Bass Direct

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

In fairness, Mark and Ashley turned the minor concern into pure joy at 10.45am…

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, ezbass said:

Even more so when this arrives…

[Downunderwonder]

I could have sworn I replied to this a couple of days ago. I had a look at the site to see what all the fuss was about. Perfectly navigable shambles, which makes it's own statement about business I suppose.

 

It's a good thing it is way over there or I would have a Japanese P I don't need.

[bassatnight]

My only issue would be the same one levelled against the ‘Gallery’ where you can add a bass to the basket, pay for it to then be told sorry, someone got in there before you, I presume that bigger outfits such as GAK or Andertons have more expensive stock control systems that update the levels upon a purchase.

 

this stung me when (for 9 hours) I was the proud paid up owner of a Wal MK1 only to be informed the next morning at 9:30am someone bought it an hour before me, but the bass was still showing as available.

[BlueMoon]

5 minutes ago, bassatnight said:

My only issue would be the same one levelled against the ‘Gallery’ where you can add a bass to the basket, pay for it to then be told sorry, someone got in there before you, I presume that bigger outfits such as GAK or Andertons have more expensive stock control systems that update the levels upon a purchase.

 

this stung me when (for 9 hours) I was the proud paid up owner of a Wal MK1 only to be informed the next morning at 9:30am someone bought it an hour before me, but the bass was still showing as available.

That's naughty practice, indeed.

[Downunderwonder]

1 minute ago, BlueMoon said:

That's naughty practice, indeed.

Baiting accomplishes nothing so slack is the word I would use. How hard is it to take down an item when it's bought and settled?

[ezbass]

8 minutes ago, bassatnight said:

My only issue would be the same one levelled against the ‘Gallery’ where you can add a bass to the basket, pay for it to then be told sorry, someone got in there before you, I presume that bigger outfits such as GAK or Andertons have more expensive stock control systems that update the levels upon a purchase.

 

this stung me when (for 9 hours) I was the proud paid up owner of a Wal MK1 only to be informed the next morning at 9:30am someone bought it an hour before me, but the bass was still showing as available.

 

3 minutes ago, BlueMoon said:

That's naughty practice, indeed.

Super irritating to be sure. I think, at least in the case of The Gallery, part of the reason is that stuff is also listed on Reverb and the updating from that to the main site is not exactly seamless.

[Downunderwonder]

4 minutes ago, ezbass said:

 

Super irritating to be sure. I think, at least in the case of The Gallery, part of the reason is that stuff is also listed on Reverb and the updating from that to the main site is not exactly seamless.

Yet his bass was still listed after they told him it was sold already. Slacking.

[dmccombe7]

When i bought my Sandberg Marlowe it was removed from the site right away. I had called to see if it was available and when Mark said yes i paid for it there and then.

Dave

[AndyTravis]

I think my circumstance with the sabre wasn’t that I paid after closing on Saturday and they don’t open on a Sunday…

 

Funnily enough, I saw the ad on Facebook and went straight to their site to buy.

 

They only do 10-2 on Saturday too, in store.

[ambient]

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Baiting accomplishes nothing so slack is the word I would use. How hard is it to take down an item when it's bought and settled?

Not hard at all I guess if the item is bought during working hours. If it’s bought outside opening hours then it’s surely a different matter? I believe a lot of their trade is online.

[Stub Mandrel]

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Baiting accomplishes nothing so slack is the word I would use. How hard is it to take down an item when it's bought and settled?

 

Quite hard as you could have someone available 24/7 primed to receive payment notices and able to revise the site immediately,  which is unfeasible for a small operation.

 

Alternatively you need the website to be front ending a proper stock control system, which would mean completley rebuilding it. Not simple unless you have the skills. It's what would be sensible though, given the other benefits that would accrue.

[Downunderwonder]

I don't know why they would build it to take payments without flagging the items as sold but whatever, I am no computer whizz.

[Lfalex v1.1]

9 hours ago, bassatnight said:

My only issue would be the same one levelled against the ‘Gallery’ where you can add a bass to the basket, pay for it to then be told sorry, someone got in there before you, I presume that bigger outfits such as GAK or Andertons have more expensive stock control systems that update the levels upon a purchase.

 

this stung me when (for 9 hours) I was the proud paid up owner of a Wal MK1 only to be informed the next morning at 9:30am someone bought it an hour before me, but the bass was still showing as available.

Happened to me at The Gallery over an Ibanez EDC700. The bass was second(-hand, and the advice was to phone them. 

So I did, and paid for it there and then. 

Then they phoned me back a bit later,  saying it had been sold even though it was still listed. This, plus a previous incident, means I won't be bothering The Gallery with my custom again.

 

Happy ending, however.

I put up an ad on here in Items Wanted, and ended up with an EDC715  and an EDA900 instead.

 

[Skin Lewis]

The slow stock update thing happens with the big online sellers too - I bought a JMJ Mustang from PMT ("in stock, next day delivery"), paid for it, and had an email 2 days later saying it was out of stock, and would I be interested in a Precision or Jazz instead 

[bartelby]

3 minutes ago, Skin Lewis said:

The slow stock update thing happens with the big online sellers too - I bought a JMJ Mustang from PMT ("in stock, next day delivery"), paid for it, and had an email 2 days later saying it was out of stock, and would I be interested in a Precision or Jazz instead 

 

Same happened to me with an Ashdown CTM-300. Except they just stopped the payment...

[LukeFRC]

15 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I don't know why they would build it to take payments without flagging the items as sold but whatever, I am no computer whizz.

payments is relatively simple - an active directory of stock with multiple ways to buy which updates once payment is taken.... is a lot more difficult and a new and more expensive website build and maintain. For something specialist like bass guitars I doubt the margins are crazy and for 90% of their customers their cheaper and more manual system will work just as well. 

[Munurmunuh]

Standard thread on topics like this:

 

I see no reason why my ignorance and inexperience should stop me from expressing the following strong opinion in ill-tempered terms ×100

 

You would have thought bassists of all people could appreciate that things are rarely as easy as they appear.

[Eldon Tyrell]

13 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Standard thread on topics like this:

 

I see no reason why my ignorance and inexperience should stop me from expressing the following strong opinion in ill-tempered terms ×100

 

You would have thought bassists of all people could appreciate that things are rarely as easy as they appear.

C'mon, it's an online forum, what do you expect? 😉

 

[Munurmunuh]

16 minutes ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

what do you expect?

 

Oh, yeah, this, obviously!

[E sharp]

17 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Happened to me at The Gallery over an Ibanez EDC700. The bass was second(-hand, and the advice was to phone them. 

So I did, and paid for it there and then. 

Then they phoned me back a bit later,  saying it had been sold even though it was still listed. This, plus a previous incident, means I won't be bothering The Gallery with my custom again.

 

Happy ending, however.

I put up an ad on here in Items Wanted, and ended up with an EDC715  and an EDA900 instead.

 

The Gallery’s web site isn’t very good. If you select ‘in stock’ basses, there’s still loads that pop up marked up as sold. 
 

I bought a second hand Berg cab off of them around two years ago, and it was still on their site as available a year later

[zranyard]

To be honest while it can be clunky sometimes, I prefer shopping with bass direct than most other shops online. Their inventory is more up to date than most other shops. I once shopped online with pmt, choosing them because it said in stock and would arrive when I needed it too, only to be told after 48 hours when I called them that it was out of stock and they didn't know when it would be again!

 

I got some cabs from bass direct a month ago and thought they provided great customer service

[Drax]

For all the moan about retailers site experience, the weakest link in chain will always be the courier. 

[mr4stringz]

The following from BD’s newsletter suggests improvements are imminent -

 

We have a brand new website coming in the next few weeks that will make searching and purchasing goods much easier and we will be adding more helpful content to guide you through the buying process for all items we sell plus useful tips and advise (sic).

[ezbass]

16 minutes ago, mr4stringz said:

The following from BD’s newsletter suggests improvements are imminent -

 

We have a brand new website coming in the next few weeks that will make searching and purchasing goods much easier and we will be adding more helpful content to guide you through the buying process for all items we sell plus useful tips and advise (sic).

Hopefully, that’ll sort out the cut & paste descriptions in the Modern Vintage pages (and probably others) where the P types are all described as having lollipop tuners, where they plainly are not. Yeah, it’s nit picking but it’s what we do do, no?