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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB Lounge => Topic started by: John Sabine on June 04, 2014, 02:03:58 PM

Title: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Sabine on June 04, 2014, 02:03:58 PM
Got a call yesterday to let me know that the S16 I had ordered wouldn't be shipping because Musicians Friend is dropping Behringer. No details were offered except to say that they were blowing out all in stock Behringer units.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Brian Adams on June 04, 2014, 02:15:03 PM
Guitar Center just dropped Behringer. Behringer recently lowered Guitar Center's credit rating, and Guitar Center didn't like it so they dropped the line. Guitar Center owns Musician's Friend, so them dropping Behringer wasn't unexpected.

Maybe Guitar Center should pay their bills and things like this wouldn't happen.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Tim McCulloch on June 04, 2014, 02:25:45 PM
Got a call yesterday to let me know that the S16 I had ordered wouldn't be shipping because Musicians Friend is dropping Behringer. No details were offered except to say that they were blowing out all in stock Behringer units.

http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php?topic=149832.0

https://soundforums.net/threads/10210-Behringer-leaving-Guitar-Center

MF is part of Guitar Center.  GC didn't pay their bills and Behringer put them on credit hold, meaning all new orders were pre-paid or COD.  When that didn't work, they put GC on "business hold" which means in effect that Music Group revoked GC's dealer agreement.  For non-payment.

Note that any product purchased from MF/GC after the revocation is "gray market" and will not likely be covered by warranty.  I'd suggest prospective purchasers contact Music Group's CARE facility in Las Vegas for a "horse's  mouth" answer.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: David Parker on June 04, 2014, 10:58:42 PM
http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php?topic=149832.0

https://soundforums.net/threads/10210-Behringer-leaving-Guitar-Center

MF is part of Guitar Center.  GC didn't pay their bills and Behringer put them on credit hold, meaning all new orders were pre-paid or COD.  When that didn't work, they put GC on "business hold" which means in effect that Music Group revoked GC's dealer agreement.  For non-payment.

Note that any product purchased from MF/GC after the revocation is "gray market" and will not likely be covered by warranty.  I'd suggest prospective purchasers contact Music Group's CARE facility in Las Vegas for a "horse's  mouth" answer.

this is scary stuff. The two biggest musical equipment retailers drop one of the biggest selling lines they have? This isn't the end of the story, can't be.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Moore on June 04, 2014, 11:57:29 PM
this is scary stuff. The two biggest musical equipment retailers drop one of the biggest selling lines they have? This isn't the end of the story, can't be.


they would dump me too, if we did not pay...just add a lot of zeros to a number for GC and MF and we are talking about significant amount of money being in limbo...would make any mfr. and distributor not sleep well and since it all goes through a single master distributors warehouse, that also may be where-in the problem lies as well. if they can't pay their bills , they should be put on hold or dumped just like the rest of us would be dumped...too many legit customers out there that do pay , like us !
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Tim McCulloch on June 05, 2014, 12:57:18 AM
this is scary stuff. The two biggest musical equipment retailers drop one of the biggest selling lines they have? This isn't the end of the story, can't be.

You've got it backwards because of the GC/MF spin, spin, spin.  They didn't drop Behringer, Behringer cut them off because GC was seriously in arrears, with no certainty of forthcoming payment.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: David Parker on June 05, 2014, 08:25:39 AM
You've got it backwards because of the GC/MF spin, spin, spin.  They didn't drop Behringer, Behringer cut them off because GC was seriously in arrears, with no certainty of forthcoming payment.

yes, I understand that. My point is the whole meltdown. The irony of the largest retailers dropping the largest brand, the one they sell the most of. Is this just one of the first meltdowns, others to come in other areas of the economy?
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Bob Leonard on June 05, 2014, 08:40:48 AM
What makes you think Behringer was their largest selling brand? Low cost?
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Mike Pyle on June 05, 2014, 12:48:12 PM
yes, I understand that. My point is the whole meltdown. The irony of the largest retailers dropping the largest brand, the one they sell the most of. Is this just one of the first meltdowns, others to come in other areas of the economy?

I think the meltdown happened years ago. They have just been on life support from various debt holders. Unfortunately in the meantime they have lowballed many responsible independent dealers out of business.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Tomm Williams on June 05, 2014, 12:51:33 PM
I've heard rumors for a couple of years that GC isn't financially healthy. Keeping a closer eye on their used gear site to see if prices plummet.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Taylor Hall on June 05, 2014, 01:04:29 PM
Can't we just lock this thread and divert traffic to the existing threads on the matter?
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: David Parker on June 05, 2014, 01:48:25 PM
What makes you think Behringer was their largest selling brand? Low cost?

maybe not their largest, but definitely a big one, especially since the popularity of their new digital mixers
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 05, 2014, 02:47:58 PM
maybe not their largest, but definitely a big one, especially since the popularity of their new digital mixers
Not their largest anymore...  8)

We'll never know exactly what happened...

Not sure I really care, other than as a observer of economic trends. A pizza chain who specialized in mall food courts just went through bankruptcy remarking about an usual drop off in mall traffic this year.

This is an interesting time for bricks and mortar. Especially B&M with tons of debt. 

JR
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Tim McCulloch on June 05, 2014, 03:21:28 PM
Not their largest anymore...  8)

We'll never know exactly what happened...

Not sure I really care, other than as a observer of economic trends. A pizza chain who specialized in mall food courts just went through bankruptcy remarking about an usual drop off in mall traffic this year.

This is an interesting time for bricks and mortar. Especially B&M with tons of debt. 

JR

Sbarro's?  It's their SECOND bankruptcy.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: David Parker on June 05, 2014, 03:41:33 PM
Not their largest anymore...  8)

We'll never know exactly what happened...

Not sure I really care, other than as a observer of economic trends. A pizza chain who specialized in mall food courts just went through bankruptcy remarking about an usual drop off in mall traffic this year.

This is an interesting time for bricks and mortar. Especially B&M with tons of debt. 

JR



guitar center is both and can't make it, brick and mortar and internet. What about musicianfriend, they are internet only, and they are dropping behringer too? I realize the two are at some point connected, but still, they have the best of both worlds
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 05, 2014, 03:46:42 PM
Sbarro's?  It's their SECOND bankruptcy.
yup... I don't follow the company, Another angle on mall traffic is a decline in some of the classic magnet store chains. Sears is closing more stores so every one of those could be bad news for a mall. 

Maybe we need to turn the Malls into paintball ranges.

JR
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 05, 2014, 04:10:22 PM
guitar center is both and can't make it, brick and mortar and internet. What about musicianfriend, they are internet only, and they are dropping behringer too? I realize the two are at some point connected, but still, they have the best of both worlds

I recall being pretty impressed with the guys running GC but that was years ago and they have probably changed ownership/management more than once since then.

It looks like they may have drank too deeply from the easy borrowing available before the housing bubble collapse in 2007-8. The original guys are probably long gone, now with GC being run by sharp pencil types. 

MF is wholly owned subsidiary of GC so are likely treated as one account for corporate credit lines.

GC looks like a valuable brand/asset... and from all reports was adequately capitalized. This may have been a negotiation over payment terms that blew up, while I do not expect retail to be very strong.
 
JR

PS: From my experience in manufacturing it is difficult to fund rapid growth internally when operating on slender (manufacturing) profit margins. While Behringer appears to be the strong hand here, somebody has to fund all that growth they are experiencing lately. At a minimum I would not expect them to be very generous about payment terms. 
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Andrew J Beard on June 05, 2014, 05:16:07 PM
I was the last Live Sound Buyer at Musician's Friend from 2009-2011 before all Musician's Friend functions were moved to the GC headquarters in LA and the company ceased to exist as a separate entity. All of the problems between Behringer and GC/MF began in 2009-2010 when Behringer chose to close their warehouses in the US so Behringer would have no US tax presence. This forced us to start buying container-direct only and only one large order could be placed once a month. Behringer continued for almost two years to give us inaccurate PO information, change our costs (even in transit), and discontinue products with no warning which we were advertising which lead to huge backorders and customer dissatisfaction. At that time GC chose to drop most of their significant business with Behringer and switch to Alto; I chose to de-emphasize their products and focus more on other brands. Credit hold is common in MI since large purchase orders cause it automatically. Sure, Guitar Center is having their issues but you can be assured that Behringer caused this and GC has tried to make this relationship work for too long.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: g'bye, Dick Rees on June 05, 2014, 05:20:29 PM
I was the last Live Sound Buyer at Musician's Friend from 2009-2011 before all Musician's Friend functions were moved to the GC headquarters in LA and the company ceased to exist as a separate entity. All of the problems between Behringer and GC/MF began in 2009-2010 when Behringer chose to close their warehouses in the US so Behringer would have no US tax presence. This forced us to start buying container-direct only and only one large order could be placed once a month. Behringer continued for almost two years to give us inaccurate PO information, change our costs (even in transit), and discontinue products with no warning which we were advertising which lead to huge backorders and customer dissatisfaction. At that time GC chose to drop most of their significant business with Behringer and switch to Alto; I chose to de-emphasize their products and focus more on other brands. Credit hold is common in MI since large purchase orders cause it automatically. Sure, Guitar Center is having their issues but you can be assured that Behringer caused this and GC has tried to make this relationship work for too long.

Thanks for the info.  Wonder if any of the hired apologists at B********** will comment....
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Bob Leonard on June 05, 2014, 06:28:03 PM
I was the last Live Sound Buyer at Musician's Friend from 2009-2011 before all Musician's Friend functions were moved to the GC headquarters in LA and the company ceased to exist as a separate entity. All of the problems between Behringer and GC/MF began in 2009-2010 when Behringer chose to close their warehouses in the US so Behringer would have no US tax presence. This forced us to start buying container-direct only and only one large order could be placed once a month. Behringer continued for almost two years to give us inaccurate PO information, change our costs (even in transit), and discontinue products with no warning which we were advertising which lead to huge backorders and customer dissatisfaction. At that time GC chose to drop most of their significant business with Behringer and switch to Alto; I chose to de-emphasize their products and focus more on other brands. Credit hold is common in MI since large purchase orders cause it automatically. Sure, Guitar Center is having their issues but you can be assured that Behringer caused this and GC has tried to make this relationship work for too long.

Finally some accurate information from the source. Thank you Andrew. I'll chime in here by saying that the Boston area GC's seemed to have "de-emphasized" the Behringer connection long ago. There never were big displays of "B" gear on the Boston area floors and many products were on wait lists or not available.
 
I don't like every salesperson to have ever worked at GC, but I do like GC and MF for many items. For pro sound I have Charlie Tappa, the best of the best, but other than that even the Mom and Pops in the area are often less than helpful.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Russ Davis on June 05, 2014, 11:07:21 PM
I do like GC and MF for many items.

Musician's Friend was a blessing to this GI stationed in Korea many years ago - FAST shipment of much-needed gear to my APO address.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: JimStockton88 on June 06, 2014, 12:13:27 PM
So I also had some Behringer PA gear on backorder that ended up getting canceled. I Tweeted my displeasure and was contacted almost immediately by Musician's Friend asking to send details to them so they could help out. I reluctantly did so but I'm THRILLED that I did. :) :) :) They hooked me up with ALTO speakers and a Yamaha mixer for the same price I was going to spend on the Behringer gear.

The second I played through my new PA, I decided I don't want to buy the junk from the bottom anymore. Not if a place like mf is willing to work out pricing like they did. I was both taken care of, and taught a lesson about gear in one foul swoop!!! :)

I'll post the email I was told to send the details to when I find it in case there are others out there that had their orders canceled due to this whole thing with Behringer. It's worth sending them an email!!!
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: JimStockton88 on June 06, 2014, 12:17:43 PM
So I also had some Behringer PA gear on backorder that ended up getting canceled. I Tweeted my displeasure and was contacted almost immediately by Musician's Friend asking to send details to them so they could help out. I reluctantly did so but I'm THRILLED that I did. :) :) :) They hooked me up with ALTO speakers and a Yamaha mixer for the same price I was going to spend on the Behringer gear.

The second I played through my new PA, I decided I don't want to buy the junk from the bottom anymore. Not if a place like mf is willing to work out pricing like they did. I was both taken care of, and taught a lesson about gear in one foul swoop!!! :)

I'll post the email I was told to send the details to when I find it in case there are others out there that had their orders canceled due to this whole thing with Behringer. It's worth sending them an email!!!
Of course I find it seconds after I clicked 'post'!!! lol
The email was: [email protected]
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 06, 2014, 07:05:47 PM
I was the last Live Sound Buyer at Musician's Friend from 2009-2011 before all Musician's Friend functions were moved to the GC headquarters in LA and the company ceased to exist as a separate entity. All of the problems between Behringer and GC/MF began in 2009-2010 when Behringer chose to close their warehouses in the US so Behringer would have no US tax presence. This forced us to start buying container-direct only and only one large order could be placed once a month. Behringer continued for almost two years to give us inaccurate PO information, change our costs (even in transit), and discontinue products with no warning which we were advertising which lead to huge backorders and customer dissatisfaction. At that time GC chose to drop most of their significant business with Behringer and switch to Alto; I chose to de-emphasize their products and focus more on other brands. Credit hold is common in MI since large purchase orders cause it automatically. Sure, Guitar Center is having their issues but you can be assured that Behringer caused this and GC has tried to make this relationship work for too long.

Thanks for the inside perspective on this... I figured it was more complicated than the dueling spin jobs.

JR
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Lyle Williams on June 06, 2014, 08:03:15 PM
This is really no different to the commercial issues behind a packet of biscuits on a supermarket shelf.

Every party is trying to maximise profit.  Sometimes they agree on commercial terms and sometimes they don't.  Then that brand of biscuits isn't in that supermarket anymore. 

I'm not a paid Behringer appologist by any stretch of the imagination.  I have found their gear to be entirely adequate at the bottom end of the market.  Competitive at the price point.  That said, little in the Behringer line is irreplaceable.  There are other economical vendors.  Mostly this gear is commodity items with standard functionality.

When the brand of biscuits I planned to buy isn't in the supermarket, I just buy something else (or shop somewhere else.)

The sky isn't falling, GC/MF doesn't appear to be even vaguely broke, The current owners just paid more than they should have. That's a problem for the current owners really.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Bob Leonard on June 06, 2014, 11:00:10 PM
I like biscuits too, and I'll eat any brand as long as they taste good. Great analogy Lyle.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Tim McCulloch on June 07, 2014, 03:02:52 AM
I like biscuits too, and I'll eat any brand as long as they taste good. Great analogy Lyle.

Powdermilk Biscuits?

Lyle's analogy applies to everything that has been commoditized, including sound companies.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Bob Leonard on June 07, 2014, 08:40:21 AM
Yes, powdermilk biscuits also. If I went to the bakery and they were selling hand made fresh biscuits on sale for less than I could get out of the box everyday biscuits I would buy them. I might even go back to the bakery hoping those biscuits are still on sale, however, if they weren't I would buy some anyway because the last biscuits I bought were made with pride and fresh more costly ingredients. Then I might decide the wonderful taste is worth the extra cost and start buying all of my biscuits from that baker.

Eventually I would try some of the bakers other delights and spend more money eventually realizing the baker took pride in his work, always used the best ingredients he could afford while still making a profit. Pretty soon I'm buying cakes and pies for special occasions, every time paying a reasonable, but not the lowest price for bakery goods properly made and tasty.

Not to much later a bakery opens across the street and I see a sign that says " our biscuits are just as good and for half the price. I stop into the bakery and buy this weeks biscuits and as advertised, they are half the price and just as good. I stop again and the price is still lower, they don't taste as good anymore, and the girl behind the counter is a bitch. I only have enough money on me to buy those not as good on sale biscuits so I buy them. I get home, eat the biscuits and my tummy is full. Soon after I develop a tummy ache and vow to never go back, and I don't, making a promise to myself that I'll make sure I have enough money with me before I go out to buy biscuits from the more expensive bakery in the future.

Later that month a third bakery opens with a giant sign saying " Our biscuits are the best in the west, and cost less than the rest." I'm on my way to the more costly bakery but stop into the third bakery anyway. I can see the baker kicking his Beeranger mixer to keep it mixing the ingredients for the biscuits, and I can see that the biscuits coming out of the oven don't look as good as the other two bakery's biscuits. I can also see the ingredients aren't fresh, are mostly frozen, and imported from China. I ask the counter girl for a taste before I buy, and with an attitude she reluctantly agrees. They taste OK, but I wouldn't feed them to my family who deserved better, plus the attitude has turned me off and I decide to leave. Louigi the baker comes out of nowhere and now tells me I have to pay for the biscuit. I tell him what the girl at the counter said and he doesn't care so I pay him just to get him out of my face. Then he crosses a line and tells me "Buy your biscuits here or I'll fuck with your family. Enough is enough so I punch him in the head, leave and walk over to the first bakery knowing I'll receive a good product, will be buying from professionals, and will be working with good people with good attitudes, and don't have to worry about the quality of the ingredients. Two weeks later Louigi's bakery is closed. It turns out he couldn't raise enough dough so he went on the loaf.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Jamin Lynch on June 07, 2014, 09:29:49 AM
This is really no different to the commercial issues behind a packet of biscuits on a supermarket shelf.

Every party is trying to maximise profit.  Sometimes they agree on commercial terms and sometimes they don't.  Then that brand of biscuits isn't in that supermarket anymore. 

I'm not a paid Behringer appologist by any stretch of the imagination.  I have found their gear to be entirely adequate at the bottom end of the market.  Competitive at the price point.  That said, little in the Behringer line is irreplaceable.  There are other economical vendors.  Mostly this gear is commodity items with standard functionality.

When the brand of biscuits I planned to buy isn't in the supermarket, I just buy something else (or shop somewhere else.)

The sky isn't falling, GC/MF doesn't appear to be even vaguely broke, The current owners just paid more than they should have. That's a problem for the current owners really.

And biscuits are only one of the many thousands of items found at your local super market/GC.

I'll bet GC has more dollars tied up with, let's say, Fender and Gibson than Berhringer. Just a fly on a buffalo butt.

Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Scott Bolt on June 07, 2014, 10:43:19 AM
As JR pointed out, it is certainly true that Behringer is in a stronger position than GC/MF.

If Behringer did not have a lopsided contract, then they negotiated very poorly indeed.

I have purchased lots of gear from GC over the years.  I still drop by about every month or so to see if anything cool has shown up to look at.

Having said that, I also used to buy lots of things at Boarders books.

I think it is a safe bet that Behringer will be around much longer than GC will.

On the flip side, killing off the relationship would only make any sense at all for Behringer if they weren't getting paid.... unless Behringer makes business decisions based on emotion vs profit.

I suspect that GC sold quite a few X32's and other Behringer gear.

I would say that Alto does appear to have a better budget speaker brand than Behringer.

Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 07, 2014, 11:43:33 AM
While not singled out as "the" factor, I suspect there was tension related to Behringer changing from distributing themselves in the US to using a separate distributor.

For commodity product, like the majority of Behringer SKUs it is all about the price. If US distribution added another mark-up to GCs cost structure that could have a damping effect.

As I previously mentioned Behringers recent growth (thanks to X32) required working capital so they were not in a position to be overly generous about payment terms. I can imagine a negotiation between the new sharp pencil crowd at GC and behringer going poorly, especially if both thought they had the stronger hand to play.  :o


or not...  Not biscuits, more like cheap appliances sold by Walmart

JR
   
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Andrew Broughton on June 07, 2014, 02:23:47 PM
Two weeks later Louigi's bakery is closed. It turns out he couldn't raise enough dough so he went on the loaf.
Except if this were a true story, it would be the good bakery that went out of business, because you were the the only person who cared about good biscuits and good service. Everyone else only cared about lowest price.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Scott Bolt on June 07, 2014, 04:30:57 PM
Quote
I can imagine a negotiation between the new sharp pencil crowd at GC and behringer going poorly, especially if both thought they had the stronger hand to play.  :o
LOL.  Indeed.  The most lethal combination for any negotiation.

I suspect that Behringer supply problems (or demand problems depending on if you are a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of guy), further exasperated the poor negotiations.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Lyle Williams on June 07, 2014, 05:18:25 PM
More likely that the old distributor had offered extended terms over time, and the new distributor was unwilling to continue these terms forward.  Probably in conjunction with pressure from other Behr channel partners who were pissed hearing stories that GC/MF got better terms without paying bills on time.

Business negotiations are always have many dimensions.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Brian Jones on June 08, 2014, 04:18:01 PM
It seems to me that Behringer's move to save taxes, had the effect of making GC/MF take on more of a distributor role which costs money. Having to order once per month means you have to carry more stock. Carrying more stock means less float on your lines of credit, or more credit up front to pay for merchandise up front. Either way, it was messing with their bottom line. If they were already experiencing financial difficulty, I can see where that would cause problems.

I don't know how much of which side of the story is factual, false or exaggerated, but bottom line is, I will buy fewer Behringer products because of this. Some stuff doesn't have to be demoed, but stuff like speakers and a full digital mixing board do. My local mom n pop hasn't sold Behringer for years, if ever. So locally anyway, there is no place for me to check them out.

I tend to order/buy local if I go in to check out the item vs. just checking out specs online. It seems ethical to me. But I know a lot of people demo local, and then buy online almost exclusively, so I'm wondering if this situation will affect Behringer's sales at online retailers too.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Scott Bolt on June 08, 2014, 04:24:30 PM
It seems to me that Behringer's move to save taxes, had the effect of making GC/MF take on more of a distributor role which costs money. Having to order once per month means you have to carry more stock. Carrying more stock means less float on your lines of credit, or more credit up front to pay for merchandise up front. Either way, it was messing with their bottom line. If they were already experiencing financial difficulty, I can see where that would cause problems.

I don't know how much of which side of the story is factual, false or exaggerated, but bottom line is, I will buy fewer Behringer products because of this. Some stuff doesn't have to be demoed, but stuff like speakers and a full digital mixing board do. My local mom n pop hasn't sold Behringer for years, if ever. So locally anyway, there is no place for me to check them out.

I tend to order/buy local if I go in to check out the item vs. just checking out specs online. It seems ethical to me. But I know a lot of people demo local, and then buy online almost exclusively, so I'm wondering if this situation will affect Behringer's sales at online retailers too.

One has to wonder at the viability of brick and mortar stores of many types.  Is the business still a viable one?
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Brian Jones on June 08, 2014, 09:24:57 PM
One has to wonder at the viability of brick and mortar stores of many types.  Is the business still a viable one?

Diminishing for sure, but manufacturers need to find other ways to give hands on buying experiences then. Not everyone goes to trade shows. And of course, the need to hear A/B tests means someone else would probably be footing the bill for the cost.
Title: Re: Musicians Friend dropping Behringer.
Post by: Dan Mortensen on June 09, 2014, 12:28:33 AM
I was the last Live Sound Buyer at Musician's Friend from 2009-2011 before all Musician's Friend functions were moved to the GC headquarters in LA and the company ceased to exist as a separate entity. All of the problems between Behringer and GC/MF began in 2009-2010 when Behringer chose to close their warehouses in the US so Behringer would have no US tax presence. This forced us to start buying container-direct only and only one large order could be placed once a month. Behringer continued for almost two years to give us inaccurate PO information, change our costs (even in transit), and discontinue products with no warning which we were advertising which lead to huge backorders and customer dissatisfaction. At that time GC chose to drop most of their significant business with Behringer and switch to Alto; I chose to de-emphasize their products and focus more on other brands. Credit hold is common in MI since large purchase orders cause it automatically. Sure, Guitar Center is having their issues but you can be assured that Behringer caused this and GC has tried to make this relationship work for too long.

Some or a lot of this sounds entirely believable to me; early on in my relationship with Behringer products, I would talk to Starin to seen when the X32 shipment would arrive and when the product would be available, and they very insistently said that they had no idea when the containers would arrive or what was in them.

When I pointed out that what was in them would very closely correlate to what was put in before shipping, and surely there must be a list of what was packed, they would deny that there was any way to know and that we would see when it arrived, whenever that was.

I can see where that would be aggravating to a big retailer that needs a supply of product to make money selling it.

It was also aggravating to a little retailer when GC had plenty of Behringer product to sell but the distributor didn't have any for little retailers. So, regardless of who said "no" first, it's hard to shed a tear that the B/GC relationship is severed.