Klarinet Archive - Posting 001110.txt from 1997/08

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Bass clar. price and more
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 14:05:19 -0400

On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, Mark Charette wrote:

> So, Neil, if I impugne [sic] *your* reputation by implication on
> my Web pages I guess it's OK by you. Fair enough.

Whether or not it's "OK by me" is irrelevant. If I've done some-
thing harmful to you as a result of business or personal practices,
your choice to recommend against association with me is entirely
your prerogative. It's called the First Amendment. I am equally
entitled to rebut and/or defend myself. Since the act of impugning
something or somebody involves opposing or questioning validity,
your word choice is appropriate.

My experience with IMS was one of suspicion and frustration. I lost a
significant amount of money (significant to me, anyway) as a result of
negligence on the part of the company, and I feel it is appropriate to
inform others on the list that there is questionable wisdom in doing
business with them. When the flower stinks, you say as much, rather
than continuing to extol its visual appeal. My experience may have
been exceptional, and it is quite obvious that IMS really does have
many satisfied customers as shown by recent responses, but that does
not do anything to repair the damage I suffered.

Time bears out the truth in all cases. If I'm the only dissatisfied
customer they've ever had, IMS will continue to prosper in spite of
me. That's the way it works. Meanwhile, I will always take my
business elsewhere and recommend that others do the same. Based on
accounts I've received verbally and through email, I'm not the only
one who feels this way. Some of these others "got it" even worse
than I.

Is any of this relevant to the members of Klarinet? For some, maybe
not. But as performers, we must always contend with buying new equip-
ment, and Klarinet has proven to be an invaluable resource for contact
information. The door is not uni-directional and must swing both ways.
We must feel free and open to recommend both for and against an establish-
ment based on our own experiences with that entity. That's the beauty of
Klarinet, in many ways. The wealth of knoweldge and experience trans-
lates as well when discussing the good and bad apples of commercial
interaction. Much of it is based on empirical evidence which, in this
case, is the best possible kind. My empirical evidence leads me to
advise in one direction, while several others' evidence points in
precisely the opposite direction. Nobody really "wins" in this
dialectic, but the undecided are furnished with some hands-on data
while going about figuring it out for themselves. Best of luck to
each of them, and to all of us.

Neil