Thomann problems?

[Jamison]

I tend to buy a lot of gear. 

I recently returned a bass, asked many many times with many agents for help in understanding why they didnt offer the option to collect the item and instead sent me to various off licenses to ship it back. I have been back and forth to try and figure out with DHL why it sat at the border with no updates. I asked for help from Thomann and the chat agent was clueless. (not just once mind you)
After further waiting and communicating i am told they are going to refund me regardless, but never received that either. Upon chasing I am now told the money went into a customer account and is sitting there, instead. I specifically emailed and asked for a refund on more than once occassion. In their defense, I was going to use the money on something else at their shop, but the service was so awful I asked for a refund. 
Today I am told it will be another 5-7 days to move the money from a customer account to my credit card. It been over a month, what happened to THOMANN, they use to be better than the rest. Andertons seem to be the only ones who ship gear that doesnt arrive in a state that needs a lot of adjustment or repair. Gak was pretty good with refunds too comparitively speaking. 

It seems many retailers are not bothering setting up basses or looking them over before shipping also, and blaming any adjustments required on the manufacturers. Wonder why>? Surely ensuruing a customer is happy and doesnt return an item is helpful to their bottom line.

 

Rant over. For now.

[TheGreek]

I don't believe that Customer Satisfaction is a marketing tool anymore. 

Once they have your money you can go whistle. 

[Jamison]

6 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I don't believe that Customer Satisfaction is a marketing tool anymore. 

Once they have your money you can go whistle. 

I sadly feel you are correct. 

[Bolo]

That is a Heck of a string of bad luck! Customs and couriers can really ramp up misfortune.

 

Maybe not write off the company that usually manages to reliably ship thousands of objects a week over one incident.

[Gramski]

28 minutes ago, Bolo said:

That is a Heck of a string of bad luck! Customs and couriers can really ramp up misfortune.

 

Maybe not write off the company that usually manages to reliably ship thousands of objects a week over one incident.

I wouldn’t expect the likes of Thomman to be checking and setting up basses given their turnover but perhaps I just have low expectations.

 

From previous threads it seems it isn’t just the shipping but the returns are a challenge with Thomman. 

[jezzaboy]

In my experience if you buy from the big box shifters, Thomann, Andertons etc unless it is a quite expensive bass/guitar, the item will come in the factory sealed box so they don`t go near the set up. You do seem to have had a bit of bad luck though so hopefully it will get resolved soon.

[Aidan63]

I bet preBrexit the UK was 30%-40% of Thomann's sales and I bet it is now like 10%-15% and lower margin and more ball aches for them; you can see that price difference between them and the UK retailers has lessened, are we so desperate to always get the lowest price that we are prepared to risk issues or a crappy delivery or return, sometimes its worth paying a little bit more to support a UK retailer, whether big box shifter or real shop or like Andertons both; good deals often to be found on 2nd and 3rd page of Google if you look that far with smaller retailers

[tegs07]

I have found that the quality of goods and services has steadily declined in proportion to their price. Time for a rethink. 

[Bolo]

Do you have any source at all for those numbers because they don't make much sense to me. Thomann is located in the south of Germany and supplies the majority of mainland Europe, mostly without the hassle of ferry/airfare and taxes.

5 minutes ago, Aidan63 said:

bet preBrexit the UK was 30%-40% of Thomann's sales and I bet it is now like 10%-15%

 

[Jamison]

@Aidan63 fair comment, have no experience with PMT or a few I see out there. I think internet buying also adds complexity- if I want something on the wall and its not set up well, typically keep looking and playing others. Getting something in the post that is poorly set up or poor quality another story.

 

I once bought from Absolute music. They sold me a streamer with a minor twist in the neck. My luthier said send it back. They argued to no end that their luthier disagreed and it was fine.

we put a small wedge in the neck to compensate for the issue. Never bought from them again. Most of the times this type of issue is resolved if retailer are willing to pay the £30 to my luthier to apply a fix and everyone is happy. Thomann didnthat a few years ago, bought a £2500 warwick that needed some fretboard work. They were super cool about it.

my last purchase they wanted me to jump through a bunch of hoops to apply a fix and I just thought, nevermind.. refund please

 

funnily enough, inhave almost never had a problem with second hand purchases from other bass players!!!😂🙏🤘 

Edited February 2 by Jamison

[tegs07]

7 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Do you have any source at all for those numbers because they don't make much sense to me. Thomann is located in the south of Germany and supplies the majority of mainland Europe, mostly without the hassle of ferry/airfare and taxes.

 

But I would hazard guess that the majority of the goods it sells originate in the Far East and ship via Suez are the Red Sea. 

Supply chains are so vulnerable to disruption now. Covid and more recently geopolitical factors are causing chaos with these businesses models.

Edited February 2 by tegs07

[Bolo]

1 minute ago, tegs07 said:

But I would hazard guess that the majority of the goods it sells originate in the Far East and ship via Suez are the Red Sea. 

And that leads you to believe 40% of their revenue came from the UK?

[tegs07]

Just now, Bolo said:

And that leads you to believe 40% of their revenue came from the UK?

Nope, just another hurdle that companies like Thomann have to overcome. Brexit is frequently mentioned but is just one factor at play.

[christhammer666]

as mentioned above as soon as your money is paid that is where the customer service ends in a lot of cases

[Aidan63]

 

14 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Do you have any source at all for those numbers because they don't make much sense to me. Thomann is located in the south of Germany and supplies the majority of mainland Europe, mostly without the hassle of ferry/airfare and taxes.

 

No, I'm just guessing but based on how many used instruments are listed for sale on Ebay and Reverb, for example the UK accounts for 1/4 of all used Bass guitar listings available to the UK on Reverb worldwide, so I'd say per head we are big consumers, lots of us have multiple instruments, we've bought and continue to buy a lot of stuff, even in these straightened times

 

[neepheid]

I would say that the sooner Thomann can relieve D!ck Heads Limited (DHL) of their duties the better - they "lost" one of my basses on the way here.  How the f do you lose a bass, it's not as if it's a set of car keys, is it?  To give Thomann their due they pretty quickly gave it up after some investigation and sent another which thankfully made it through that time.

 

Also I have absolutely no expectation that a bass will arrive set up for me.  Setup being such a personal thing, I have no idea why people think they can expect to grab a bass out of a box and just start playing it.  I learned to setup my basses early doors in my career and it doesn't faze me one jot if one arrives not to my liking.  Box shifters aren't going to open each and every bass and set it up before sealing it again - can you imagine how much that would add to costs?  You want cheap prices AND you want individual attention paid to each bass?  Come on - that equation just doesn't solve.

[Bolo]

They will absolutely do a check and setup before shipping when asked. If you treat them like a box shifting webshop, add to basket, pay, wait: that's what you get. 

When you contact them before purchase and tell them what you want and how, they will almost always find a way to arrange it.

 

Sorry to be on the defence here, I've not always been 100% happy but same applies to Bax, Anderson's and a few others.

 

There needs to be less hearsay and conclusions from n=1

[Chienmortbb]

You can only comment on your own experiences. I often use Thomann, Andertons and have used G4M and PMT. Thomann used to have a price advantage, but it is now often pennies and DHL, are to be avoided where possible. The worst tracking of any company, IMHO.

 

Andertons, despite me not liking the bloke that does their bass videos, I have found them to be excellent especially when I changed my mind on a purchase after it was delivered, They arranged pickup FOC.

 

PMT were good to buy from, BUT when I was unsure about a very recent purchase, I checked their Ts and Cs. It is down to the customer to pay for and arrange the return.

 

G4M did not have the things I wanted recently, so I have not used them for some time.

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Chienmortbb said:

You can only comment on your own experiences. I often use Thomann, Andertons and have used G4M and PMT. Thomann used to have a price advantage, but it is now often pennies and DHL, are to be avoided where possible. The worst tracking of any company, IMHO.

 

Andertons, despite me not liking the bloke that does their bass videos, I have found them to be excellent especially when I changed my mind on a purchase after it was delivered, They arranged pickup FOC.

 

PMT were good to buy from, BUT when I was unsure about a very recent purchase, I checked their Ts and Cs. It is down to the customer to pay for and arrange the return.

 

G4M did not have the things I wanted recently, so I have not used them for some time.

 

When returning for distance selling simply because you changed your mind, I thought buyer paying for return postage is the norm.  Above and beyond from Andertons on this occasion, but it would not surprise me in the least to have to pay for the return postage if I simply changed my mind.  Different kettle of fish if the product is actually faulty, of course.

[Twigman]

Hmmm I wish I had read this yesterday.

I put an order in with Thomann last night, my first for 4 years.

I ordered an Empress Bass Compressor - it was £50 cheaper from Thomann than Anderton's.

Fingers crossed.

[neepheid]

3 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Hmmm I wish I had read this yesterday.

I put an order in with Thomann last night, my first for 4 years.

I ordered an Empress Bass Compressor - it was £50 cheaper from Thomann than Anderton's.

Fingers crossed.

 

I reckon you'll be fine.  Statistically, the failure rate will be small, despite the amount of noise made when it happens.

[Rayman]

I have limited experience with Thomann, other than two orders, a gig bag and a pedal, both got here quickly and without issue.

 

Shout out to DHL, we use them all the time for work, fast reliable and friendly drivers…. again no issues.

 

Just to redress the balance a bit. 

[Jamison]

Thank you to all who have commented, its a gr8 communtiy here and its nice to see that folks are not disrespectful to each-other on differing opinions. I feel like every-time i post an opinion on FB I get some serious attitudes!

 

Hopefully this post will help us all determine the best way of purchasing products and what to expect.

shipping, andertons always good and bass direct on paying for returns IME.

i dont mind paying shipping so much.

most bass shops are hours away— we need more!!

[Burns-bass]

Returns are a massive problem for retail businesses. While they could front the cost for a return, I'm not sure why they should be expected to do so. OK, if an item is faulty, that's different – but if you simply don't like it, that's another matter. PMT didn't pay my petrol money when I drove down there to return a bass, for example.

 

 

[Chienmortbb]

22 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

PMT didn't pay my petrol money when I drove down there to return a bass, for example.

 

As my local stores could not supply, I could not try before I bought. PMT have lots of stores but none less than 2.5 hours drive and over 200 mile round trip.  I have only returned one thing to Andertons, in about 8-10 purchases, so the cost per purchase is minimal. It is a bit like credit card fees, a cost of doing business.