a piece of advise

Yes I agree with you but one thing is not clear, why some dealers charge nearly 50 -60% as tax and some dealers charge 10-20%.

Suppose if you take Bose wave radio cd, the price is $500 in US wheras it costs about 38k

But in Profx they charge very low.

Thats because some dealers believe in conning a customer. Be open and frank and it will get you far.
Rgds

Prithvi

I think bose has a method of country wise price fixing..ie your selling price for a country is actually dictated by Bose.
In India you anyway need to add extra 40% odd for duties..
(Prithvi would know more about it)

Actually, Bose abroad used to be famous for coming out with Sales/Promotions every few months, wherein the prices were marked down as much as 30 to 40%. This applied to practically the full range of products, and not just ones which did not sell.

Don't know about India though.

well, the game in India is very simple....its about getting away with as much money as you can from the customer and then some more. Thats how I see it. Nobody does business for charity or only for the customers benifit. Every business want to make money, one way or another.

yes, for big brands/companies, country specific prices are the norm.

But for re-sellers of imported goods it all depends on where he is sourcing the goods from and how much markup the re-seller/importer can get get away with due to market demand of the product.

As for official dealers, recommended prices do come down from parent companies.

Manek.

Hi Prithvi,

Your advice is technically very sound, but for one thing…

One would first have to take the credibility of most of the so called dealers in India into account. How many of them would actually stand by you once you have parted with your money? Warranty is a pretty ambiguous term, loaded in favour of unscrupulous dealers / manufacturers, allowing them to wriggle out of obligations in a manner that would put an eel to shame.

Also, in question is their knowledge / expertise. During my last vacation in Bombay, I happened to go to a largish dealer who had, amongst other products, Rotel Amplifiers. Occupying the pride of the place was the flagship RB 1090 Power amp. Since I happened to own one, I tried to chat up the guys there, on its merits. The sales guy on hand, at least was honest, told me he did not know much about it, and introduced me to the “Senior In Charge” there. Well, to cut a long story short, when I remarked to the Senior that the 1090 was in fact 2 monoblocks sharing one chassis and a power cord, the guy looked at me pityingly as if I had just stepped off a State Transport bus arriving from some remote backward village and pronounced “we only keep high end stereo and not mono stuff”. To this, I could only beat a hasty retreat. But, the thing is, if a prominent dealer can have such erudite people at the front desk to face his customers, what sort of technicians would he have at the back, to service the equipment? How would we know?

I am not saying all dealers fall in the above category, there would be a few enthusiasts really caring about audio and willing to help their customers, but….

Big Ears,
This would be a place called the shop at Andheri, right?

It's really quite simple, these guys are the hard core dhanda pani (apologies to the Onkyo dealer )types.To them, the fact that they are dealing in HiFi is just incidental.It could be pretty much anything that has a market and therefore a money making opportunity.

However,like you also said there is another variety that is more passionate about Audio.

k

big ears,

you are so right.....quite a few of those around. Warranty is something these guys know not the meaning off. To them its just another sale. And if things go wrong like in amps, do you thing they will replace the faulty parts with originals ??? never.....chalu and kaam chalaoo parts will be used.

The word warranty has a meaning if there is an authorised service centre with authorised parts for that brand. As far as speakers go, keeping drver/crossover spares is what some of them do. For amps and cdp's its very very dicey in India.

Manek.

Regards,

Manek.

Big Ears,
Hi! Yes I can now see how you must have felt when the guy told u they do not do MONO.

This is the point that I once faced when I went to a few hifi shops in Bangalore, God, I did not know where to hide my face. These guys were bullshitting to the core and did not know head nor tail of hiend. Sadly the common man does not know anything.

A customer of mine wanted to buy a UNICO CDP from me and I told him it will take a month as they were introducing an upgraded model for the free, but he could not wait, as he had the rest of the gear. So he told me lets go to PROFX to buy a CD-17MKIII CDP. We went with cash in hand and together and when we entered the guy was busy on the phone, he did not even gesture us to come in nor hang-up for a few seconds (saying that he will get back to us and that we could have a look around till he finishes his conversation!!!!)

So my friend & client had a look and ther was no cd-17 only some cd4300 or 7300 it think. After nearly 25 minutes that guy asks us what we want, then my client told him he wants a good cdp, and the guy directs us to these only two models. My client said he is looking for somethin better and not these models and this guy has the cheek to say, there is nothing better, this is the best cdp, this really put off my client and when he asked about the cd-17mkiii the guy says oh! we sold one to our directors friend !!!!!!!!!!!!! (We both looked at each other and wondered what the hell was that.

My client got so pissed off that he dragged me out of the showroom and we cme back to my listening room & told me "Now I understand Prithvi why you charge for your professional services" I rather pay you for your professional advise than go to these idiots."

Well this is how things are.
Rgds

Prithvi

As someone esle mentioned all the Gujus and Marus are entering this trade and have no clue about hifi audio.

MERA BHARAT MAHAN HAI!!!!!!!!JAI HIND!!!!!!!

Guy's,

Modern Production techniques ensure almost foolpoof products. None of the products we talk of here are designed to allow our neighbourhood 'expert' to jump in with his 12/14 'Pannah' and repair them. At best, products that designed with a mother-board and add on boards can allow for replacement of cards. That too if spare cards are avilable.

I seriously do not believe these repair centers have any seriously trained 'back office' types. My firm belief is that most of them take the stuff in, open the screws, run a vaccum cleaner to clean up the dust, solder loose wires, tighten nuts and bolts and generally kick it around a bit. if your'e lucky it starts working again. You get a fat bill for imported parts, they supposedly, couriered in from Singapore. Some of them are too lazy or mechanically challenged, to even put back all the screws.

Which brings us back to the original topic we were discussing. What's a warranty worth in India. Nothing! I could narrate hair-raising tales of Authorised dealers of Cameras, and TV's from personal experience. I am talking World famous brands here!!

On the other hand we also need to value and encourage knowledgable and serious dealers with our custom and understand that they don't pocket the 80% plus that we pay for products here. That they cannot be helped for the sorry state of affair's of worthless warranties!

Roshan.

roshan,

You nailed it, warranties in india are not worth the paper they are printed/written on. Everyone wants to wriggle out of a warranty commitment and if in case you are lucky to find a dealer who will honour a warranty then he most probably will make you feel he is doing you a favour. Very important for anyone to catch hold of one genuine dealer.

The consumer voice/coutrs are still so feeble in India that this crap will go on. Once people start suing and getting compensated thats when things will change, that is if the courts move at all.

Heaven help the company who tries to wriggle out of a warranty in the west.....

Manek.

Krish, you are right on all counts.

I would hardly consider myself an expert in this field, far from it, this is just my hobby and there is so much for me to learn. But this kind of attitude sucks, and the sad part is, one seems to encounter it a little too often!

Manek, you are absolutely right on the warranty issue. But, knowing the quality of technicians these dealers would be employing, maybe it is a blessing in disguise, as it would make you wary of sending your stuff to them for repairs. Frankly, I would be very scared to send any of my components to any dealer in Bombay. I would prefer to request a good electronically inclined friend to have a look at whatever is wrong with the equipment, get the spares flown in, and get him fix it up for me.

Prithvi, from your posts I understand you are doing a fine job, and I wish you all the best. May your tribe increase!

big ears,,,

A friend of mine just did that..got his spare part on the internet, had them couriered and got a friend good with circuits to install it.
No jhanjhat...aur kaam phataaphat.

Beware, most of the so-called dealers are not even authorised re-sellers, with zero service backup. Something goes wrong, a local and very ordinary part gets replaced and that too the job is shabby. Not to ention the fact that once your equipment is opened, genuine parts also get ripped out and fakes put in its place. Without authorised service centres or manufacturers presence in India, there is no telling what can happen to your equipment during a service. The latest craze I am told is swapping of good power supplies from amps and cd players.....certian new electronic goods come with sub standard local power suplies which are not the original.

As per warranty, the goods get imported via grey channel or a bulk importer. A dealer/re-seller buys a few pieces and the importer will throw an extra piece for free as warranty cover if he is lucky.

Real back to back parts/service warranty for hi-fi imports just does not exist in India.

Manek.

Manek, Big years!!!

Bingo! That's exactly what I learnt from experience. I have a guy that's familiar with electronics and generally is able to fix most of the problems that crop up in audio & video products.

Parts extra and no bull shit electronic fundas!!


Roshan.

Sorry Big ears!! Not years !!

Roshan.

Roshan,

Big many things!!!

Also years.....

Manek, Roshan,

Most sensible thing to do! If one is lucky to have an electronics whiz for a friend, as I am, things can be a lot easier. If not, one can always get a trusted technician to open the faulty component at home, and pay him for his services.

I would personally keep away from the murky world of dealers / service centers.

Manek, you are absolutely right about the switching that goes on. Many years ago, I had a friend who once picked up a dilapidated jeep from a police auction for peanuts. His cousin was a foreman in one of the leading service agencies. My friend would, at regular intervals, send the vehicle to the agency for service and his cousin would switch some new part or the other from another vehicle. Over a few months, mechanically, his vehicle became like new! I know this for a fact. If large mechanical components, like the internals of differentials and gear boxes can be changed without anyone being the wiser, electronics would be child’s play.

Sorry state of affairs, but that is the way things are in our country!

Big-ears!

Hmmmm....

Is your cousin Bombay based? Many years ago, 1997-2000, I had a Mahindra Jeep (Armada) which I sent for service regularly. One day I found that the alternator had been switched!!!

Roshan.

Roshan,

Not me and my cousin, but a chap I used to know many years ago and HIS COUSIN!!

I've never owned a Mahindra Jeep in my lifetime
and dont even aspire to...

Also, this would have been in the late 80s, so your alternator could not have found its way into his jeep. However, it is nice to know the practice was thriving in the late 90s and, possibly continues to do so even as we speak!!

Big ears!!!

I was and am a big Jeep freak. Owned every model from the Commander 3 door onwards, right up to Scorpio and back. Now I use a Bolero! Practical man that I am.

In Bombay I find these are the only vehicles that get some respect on the road!!! The rick guys respectfully move out of my way! When I used to own cars they used to look down on me and the more expensive the car the less respect I got!!!

I don't want no shit, from nobody, NOMORE!!!!

Roshan.

Hey Roshan,

Good for you!!

If there is one breed that desperately needs to be taught a lesson in road manners it is the Rick drivers!

More POWER to you!!

Hey Roshan, Man I like ur attitude

I want to own a HUMMER and then mow down all the rickshaws in town, they will not venture close.
Rgds

Prithvi

huh.a hummer won't do the job..coz even the local buses have some attitude....so get a tanker and crush them like cheese........with the driver of course