Klarinet Archive - Posting 000472.txt from 2004/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Costco Clarinets!!!
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 23:29:13 -0500

At 11:54 AM 2/27/2004 -0500, Karl Krelove wrote:
>This leads me to a comment about shops not accepting these instruments for
>repair. It's true that they probably *can't* be fixed, and repair techs
>shouldn't be wasting their time trying to fix them. But they need to be
>very careful how they word the rejection. As a young (and fairly
>hot-headed) teacher, my reaction to the shop's message about the Bee flute
>was to think them snobbish and only interested in selling their (more
>expensive) instruments. I should probably have known better, even at the
>age of 20-something, but if as a music teacher, however inexperienced, I
>reacted badly to the message (which was not at all diplomatic in its
>wording - you could basically hear them snickering between the words), I
>can't imagine any better a result from a parent who knows less about the
>problem than I did (than we do). The shop guys (or customer reps) need to
>be very careful that they explain the problems with the instrument
>factually and don't project an "attitude" to the parent. Parts that cannot
>be gotten, keys that melt if you try to solder them or break if you try to
>bend them into place, pads that can't be seated with any reasonable amount
>of effort will all resonate with a concerned parent (never mind the one
>who just wants to discourage the kid without looking bad - that one's
>probably hopeless in any case).

Yes, you do have to be careful. We have heard of stores posting lists of
instruments that they would NOT accept for repair, and were successfully
SUED for it by the sellers of those instruments.

Bill Hausmann

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

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org