Ben Milne is Greedy

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

no more forum discount, but you get a 5 year warranty, if you were to buy an eD product. if this thread has been made already delete it.sorry, i did do a search.

Quote from Ben Milne Original Thread

"Some price changes are going to happen. I said there was a monster change coming up and this is it.
We're building a lot more in-house these days and that's a great thing. We're also keeping a larger inventory and spending more and more on QC on parts and new products to keep our products top notch. With that said. Forum pricing on all car audio subwoofers and amplifiers is going to end on Feb 1st. 2007. eDead discounts will remain for now.

Copper / Alumn / Steel are getting more and more expensive and until now we've really absorbed these costs as something we can't roll into production on some larger products. The reality though after really pushing vendors at CES is the cost of materials there is only so far we can push people. We use more alumn than industry standard and the only alternative is using less and making the product cheaper. We don't want to do that. The quality of motor steel used we could change in order to drive costs down (to go cheaper) but we don't want to do that. The alumn pricing and labor is going up and since we started making these amplifiers despite a rise in quantity our production costs are about 8.5% more expensive than a year ago on the NINe.X line and added shipping costs aren't helping. We have to do this to keep service and shipping times the same.

In todays world and after viewing the cheap route to go everywhere I don’t think it’s a good road to go down. It’s not one we are interested in going down and quite frankly eBay is full of that stuff. Too much of it.

Today we are a point where I'm very hopeful our clients can see we are doing this in an effort to keep what makes the company special and good in tact without just whoring everything out as fast as possible. We are interested in continuing to make products better and as reliable as humanly possible. In order to continue to integrate free shipping and faster service this was something we had to do. We've been absorbing market costs for as long as humanly possible without rolling them into the product. We just can't delay anymore.

The following pricing will be reflected on the web site on Feb 1st. 2007.

SQ10 - 105

7Kv.2 - 75

9Kv.2 - 95

11Kv.2 - 115

13Kv.2 - 125

11Ov.2 - 175

13Ov.2 - 195

16Ov.2 - 250

19Ov.2 - 300

NINe.1 - 365

NINe.2 - 220

NINe.4 - 245

NINe.2X - 275

eDi 6000s v.2 - 135

eDi 6500 - 250

eDead - current models unchanged.

eNetics - current models unchanged.

We would also like to announce the v.3 availability on the 7Kv.2,16Ov.2 and 19Ov.2 platforms coming Feb 15th, 2007. These items can be preordered until then until the then via telephone. Price will be the same on either product. More options though.

What else is new? We realize these pricing changes may cause some people to think something has gotten to our head. That's not the case. These decisions are being made in the name of quality and not degrading the quality of the product we sell. We believe it's so important instead of dropping prices, quality, and warranty we are going to add it. Our warranty is now going to 5 years. Yup. You saw it.

This is also part of our new support package we are going to include with every single product sold.

1. 5 years warranty on against manufacturing defect.

2. lifetime warranty on labor.

3. lifetime tech support on our products.

4. Free paperwork tracking on all orders.

These changes will take effect on Feb 1st, 2007.

Also things worth mentioning. We expect to do this in the name of two things. 1. Making production more consistent. 2. Servicing customers better. 3. Increasing service coverage.

Don't be afraid to give us feedback. We always knew the forum pricing couldn't stick around forever because financially it's not possible with increasing costs and the materials rising costs that we've been absorbing with growing quantities it's just not possible to absorb it when 15-20% shifts on some parts upwards quite consistently.

These changes will not take effect until Feb 1st, 2007. We're busting our butts over here to continually make the product better and it's pretty obvious how significant the changes are here in the last 2 years. We'll be able to offer an even better level of service. A level pricing program for everyone and be able to offer the best coverage in the business while still offering free shipping and adding services to our portfolio."

Click to read more...

 

[15nissen 10+ year member]

i don't see a problem here. id rather pay the extra $10 or so for 2 more years of warranty. As for the forum discount, i don't know to many company's that have a discount such as theres but im sure group buys etc.... will still occur

 

[dalucifer 10+ year member]

dont see a problem either...If materials cost more than the cost goes up.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

I dont see a problem. As a business owner who does manufacturing on premise, i can vouch for the fact that cost of raw materials and metal have risen over past two years where it has affected the pricing on some of my products/services.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

dont see a problem either...If materials cost more than the cost goes up.

makes sence i guess //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

when the highest price on your price sheet is 300 no one can *****.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

i don't see a problem here and i hate ben more then a turd that is too big to fit through my *******

 

[lsm 10+ year member]

At least he's trying to build good products. Would you rather him build junk with a 90 day warranty?

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

At least he's trying to build good products. Would you rather him build junk with a 90 day warranty?

he builds junk to begin with, it'll just be better junk //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

The price almost doubled on the SQ10... makes the TB version seem even more appealing.

 

[denim 5,000+ posts]

lqtm

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Since when does Ben start caring about the quality of materials used on his products?

 

[slick rick 10+ year member]

his grammar improved slightly...

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

Since when does Ben start caring about the quality of materials used on his products?

that was my first thought. iirc wasn't there a stack of 15A's that were damaged?

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

All 15A's were flawed.