Holy Moly- Costco selling Summits!!!

[sleepysurf]

Unbelievable! Costco is offering the Summits for $7500...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11140405&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

 

[twich54]

I guesss that means all of us who have purchased the new x-stat design will have a lousy re-sale when the time comes. I suspect K-mart will be having a blue-light special any day now as well.

 

[sleepysurf]

S&H is extra (~$110 for my location), plus applicable sales tax PLUS $350 (5% surcharge *if* you are not a Costco member, but only $50 annual membership, duh!)

This is a VERY tempting deal, but deal-breaker would be if they don't have full ML warranty. I doubt that, as I can't believe Costco would blatantly sell gray-market ML's.

 

[sleepysurf]

Darn... looks like they might be Gray Market stock...

"This item is covered by Costco's guarantee to refund your purchase price if you are not completely satisfied. Costco's guarantee applies, even though this item may not be covered by the manufacturer's warranty, because Costco is not an "authorized" dealer of the merchandise."

 

[sleepysurf]

Per ML, they ARE Gray Market... not legit resellers

FYI... I just got off the phone with ML corporate... Costco is NOT an authorized dealer, therefore no ML warranty or support. ML is already investigating where they are coming from!

 

[SugarMedia]

It's a slippery slope starting w/ Best Buy. Pretty funny though... grab e'm while their hot.

 

[dbakker@wwnet.com]

Summit Costcoed; walking like a duck

ML probably has little choice but to deny this. It is very hard to imagine that Costco would take the exposure of selling a 7.5K item under their terms without a manufacturer's consent or back up. They will give a full refund on any return no questions asked when defective even a year after purchase. That is more exposure then I can imagine.

I have been aware of this pricepoint for the Summit of 7-7.5K in the on line market since the beginning of 2006, not the usual 15% on high end items through well established dealers.

If this offer is through "grey market" sources, ML must still be the point of origin. Just consider the numbers involved. Somewhere a very large order must have orginated and been submitted to ML. They did not ask? What Audio/HT dealer could possibly order the numbers that would be generated by an organization like Costco, without raising eyebrows.

Remember the old duck cliche, something about walking like.....

 

[Munster]

Costco only sells thing in Huge Numbers so for ML not to know about it

would be mindboggling. I hope they sell the Stage too. I love Costco's return

policy and wouldn't hesitate to buy from there.

 

[sleepysurf]

Costco only sells thing in Huge Numbers so for ML not to know about it

would be mindboggling. I hope they sell the Stage too. I love Costco's return

policy and wouldn't hesitate to buy from there.

When I spoke with ML today, they specifically stated that they will NOT service or support these speakers, and they are in the process of tracking down the distributor to take legal action. I don't think they would have said that if they were "looking the other way" so to speak.

To me, paying $1000 extra for warranty and support would be well worth the peace of mind it brings.

If you buy from Costco, how would you get them repaired, if needed?

 

[Munster]

What they are saying right now makes no sense. If they don't know which

speakers they are then how can they not support them?

 

[ovature]

Unbelievable! Costco is offering the Summits for $7500...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11140405&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

They should be selling that overpriced product for $4000!

 

[ovature]

What they are saying right now makes no sense. If they don't know which

speakers they are then how can they not support them?

ML is trying to price fix so their dealers can make 40% margin. What a bunch of greedy bastards. Show me where the materials used to make a Summit justify a 10K price tag!!!! It looks cheap and ugly and the Microperf story is pure BS. Look at their 2004 catalog where they claim their bigger model don't need microperf and then they change their story? Those smaller holes don't make the panel sound bigger. Only an idiot would believe that nonsense

 

[dbakker@wwnet.com]

Walking duck like

When I spoke with ML today, they specifically stated that they will NOT service or support these speakers, and they are in the process of tracking down the distributor to take legal action. QUOTE] (quote from Sleepysurf)

Distribution of ML products is directly through a dealer network, there is no distributor in between them and the retailer. I think that they are tacitly acknowledging the true retail price of the Summit by this move. Costco has often taken back merchandise, fixed it up through a third party and resold it as "refurbished" pieces.

I am not suggesting in any way that this will be their approach, I just think that anyone looking to buy retail should be aware of where the market for this piece is and has been for some months now. In my mind this is an indication of the problems inherent in marketing a mass market "high end" product through a diminishing dealer core and clientele. Beware of your resale in the secondary market now!

 

[SugarMedia]

Here's a few more they apparently knew nothing about.

 

[socialxray]

So Costco is selling MLs...so what?

Costco's return policy is killer and not matched by ML. If it breaks in the next five years return it for the full purchase price.

Also if this is a one time deal with limited supplies then I am sure that resell values will not be hurt.

 

[ovature]

When I spoke with ML today, they specifically stated that they will NOT service or support these speakers, and they are in the process of tracking down the distributor to take legal action. QUOTE] (quote from Sleepysurf)

Distribution of ML products is directly through a dealer network, there is no distributor in between them and the retailer. I think that they are tacitly acknowledging the true retail price of the Summit by this move. Costco has often taken back merchandise, fixed it up through a third party and resold it as "refurbished" pieces.

I am not suggesting in any way that this will be their approach, I just think that anyone looking to buy retail should be aware of where the market for this piece is and has been for some months now. In my mind this is an indication of the problems inherent in marketing a mass market "high end" product through a diminishing dealer core and clientele. Beware of your resale in the secondary market now!

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SteveInNC]

It should be trivial for ML to discover where these came from, all of their speakers have serial numbers. Particularly for the high-end, the volumes can't be high enough to make it that hard to figure out. They could buy a pair from Costco and match up the numbers against the dealer that sold them. They could even return them to Costco and get their "investigational costs" back...

 

[SugarMedia]

Found this... perhaps I'll be able to get a pair sooner than I expected.

 

[ovature]

Found this... perhaps I'll be able to get a pair sooner than I expected.

This is obviously a joke!!!

 

[robertawillisjr]

I wonder if this has anything to do with the take over.