Klarinet Archive - Posting 000969.txt from 2000/08

From: Mike Selvey <sidecar@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Which one? (Decision made and THANKS to all!)
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 13:10:09 -0400

What a GREAT list!

I participate in several online lists, in fields ranging from
motorcycles to Hammond organs, and I've got to say that I've never seen
such an immediate outpouring of excellent, detailed advice from so many
people to an absolute newby, both on the list and through private email!

To all who responded, you have my deepest gratitude. All of the advice
was valuable in making our ultimate decision and most importantly, how
we will handle the situation as she progresses (or DOESN'T) on the
clarinet.

My daughter and I attended the "Band Parent Orientation" last night with
the instructors from both the Clarinet and Woods section and the general
Band Director. They admitted that they would NOT turn away a student
who brought in either a plastic clarinet or a wooden clarinet not on the
"recommended" list. They simply stated that they had experienced good
results with the Selmer Signet Special and especially that particular
music store over the years. The Clarinets and Woods section teacher
told us that SHE makes the choice of instrument.. It was not a decision
made by the music store in any way.

Later, as I talked with the son of the owner of the music store in
question, he informed me that they routinely stock MANY different
clarinets, and would be happy to bring any of them, but they are
following the wishes of the Band Directors here, who named the
instruments they wish the students to learn on.

I also did some research on this music store, and found out that they
have been doing business in this area for over 50 years, and are now on
a third generation of family members working to keep and build their
reputation. The longer I spoke with the owner's son, the more
comfortable I was made to feel with their business, and decided that the
service they could offer, combined with their easy "60 Day Refund"
offer, made their bid more attractive than I had thought. This music
store:

1)Adds six months on top of the factory warranty on any instrument,
parts and labor.
2)Does their own "in-store" repair (employing 5 techs, full-time).
3)Includes at no extra charge, full-replacement-coverage fire and theft
insurance.
4)Sends a representative to EACH band class in the district once a week
to check out all instruments personally. If any are found to have
faults, they are taken back to the store, and returned within 7 days, or
replaced outright, for the entire school year term. After warranty has
expired, they offer the same free pick-up and delivery service to their
store location, 70 miles away.
5)Offers a 60-day "No Questions Asked" refund on purchase price, minus
the usual fee for two months rental ($60.00 in this case) and tax.

After spending twenty years in various retail businesses, I have some
sense of how hard it is to offer this level of customer service, and
still compete with catalog sales or "e-tailers" while being tied to a
"brick-and-mortar" operation with a long and distinguished history. I
was also impressed by the fact that the owner's son had spent 20 years
as the Director of a nearby School District, before joining the family
firm. He spent nearly two hours with me, and we finally came up with
this:

Selmer Signature Special Clarinet (essentially a Selmer "private line"
model CL200)
which had been a 60-day rental return for $563.00. I chose an outright
purchase, rather than put money down, and deal with the 17.9% interest
rate on a "Rent to Purchase" program.

The clarinet appeared as good as new, barely any coloration on the
corks, and the pads, keys and case were immaculate. Some of you may
recall that they were asking $899.00 for a new one. Although I could
have bought any of the previously mentioned brands and models of
clarinets new from the online catalogs for less, the best I could have
hoped to get back if my daughter did NOT stick with it would have been
60% of purchase price. That, coupled with the distance for service in a
mail-order situation versus local representation, was the final deciding
factor.

I have ended up paying more in part because I wanted my daughter to
have an instrument which would look and sound like the ones that the
other student musicians would be playing in the band. Someone else on
the list brought up the fact that it may be an advantage for the
instructor to be able to advise all the players to use the same
technique on the same instruments in order to learn quicker. I hope so.

The other reasons of course are the fact that I have now built a
relationship with this geographically local music store based on trust,
and their promised commitment to my daughter's musical future. I will
hold them firmly to their promises.

And.......if worse comes to worse, and my daughter doesn't like it, we
can take it back within 60 days for the full refund, minus the rental
fee and tax. I view it as giving her a start, with options to change,
if needed. Sixty days and counting. I am going to stop obsessing about
this decision, and just see how things play out from here!

Again, I want to thank each and every one of you for your excellent
advice, personal experience, practical knowledge and kindness shown by
sharing it with a complete novice band parent. I only hope that as my
daughter's scholastic music career progresses, that I may learn
something of value to share with someone else here !one day.

Mike Selvey
Nacogdoches, TX
(Got my "Band Booster" card last night....I guess the fun starts now!)

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