Klarinet Archive - Posting 000567.txt from 1999/07

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Why I don't frequent my local music stores ...
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 22:37:13 -0400

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
> For example, we DON'T
> have loaners, except for our own rentals and those who have purchased
> maintenance contracts from us (with occasional exceptions, such as new
> clarinets with cracks).

Actually, Bill, I didn't put the rest of the details into that story:

That _was_ a rental w/ maintenance contract, and we were told at band rental
night that loaners would be available. When we had a problem they said they
didn't have any loaners. I then told them I'd pay off the clarinet and they
could give me the new one they promised. That's when they told me that I
wasn't going to _get_ a new one. This is from the company that has a lock on
the school districts in the north east section of Metro Detroit.

> I personally wish we HAD a pool of trial
> mouthpieces, so people COULD try them out without scarring up new ones.
(I
> may have to talk to the boss about that.)

Why not be like the mail order places and make sure you have tape or supply
fabric ligatures and have a "you scratch, you buy" policy?

> Yes, our guys usually do a sort of "triage" and push some easy
> stuff to the front of the line just to get it out, but you can't
> necessarily count on them dropping everything and taking care of YOUR
> problem just because you are you.

But that's the point - if I'm a good, steady customer the business needs to
treat me better than someone right off the street. It's a hard balancing
act, I know. Some days I put in 14 or 16 hours because a customer of mine
has an emergency & I respond, even though there's no contract in place for
the work. Once in a great while I get stiffed, but mostly our business grows
because we get good recommendations from those people we help in time of
need.

However, stiffing us even once is a very bad idea ... it's a very small
community of people who do what I do :^)

Cheers,
Mark C.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org