Europes Largest Metal Detector Distributor Gives Minelab The Boot

[phrunt]

2 hours ago, strick said:

The thing that really pisses my off more then anything else about Minelab is their coils...when you release a new detector and it takes months for the accessory coils to come out is just stupid. And then when they do come out  you gotta stand in line like your waiting to shake the popes hand just to get one....it's all so ridiculous this is done on purpose and its bad look..morning rant over..

I have difficulty believing it could possibly be on purpose, they lose a lot of sales because of lack of stock.  When detectors come out and people can't get them they must lose sales from people giving up buying another detector that's more accessible.  I've got a grand or so sitting aside now waiting for Manticore coils, money they could have if they wanted it yet its sitting in my account not theirs.  Many are in the same situation with not only coils but detectors too.

As for coils the situation its crazy and what that distributor pointed out they can make a new model detector yet they can't even supply the current one with a big back-order list around the world.  The X-terra that they are releasing at the end of this month has coils, they must have been able to make the odd coil to package up with it which could have been coils for the Manticore they were making.  They can't even release one detector smoothly so why are they releasing a Manticore, Nox 700, Nox 900 and X-terra all at once?  Desperation? It just makes little sense.

By locking coils down so they only work on certain models it's likely made the situation worse as they have to make even more coils.

I can imagine it makes life very difficult for dealers too, I thought they were just making the small dealers suffer but this place is big and the smaller dealers seem to get stock off them all across Europe.  This means Manticore waiting lists are going to be reset as people will now have to buy elsewhere, and the little dealers that feed off this distributor will also be in a muddle as they're no longer getting their orders from them.  It has to lead to more lost sales for Minelab.  It seems they had a waiting list for the Nox 900 too at this place so those will be in a shambles too now.

It's little wonder their detector sales are slow, they can't provide them to sell.

This outsourcing manufacturing isn't working too well for them or the business is just so poorly run that that decisions are causing problems to be worse than they could be, or a combination of both which is most likely I think.  Nokta scaled up easily for the Legend, it's selling like crazy yet they're not having big supply issues and my impression is they're a much smaller company than Minelab.

They make detectors I love, but it's hard to feel the same way about the company behind them.

[Digalicious]

Many don't use Facebook, so here's another comment from that Facebook page:

 

Quote

No business gives up a huge repair and service contract for just "stock issues" these issues go with every brand, there will be many of its customers that are minelab "fans" its a huge selling brand and to withdraw from selling its products completely not just ending its main distributor bassed status tells us there's much more to this than meets the eye.

 

[dig4gold]

I wonder how long Minelabs silence will be deafening on this matter. If true to form they most likely won't say a word.

D4G

 

[mn90403]

Business ... this is not business as usual.  

Things like this blow up over personalities as well.

Neither of these businesses are a winner because of the end result.  I'm sure that the customers will get the worst of it.

[Rob in (ca)]

Something isn’t right, That’s like a new Car dealership like Ford / Chevy / Toyota refusing anymore new cars, because one Model is short in supply.

Maybe Minelab is slowly moving forward to Direct Sales ? And The Distributor is realizing it. The real answer will never be told 

[phrunt]

They said the lack of stock over the past few months was only part of the reason, I guess it was the final decision maker though.

This appears to be the network of dealers that they supply so it's pretty far reaching.

That's right Mitchel, nobody is the winner here.  We want Minelab to do well, the better they do the more they'll spend on making new products and improving technology which in turn we can buy if they have stock to sell 🙂  Bad news for Minelab is bad news for us too, at least their share price has clawed back a tiny bit since the Manticore/Nox 900 release, still very well down but no longer in free fall.

IDC are a multi line distributor selling Nokta, Quest, Garrett, C.Scope, Bounty Hunter, Fisher, XP, GDI and Groundtech along with lots of smaller accessories brands so who knows if their association with Nokta is anything to do with it, I highly doubt it though but I guess they'll be pushing Nokta brand from now on more so than ever.   It could be the fact Minelab are including a distributor in the US in the court case with Nokta.

 

 

[fogrider]

11 hours ago, Rob in (ca) said:

Something isn’t right, That’s like a new Car dealership like Ford / Chevy / Toyota refusing anymore new cars, because one Model is short in supply.

Maybe Minelab is slowly moving forward to Direct Sales ? And The Distributor is realizing it. The real answer will never be told 

Agreed.

Supply chains for electronic parts (and parts in general) are still brutally slow worldwide. 

In my business (motorcycles) some parts that used to take a week to get at the dealer level now take several months. Some customers miss out on an entire riding season. New model delays are common.

IMHO, regardless of the reason for Minelab's new model delays, it seems unprofessional for IDC to publicly shame Minelab. Bad-mouthing a former business associate isn't good for business in the long term. 

There's more to this story than meets the eye....

[palzynski]

Mu

11 hours ago, Rob in (ca) said:

Something isn’t right, That’s like a new Car dealership like Ford / Chevy / Toyota refusing anymore new cars, because one Model is short in supply.

Maybe Minelab is slowly moving forward to Direct Sales ? And The Distributor is realizing it. The real answer will never be told 

My dealer in France has the same issue , for example several customers have preordered a Manticore and they are still waiting for it .. ML does the manufacturing in Asia , perhaps this was not the right choice ...

[Dick Stout]

Minelab has always been a difficult company for distributors and dealers to work with and no matter how good their products are they might want to stop and listen instead of dictating. JMO.

[deathray]

21 hours ago, strick said:

The thing that really pisses my off more then anything else about Minelab is their coils...when you release a new detector and it takes months for the accessory coils to come out is just stupid. And then when they do come out  you gotta stand in line like your waiting to shake the popes hand just to get one....it's all so ridiculous this is done on purpose and its bad look..morning rant over..

strick 

I hear ya! Number one reason I bought a 900 , instead of  Manticore. An 11 inch coil, is only good for searching for new spots, for me.