Shure, you gotta be kidding. - Page 7

If US resellers are allowed to ship internationally, then how come the online stores are saying "we can no longer ship Shure products internationally?" That's the whole point of this thread. Are you saying that this is in error?

As for the UK distributor, that's all well and good for the UK market, but who I'm talking about is the end consumer who pre-ordered months ago. Imagine what that feels like, to wait in line for months, and see your friends in the US get what they ordered, and you get told "Nope, sorry, not for you." and then you email the local distributor who basically says "Huh?"

If Shure wants to use distributors, then that's their choice of course, I just think that it's crappy for those who pre-ordered the E500. I think a system could have been setup to honor the pre-orders up to a certain date, and then give everyone else fair warning of the policy change.

If there hasn't been a policy change, then is Earphonesolutions.com in error?

Hi folks, just to clarify. I have no issues with Shure UK Distribution's response. I did edit the e-mail, but I only removed Kelli's e-mail address so she wouldn't get angry e-mails from head-fiers. Other than that it's completely unedited. Their response was to my e-mail which was simply this in the quote marks below (hence why they didn't mention price, I didn't ask about it):

"Hi, I cannot find any stores that advertise the E500’s in the UK. Can you clarify if they are sold in the UK? I understand Shure does not let its USA retailers ship internationally so where do you sell them in the UK?"

I think it'd be interesting to know if Shure is selling to UK retailers at the USD to GBP exchange rate of $499 (£269), or marking it up. UK retailers will probably ask for about £400, which = $741.

I'd imagine US & UK distributors likely look for gaining around the same amount of profit, so the only reason for this is possibly due to them having to pay a premium for it to begin with (when they buy from Shure). UK customers probably aren't the only people getting charged extra, I'd imagine UK retailers have to pay more than US retailers to buy phones from Shure, or any Electronics company.

This is no big news to people who live in the UK though. Any electronic goods we get, we pay roughly the same amount in GBP as USD, which = ALOT more USD. Companies obviously love the extra cash bonus.

Say the PS2 was $300 USD when it launched in Ameirca, in the UK it would of cost £300, but £300 = $556, which = big grin on Sony's face. Same applies to Shure, and pretty much every other electronics manufacturer I suspect. This is why people in the UK import things so much. Because in comparison to the rest of the world it seems we're getting largely ripped off.

I suppose it might all be relative though, as to what the average person in the UK makes in comparison to what the average person in the US makes & also in comparison to how much £1 will get you generally in the UK and how much $1 will get you in the US. Which is why we pay more - maybe... still seems like a ripoff though.

US resellers are not allowed to ship internationally. What part of my response led you to believe that I was saying that? What I said was that initial pre-orders will be honored for this instance only. The policy has always been that resellers cannot ship to other countries per the contract we have with all of our resellers and distributors. I'll quote myself just to be certain:
See me comment above. Sorry if I wasn't clear before. Those pre-orders will be honored, and from that point on US resellers should not be shipping our products internationally per their contract with us. So again, because of the confusion leading up to this initial pre-orders will be honored. I don't think I can make it any more clear than that. I contacted our director of sales prior to posting it to verify that it's true.


Again, see my posts above. Just for the sake of it I'll reiterate once again, pre-orders will be honored.


Yes, and Flavio admitted that in several of his posts. In my last post when I said: this is what I was referring to. Perhaps you don't know that Flavio owns earphonesolutions.com, and my apologies if you didn't realize what I was trying to say.

Great news & great customer focus from Shure to allow USA retailers to fulfill international pre-orders. Nice one .

> "Shure, you gotta be kidding"

shurely not?

Sorry... had to be done.

Earphone Solutions was in error and we apologize for that. We are very sorry for the trouble caused to everybody.

As you can see by Sugarfried posts, Shure customers and what they think of Shure is very important for them as it is for us. Our reputation and our customers are our most important asset.

I spent the whole day yesterday trying to put out this fire and I am truly sorry for all the trouble.

Shure did NOT make any changes to their policy. US dealers are not supposed to ship products outside the US. Did that ever happen before? You bet. Does that still happen? Probably. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? Do we live in a perfect world? No.

We maintained our focus on our customers and tried our best to not let anyone hanging, hence the email offered alternatives: we would be glad to work with Shure and find out who would have the product in their country or we could still ship the product to an address in the US (to a friend or relative).

I think that the important thing to keep in mind here is that Shure, as we know for 10 years, is a company that CARES.

We have been authorized dealers since 1996 for Mackie, Roland, AKG, Senneheiser, AMS Neve, D'Addario, Danelectro, dbx, Dean Markley, Digidesign, DW, Ernie Ball, Furman, GK, GHS, Groove Tubes, Hafler, Hammond, Hartke, Hosa, Intellitouch, JBL, Lexicon, Middle Atlantic, Otari, Quantegy, Roc n Soc, Rode, Samson, Savarez, Shure, Studer, Tascam, Tannoy, TC Electronic, Tech 21, Ultimate, Westlake, Whirlwind, Zildjian, Zoom,

and in 2002 we decided to dedicate ourselves to representing Shure almost exclusively (see www.microphonesolutions.com ) because in dealing with all these manufacturers for all these years, we found that Shure always helped us to take care of our customers with the same dedication that we were trying to. They supported us and we supported them. And I am not talking about sales. I am talking about customer support, technical support, applications, engineering, shipping, thousands of hours on the telephone learning about wireless microphones, earphones and everything else. Shure more than once would refer us to another manufacturer that offered the solution we were looking for (phantom power supplies once discontinued) and I CANNOT think of any other company that would take the care and the time to help you for the sake of helping you. We are not perfect as you can see by this thread, but I remember more than once calling Guitar Centers across the country to find a product that was on back order so that the customer could order from them. Shure is definitely not about the money alone and we are not either just as Jude runs this site heroically with the help of Tyll, Todd and all other sponsors. People actually care and put a lot of love on what they do. When we receive a critic, it hurts more than a bad day of sales. When we are praised it makes us happier than a good day of sale. Shure's philosophy is our philosophy as once written by Mr. Shure: "the reasonable customer is always right". Their company complemented ours. We actually love and admire many of the people that work there. Caring people.

This is exactly what Sugarfried and the other folks at Shure are doing right now. They CARE.

They care so much that they are here responding to everyone and now they have just opened a historical exception. Understand that this is a big corporation with rules and as a best business practice they must preserve, structure and make their distribution network work and that's not an easy task.

Hope your daughter gets well soon! Lots of fluid.

I am humbled by your kind words Flavio. I continue to admire and respect you. Thanks for working with us on this.

Hi...I was just wondering then if the international distributers would honour the warranty outside the US in this "unique" case then?

thanks!

Nicely done, Matt and Flavio. Regardless of where you stand on the policies discussed in this thread, you have to respect that a manufacturer and a distributor have answered questions openly and honestly.

Thanks to Shure and EarphoneSolutions.com.

In a perfect world yes. Any authorized distributor....who is set up and capable of processing service requests and repairs...should accept any legitment Shure product within warranty for replacement. If your local authorized dealer cannot help you in a timely and effective manner then the next step is contacting the Shure regional office. (Or you can just contact them in the first place if you feel necessary). We have a Germany office, UK office, and Hong Kong Office all covering certain regions of the world. (in Canada, service issues are handled by SF Marketing. Please visit www.shurecanada.com for info on service returns. Or Canadian returns can be processed by Shure HQ if need be). If for whatever reason a dealer/distributor cannot fulfill your request then one of the three above Shure offices will be more than happy to service a Shure product depending on your location. Lastly, Shure's HQ in Niles, IL USA can process an international request. Obviously shipping costs to US and time makes this third solution the least favorite but it is still a valid option as of now. If at anytime you have questions about products, compatability, and where to obtain service, you can simply click the link below to ask us a question. It will most likely be answered by myself the same day.

Keep in mind the Personal Audio division of Shure is less than 2 years old and VERY recently established a series of Global distribution offices of our own. (meaning not the pro side). Please be patient as we try and take over the world to offer premium earphones to everyone. Feel free at anytime to ask a question and search our database for many answers to many questions.

Ask a question:
http://personalaudio.custhelp.com/cg...er/std_alp.php

For those wondering about the E500 price in the UK, this month's 'What Hi-Fi: Sound & Vision' reviews the E500 and says the RSP will be £420.

£420 = $780

What a ripoff...

amen...

We're used to it! $499 = £420 that's how they calculate it, if not $499 = £499 if you know what I mean They must love UK market