Oh the frustration!!! [/quote] Hmmm....I have no plans for the weekend and both of our orders are sitting in Cologne....ROAD TRIP!!!

I finally received the email that everyone else seems to have had about the DHL strike but apprently there is also a strike in Calais <comedy German accent> [i]"Qvikly Hans... blame ze French"[/i] <German off>. Bass is still showing as being in Koln where it has been relaxing with it's feet up for a week now. Harumph!

[quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1436372484' post='2817640'] I emailed them last night as mine order has been static for a week. Here is the reply. [i]Dear Customer Thank you for your email. Unfortunately a series of strikes here in Germany by some DHL personnel, coupled with the recent problems affecting cross-channel services has delayed many orders to Ireland and the UK. We have been informed by DHL that the strikes have now ended, so we hope that things will be working again as usual very soon. Please accept our apologies for the delay. Unfortunately, however, such circumstances are beyond our control. Kind regards Thomas Krarup International Sales[/i] [/quote] Nice of them to reply to your email, that's more than they've done with mine. I am now of the opinion that Thomann really don't like me.

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1435933207' post='2813787'] yes it is, though i have addressed that problem now and done the deed and am already in the i want it now phase [/quote] That's the spirit!

My favourite doing the rounds on Faceplant today:

[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1435836798' post='2812857'] Those Precisions have been up for a couple of hours and still showing as available immediately. Go on, you know you want to! [/quote] I did. It turns out someone had already ordered the last one. I wonder who that might have been? Still, I have my acoustic 5 string on it's way so that's all right. it just seems that every time I try and order one of the precisions (first a PJ5 and now this one) someone here beats me to it.

I bought another one this morning. I bought it on the basis that Mrs S says I can have it and I don't have one of that type in my current selection. Little does she realise that the latter half of that statement applies to every single new type of bass that comes out. I see a lifetime of GAS stretching before me... ..and I am not scared one bit

Well, having been let down by Thomann on a PJ-5 a while back I was perusing Thomann last night and noticed one of the 5 string acoustics available. Happened to mention it to Mrs S and was intrigued by her response "well your birthday is coming up... if they are still available in the morning, order one and I will treat you to it for your birthday." order placed, lets see if I get this one.

Water for Dogs played an afternoon set at the Exile festival in Derbyshire yesterday. Had a great time. The festival is a small affair and all the better for it very inclusive and with a nice rotating selection of real ales. The sound guys were great and we were set up and running in record time. Great response, great buzz, some dancing and CD sales so all good. Hope to play there some time again in the future.

I played a 5 string fretless (very badly as is my want) on their stand at the LBGS. I have to say it came dangerously close to causing a flexing of the credit card. I am not usually one for really expensive instruments as I don't believe my standard of playing does, or probably ever will do, them justice but the one they played really did show me how a top quality instrument can make you reassess your perceptions. If I could ever afford a custom built instrument, and having played one of these basses, it would definitely make it onto my shortlist.

Holy Thread Resurrection Batman! I had entirely forgot about this until a recent spate of 'Likes' appeared on my bands pages which made me think I should pop back and have a look. I am now up to date. Thanks All

Budget Subs? I hear the Russian Navy is selling some off cheap... Oh, right, music stuff...

Done

Water For Dogs have been asked back after last year so I will probably be seeing you there then. (insert smiling emoticon of choice here)

Nice work Dave. Recognise the retail outlet setting but where was the rooftop? Somewhere local I assume? Good tune as well, really like that. Funnily enough I have been talking to your guitarist on Fb about the Brassington event we played at last year. Small world eh?

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1432800649' post='2785029'] Printed off a ticket on the off chance but it says 7pm start so not sure if I'll get to town that early, depends on work. [/quote] Cool, if you make it we can meet up for a beer afters perhaps?