Klarinet Archive - Posting 000389.txt from 2002/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Servicing of instruments
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 17:56:07 -0500

At 11:13 AM 2/19/2002 +0000, Tony Wakefield wrote:
>Hi Martin,
>Can`t better Ian Black`s advice. Just to say that Dawkes have a minimum
>charge (for Clarinets) of @-----. Someone=
might
>only want one pad fitted, or one spring, or a tenon re-corked. I believe
>they say that they do have to give the instrument a checking over
>afterwards. This may possibly be due to the possibility of an inexperienced
>customer asking for the <wrong> repair to be carried out, thus the shop=
will
>be trying to avoid the tricky situation whereby the customer accuses the
>technician of not carrying out what work was asked for in the first place?

All too often, a customer will ask that a specific item be done (eg.,=20
replace one pad), but the shop will discover other problems that prevent=20
the instrument from playing properly. Do you do ONLY what was asked,=20
risking a dissatisfied customer and bad word of mouth ("I took my clarinet=
=20
to So-and-so's and when I got it back it still didn't work.") or do you DO=
=20
the additional work to make it play properly, and risk a dissatisfied=20
customer ("I took my clarinet to So-and-so's and they did a bunch of extra=
=20
work I didn't ask for and overcharged me.")? Our tech prefers not to let=20
an instrument leave the shop in a non-working condition.

Bill Hausmann bhausmann1@-----.net
451 Old Orchard Drive
Essexville, MI 48732 ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

---------------------------------------------------------------------