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Soundcontrol in dire straits


ARGH
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They have internet sales as well so they should match online prices and being the UK's largest surely there buying power should easily see off most if not all competitors, I think where SC has gone wrong is the service, even if the prices are more you go back for a great service thats why I go to Electro Music.

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Agreed,I would rather go to a shop,and pay a bit more,if the staff actually give a damn and seem to know what they are on about. Im a bit sick and tired of the "Well the guy that knows about Bass stuff isnt here/has gone home" line.

In my job I have to know EVERYTHING or as much as dammit,and get checked regularly to see if my knowledge is up to date,ok so is it nesserecery to have everyone fluent in midi and protools and active systems and amplification,in a shop,maybe,maybe not,but it would really really help. Even a customer care course...or ANYTHING would be a start. A Fred Perry with an embroided logo doth not the expert make.....

I know selling music gear can make you jaded as hell (Ive a friend that owns an independent) with all the kids coming in just to do crappy versions of Metallica riffs,and tossers who want super expensive boutique gear,but dont want to pay a deposit for it,or give any details (so what do you do ? Order it and pray they come back and show interest?) and then they slag your shop off for selling "cheapy jappo stuff"

Best shop in the UK for me is Mansons in Exeter,They actually say hello for a start.

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[quote name='Geddys nose' post='38348' date='Jul 29 2007, 07:30 AM']They have internet sales as well so they should match online prices and being the UK's largest surely there buying power should easily see off most if not all competitors, I think where SC has gone wrong is the service, even if the prices are more you go back for a great service thats why I go to Electro Music.[/quote]
Buying power is fine if you have the money to pay for it. I know one distributer who is royally pissed off by SC cos he gives them a massive discount because of their "buying power" yet they order like one pedal and expect the same deal.

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[quote name='ARGH' post='38204' date='Jul 28 2007, 06:03 PM']Ok,I keep hearing this on the grapevine.

Soundcontrol are on the verge of folding because they havent paid their importers or something,and shops are to close.

Now is this a Leeds only thing (As they have 2 shops in the city,both in really dim places that are a sod to get to or find).

Any light? I personally think its not happening,but I do go into the stores and see sodall being sold or persons inside buying.......... soooo???[/quote]

well in hull williams just closed down and was replaced by, you guessed it, soundcontrol. They decided to give the shop in the city centre it's original name back tho, which is nice.

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The Newcastle shop is as well stocked as SoundsLive around the corner, but SL is usually far busier when I've been in.

The Middlesborough branch is ok, but doesn't ever have anything in stock that I'd want to buy, and have various issues with getting stock in: for example, I wanted the Hercules stand that holds by the headstock, and rests on the legs (a different version rests on a pokey-out bit). They had a few of type-B in, but I wanted A due to the shape of my bass, but they'd no way get one in stock. ... so I went elsewhere.

I've accepted that I have to travel 2 hours to Nottingham (Hotrox) for decent FX, or 1 hour to Doncaster to Electromusic for most other things.

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Talking to my mate this weekend (he owns an independent store) and he was saying that Sound Control were within £800,000 of going under just recently, he also said that the only reason they had stayed afloat was because they were able to put the stock that they have on sale or return through their books, making it look like they were more solvent than they actually are.

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[quote name='Shockwave' post='38293' date='Jul 28 2007, 11:08 PM']I have known for at least the past year the huge finanicial problems they have. I know the Bristol SC's manager and a freind of his.

Basically yes your all correct, SC has expanded too quickly and failed to realise that unlike supermarkets who get loans to expand where 100% of the population needs food. Music shops are unfortunatly not the same less then 1% of the population are musicians, They took loan after loan and bought out a number of companys and they just cant pay back their debts.

We thought they would have gone tits up last summer but have somehow managed to hang in there. The Bristol one is usually quite busy And with relatively good salesman (The reason i say salesman is because they only hire based on how well you can sell a product, Not how much you know about it).

Expect a decent sale at somepoint.[/quote]

The Bristol SC has Ben Baptie (Quite tall and with Dreads), he will make you cry just looking at him, but actually is so helpful and is genuinely interested in helping and he is a damn good musician allbeit a guitarist, he know's enough about basses to sell them better than the guy who's supposed to be in charge of the bass section who has a nasty habbit of tuning the basses in Drop C.

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[quote name='Josh' post='38588' date='Jul 29 2007, 07:42 PM']The Bristol SC has Ben Baptie (Quite tall and with Dreads), he will make you cry just looking at him, but actually is so helpful and is genuinely interested in helping and he is a damn good musician allbeit a guitarist, he know's enough about basses to sell them better than the guy who's supposed to be in charge of the bass section who has a nasty habbit of tuning the basses in Drop C.[/quote]

I've been in and out of SC Bristol since it opened.
The guy with the Dreads has always been nice but the last time I went it I got the expected bad treatment - I picked up my bass from Eltham the Luthier in teh back room and then tried to plug it into a TE stack in teh shop. They had a wall of TE, all of which was on and glowing 5 minutes before but was now off.
As I plugged my bass in and started looking for the power switch someone came over and said "you can't try that one. It not plugged in. Use that Line 6" Er what?

I've had good treatment in there but average, offish, cold, unwelcoming is the norm.

I'll pay more for good service but I don't see why they can't match Web prices. I just bought my markbass head from a bricks and mortar shop that happily matched best web price - including Thomann and other european places and there's a few around.

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Salford had a nice fella called "Pash", who was a decent bass player, friendly and happy for you to try anything you liked. I did always feel that the staff were only after a sale at almost any cost, and were breathing down your neck until you told them you "weren't buying anything today" then they'd leave you alone.

The gear selection used to be really good, a whole wall of many different makes of basses, but the last time I was in, a few months ago, the stock was confined to only one little corner, it was pathetic. Not only that, but some of the basses appeared covered in condensation, the tuners were actually [i]wet[/i]!!! That included most of the Jazzes, and Musicmans, and couple of high end Warwicks.

A mate of mine is a manager at a SC shop too, and has infromed me a few times that he can't wait to leave.

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Evening folks

there was a time up here in Edinburgh were the staff left a lot to be desired...however most shops I've been to in Scotland Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy have some real good folk attached to them with the exception of Kirkcaldy the other branches are pretty busy.

I reckon that the biggest part of their problem is trade in/second hand gear...we all go looking for out of the norm and at good prices but they hold a very poor stock of s/h stuff and if you're looking to get part exchange they offer about 30% which is awful if you have bought something recently and incur a 70% loss.

A few months ago I bought an Ashdown 8x10 then realised it was just to much for me to gig with. I went back to Edinburgh Sound Control to buy a second Ampeg b410hlf at £569 the guys in the shop gave me full refund on my Ashdown 8x10 of which they did not have to do but they did and I appreciate it - thanks guys!

The other issue that I've kinda noticed is all the cheap instruments that are passing through the shops in order to catch the school/younger folks...it doesn't work as it creates a false economy for the player and the shop!

Hope they can pull through though would be a sad loss...

The guys who originally started S/C now own and run Guitar Guitar, they hold a great variety of stock and employ good knowledgeable staff...

Edited by andy67
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So, is this an opportunity for basschat to expand beyond just a forum?

I propose we use the "Get Ped and the admins to Legoland in Denmark" fund to tender a bid for the company when it goes into recievership. Then just flog and close all but the profitable stores and slowly rebuild the business in the shape desired by it's new many partnered ownership.

Discounts for all in the partnership :)

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[quote name='andy67' post='38634' date='Jul 29 2007, 09:29 PM']I reckon that the biggest part of their problem is trade in/second hand gear...we all go looking for out of the norm and at good prices but they hold a very poor stock of s/h stuff and if you're looking to get part exchange they offer about 30% which is awful if you have bought something recently and incur a 70% loss.[/quote]

Fair play for them for sorting you out - but you must remember trade price is about 50% of retail - the mark up has to pay for the shop (rent, rates, bills, wages, VAT, employers NI contribution etc). So why would they offer you the same for a trade in as they will pay for a new one?

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SC in Salford have a good supply of Warwicks, but the best Warwick price I was offered was face to face in SC/Virgin in London. Knowing they would go that low helped me get the same deal by phone in SC Manchester, and they werre hapy to ship it to SC Salford for me to pick up (they have a car park at the Salford branch).

I wonder if their business model is based on an unrealistic number of people paying an undiscounted price?

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i currently work for sc and have done for a couple of years , what weve been told is the reason sc lost x million was because it was re invested , it was x million pounds of profit that was used to start the own brand "legacy" but internally i have not see anything that suggests that sc are going under.

sound control mms ( the parent company ) owns turn key , soho sound house , and media tools. and it was some directors of sound control that started guitar guitar, again one of my mates works there aswell and it seems like a pretty awesome shop , nice guys and some pretty rare gear aswell

im not here at-all to stick up for any of the members of staff who have been a bit arsey to any of you , however all the sc stores ive been in ( ive never said i work in the edinburgh branch unless i was trying to get staff price ) have been pretty sound , ( most of the scottish stores and the oxford street branch ) however a colleague of mine who was on tour went into most of the stores in middle england to buy strings and he was particularly disappointed with the attitude given to him before and after he mentioned he was staff.

the thing is , if your full time which i no longer am (im a student now ) , you get payed pennies , honestly.
now if you look at it as " i can make myself a bit more money today if i only spend my time with people who have money so i can get some of the bonuses that go around " your going to pick and choose the customers you spend the time with , unfortunately this means being short with some who have every intention to spend money , just you dont pick up on the signs of it .

the reason some of you might have been met with a blunt " put it back mate" when you grab something off the walls is; sc stores have been having a serious amount of gear stolen, and you will never guess who gets it in the neck , the managers , and sh*t understandably rolls down hill , know what i mean?

but understandably looking at it from your point of view , there is a slim selection of basses and i had to fight to get warwicks in , we got 7 in sold them all and now we haven't had any for 4 months, its pretty odd. it appears that as a company they know they sell more guitars so us " real musicains :b " fall by the wayside so they can buy more guitars at a higher profit margin and ultimately make more money. which makes a bit more business sense but is a bit shan in-terms of getting cool gear in.

anyway sc have been great to me have got me transfered to the oxford street branch( saveing me some serious hassle ) and personally i think the edinburgh store is great, and every one in there is a good guy ( or girl ) and in their own field is very specialized.
the same for glasgow city, dundee and dunfermline . everyone ive met from those stores professionally or as a customer has been great.

anyway its not my company , its a just a job , but if anyone wants any questions answered about sc on the form give me a shout ill certainly endevour to help out ( short of breaching my contract )

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[quote name='Tinman' post='38571' date='Jul 29 2007, 07:13 PM']Talking to my mate this weekend (he owns an independent store) and he was saying that Sound Control were within £800,000 of going under just recently,[/quote]

Yeah, I'm within £800,000 of going under too :)

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I have to say SC at Newcastle have been good to deal with! Not saying all staff are, as I haven't interacted with all of them, but on the whole they seem clued up and helpful. It's always a shame when/if a store goes under but we all want to pay next to nothing for items and yet want that high street shop to go in to try stuff out; shops have overheads!

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Last time I went to the Bristol SC they had a very good stock of quality basses, I was impressed... but I got attitude by the bucketload from the guy behind the till when I asked for some strings. He tried to sell me Rotosounds and then implied that I was some know-nothing bozo because I said that I didn't like Rotos. I left the shop stringless, haven't been back. Went to Rikkaxe and was sold what I asked for.

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[quote name='Rich' post='38917' date='Jul 30 2007, 12:48 PM']Last time I went to the Bristol SC they had a very good stock of quality basses, I was impressed... but I got attitude by the bucketload from the guy behind the till when I asked for some strings. He tried to sell me Rotosounds and then implied that I was some no-nothing bozo because I said that I didn't like Rotos. I left the shop stringless, haven't been back. Went to Rikkaxe and was sold what I asked for.[/quote]

Sums it up nicely.

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Only experienced Birmingham - they, rather unfortunately, had the legacy of the staff that used to work there when it was Musical Exchanges (a.k.a. Musical Excuses) 90% of them really quite clueless and with no interest in customer service. I haven't been in there in about 3 years after asking to try out a digitech pedal to be met with "Are you looking to buy it? I can only get them out if you are looking to buy it?". I could understand if they want to keep tire kickers away from £3k basses but FFS, an £80 pedal?! My face probably said it all before I told him to forget it and walked out.

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[quote name='Rich' post='38917' date='Jul 30 2007, 12:48 PM']Last time I went to the Bristol SC they had a very good stock of quality basses, I was impressed... but I got attitude by the bucketload from the guy behind the till when I asked for some strings. He tried to sell me Rotosounds and then implied that I was some no-nothing bozo because I said that I didn't like Rotos. I left the shop stringless, haven't been back. Went to Rikkaxe and was sold what I asked for.[/quote]

Sounds about right, Even though Eugene at Rickaxxe cant sell a bass to save his life, he is a generally nice guy and great bassplayer. Its a pity Rich the owner is such a arsehole.

Edited by Shockwave
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Honestly, what are these music-shop people like? Don't they want to stay in business? I've previously been in another (Denmark Street) store where the only member of staff was too busy eating his lunch to let me buy a PRS guitar.

They need their arses kicked :)

Cheers

Mark

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