I’ve been thinking this more and more as I as I see debates about TE products. Especially the pricing. They tend to become cyclical or scattered in their points. I don’t believe in brand loyalism, but I also don’t believe in trying to dictate someone elses subjective opinion (as long as they’re aware it’s subjective).
Beyond material and production costs for a product, the final dollar amount landed on is at the discretion of the business, and they’re within their right to do so. Are many of Teenage Engineering’s products expensive? It’s subjective. As a consumer with rights, you have right to evaluate if the value asked is greater than the experience it would provide you. As a consumer with financial commitments and responsibilities, it is your right to come to a conclusion, of your own volition, if a product on the free market is worth the price to YOU.
It is your right to buy it.
It is your right to not buy it.
For each side of the argument, you can only speak for your own experience; and arguing other peoples experiences and circumstances, doesn’t make sense.
It is important to be a smart consumer.
TE is a brand with the rights of a business on a free market with an understanding of the binary results of their pricing. The experience being sold to the consumer is either too expensive, or not too expensive. If the price is that value, it means that the business can operate with prices at that value (i.e. the experience being offered is great enough to combat the price of entry). If you can’t buy it, that has been taken into account.
Buying a product when you’re uninformed on its capabilities is not being a smart consumer. Use it in person, read the manual or inform yourself in anyway you can, so that you’re not just buying something you have no idea about. There’s often alot of dissapointment from people when they buy a product based of arbitrary expectations which weren’t expressed by the companies marketing, which is subject to consumer law. A company misrepresenting a product is illegal and there are genuine ramifications for doing as such. Form your own subjective opinion, not based on others from different backgrounds and use cases.
TE is a design company who designs products and experiences. If there is a better alternative in your subjective view, it is your right to spend your money on experiences that are worth it to you, and not on TE hardware. That being said, trying to shape other peoples opinion based on what you think is better (due to price or otherwise) is forcing an opinion as fact.
Do you want the OP-1 Field but it’s “crazy expensive”?
Same, but I’m not going to get it because the experience wouldn’t be greater than the asking price, and I just moved on with loving the gear that I already have; but most importantly, I see those who did get it and understand that it must have subjectively been worth it for them, and I’m really happy to see people enjoying it.
Now there are genuine critisisms of TE in terms of item replacement and repairing which sound incredibly frustrating. Again, as a consumer with rights, you can contact your countries agency for consumer protection, understand your rights and if there are any legal issues with their actions, find out what can be done because abuse of consumer rights is illegal.
TE can and will price things literally anyway they want to.
You have to right to give them money or not.
You don’t owe them anything, they dont owe you anything.
Thats business, baby.
Be a smart consumer.
Don’t get frustrated when others opinions don’t reflect your own.
