Question of transparency - Help or Harm?

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I'm a bit late to this discussion, and much of what I would have said has already been well expressed by other posts.

One observation about the original question:

Here the key question:  Would being more transparent HARM or HELP Devialet?

I don't think it's possible to answer that without knowing about Devialet's medium-to-long-term business plans.

Not surprisingly, then, the discussion on the thread seems to have focused on whether being more transparent would help Devialet become a company we would like as customers -- but that's a different question entirely.

Whether having a more open relationship with their existing customers would harm or help Devialet depends very much on what they're planning to do next.

If they were to stay completely focused on existing products -- D-series and Phantom -- and were entirely dependent on them for revenue, then I'd say yes, they would have to make an effort to improve communication with customers in order to maintain or improve sales of these products.

On the other hand, if they're continually using revenue from current products to fund a push into ever higher-volume markets, there's not much incentive to have high levels of customer service and satisfaction for their lower-volume products.  After all, they've already sold them, and any future sales of these products will be a small and ever-decreasing proportion of their revenue.

This has already been evident to some extent in the way interaction with Devialet changed for "Expert line" owners from around the time Phantom was launched.  At least I saw a step change downwards in the timeliness and quality of support.

Another thing that suggests Devialet are aiming at higher-volume markets is their insistence on "shop-front" dealers since the launch of Phantom.  They clearly feel that footfall and the shop window display are now more important to them than the consultative sales approach.

I think part of the dissatisfaction some us (myself included) have expressed with Devialet arises from the tension between what we expect from a company selling relatively expensive audio equipment, and the behaviour of a start-up company with a stated goal to be in high-volume markets.  Remember: "One day, everyone will own a Devialet?"  Well, it won't be an Original d'Atelier, that's for sure.

To put it another way, and rather more bluntly: I feel that Devialet is very important to me, but that I am now very unimportant to Devialet.

For that to change would require a determined, significant, top-down change of style from Devialet.  It's easy to see that this would have tangible costs -- Guillaume has already suggested some pretty important (high-salaried) people might need to be put in place -- but what would the benefits be to Devialet?

Reluctantly I have to conclude that Devialet aren't going to become more customer-friendly any time soon.  In that respect, they are certainly closer in style to Apple than a traditional "high-end" audio company.

That said, I am still very happy with my 400, and it has given me a great deal of pleasure.