Why I have had enough of Richer Sounds

Yep - I saw those - the What HiFi advert was for £99.99 - they were more in store. Anyway, I went in there, asked if they had them in stock - they did so I mentioned the advert and they sold them to me for £99.99. Like you say - a great bargain.

However, Richers can be an absolute pain to deal with. For a start, if you phone up even when they are open you generally get an answerphone message (after a couple of rings) saying that they are too busy to answer the phone (quite possibly true) but there is no option to leave a message. The trick here is to re-dial as soon as you get the answerphone message - at some point you will find that the phone keeps ringing and doesn't go to the answerphone - keep letting it ring and someone will nearly always answer it. Once you have that constant ringing tone all the other callers get the answerphone - at least that is how it seems to work.

The other problem that I have found - as I am in the process of trying to obtain a Paradigm Servo 15 sub from them, is that what generally happens is that the branch order the sub (as they are too big/specialised to keep at the branch) and then it doesn't turn up. So they re-order it, and it doesn't turn up. It's quite frustrating as often you will phone up to chase it and the salesman will say - "Oh, I don't think we do those anymore" despite you having explained that you ordered one last week.

The answer, if the branch fail to get hold of the item after a couple of tries is to contact their Customer Service bods (the branches will reluctantly give you the number) as they have the time to sort out any issues. I spoke the them last week regarding my illusive Servo 15 and they seemed vary good, spoke to the distribution people and have promised to get my sub to the branch tomorrow - I'll still believe it when I see it. If it doesn't arrive however, the Customer Service guy agreed to get one sent direct to me.

In conclustion, Richers have their place - they come up with genuine bargains now and again - the classy HD600's at <£100, the Servo 15 for <£500 (a no brainer if you have room for the monster) etc. Dealing with them can be a pain but I think it's worth it for the savings you can make.

Matt.

 

I got my Sennheiser HD580's at RS in Cheltenham for 59.95 , so the offers do exist. Denon TU-260L Mk2 as well for 59.95. Bargain.

Cheers

 

If you go for the loss leaders you'll be quidsin but you need to have a lot of background knowledge to be able to wad through the spin, of reboxed factory checks etc. Some of there gear is very expensive you just need to keep things in perspective.

 

No actually. Most stores didnt have many but if you phones the mail order number in the What HiFi advert you could get them quite easily, postage didnt cost much. it's the same with everything RH sells, if it's out of stock in your local shop try calling the mail order number.

 

Can you use the What HIFI vouchers with the mail order service though?

 

Yes, I did when I bought my Sennheiser 565 Ovations for £50 about 3 years ago. I think the normal price was £150. You just tell them how much it is in the What HiFi advert and they're fine about it.

 

RS can be very good. When I got my tape deck on eBay for example, it didn't come with tape leads, so I 'phoned them up (my local store, not the mailorder number), explained about the eyesight thing and that I couldn't get in, they were more than happy to pay the postage to send the leads out to me, got them next day and as the order was placed at 5pm, that's pretty good.

Their free CDR/MD/Mug offer has been quite good too, 3 mugs, 4 CDRs and 6 MDs in the last 13 months!

 

And it HAS arrived - I've seen it and I believe it! It's in my room - god it's a big bu*ger.

The several weeks delay was actually a blessing in disguise because the Richers advert in the just out copy of What HiFi now lists the Servo 15 at £399.95 so that's what I paid for it. On top of this they inadvertantly threw in the X30 crossover/controller unit which usually costs an additional £100!

An extra 2 years warranty came in at £9.99 and if you don't make a claim you can claim the £9.99 back!

Only briefly fired it up but boy does it move some air! It's going to take a fair bit of fine tuning though as it's a real beast.

I should have known it was my day when the courtesy car I was given (my car is being serviced) was changed from a 316i 3 Series saloon (which the Servo 15 wouldn't fit in) to a Mini One which will just (with about an inch to spare) accomodate a boxed Servo 15!

So, today Richers are in my good books - yes they're a pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap merchant but every now and again there is a genuine bargain in that pile if you can be bothered to look.

Matt.

p.s. I'm 99% sure their mail order service has now closed and that if you call the number you will get a recorded message telling you this.