Morse Or Edgeley?

[David Levine]

Rich,

If you do want to have a market in England, it seems it would behoove you to find somebody to accept your warranty work and make necessary repairs on a sub-contractual basis.

This would save potential customers shipping costs and the attendant hassles and waiting period, at not much more expense to yourselves given the infrequent need for such work.

 

(One thing I have learned from this thread is the proper spelling of Edgley- my apologies to Frank)

Edited November 19, 2007 by cocusflute

[Guest Old Leaky]

If you buy it from us directly you'll have to wait a few months to get it and would need to ship it back to us for warranty work (a *very* rare happenstance) or pay to have such work done more locally to you.

 

It's still one heck of a premium! Nuff said?

[Richard Morse]

If you do want to have a market in England, it seems it would behoove you to find somebody to accept your warranty work and make necessary repairs on a sub-contractual basis.

Our arrangement with the Music Room provides for this. Unfortunately we have no control over what they sell our boxes for.

 

-- Rich --

[Richard Morse]

If you buy it from us directly you'll have to wait a few months to get it and would need to ship it back to us for warranty work (a *very* rare happenstance) or pay to have such work done more locally to you.

It's still one heck of a premium!

No more so than buying from another US maker.

 

-- Rich --

[Guest Old Leaky]

If you buy it from us directly you'll have to wait a few months to get it and would need to ship it back to us for warranty work (a *very* rare happenstance) or pay to have such work done more locally to you.

It's still one heck of a premium!

No more so than buying from another US maker.

 

-- Rich --

 

Forgive me Richard but you appear to have missed my (admittedly laboured) point: you, being the US maker, charge by your own reckoning a reasonable 886 GBP (plus shipping etc.). The Music Room on the other hand charge 1579 GBP - almost DOUBLE - that's the premium and a rather excessive one if justified on the basis of cutting your modest wait times and having the chance for "very rare" warranty work to be carried out in the UK.

Edited November 19, 2007 by Old Leaky

[Richard Morse]

If you buy it from us directly you'll have to wait a few months to get it and would need to ship it back to us for warranty work (a *very* rare happenstance) or pay to have such work done more locally to you.

It's still one heck of a premium!

No more so than buying from another US maker.

Forgive me Richard but you appear to have missed my (admittedly laboured) point: you, being the US maker, charge by your own reckoning a reasonable 886 GBP (plus shipping etc.). The Music Room on the other hand charge 1579 GBP - almost DOUBLE - that's the premium and a rather excessive one if justified on the basis of cutting your modest wait times and having the chance for "very rare" warranty work to be carried out in the UK.

Ah - I see the problem.... I was responding to your message which didn't have any reference to the Music Room at all in it. It seemed to me that you were bemoaning the cost of shipping and taxes (which would be the same for getting a box from other US makers).

 

Good to be on the same page now. Thanks for the clarification!

 

-- Rich --

[ceemonster]

if it's not too far off-topic, i would love to hear cocusflute's report on ups and downs of sessions in "this changing ireland." it sounds as if the one you found was blissfull, straight out of clare fm's "the kitchen sessions"----but what have your impressions been on the rest?

[David Levine]

Ceemonster,

It's a big subject, that of sessions in Ireland.

I wrote two pages in response to your last post.

Is this the proper thread or should I start a new one, do you think?

I'm glad to talk about it but I wouldn't presume to be The Expert.

Edited November 20, 2007 by cocusflute

[ceemonster]

Ceemonster,

It's a big subject, that of sessions in Ireland.

I wrote two pages in response to your last post.

Is this the proper thread or should I start a new one, do you think?

I'm glad to talk about it but I wouldn't presume to be The Expert.

 

not sure about the thread issue. perhaps the moderators have a preference.

 

understood that you wouldn't be posing as "the expert," but your impressions of how ireland's changes are interacting with session culture would be so interesting...

[Daniel Hersh]

I'd suggest a new thread -- more people interested in the topic (I'm one of them) will be likely to find your post there.

 

Daniel

 

Ceemonster,

It's a big subject, that of sessions in Ireland.

I wrote two pages in response to your last post.

Is this the proper thread or should I start a new one, do you think?

I'm glad to talk about it but I wouldn't presume to be The Expert.

 

not sure about the thread issue. perhaps the moderators have a preference.

 

understood that you wouldn't be posing as "the expert," but your impressions of how ireland's changes are interacting with session culture would be so interesting...

[David Levine]

Done- it's in the General Concertina Discussion forum.

[Tootler]

If you buy it from us directly you'll have to wait a few months to get it and would need to ship it back to us for warranty work (a *very* rare happenstance) or pay to have such work done more locally to you.

It's still one heck of a premium!

No more so than buying from another US maker.

Forgive me Richard but you appear to have missed my (admittedly laboured) point: you, being the US maker, charge by your own reckoning a reasonable 886 GBP (plus shipping etc.). The Music Room on the other hand charge 1579 GBP - almost DOUBLE - that's the premium and a rather excessive one if justified on the basis of cutting your modest wait times and having the chance for "very rare" warranty work to be carried out in the UK.

Ah - I see the problem.... I was responding to your message which didn't have any reference to the Music Room at all in it. It seemed to me that you were bemoaning the cost of shipping and taxes (which would be the same for getting a box from other US makers).

 

Good to be on the same page now. Thanks for the clarification!

 

-- Rich --

 

Looking back, it was me that raised the cost of shipping and taxes and I was not really bemoaning the cost, rather making the point that if you buy direct from the US you have to add those costs to the quoted dollar price and by doing that you come up with a figure much closer to the Music Room's asking price than the figure quoted by Old Leaky.

 

As to whether you consider the Music Room's asking price unreasonable is a matter of personal opinion. At the time I bought my Morse concertina, the exchange rate was around $1.80 to the pound so the two figures were closer than they are now.

 

As to my own situation, I chose to go the Music Room initially because I did not feel comfortable ordering a concertina sight unseen from the US, however good the reputation of the maker. I did in fact look at the websites of a number of concertina makers both here and in the US and also contacted the UK based ones. I chose to go to the Music Room because I could try instruments out and in fact got to try six different instruments from four different makers. I chose the Morse because it felt right for me and I have no reason to regret that decision. Being able to take it home was a bonus, given that makers I contacted quoted delivery times varying from three to twelve months.

 

Subsequently I have also had to take advantage of the warranty as I had problems with valves not closing properly on some reeds and their leaking air. The problem turned out to be some weak springs and the Music Room had to order new from the US. Nevertheless I got my concertina back in about two weeks, somewhat less than the several months quoted by Richard Morse above for sending it back to the US, so in that respect, buying locally paid off.

 

All that said, I do agree that the Music Room's price is high and I thought so at the time. However I felt that being able to go and try the instruments out for myself was extremely important, so I was, for that reason, prepared to pay the price and again, I am glad I did because I feel that the choice I made was a properly informed one.

 

As I said, I do not regret the decisions I made and I have an excellent instrument which I thoroughly enjoy playing, so big thank you to Richard Morse for his excellent Anglos.

 

Geoff

[David Levine]

When you talk about the The Music Room's profit margin are you figuring in the cost of insurance, rent, lighting, interest on business loans, salaried personnel, equipment depreciation, advertising, and inventory and income taxes? When we had a shop we'd generally mark the piece up 2.5X what we paid. We'd normally give a 20% discount. If we paid $100 for an item we'd sell it for $200. But of that, our net was only 25% or $50. And that's before taxes.

It's naive and unfair to complain that a man is making too much profit. It's a free market and while I don't believe in the free-market when it comes to globalization and laissez-faire, a shop-owner does have the absolute right to price his wares as he sees fit. If a shop owner gets a great deal on an object is he then bound to deliver the same great deal to his customers? If he finds a great old Jeffries in a pawnshop for £500 is he then morally precluded from selling it for £2,000? Or £5,000?

You have to do your homework when you buy an expensive item. Nobody is forced to buy a concertina from a certain dealer. Take your business elsewhere if you think he's gouging or if you don't like his prices or his mark-up.

Retail dealers -- and instrument makers -- are seldom as wealthy as one would think. A shop owner who gets a reputation for gouging his customers won't be around very long, I can assure you. I care about the price I am paying and not about the dealer's mark-up. The price is my business and his mark-up is his business.

[Paul Read]

Retail dealers -- and instrument makers -- are seldom as wealthy as one would think. A shop owner who gets a reputation for gouging his customers won't be around very long,

An excellent posting, although I think it is good that the alternatives are brought to the attention of the people on the forum to help the process along

[chris]

Hi

I guess we should take all the aspects of cocusflute's posting into acount when we are part exchanging our old concertina for that 'expensive' one and realise why we may rarely get offered what we think our old concertina is 'really' worth. If the offer is not considered 'good enough' it can always be sold privately. I have to admit that I don't tend to trade instruments in very often which goes someway to explaining why I can't move in my house for instruments (of various types) and -worst of all instrument cases (1 serpent 1 mandolin 2 dulcimer 4 guitar 1 bassoon 1 french horn 1 tenor horn 1 cornet 1cornetti 1 lysarden 2 flute various bags 1 oboe -oh and 4 concertina cases-not sure how that happened as I've only got 2 concertina's -any one got a Tardis I can borrow

Chris (living in 2 bedroomed house with wife and cat and all the above )

[m3838]

When you talk about the The Music Room's profit margin are you figuring in the cost of insurance, rent, lighting, interest on business loans, salaried personnel, equipment depreciation,

 

Are you a proprietor of The Music Room by any chance?

If not, do you think these folks are children, who need defence?

Not that your logic is incorrect (or correct) and we should (or should not) walk around and complain that some dealers don't offer quality instruments instantly and inexpencively, but I think owners of the store know a bit better why they chose the price and whether they try to milk the customers or not. Let them speak. If they don't read this forum, too bad.

[Woody]

When you talk about the The Music Room's profit margin are you figuring in the cost of insurance, rent, lighting, interest on business loans, salaried personnel, equipment depreciation,

 

Are you a proprietor of The Music Room by any chance?

If not, do you think these folks are children, who need defence?

Not that your logic is incorrect (or correct) and we should (or should not) walk around and complain that some dealers don't offer quality instruments instantly and inexpencively, but I think owners of the store know a bit better why they chose the price and whether they try to milk the customers or not. Let them speak. If they don't read this forum, too bad.

So people should keep quiet even when they think that what is being said is unfair?

[m3838]

So people should keep quiet even when they think that what is being said is unfair?

 

No, my responce was to folks, who act as Music Room defenders. I don't think they need or want any defenders.

We can complain as much as we want.