Rip off British Hi-Fi Industry

[Barry]

From the Grave

[Joe]

It's amusing/interesting/troubling that the first two posters on this thread are now banned from the forum.

[Marco]

Let’s keep posts strictly on-topic and about the subject matter, rather than personalities, please.

So, do folks here believe that there exists a “Rip off British Hi-Fi Industry”?

Marco.

[Peter Galbavy]

I don't think it's so much rip-off as full of chancers, shills and spivs. But nor is this specifically a British thing - there are plenty in all English speaking countries. Does it affect the continent as much? I have no experience there, so cannot say.

[Joe]

'Hi-fi industry' is a very broad term. I'd say that some elements are rip-off (mark-up on fancy cables, for example) and some are less so. But the growth of direct selling, the gradual loss of the baby-boomer generation, and the move to smaller properties means that the 'specialist' hi-fi dealer is a dying breed anyway, in the same way that bookshops have all but vanished from our high streets.

[DSJR]

Was this thread really started SIX YEARS ago?

The answer isn't now as clear cut as it may have been back then IMO. The 'mass market new product' specialist industry has all but disappeared from UK retail at any rate, replaced by a lucrative used market, often bolstered by forums like this one and the only serious new product market now being the 'oligach' one I think. If you were seen to be a bad dealer, you'd have gone under long ago and many once good dealers have just had to close their doors due to lack of interest.

The model for many small manufacturers now seems to be online and as long as products are sold at proper trade prices (and not full retail so an online seller makes double the profit!), we all gain in a way, although obviously, nobody can listen and compare first. Cables aside (a necessary cash cow for survival IMO), dealers do allow you to compare things, hopefully fairly, so you can reach a decision.

By the way, I'm speaking as an ex-hifi dealer of more than thirty years' standing and with a literally lifelong passion about music and the means of reproducing it. I cringe at the UK industry of the 80's and my place in it, although it paid me spectacularly well for a 'shop worker!' and it's now an indelible part of an earlier life for me.

Apologies. I'm rambling again, but there are still a few good long-standing dealers out there, often working from facilities at home, trying to make a living and even cash-cow Naim dealers aren't having it all their own way these days...

[Beobloke]

And the purpose of digging up this thread was what, exactly?

[Clive197]

A business who rips-off customers (let alone an industry) is always going to end in tears. No I don't think the HiFi industry rips off its customers, the trade is far too competitive.
However, accessories do have an element of very high prices, similar to how the motor industry work regarding spare parts and while customers flock in then this is not going to change anytime soon. It's interesting that the boutique companies seem to come and go.

Clive

[Marco]

Hi Adam,

Here's the answer to your question….

The answer isn't now as clear cut as it may have been back then IMO.

As it’s been such a long time since the matter was discussed, we wanted to hear what the views were of our current members, which reflect the state of the industry as it is now, six years on, and to analyse any change that has taken place in that respect since the question was first posed

Marco.

[walpurgis]

You can't be 'ripped off' on purchase prices. One only pays what one chooses to!

No doubt poor after sales service occurs, warranties, etc. That may be the rip off!