Touratech - Again

Paul S

Paul S

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Been looking at the price of the Touratech one piece extra high sports seat for my 1200GSA.
Web site in Gemany says price is 345 euros - UK website says £290.
Using the current exchange rate of 1.44307 that Paypal charged me yesterday to buy an item in euros, results in the cost of the seat in Germany being £239 i.e. £51 cheaper :spitfire

Web site in Germany refuses to allow you to order an item if you have a UK address and so you have no choice but to buy off the more expensive uk web site. :nono

O'well looks like I will be hanging onto my money this time and no sale to Touratech. :p
 
Just had this responce from Touratech in Germany:

The situation is the following...

The distributor in the Uk is an own dealer and not a part of Touratech.
So he have to calculate other prices e.g. handling, transfer...etc.
Cause this is the reason why he had other consumer prices than Touratech.

Have a nice day.

Viele Gruesse/ Best Regards
Alexander Trunte

TOURATECH AG

So thats £50 for Touratech UK to slow the whole process down :spitfire
 
You could always ask one of us in Germany to order it and send it on, postage at your cost of course. The offer is there:thumb2

Regards
SF
 
It's not just Touratech. When I first moved to Germany, I noticed a lot of things were cheaper here, and not just the German-made products. By buying my new Triumph Speed Triple here, I saved over a grand on the UK price.
 
My office is in Munich, and 5 mins away from TT. I buy most of my stuff there (Kahedo seat, £229 here, £171 in Munich).

Actually, legally, they may be on sticky ground as we are in the common market, they can't refuse to sell you the stuff. This is the issue the the car manufacturer's had when everyone was flocking to the continent and saving themselves a few grand by doing a personal import. The big manufacturer's tried to stop it, got taken to court, and lost.

That's the point of being in the EU! At least, apart from robbing us or sovereignty, having thousands of laws and regulation imposed on us by unelected beaurocrats and knocking a few% off our GDP, that is.

If you feel strongly, you could take it further. Or just get a job where you go to germany a lot:D
 
Tried going direct to Kahedo who actually make the seats and got the following responce:

Hello Paul,
thank you for your enquiry, please contact www.touratech.de
it is our contract partner in this seats and only at TT available.
Best regards
Monika Dorn

So looks like good old Tourarech have covered all the angles :mad:

Silver Fox - Thanks for the offer but I have come to the conclusion that Touratech do not deserve to get any more of my money if they continue to rip off the UK buyer in this way.

MSGS1200 or anyone with some legal knowledge - do you know what if any European restrictive practise laws Touratech are actually breaking by refusing to sell UK buyers products advertised on their German web site?
 
I WAS going to buy some TT panniers but chose not to because of TT's 'soak the Brits' pricing policy

As far as I'm concerned, they've added themselves to the list of people I won't buy from
 


MSGS1200 or anyone with some legal knowledge - do you know what if any European restrictive practise laws Touratech are actually breaking by refusing to sell UK buyers products advertised on their German web site?[/QUOTE]

Treaty of Rome -- Article 86 forbids....

(b) limiting production, markets or technical development to the prejudice of consumers;

Treaty of Europe
ARTICLE III-161

1. The following shall be prohibited as incompatible with the internal market:
..........
(d) apply dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, .........

http://www.europarl.org.uk/constitu.../p025-Constitution-Part3-title03-ch01-s05.htm

Paul - drop Touratech a further note telling them that you note their position which restricts the free movement of goods within the EU and will, unless you hear back from within 10 days, be passing this information to the office of the EU Competition Commission at the following address;

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kroes/cabinet_en.html

I bet that will get a reaction. The fines these people can give out can be huge! I would love to hear how you get on.
 
I hope you do get a favourable response, but I expect their lawyers checked it out first.

Before I scrapped the idea of buying the panniers, I note that they are cheaper in Germany even after VAT @ 19%

They may poke their panniers.
 
Hamster said:
I hope you do get a favourable response, but I expect their lawyers checked it out first.
Click to expand...

You would be amazed how few people do check this stuff out first. They just do as they see fit until somebody makes them stop. I cannot see how refusing to sell to a UK customer is anything other than a breach of these provisions. My wife and I have both worked in international business & export for over 22 years.
 
Technopole said:
You would be amazed how few people do check this stuff out first. They just do as they see fit until somebody makes them stop. I cannot see how refusing to sell to a UK customer is anything other than a breach of these provisions. My wife and I have both worked in international business & export for over 22 years.
Click to expand...

I agree. I work for a software company which sells internationally. If we appoint distributors in Europe, there is nothing we can do to control either the price they sell at or where they sell - so if a distributor in Poland wants to cut his own throat on price he can undercut a UK distributor, for example.

Got to be worth a go - I don't mind some kind or differential if we get something in return but as far as I can see Nick Plumb doesn't carry any stock and simply orders from Munich anyway - sometimes (frequently) I've been able to buy gear off the shelf in Munich which would take weeks to get here. They stock most panniers, for instance.
So we actually pay more for poorer service.
 
Just e mailed Touratech DE as follows:

Dear Alexander

I refer to your earlier e mail and would point out the the current arrangement between Touratech DE and Turatech UK amounts to a restrictive trading practise which is against the principles/rules of Article 86 of the Treaty of Rome and Article III - 161 of the Treaty of Europe.

I would therefore be grateful if you could confirm that you are now prepared to accept orders for your products direct from the UK.

Kind regards

Copied the email to Neelie.Kroes@ec.europa.eu who is the European Commissioner for Competition. If I do not get a satisfactory repsonce I will make a formal complaint.

I would also suggest that any other GSer's who feel strongly about this rip off also contact Neelie Kroes and let see if we can get something done about it.

Watch this space :D
 
Paul S said:
Just e mailed Touratech DE as follows:

Dear Alexander

I refer to your earlier e mail and would point out the the current arrangement between Touratech DE and Turatech UK amounts to a restrictive trading practise which is against the principles/rules of Article 86 of the Treaty of Rome and Article III - 161 of the Treaty of Europe.

I would therefore be grateful if you could confirm that you are now prepared to accept orders for your products direct from the UK.

Kind regards

Copied the email to Neelie.Kroes@ec.europa.eu who is the European Commissioner for Competition. If I do not get a satisfactory repsonce I will make a formal complaint.

I would also suggest that any other GSer's who feel strongly about this rip off also contact Neelie Kroes and let see if we can get something done about it.

Watch this space :D
Click to expand...

well done :clap

this is what we need, a holy crusade! better than the one against tescos, this one could save us money :D
 
msgs1200 said:
I don't mind some kind or differential if we get something in return but as far as I can see Nick Plumb doesn't carry any stock and simply orders from Munich anyway - sometimes (frequently) I've been able to buy gear off the shelf in Munich which would take weeks to get here. They stock most panniers, for instance.
So we actually pay more for poorer service.
Click to expand...

Agreed - checked the American Touratech web site and their prices are comparable to the German site. It would appear that only the UK buyer is being overcharged - perhaps we are paying for all the free kit they gave to Ewan and Charlie :blast
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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