A complete stuff up going back 3 years
We probably don’t know the half of it
Disappointing is a very polite way of putting it
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I can’t believe that Naim haven’t mentioned it and reassured the customers about service repairs etc.
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The brand may well be terminally damaged in NZ and Australia now. Certainly the glory days of NA, and their passion and promotion of Naim won’t be repeated again I believe. It’s pretty sad, but not so surprising.
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Can’t believe that comment in the announcement that Naim and Focal shipped product to the distributor that wasn’t ordered
Gut tells me it would have been the other way around
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To be blunt it’s greed that’s got us to this point. It was greed to sign a distributor that promised to sell more than they could (apparently this was made clear). It was greed that then they stuck us with a 40% price rise only to devalue everything because of excess stock. It also shows a complete lack of knowledge of their market.
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Yep
I’m so pissed off being a loyal customer of Naim in Australia since 1980 but also for the Naim brand overall
And I feel deeply sorry for long time Retailers like our friend Harry here in Sydney
Bloody mess , Naim have a lot of work to do to regain customer confidence that’s for sure here and in NZ
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Some odd things were happening at the time the distributer changed. In NZ NA took “last orders” of a whole bunch of stuff. My 250 was part of that order. Then NA couldn’t get delivery dates and I was eventually told that Naim weren’t fulfilling the orders and to go to the new dealers. Which I did, ordering a 250 from them. Then the following week NA received a whole bunch of stuff, including the 250 I had ordered from them, and I had to tell them I couldn’t take it, as I ordered another through the new dealer. Then suddenly the new dealers had stock of higher classic gear stuff like a new 300 DR, when NA always had to get that stuff on order-only from the UK.
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Along with a bit of the big company walking over the small local niche businesses as well. Different cultures (meaning the French venture owner, not Naim as such) and ways of doing things, now we see the consequences.
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Don’t think it’s Naim or Focal it’s just corporate venture capital at it finest (not).
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I’m not so sure about it, I even completely disagree.
If Vervent was really just about the money, they would have taken drastic changes earlier. I think they have a long term focus which for them indeed does give a good return on investment (think pension funds etc) rather than quick money.
If Vervent and Focal were really ‘evil’, we would never have seen the new products now appearing which strongly bear the Naim signature.
I think its just populist Focal / French bashing what happens here.
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Not quite, the article and people’s experience indicate that the NZ and Australian businesses have not been treated well, which ultimately extends to Naim’s customers.
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Probably not as simple as put there. Undoubtedly to do with minimum order quantities in their contract and such. We’ll probably never find out the details and know where the fault truly lies, but to use a Dutch saying: Where two fight, two are (likely) at fault.
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Mike, reading your, Bevo and Petes experiences was clear to me. Something was massively wrong and its good that is has come out in public now. I hope it goes better for the reason that most of us love the Naim brand.
What I don’t believe is right though is that it is that the reason is Vervent / Focal / Venture capitalists et cetera.
No mention anyone being evil but I will say that imo it’s been poorly handled. The change we’ve seen in the past 3 years as long term customers concerned about how committed these companies are to the local market.
Also I don’t see it as a French or English thing business knows no border, it’s business that all.
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Oh yes. I get lots of experiences with that these days since my wife and teenage daughter can’t leave a single opportunity unused to disagree. If you have connections, could you please nominate me for the Nobel Peace prize?
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Maybe I’m influenced by my English manager who’s on a daily basis telling about the battle at Agincourt and pointing to the French …
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Yes, you are right that we don’t really know that, other than the events occurred after Vervent’s acquisition. However, correlation isn’t causation.
In essence, I hope it get better for you guys.
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Yes hopefully so Ardbeg
The Retailers and Customers are getting the rough end of the pineapple currently as they say
Might go on and on if the Legal fraternity get involved which wouldn’t surprise me one bit
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Please bare in mind that there is a silver lining to this.
Mistakes have been made. By which party is not always clear - possibly several. But those involved have done things. Sure, they have all been total screw ups, but the point is there appears to be activity even if it all seems negative now it strongly indicates that the situation in ANZ has the attention of several parties.
That actually provides far more scope for solution with positive outcome then the alternative - dead silence from dealers, distributors (past and present) and Naim. That would indicate no change and no positive outcome.
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