UK-er unable to enter Musician's Friend Website

[JayBee1404]

Apologies if I'm breaking any of the forum rules with this.

I'm in the UK and I just tried to take a look on the website of Musician's Friend, and got this message -

"Dear Customer,

Based on your location, we are unable to take you to the Musician's Friend website at this time. For more information regarding the new GDPR regulations, go to https://edps.europa.eu/data-protecti...-regulation_en.

We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to serving you again soon.

Thank you,

Musician's Friend"

I have no problem with entering other US websites - Elderly, LMII, MFG, etc. Does anyone understand what is the issue with Musician's Friend? I'm guessing that it's a Data Protection issue, and that MF are not in compliance with EU Regulations. Hopefully this is only temporary, but I just wondered if any of the US-ers here have any more information.

Please feel free to move if this is in the wrong section.

Thanks in advance

[NotALuth]

Yes, you get the same message trying their website from all EU countries (or rather if you pretend to be).No problems in accessing the website from Australia.

VPNs are very useful sometimes!

Was there anything specific you were interested in or just fancied a browse?

[cyberdog]

I use Epic web browser to get around this restriction. https://www.epicbrowser.com/

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by NotALuth

Was there anything specific you were interested in or just fancied a browse?

Initially I was trying to follow a link on another AGF thread. When that produced the message I reported above, I tried going to the website directly via my browser, and got the same message. I was intrigued as to the reasons, because I've never had a problem in the past.

[Wolfram]

GDPR puts a significant burden on companies dealing with EU citizens, and changes required to systems can be extensive. For example, you must be able to prove that a customer specifically opted into a particular type of service or email communication, the date it was done, and be able to show the exact webpage/form from which they signed up. The penalties for non-compliance are huge - €20 million or 4% of turnover, whichever is higher.

All EU-based businesses (of any size) need to make these changes. Non-EU businesses may decide that it's just not worth it - it would be too costly to implement for the amount of business they do - and block access from EU countries completely.

I wouldn't like to speculate whether there is sufficient motivation for Musicians Friend to undertake GDPR compliance work.

Cheers,
David

[Wade Hampton]

JayBee, the REAL reason they're not allowing British people onto the Musician's Friend website anymore is the prevalence of the lager lout phenomenon: instead of British football fans getting too rowdy, in this case it's British guitar fans. But the behavior (excuse me, behaviour,) is the same - excessive beer swilling, fistfights breaking out all the time, public urination, head-butting the referees, and so forth. It had gotten so bad that the webmaster at the Musician's Friend website was afraid to come to work in the morning....

Hence the sanctions. Sorry to be the one to have to tell you this.

What's that? You say you don't believe me, and that David of Wolfram Slides' explanation sounds a lot more likely to you?

Fine. Be that way.


Wade Hampton "I'm Only Trying To Help" Miller

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

JayBee, the REAL reason they're not allowing British people onto the Musician's Friend website anymore is the prevalence of the lager lout phenomenon: instead of British football fans getting too rowdy, in this case it's British guitar fans. But the behavior (excuse me, behaviour,) is the same - excessive beer swilling, fistfights breaking out all the time, public urination, head-butting the referees, and so forth. It had gotten so bad that the webmaster at the Musician's Friend website was afraid to come to work in the morning....

Hence the sanctions. Sorry to be the one to have to tell you this.

What's that? You say you don't believe me, and that David of Wolfram Slides' explanation sounds a lot more likely to you?

Fine. Be that way.


Wade Hampton "I'm Only Trying To Help" Miller

Well, in my own defence....

1) I haven't had an alcoholic drink since 21st December, 2005 and, if I decided to have one now, lager would be absolutely at the bottom of my list! Now a pint of Guinness, or a double of Highland Park or Bunnahabheinn would be a different matter!

2) I'm not a football (soccer, for the US-ians) fan. Cricket, Rugby, Rowing, Sailing, and Squash are my games - all gentlemen's sports!

3) Never been one for fisticuffs, public urination, or abuse of officials. At 71 years of age, I ain't about to start now!

So I'm sure you'll understand when I say that, as you suspected, David of Wolfram Slides' explanation sounds far more attractive to me, not to mention plausible!

Thanks for the giggle, buddy. Have a nice day y'all!

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

JayBee, the REAL reason they're not allowing British people onto the Musician's Friend website anymore is the prevalence of the lager lout phenomenon: instead of British football fans getting too rowdy, in this case it's British guitar fans. But the behavior (excuse me, behaviour,) is the same - excessive beer swilling, fistfights breaking out all the time, public urination, head-butting the referees, and so forth. It had gotten so bad that the webmaster at the Musician's Friend website was afraid to come to work in the morning....

Hence the sanctions. Sorry to be the one to have to tell you this.

What's that? You say you don't believe me, and that David of Wolfram Slides' explanation sounds a lot more likely to you?

Fine. Be that way.


Wade Hampton "I'm Only Trying To Help" Miller

You do make me LOL sometimes, Wade ... great stuff .

[Wade Hampton]

I just really like the idea of British guitar louts terrorizing Musician’s Friend website workers:

“Oi!! You call that a GUITAH?!? I wouldn’t wipe me BUM wiff anything that grotty! And ‘ow many different ways can you paint a Les Paul, anyway?!?”


whm

[Yrksman]

Why has this been moved to open mic?

[robj144]

Originally Posted by Yrksman

Why has this been moved to open mic?

Maybe because it's not specifically related to an acoustic guitar.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I just really like the idea of British guitar louts terrorizing Musician’s Friend website workers:

“Oi!! You call that a GUITAH?!? I wouldn’t wipe me BUM wiff anything that grotty! And ‘ow many different ways can you paint a Les Paul, anyway?!?”


whm

LOLOL!

[Wolfram]

Originally Posted by Yrksman

Why has this been moved to open mic?

Because AGF has become much more US-centric. This is a non-issue for members in the USA.

[Yrksman]

Originally Posted by Wolfram Slides

Because AGF has become much more US-centric. This is a non-issue for members in the USA.

That’s a pity. Is it individual moderators or policy?

[fazool]

I just got back from a visit to London and could not connect to MF or GC.