I’ve recently bought gear from stores in the Uk who operate both here and on the continent. I have had a nightmare time with getting items and returns and as they are based in europe you have major issues getting things dealt with, Make absolutely sure your store is totally uk based or you will potentially have big problems. The shops I’m having serious issues with are DV247/Music Store and Bax. Good luck if you use them.
Interesting definitely when the Brexit changes first came in there were issues in general with VAT and Customs in particular. I think businesses in general are still sorting themselves out, either completely pulling out of UK shipping or getting themselves in a position to do it properly.
On the flip side to your problems I have ordered a few things from Thomann recently and had no issues receiving things WHICH is as it was prior to Brexit HOWEVER they certainly did have some issues immediately after Brexit which thankfully they’ve now sorted. Have to admit not had to return anything yet.
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I’ve not dealt with Thomann yet as they are usually quite expensive, I’ve finally got things dealt with by BAX but DV247/Music Store are a nightmare.
I think DV247 are finally moving as well, its interesting how quickly they suddenly move when you say your experience with them is being documented on a guitar forum with over 200k members. I’m amazed at how effective that has been.
It’s often worth mentioning that you’ll review a retailer on Trustpilot too if you’re having issues, even if you have no intention of doing so. With more and more people relying on such sites to avoid poor service, they’ll often bend over backwards to prevent bad reviews. I’ve even had companies try to “bribe” me into removing negative reviews I’ve posted… which I never do. Treat your customers right the first time, and you won’t get negative reviews. Pretty simple really.
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I have reviewed them on trustpilot as well but it will have to be a pretty good bribe for me take it off!
Brexit isn’t the reason for DV247 and Bax issues.
They’ve always had pretty woeful customer service.
I’ve used DV247 in the past, as they were the only supplier who had a specific version of something I wanted, but it took them far longer than it should have to deliver it.
Thomann are fantastic, great communication and fast shipping, no extra charges. You may wait a day or two for it to clear customs, but really top notch. Would recommend if you can’t shop locally.
My Personal experience is that deliveries from Europe to the UK were disrupted a bit with Brexit, but have mostly gone back to normal.
I’ve had experiences with Thomann, Baxshop and DV247 in the past (prior to Brexit being implemented) and they’ve all been OK, but Thomann were the best by far. Baxshop were the worst, in terms of delivery being delayed.
The big issue that Brexit has caused is shipping from UK to Europe. This is because of the massive amount of additional bureaucracy that is now involved in moving stuff across the border.
This hasn’t had a big impact on imports because, frankly, UK customs are just letting stuff into the country without requiring much paperwork or inspection as doing so would overwhelm them, and cause massive supply issues to British businesses.
We have already had (for instance) shortages of some items in the supermarket, but if customs actually enforced inspections, this would drastically worsen.
For exports, the EU countries are enforcing the rules, as they always have done for goods from countries outside the European customs union. This has caused massive disruption for UK businesses.
And part of these rules are that the UK customs have to do checks before shipping goods to the EU and this has overloaded the customs services resulting in delays to shipments from the UK to the EU.
18 months ago, I tried to send a piece of IT equipment for warranty repair to the manufacturer in The Netherlands. I arranged for a reputable courier company to deliver it on a 2-3 day service. They picked it up, took it to the port, and then it sat in the port for 6 weeks. Every few days I got a message that it had cleared UK customs and was waiting for the next shipment, before it then was uncleared and put back in the queue.
When I questioned this, I was told by the courier service that the shipping ports and customs services were overloaded with all of the additional checks and paperwork caused by Brexit
It eventually got shipped and, once out of the UK port, made it to the manufacturer within 2 days. The return unit took 4 days from shipping to arrive at my house.
Cheers,
Keith
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Never send stuff for servicing and repair out of UK, I guess… 