Ray I spotted something last night. There is an importer of sorts and they sell guitars. And last night I spotted a guitar that is not an expensive guitar but it gets some love in some other overseas forums. Well not this particular model but others in the stable and there is no reason to believe that this guitar should be a piece of trash. But you never know. Anyway, it gets reviews up along the price range of guitars made in far more fashionable countries – guitar-wise I mean. And this particular model is advertized at about 150 bucks ZA. And it should be costing? well how would you convert 450 bucks US? Well, there you have it. So, I start scheming what the hell is going on here? And my damned conscience starts nagging a bit I think there is a book that talks about a still small voice but this one was screaming a bit. So I go to their contacts page and I pop everyone there an email that this must be wrong so they should fix it. But I began feeling really stupid then because these are capitalists and capitalists are bad people so should I try and be nice to them? But anyway, I knew then as I do now that they will have an escape route. It is just a bit of an exercise now you see. Now remember what I told you, I sent all and sundry emails last night from my little hotel room to tell them that I am a conscientious shopper who would like to point out that instead of ripping the public off they are about to shag themselves a bit with this. And what would come of this? Probably nothing but when you’ve spent a part of your life on the outers you throw a line in anywhere ne. So I watch my inbox and nothing gets there. And I guess they said to one another – tjoepstil ouens, maybe he’ll go away and if he doesn’t and places an order we’ll say there’s no stock and that’s that. So come about 15.00 today, I place an order along with some other things like a tuner and a few other things just to try and camouflage it a bit but I know they are sitting in their offices waiting and watching and I suppose when I hit that place order button an alarm went off and they all mobilized. So why do I tell y’all this? Because I’ve got no one else to tell and I’m alone in the gammadoelas spending time at a particularly difficult client who wants everything for nothing and aint got good manners when he says it either. So, I’m feeling a little vindictive and taking it out on the first unsuspecting entity. If this post survives it may give rise to some interesting discussion and I will update on the happenings. If you’ve read until here then your supper is probably keeping warm in the oven by now. And that after you’ve promised yourself you will never ever read another post of mine again. See you later
AlanRatcliffe No harm in trying Ray - you gave them fair warning. Hopefully you get it right and they send you one before your other email makes an impact and they correct the price. Do share the details once your order has shipped though. Maybe others can also benefit.
Ray No, didnt work. It was takealot. the old take2. So my order went into an in process state for a few days and I watched it and wondered. But then all of a sudden I got a mail saying that there wasnt stock or something but maybe it was different I didnt even read it and I saw that it was cancelled. Pretty much what I thought was going to happen. No worries, I'll scout around to see if there's someone else to shark.
mity88 ok, so im confused, roughly how many musicians actually buy gear online in SA? i know in the States its big, but i always hear everyone here complaining bout this and that site, so is it even worth trying to buy online?
chris77 I have had great online service from Musicmadness, Muz, Take2 and TerryD in the past. The dedicated online stores are a pleasure to do business with in my experience. The schlep is when brick and mortar stores try the online thing. They never return queries, the websites are shite. The only store/group that seems to have that part sorted is Tuerk/Turnkey. The rest.....
Ray I've had good experiences. Still not like walking into a store and getting to fondle what you looking at but then again if you know what you want - there you go but sometimes you need to wait. I'm about to to order something from Sountrader.co.za and I've not dealt with them before. Anyone here bought anything there?
Heath I have bought from terryd , maxmusic , take2 , and digital planet and recently from soundz . Only bad experience I have had so far was with maxmusic . But the rest have all been very pleasant . Still not as much fun as buying from a store but convenient
chrisomatix Purple Online often have very good deals as well. I'm waiting at the moment for an order to arrive from soundtrader that I placed a couple of days ago, on a product that was very reasonably priced - lower even than the dollar price offered by the manufacturers in the States. Ray, did you place your order with soundtrader and what was your experience?
deefstes Ray wroteStill not like walking into a store and getting to fondle what you looking at... I agree 100%, but let's rather return to the topic of buying music gear. ?
