"Come with me if you want to live…"

Can’t think of any good reason for the post title except that this particular line (which I think comes from one of the Terminator movies) has been whizzing round and round in my head all morning. I suppose the tenuous link is along the lines of “here, sign this petition for a better world for all” assuming that that world is comprised of people who live in Singapore and Malaysia who want to be treated fairly in their purchases of Mesa/Boogie equipment via official channels.

Other contenders for post titles were:

“Your clothes. Give them to me.” – also from the Terminator, and…

“Boycott Bentley Music in Kuala Lumpur for Mesa/Boogie Equipment” which I suppose says what I wanted to say in the first place. Why? Well, I’ll tell you why. Because they are in the game of Blatant Profiteering. Also, Bentley is the designated distributor for Singapore and Malaysia – there is no dealer for Singapore specifically – you must buy from Bentley. Since Singapore comes under Malaysia, Mesa won’t deal directly with the customer as a consequence.

Examples:

	US Pro Net Price	Bentley Quoted Price (Malaysian Ringgit)	Quoted Price converted to USD (3.3 MYR/USD)	Multiple that Bentley is charging over US Pro Net Price
Dual Rectifier Roadster Head	$1899	RM 12190	$3694	1.95 times
Dual Rectifier Head	$1699	RM 10890	$3300	1.94 times
Single Rectifier Solo Head	$1279	RM 8300	$2515	1.97 times
Single Rectifier Rect-O-Verb Head	$1379	RM 9490	$2876	2.09 times
Mark IV Short Head	$1849	RM 12190	$3694	2.00 times
Lonestar Special Combo	$1699	RM 10890	$3300	1.94 times

Sure, a business is a business and I shouldn’t begrudge them the right to make a profit – nothing wrong with making a healthy profit, but charging 200% of the US list price? This is nothing short of scandalous.

What possible reasons can they give for charging such ridiculous multiples? Shipping? Sure – add a premium for shipping, but it doesn’t cost USD $1800 to ship at 40kg package from the US to South East Asia – more like $500 if you Fedex it and much lower for bulk freight. Tax? Malaysia doesn’t currently charge sales tax, therefore 0%. Maybe there’s some kind of hidden corruption charges they have to pay the Government in Malaysia to make up for the atrocious losses being incurred by the national Proton car company due to bungling. 

Whatever it is, no sane person should cough up this kind of money where no reasonable explanation exists and I urge you all to NOT BUY MESA/BOOGIE EQUIPMENT FROM BENTLEY MUSIC IN MALAYSIA so that they get the message that they are overcharging and rethink their pricing policy. If you can obtain the goods elsewhere (not easy given Mesa’s notoriously strict dealership control) then do so, ideally from the US (look out for 110v/220v transformer issues). Otherwise, buy another brand. I personally am on the verge of buying a competitor product because Mesa HQ doesn’t seem to care one iota and won’t deal direct with me or my friends.

Oh, and one other thing Mesa – Singapore is a separate country from Malaysia and has been for over 40 years. Give us our own distributor.