Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum New March 2011 Yamaha U1 price?

I'm sorry for challenging the poster but this is not accurate.
This poster is just fishing for information by throwing a price that was not given by the dealer.
The authorized Yamaha dealer in San Jose does NOT sell the U1 for $5,800.00

In this case, OP is doing a great disservice to those sincerely shopping for best piano at best price.

Plus putting in shock those who had paid much more for same piano before. Not nice feeling...

To resolve this, I would immediately buy the U1 for stated price and post/demonstrate this find right here for proof!

Congratulatory notes to swiftly follow after...

Norbert

Wanted to update everyone on my Yamaha U1 purchase. Finalized the deal at $5800.00 out the door as mentioned before. Already took delivery of the piano and happy to say that we LOVE it!! The kids love playing on their new piano and we are happy to see them play. The Yamaha U1 sounds awesome!! Great price and great service, A+.

Congrats! Was this a group buy? Just curious.

It's picture time now!!!

Sure!
14 minutes after I posted; abruptly appears the OP saying I purchased the piano.
Interesting!
I continue challenging the credibility of this poster.

I agree ... but not a picture of the piano .. how about the sales .. , oh never mind, that will be #% as well ... I also continue to challenge the credibility of this poster.

I don't know, Kurtmen, when a Kawai dealer starts telling us what the price of a Yamaha won't be, folks might get the impression, who knows, that there's collusion or price fixing going on . . . and why would anyone believe what one of your competitors told you in the first place? (Or have you been shopping for a U1 your own self?)

Anyway, db69 didn't say where he bought the U1 . . . Maybe thirty miles north-east of you he found one's been sitting on the floor for a while . . .

No dealer is beholden to a price quoted on a chat room and the more you seemingly jump up and down demanding proof the more it might give the impression that you're the one that's trying to manipulate prices . . .

Mike

I don't know why a competitive dealer's knowledge of price would be any more supect than the word of a non-industry non-insider who writes:

"Six K is fairly typical in south bay. Some times higher or lower depending on wind velocity and direction, and various astrological readings . . ."

I mean, are you present at the point of sale of most new Yamaha U1 transactions in the south bay area? Do you bring your anemometer and astrological charts with you? Your blanket statement lacks credibility coming from your stated non-insider perch.

Your 'one sitting on the floor for a while' explanation seems plausible, but the OP claims it's a fresh 2011 manufacture. Actually, the OP specifies the brand, model, year of birth, and price. (Such a kind service for the readership here! ) Who knows? Maybe the OP took in Fresno Piano's closing sale. Maybe his shopping cart was right behind yours and Kurtmen's in the checkout line. Is Fresno 30 miles away or more?

The potential for mischief is great in these [hello/goodbye] [I'm just looking/I bought] inquiries on PM. You can damage Yamaha retailers and Kawai retailers with the same stone since many price-first shoppers are amenable to either brand. "Look, honey! We can get a U1 for just a bit more than that K3 that Kurtmen showed us. Let's check it out."

Maybe Kurtmen's antennae are picking up false signals, but I'd say there's a reasonable chance looking at the OP's entries here that Kuretmen's finely-tuned antennae are detecting something bogus. I'm glad he has the guts to ask the OP to verify.

Now it takes guts to harass a new poster? Maybe you can put Kurtmen in for a medal . . .

The prices I heard recently on my great bay area piano shopping tour gave me the impression that 6k was doable . . . my impression was warehouses were not exactly empty of this particular model . . . it is not an unreasonable price by any stretch of the imagination . . .

If low prices quotes an a chat room, whether true or false, give the shopper an edge or an implied edge over the piano retailer or makes the retailer sweat or work a little harder for someone's business or makes the shopper consider other brands and proposals, all the better . . .

And Norbert calling for transparency from a new poster, now that is rich . . .


Mike

That's lame, Mike. How do non-industry non-insiders know the stock at the warehouse?

Look, I know that the Bay area is very price competitive, but frankly, it amazes me that 6k is the norm taking into account CA sales tax is 9.75% ,and that the price of $5800 for a fresh sample supposedly includes that sales tax as well as delivery. That 2011 dob doesn't suggest a warehouse bursting at the seams either.

Have a nice weekend. I'll be working on an alabaster pedestal for Kurtmen.

Here's hoping the OP will rise to the challenge(s)!

Most of you guys seem to be on the West Coast. Wish I could hear some East Coast voices on this.

Here's an East Coast voice:

I am privy to the wholesale prices on all makes and models. While I am under a confidentiality agreement as to specific prices, I can say the the deal quoted by the OP, ~$5148 + tax and Delivery is FAR below the prices need by any dealer to stay in business. Even a retailer who IS going out of business would have to sell for more, as pianos do not uncrate themselves, tune themselves and payroll, rent, insurance, etc. continue even during a liquidation.

Giving shoppers unrealistic expectations as to pricing does harm to both the shopper and the industry, as it often leads to the shopper buying a lesser quality piano at a similar price, and casts serious doubts as to the honesty of a legitimate dealership.

We are an authorized east coast Yamaha dealer. We have not, cannot and will not sell a U1 anywhere near the price quoted in this thread. We are tech owned and we un-box and prep every piano as well. we have had customers decide to ship from out of state but we feel the service and prep warrant a price that allows us to stay in business. 2 non-Yamaha dealers within one hour of us tried exsist on un-real discounts and have both closed within the past 3 months. I hvae no problem after 35 years in the business working with a customer to get the best fair deal possible, but the price expectations we sometimes get are terribly un-real. Also one person who chose to ship from out of state waited 7 months for the piano.

Mike before you judge my intentions please let me give you my perspectives and reasons of my post. I understand you are not in the industry and perhaps I have a little broader understanding of the dynamics of the current market.

The OP presented a price of $5,800 OTD as if was the regular practice of the San Jose dealer (which is not) how do I know this because; we have cross-shopping very often and obviously buyers wouldn’t tell us that they have been offered a higher price than they were actually given.

Intentions of collusion and price manipulation: Impossible! First of all we don’t sell the same brand. The demand for pianos is not high enough. Consumers have access to information instantly in order to locate other Yamaha or Kawai dealers within the area. There are also few nearby competing dealers that offer equal quality products and; they are staffed with very capable personnel. Therefore a plan for price manipulation will be simply silly and a waste of time.




Why even considering traveling 30 miles for an old stock unit were the OP “was supposedly quoted already $5,800” in San Jose.
________________________________________________________________

Why am I advocating for Yamaha if I’m a Kawai dealer? The brand doesn’t matter, it just happened to be a brand that I’m familiar with in my area of business. My real reason is to advocate for the piano industry in general.

The misused and abuse of the Forum creates problems for consumers by giving them false expectations. It also predisposes buyers to think that they will have to deal with a crew of swindlers; this is unfair to the many decent people in the industry across the country who deserve a fair pay for their efforts.

Our business depends on these buyers and we cannot let them be mislead by people with selfish our trivial intentions. I want to believe that I use this Forum to contribute to the piano industry and not to deteriorate it by allowing my personal interest to lead my actions.

I actually took delivery of my new piano a few weeks ago and was very happy with the price and service. I did not check back with the posting in Piano World since my two months piano shopping ordeal was finally over!! I just happened to check in yesterday and saw Kurtmen's comments so decided to post my update. I have been to Carnes Piano in San Jose and their wholesale piano warehouse in Fremont. They are big on Kawai pianos. I was looking at the Kawai K3 which I might have gotten for $5000.00 out the door on a group buy. But decided to get the Yamaha U1 instead since I thought it sounded better. My Yamaha U1 price was part of a group buy that the salesperson had going on, so I was just added to that group buy. Several people have already inbox me for the store info and I was happy to reply. I might be new to this forum, but I am for real. Sorry if other dealers are not able to play ball in the price range.

To be fair, a very very large majority of (the few) piano dealers I've met are really quite sincere and reasonable people. They all have varying amounts of bills to pay, of course. There are more lucrative and higher-volume businesses for a disingenious sales pro to pursue vs. the piano business.

Before we go into the group buy debate (again), let's just say that if I had done my diligent homework on different brands, models, touch, tone, and dealer prep/service and still decided to get a U1/K3/whatnot, a group buy would totally sweeten the deal. We all know about Carnes here so we might trust that these pianos will be well-prepped after uncrating.

We did not have a group sale in the last three months neither we are offering the K3 for 5K.
Many clever buyers post prices in the forum in order to get a feel of the market which is absolutely acceptable.
It is up to readers and members of the forum to play-into the strategy.
I continue doubting the OP.

Kurtmen, you are right. McBain-Carnes Wholesale Piano did not have a group buy put together yet. To try to get that price, we would have to put together a group of new buyers along with the salesperson's current list of interested group buyers and have it approve by owner Scott McBain. It would take time to put a large group buy together and still not sure if the price will fly with Scott. Therefore, I proceeded with the already in place group buy for the Yamaha U1. Both are great pianos although I feel the U1 sounds brighter. At least I am already enjoying my U1 rather than waiting for the potential K3 group buy.

I must be slipping when the best I can get out of you is that I'm merely "lame" . . . you're only amazed at the price because you put too much stock in msrp and smp as well as dealer's claimed piano age . . . instead of a pedestal for Kurtmen how about a full blown homage like Pierre got? Bay area dealers need some love, too . . .

Mike