I'm in the market for a new DP and was wondering if it is advisable to buy from Thomann.de or Woodbrass.com?
i'm looking at getting a kawai ca93 and these sites have it listed around £2500 mark, most uk prices are closer to £3000, my only concern is the warranty, i don't want to have to send it to Germany (Thoman) or to France (WoodBrass) if a problem occurs.
has anybody had any dealings with Thomann or Woodbrass for warranty repairs?

WildHorseMan,

I cannot speak for WoodBrass, however I believe Thomann may send a UK-based technician to resolve minor issues. Major problems however, will likely require the entire instrument to be shipped back to Germany.



Therefore you should support your local dealer.

Be honest with your dealer, explain that you're concerned about the warranty issue when purchasing an instrument from overseas, but that their prices are more competitive - perhaps they will agree to meet you half way?

Kind regards,
James
x

In the US, I had two warranty claims. Both times a local authorized Yamaha repair service came out to do the repair in-home.

So I wonder why warranty claims are so difficult to handle in the UK?

If the CA93 is sold by a dealer (Thomann or any other), isn't Kawai responsible for the warranty?
Why would the seller be involved in any fashion?
Aren't there any local repair shops who handle Kawai warranty service?

Or, are warranty laws different in the UK?

In this case your example is not terribly relevant - you purchased an instrument in the US, distributed by Yamaha America, therefore Yamaha America handled the warranty servicing.



Generally they're not. If a UK resident purchases an instrument from a UK shop, which is a dealer of the UK distributor, everything works as it should.



No, the dealer provides the warranty to the customer, and the distributor provides the warranty to the dealer.

Thomann (dealer) is a German company, and receives its stock from Kawai Europe (distributor). Kawai UK (distributor) is not responsible for providing warranty and support for instruments purchased in Germany.



Yes, the local dealer who sold the instrument to the customer.
This is why UK customers who purchase from Thomann must contact that company for warranty/support.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thanks for the explanation. So, in summary, things are different because the purchase in question is from a foreign country.

In that case ... Unless the foreign seller agrees to perform service locally, I'd recommend buying from a local dealer, even if the price is a bit higher.

I've had to send an Electrovoice monitor back to Thomann for repair and the whole thing went very smoothly. They paid for the shipping both ways and arranged UPS pick-up.

That said, I'm not sure whether I'd want to do that with a console DP. Once you get into pieces of kit as large as that, you probably want on-site service where possible. That said, I'm not sure how many of the big three actually offer that. I do know that when our Clavinova 300 series required a new keybed, Yamaha sent out a whole new action and a technician came to our home to fit it.

If Kawai offer similar levels of service via their UK distributor, I'd bite the bullet and pay the extra for it locally - it's totally worth it.

Buy within the UK, preferably from your nearest dealer - simpler for everyone. And if that dealer won't budge at all on price they won't be in business for long.

The convenience of shopping locally and the support a local dealer will give you is worth something. Factor that in to any price comparison. The whole experience of buying this kind of product is very much more satisfying when it is as a result of forming some kind of relationship with a dealer. It's not always possible due to product availability and your geographic location (or that of dealers) but if there is a local option that is the first place to start in my opinion.

Good luck,

Steve

There are UK dealers with prices under £2700, e.g.:

http://www.dawsons.co.uk/kawai-ca93-digital-piano-satin-black
http://www.promenademusic.co.uk/kawai-ca...p;category_id=0

Local dealers may also be prepared to negotiate or match other UK prices.

Thanks very much for the replies! i think i will stick to buying in the uk some prices have come down since i last looked, most are around £2600 now like Dawsons and promenade, thanks for the above links RDW, i'm going to try it out next week see what it's like, i'm currently on a yamaha arius 141 so it's bound to blow me away!

The problem is, we are not good at bartering here in the UK. If the UK retailer can offer a lower price they should display that price, they must loose an awful lot of business to the dealers on the continent because most UK buyers, like me, don't haggle. Also, if an item has no price tag I never ask the price, as far as I'm concerned no price tag means it's not for sale, that POA tag displayed by some retailers really annoys me, I always give those a miss. The old adage applies here in the UK: "How much can we charge before the customer say's it's too expensive?" instead of "How little can we sell for and still make a profit?".