Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Oh dear.

I just paid a visit to the drum dealer I use near(ish) to work 
(Drumwright in Reading) to pick up a couple of odds and ends.

While there, I naturally quizzed them about any news they had about 
the DTXpressIII. Guy behind the counter visibly sagged atthe mention 
of "Yamaha", and sighed heavily.

It seems Yamaha UK are closing down the Milton Keynes main facility 
and moving everything to Belgium. The staff are obviously in a 
redundancy situation, are thoroughly unimpressed, and have (as this 
guy put it) "stuck two fingers up to Yamaha" (translatlantic readers 
should substitute one middle digit for two fingers). Order handling 
has gone down the tubes (they are receiving order fulfilments that 
are not even closely related to the actual orders) and their Yamaha 
rep (12 years experience with Yamaha) has quit in disgust.

Seems we're in for a bumpy ride with Yamaha over here for a while.

Stewart

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> 
> Oh dear.
> 
> I just paid a visit to the drum dealer I use near(ish) to work 
> (Drumwright in Reading) to pick up a couple of odds and ends.
> 
> While there, I naturally quizzed them about any news they had about 
> the DTXpressIII. Guy behind the counter visibly sagged atthe 
mention 
> of "Yamaha", and sighed heavily.
> 
> It seems Yamaha UK are closing down the Milton Keynes main facility 
> and moving everything to Belgium. The staff are obviously in a 
> redundancy situation, are thoroughly unimpressed, and have (as this 
> guy put it) "stuck two fingers up to Yamaha" (translatlantic 
readers 
> should substitute one middle digit for two fingers). Order handling 
> has gone down the tubes (they are receiving order fulfilments that 
> are not even closely related to the actual orders) and their Yamaha 
> rep (12 years experience with Yamaha) has quit in disgust.
> 
> Seems we're in for a bumpy ride with Yamaha over here for a while.

Stewart,

That settles it. Pack up the family and move to Massachusetts. We 
have a guest room. They're working you too hard over there, anyway.

Ed

On Friday, December 5, 2003, at 03:48  pm, moosetication wrote:

> It seems Yamaha UK are closing down the Milton Keynes main facility
> and moving everything to Belgium.
<snip>
> Seems we're in for a bumpy ride with Yamaha over here for a while.

Pearl did something similar a little while back and it took six months 
before they got sorted out - if you call a wait of between 6 to 8 weeks 
on orders 'sorted' that is. Drum distribution in the UK is abysmal and 
getting worse, and is the reason I dropped plans to start up a drum 
business recently. The contracts were onerous, the start up costs 
ridiculous, and the whole industry runs as if this was the 1950s. And 
don't get me started on the drum stores.......

For most Japanese manufacturers their home market is the most important 
(probably accounting I would guess for more sales than the UK, France 
and Germany put together), closely followed by the US. I'm afraid 
Europe is an after thought and things won't change unless UK customers 
complain and demand something better, but I see little sign of that 
happening :-(

And this move by Yamaha rather seems to leave the electronic market to 
Roland doesn't it? Roland have quite a high profile in the UK (and good 
support), and the new DTXpress III will be about the same price as the 
Roland - not the cheapest kid on the block anymore. And if Yamaha's 
distribution and backup goes down the tubes........well I know where 
I'd put my money in that situation.

pb

--- I wrote:
> I just paid a visit to the drum dealer ... 
> It seems Yamaha UK are closing down the Milton Keynes main
> facility and moving everything to Belgium.

Meanwhile, back at the dealer...

Popped in to buy a new throne, and chewed the fat about Yamaha UK 
again. It seems they have apparently canned the idea of relocating 
to the Land of the World's Finest Chocolate, at least for this year. 

Alas, it still doesn't stop Yamaha UK distribution being 
fundamentally incompetent: Drumwright are not anticipating 
deliveries of DTXtreme and even DTXPressIII gear until "at least the 
middle of the year."

Roland's box-movers are, as ever, putting Yamaha to shame and will 
have three TD20 kits at Drumwright straight out of the blocks.

[sigh]

Stewart

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...>
wrote:
> Alas, it still doesn't stop Yamaha UK distribution being 
> fundamentally incompetent: Drumwright are not anticipating 
> deliveries of DTXtreme and even DTXPressIII gear until "at least the 
> middle of the year."
> 
> Roland's box-movers are, as ever, putting Yamaha to shame and will 
> have three TD20 kits at Drumwright straight out of the blocks.

If that is true, Roland will be selling another TD6 kit.  While the
USA seems to get good support from Yamaha, everything I have read here
suggests that the UK don't. 

Keith.

Really Inspector, do you seriously expect me to believe that on 5/2/04 11:46
pm, "moosetication" <moosetication@...> wrote:

> Alas, it still doesn't stop Yamaha UK distribution being
> fundamentally incompetent: Drumwright are not anticipating
> deliveries of DTXtreme and even DTXPressIII gear until "at least the
> middle of the year."
> 
> Roland's box-movers are, as ever, putting Yamaha to shame and will
> have three TD20 kits at Drumwright straight out of the blocks.

And it gets worse I'm afraid as I went into Sound Control (basement of
Virgin in Oxford Street) at the weekend and they have no Yamaha kit at all
now, so the only electronic kits are those on the Roland Planet stand (4 of
them), which if you saw my posting of the 30th December is the first thing
you see when you walk down the stairs into the store. This is a sizable
store in a prime location so this is not a smart move on Yamaha's behalf.
I'm not sure what the situation is at Chappells in Bond Street, which is
Yamaha's main showcase store in London, (mainly pianos it has to be said),
but last time I was there they had a DTXpress II. Compared to the impact of
the Roland Planet display though it is pretty pathetic.

pb