Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems "Big in Japan"

I think I have a reasonable relationship with my dealer, but, whilst we are having a dealer whinge.....

Another price that gets to me is the upgrade price and how much work the dealer has to do for these!! Sure - I managed about 10% discount recently, but, it is surely a money-for-nothing exercise for the dealer. I suspect they are still making �400-500 to play Meridian postman.

Given the expense of the main box purchases,
I am still surprised/disappointed that upgrades should make the high levels of profit for these guys. They don't market or advertise them, stock them, do them, carry any literature on them (apart from the price list - of course!!!).
We probably all walk straight in and request exactly what we want. No demo's or anything.

Have any of you guys had any better luck on upgrade prices (if so where please)

Rgds

Nick

I suspect that Meridian and many others are in the business of PRICE FIXING. It is VERY STRANGE that all over Europe (including the UK) prices are more or less the same (certainly so in Continental europe and more expensive than in the UK by as much as 20%).

If the Fiar Competition office of the European Commission investigates this could lead to a fine amounting to 10% of the yearly profit as has happened with Wolkswagen, Volvo and Mercedes.

It really bothers me that cars are found at many diferent prices (smae car, sma emodel) while hifi and photo euipment is not.

Writing some letters to the appropriate commissioners ... in Bruxels ...

George,

I thought that in the EU, hi-fi dealers/manufacturers were exempt from the "price fixing" legislation.

Mark S

I'm using a dealer in LA that I hooked up with a couple of years ago. Tried one in Ohio and was very disappointed. Room was not setup properly. Mixed components, talked down the 500 series, no idea about upgrades. Haven't been back since. The dealer in LA is fair and reasonably knowledgeable. Hate the wait time for product to go from Ohio to Ga to CA to Ohio for upgrades. I would certainly like to have a local dealer that I could visit to try out new products and upgrades. I was very disappointed in DVD-A bin quantity of software and quality. Don't know if I would have invested the large $$$$ to upgrade. Dealer was no help there.

I agree this forum is much better than the dealer in getting real time info on problems/setup. I learn something every day by reading the posts.

I think we're off on the wrong track with the price fixing thing, and the car comparison is also adrift. The EU car companies are price gouging - selling for as much as they can in different markets and blocking cheaper imports - that's what they got fined for.

Consider a perfect market (as my economics teacher used to say). If you have a single manufacturer making a $1000 dollar widget and sending it to many retailers, who each apply a perfectly competitive mark-up, then the resale price at each retailer will be the same. That's not price fixing, that's proper market economics when there is a single source of supply.

The real issue is not even the level of dealer mark up, which is around 100% on Meridian (and almost all other high-end brands, let's not kid ourselves that Chord, Pass, Linn, Wilson, etc is being sold for cost-plus-5%). It takes a lot of cash and capital to run a properly stocked, properly set up, properly trained dealer outlet.

No, the real issue, which seems to be going in several threads simultaneously at the moment, is whether that 100% markup represents good value for money for the level of support and expertise the average dealer provides to the customer. The verdict on that appears to be no in the majority of cases.

Regards

Mark

I am quite happy with my dealer. He uses Meridian him self.
Not that i can see new items there, as he is more in the custom install bussiness and does not have a large shop with a lot of Meridian gear on display.
But our coutry distributor has great support. They handled my 8xx upgrades (via the dealer) and that went well OK. They came to my home for the v3-v4 upgrade.

The difficult questions are mostly answered by Merdian UK.

Jaco

What is price-fixing:

Price fixing is a procedure (or a set of procedures) by which the manufacturer (or distributor) achieves a designated price and ENFORCES that price by PUNISHING the business associates who do not comply.

Only only needs to look around in Europe to see that:
a) hardly anyone offers discounts on Meridian (and others too)
b) Meridian is not sold on the internet for delivery outside of the country of incporporation
c) not one single Meridian dealer will deliver outside of his country

The above is evidence of 1)price fixing being in palce and 2)a violation of several EU laws namely the one that refers to free mouvement of commercial goods.

I am forwarding the details of my own investigation to the European Commission. I have collected more than 18 replies from European delaers across 9 countries who all confrim to me that they CAN NOT sell outside their own countries.

The price must come down and either it comes down on a voluntary basis or it will come down my judicial means!

I'll never object to prices coming down.

However, I'm not sure that price fixing, as described in the previous post, is really what gets at folk. It is more the handing over of large amounts of dealer margin when 99% of M-dealers do next-to-nothing for their slice of pie.

Specifically regarding the points made:-

a) hardly anyone offers discounts on Meridian (and others too)....maybe not advertised, but, as with most gear, even a half-decent dealer will give you 10%. As said earlier, these guys have to make a living also. I don't think M have any say in this aspect whatsoever.

b) Meridian is not sold on the internet for delivery outside of the country of incporporation....never seen M sold new/mail order on the Net - period. Maybe without stating as such, M may well insist that to sell their gear, a dealer must have at least one member of staff that has been trained. OK - reality may be different, which is the main gripe but they could quite properly claim that it takes just a bit of nowse (brain for the non-UK hikers) to setup even a basic CD+DSP system. Look at Fuji plasmas for example, they won't even honour a warranty if you buy from the Net based on the same claim. I can tell you a Fuji plasma is a damn-site easier to make work than a Meridian system.

c) not one single Meridian dealer will deliver outside of his country....has anyone ever tried ? Why would they/why would they not ? Delivery is a matter of engaging a courier and handing over a few notes. I presume you refer to a delivery made direct to customer from M rather than the dealer. I'm sure that the Hikers based in Ireland who travel to England and Scotland to buy M would have no issue getting a dealer to supply. I'm sure that our Scandic/Benelux friends might also roam to purchase if req'd.

If you look at businesses that invade a neighbour's sale patch and sell for virtually zero profit simply to make a sale today rather than cultivating their own market, then this is not something that I think we would benefit from in the long term.

I work in the Pharma industry and recognize that drugs are sold in each market at the price that the market can support. Drugs are not sold everywhere at the lowest common price demoninator. I know R&D costs are different between M and a Pharma company (ever-so-slightly !!!!) but I would hate to see M shafted with a court-case which ruined their innovative abilities.

Rgds

Nick

I got sent a UK price list when I was in UK.

It says URRP.

Which I think may mean UK Recommended prioece list.

I asked a UK dealer for discont when was in the UK he did me a good deal on a 588(for stereo setup room).

I think maybe the selling say from UK to other euro country is not a problem but once add shipping and other incurred charges it would not make any differance.

I buy M equipment from London and Europe never been a problem some dealers will discount just need to ask.