Before heading to Dubai with the Goliath Gaming squad I realised that I really needed to up my sound on my videos, especially as I knew I’d be interviewing players and my onboard camera mic just doesn’t cut it. So I started searching for a microphone solution to assist. My friend Nico at AlternaTV suggest going the lapel mic route. I didn’t want to spend a small fortune on sound equipment so decided to try find an option that would allow me to plug the lapel mic into my phone and use a recording app via the phone. I’d then sync up the sound and footage in edit. This was when I first came across AudioMart and used their services. A few months later I was desperately looking for a desk boom for my one webcam. I used AudioMart again (though had to return the item). This is my review of their service and online store (including returning items).
Navigating the site
The AudioMart site is really easy to navigate. I don’t really need to go in to too much detail here – the search functionality is decent, it’s easy to find what you’re looking for or browse if need be. What I do want to do is highlight the back end though. Once you’ve registered as a customer you have a portal available to you that I really like. You’ve got space to edit your account information and change particulars, you can track all past orders, quotes and also purchase gift vouchers as well as customise your email notification settings (which includes getting updates on certain products). What I really liked though was that all mail correspondence is recorded on your account profile as well. So any mails sent via you or AudioMart are archived and recorded. There is no he said she said situation in these instances.
Checking out and Payment
The site utilises Thawte so you’ve got a secure gateway available. They also except all forms of payment including certain apps. There are also credit options available. Shipping varies but there are lots of deals for free shipping which is a bonus. For my needs, the first time I purchased from them I needed a lapel mic. I emailed first to ask if they had stock after Nico advised the best option. They replied quickly to let me know they did. The second time I was looking for a very specific item and I was struggling to find it locally. I almost got conned via another local online store:
Because of this experience I was super stressed out. I emailed AudioMart to ask if they had a similar product. They suggested an item to me that looked like it would be sufficient. We had a brief backward and forward confirming some details and I then placed the order. Both my items arrived within a few days.
Receiving items and Courier Company
The courier company used is DSV (the same folks who deliver bank cards) and I’ve always been happy with their service. Both the lapel mic and Boom mic were packaged well, but the boxes did look like they might have had something packed on top of them during transit. However, the lapel mic was bubble wrapped which helped and the boom arm box damage was more cosmetic than anything else.
Returns
This is a first for these online reviews. I get to chat a bit about the returns process with AudioMart. Some background: I ordered the boom arm for my webcam a week before lock down hit. It arrived the day before lock down. I took it out of the box to set up a week later and realised the fitting was incorrect. Audiomart had shut down during Level 5 and so I waited a full 4 weeks before mailing them to explain the fitting wasn’t working and that I either needed some sort of adaptor or would need to return the boom as it wasn’t going to work. Despite the long wait time to get back to them around this and the chaos of lock down, they immediately responded to let me know they’d fetch the product and refund me in full (as there was no adaptor available). Within a week the courier had collected. There was a little delay in the refund payment, as the payments weren’t done daily and usually take between 7 and 14 working days. I was also requesting a refund just as lock down had been moved from Level 5 to 4, so completely understand the delay – though I waited less than 2 weeks and was refunded in full to my bank account, no questions asked.
Final thoughts
Both my shopping experiences with Audiomart have been great. They’ve delivered expectations, but then they over delivered with the returns issue. I was late in checking the product was correct for what I needed, I received it as lock down hit and asked to return it after nearly 4/5 weeks of shut down. I can only imagine the stress and back order chaos the company would have been dealing with but they were helpful and quick to sort me out in a time where I expected them to drop the ball because of the global situation.
I’m a loyal customer now and cannot recommend buying online from them enough.
Disclosure: I used my own money to make these purchases and Audiomart was not aware I was going to review their offering.
