Klarinet Archive - Posting 001082.txt from 2004/07

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] A Phone call from FIRST ACT
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 07:30:03 -0400


Virginia Hill wrote:
> Well, in past posts I mentioned that it all
> STARTED with my letter to Wal-Mart. THEY
> forwarded my concern to First Act.

Ormondtoby Montoya wrote,
>Yes, I understand. But do you think that there is
>any chance that First Act is likely to change their
>instrument and give up their low prices?

>Look at Costco. Apparently Costco succumbed to
>customer complaints and dropped the brand (or perhaps
>similar brands, the report was that Costco dropped all
>cheapie band instruments) rather than successfully forcing
>First Act to improve their instruments. If an organization
>with Costco's buying power can't muscle the likes of First
>Act to produce a better instrument, what is the chance that
>(say) 50 consumers can do so?

If nobody tried, there'd be zero chance. It's still too early to tell
whether customer complaints or Costco's decision to drop the First Act
instruments will affect other companies' policies. Decisions take time to
percolate through the layers of a large corporation. If WalMart has a lot
of back-stock of First Act instruments, they're going to want to sell off
that stock, not just write it off as a loss. For all we know, Virginia's
campaign may have succeeded already.

It's interesting that my local Costco quit stocking First Act several
months before the chain as a whole dropped the brand. I live in the
Washington, D. C. area, where there's a very large low income population
and a very high interest in football and patriotic holidays: a prime
customer base for cheap band instruments. I wonder if, when the Pentagon
City Costco ran out of First Act instruments, the store simply didn't
re-stock them. If the chain as a whole did the same, then probably the
chain waited to officially quit the brand until after most of the stock had
sold. Maybe WalMart is doing the same right now.

Virginia, I'm not a lawyer and I can't give legal advice, but as a
practical matter, I suggest that, as you continue your campaign, you
document and keep a file on all instances of repair people refusing to
service the instruments, professional clarinet players and teachers saying
these instruments are crap, band teachers warning parents about them,
students attempting to return them, etc.. Get as much documentation as you
can in writing or copied from Internet archives (with the links, so you can
pass along the information easily). It's possible that, if your campaign
is effective, First Act might decide to get nasty and try to scare you off,
by threatening you with a slap-suit, alleging product defamation. You want
to be in a strong position to say, "Bring it on!" -- Truth is a complete
defense; you're telling the truth; you can prove it; and a suit would give
more publicity to your cause. But that only works if you *can* prove it,
in court, and if you're willing to go through what can be a considerable
hassle and expense.

If First Act did decide to clean up its act, that would mean a lot of
re-tooling on the factory floor, along with re-training personnel and
probably hiring some new people, and probably a change of brand name. All
of that takes time. If First Act did upgrade, the company probably would
keep quiet about that while selling off current stock. No use making a
premature announcement that would depress the price of existing
merchandise, or make it unsaleable, when the company would need the money
to make the changes.

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban
America can do better: Kerry and Edwards in 2004!

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