Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Retail vs. "Crutchfiled" vs. Wholesale ?
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1993 01:24:22 -0800

 DBP> I've been shopping for a CD head unit for my Jeep, and after months of
 DBP> feature-comparing, advice from various sources good
 DBP> reliable and not, and a quick check on my credit card balance....
 DBP> I've decided on a Pioneer DEH-780, with the removable faceplate
 DBP> (key for those of us with topless cars).

Just as long as you keep in mind that a readily-replaceable piece like the
faceplate is not going to be much to deter a thief from plucking out the whole
guts of a $400+ unit, it's an excellent choice.  I've had plenty of good
experiences with Pioneer car decks; very few bad ones.

 DBP>  I have seen, however, in the back of Stereo Review 
 DBP> and similar magazines,
 DBP>  ads for "Wholesalers" at around $319.!!  That's 100 
 DBP> bucks less!.  Are these
 DBP>  guys legit?  What am I not going to get if I order 
 DBP> from these guys?  It seems
 DBP>  too good to be true.  They take MC/Visa, so my I'm 
 DBP> protected as a consumer.
 DBP>  The say it has the manufacturer's US warranty, and 
 DBP> some even offer a 30-day
 DBP>  money back guarantee.

Keep in mind that that IS a "manufacturer's warranty", and if there's a
problem with the deck, you'll have to take it to Pioneer, unless the
wholesaler offers a warranty of their own.  Also, Pioneer MAY be sticky (some
companies are, I don't know about Pioneer though) about honouring the warranty
if the deck isn't installed by an authorized installer (Alpine, at least in
Canada and in my experience, will only authorize warranty work on a deck if
it's sold and installed by someone they've given their OK to).

 DBP>  Can someone explain to me a reason why I should *not* order from these
 DBP>  "Wholesalers"?  What's "Factory Authoirized" mean vs. regular
 DBP>  "Authorized" or "Distributor Authorized"?

Our BBS is also an "authorized" dealer of Supra modems... now, whether this is
"factory authorized" or "distributor authorized" I don't know.  It went like
this: we contacted Supra (based in Albany, OR) about becoming a retailer of
their products.  Their reply was that they already had an "exclusive" Canadian
distributor and that we would have to deal with them.  Now, I guess that the
lack of a "no" from them right off would mean we can call ourselves "factory
authorized".  Anyway, we now get our product through their "exclusive"
Canadian distributor, which at the very least means we're "distributor
authorized".

It's kinda silly, really... Albany, OR is no more than an 8-hour drive due
south of here... but to get their product, we have to deal with a distributor
in Toronto, some 3500 miles east of here... and probably closer to 4500 miles
from Albany.  On that note, here's an even weirder one: a friend told me about
a company he used to deal with in some capacity that a) ordered their product
from somewhere in the southeastern States; b) flew it to Vancouver; c) had
someone from the friend's company pick it up at the airport to; d) drive it
for an hour to the company's regional office for "receiving" and various
customs happenings; e) drive it back to that airport to be shipped to the
company's head office in Toronto, from where the product would; f) get
stocked,allocated, and flown BACK to Vancouver, upon which it was g) picked up
and returned AGAIN to the regional office, another hour's drive from YVR, so
it could FINALLY; h) be distributed to local retailers.

Talk about taking the convoluted approach...