just want to share a rather pleasent experience i had purchasing an onkyo amp and a set of kef speakers...
i had originally wanted purchase an onkyo 605 as the spec was very similar to the 606 but was £100 cheaper at £299 from Richer Sounds, on calling my local branch in stoke i was told they were very limited and the only one remainning within my area was in prestwich, manchester. so a quick call to Nathan, the prestwich manager, confirmed the availibility but he was reluctant to sell it on as it was a re-conditioned unit. he then asked why i wanted an old model as oppose to the new one and i gave him my reasons as stated above and that was when the haggling began. i say haggling but he was the one who made all the moves and i just sat back and waited for him to go lower and lower (the price, that is), eventually he knocked off £50 which i thought was very generous considering how very much in demand these amps are, when i asked if i can order it from the web at the same price he said no but he will trim another tenner off for fuel if i drove to pick it up. i was already very pleased with his offer but thought i ll push my luck and asked for more discount if i bought some kef 5.1 speakers together at the same time. without any hesitation he offered £20 off the original price of £400 and confirmed they were in stock. refreshingly, he told me to take some time to think it over and call him back if i was ready to deal, as oppose to the old ' this offer is only availible if you buy today' garbage...
it was really a no-brainer and i drove to prestwich 3 days later to pick up the goods. on arrival i was greeted by mark who was very informative and friendly and went through the system with me. i then proceeded to purchase a qed hdmi and optical output cable and was given the options of the various makes and prices. then it was crunchtime and the plastic was out ready and waiting... and that was when i was told the onkyo and kefs would cost £700 combined, which was £100 off retail, and the cables would only cost £55, as oppose to £70 when bought seperately. i cannot recall feeling so satisfied handing over £700!
if there was a black mark it would have been the brackets for the kef speakers, i had asked nathan about them during our initial conversation when he confirmed they were in stock, but it turned out they were the silver ones which would obviously not go with the black speakers. however they are on order and mark has promised to send them to me through the post to save me another journey up.
all in all, i managed to save over £130 on a top quality home cinema system which even the missus is (remotely) excited about as i saved money and she likes the look of the egg-shaped kefs, not blocky and ugly, according to her.
now nathan has stressed i shouldnt be telling everyone about this deal but i think alittle publicity here would do him no harm at all. ive bought from Richer Sounds on a regular basis and have to admit their service has always been 1st class, but this one from nathan and his team have been truely exceptional.
i had originally wanted purchase an onkyo 605 as the spec was very similar to the 606 but was £100 cheaper at £299 from Richer Sounds, on calling my local branch in stoke i was told they were very limited and the only one remainning within my area was in prestwich, manchester. so a quick call to Nathan, the prestwich manager, confirmed the availibility but he was reluctant to sell it on as it was a re-conditioned unit. he then asked why i wanted an old model as oppose to the new one and i gave him my reasons as stated above and that was when the haggling began. i say haggling but he was the one who made all the moves and i just sat back and waited for him to go lower and lower (the price, that is), eventually he knocked off £50 which i thought was very generous considering how very much in demand these amps are, when i asked if i can order it from the web at the same price he said no but he will trim another tenner off for fuel if i drove to pick it up. i was already very pleased with his offer but thought i ll push my luck and asked for more discount if i bought some kef 5.1 speakers together at the same time. without any hesitation he offered £20 off the original price of £400 and confirmed they were in stock. refreshingly, he told me to take some time to think it over and call him back if i was ready to deal, as oppose to the old ' this offer is only availible if you buy today' garbage...
it was really a no-brainer and i drove to prestwich 3 days later to pick up the goods. on arrival i was greeted by mark who was very informative and friendly and went through the system with me. i then proceeded to purchase a qed hdmi and optical output cable and was given the options of the various makes and prices. then it was crunchtime and the plastic was out ready and waiting... and that was when i was told the onkyo and kefs would cost £700 combined, which was £100 off retail, and the cables would only cost £55, as oppose to £70 when bought seperately. i cannot recall feeling so satisfied handing over £700!
if there was a black mark it would have been the brackets for the kef speakers, i had asked nathan about them during our initial conversation when he confirmed they were in stock, but it turned out they were the silver ones which would obviously not go with the black speakers. however they are on order and mark has promised to send them to me through the post to save me another journey up.
all in all, i managed to save over £130 on a top quality home cinema system which even the missus is (remotely) excited about as i saved money and she likes the look of the egg-shaped kefs, not blocky and ugly, according to her.
now nathan has stressed i shouldnt be telling everyone about this deal but i think alittle publicity here would do him no harm at all. ive bought from Richer Sounds on a regular basis and have to admit their service has always been 1st class, but this one from nathan and his team have been truely exceptional.