 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: baltbiom
Date: 2005-01-20 20:08
Hello all -
I'm writing to notify you of a dangerous scam and perhaps goad one of your members to look further into it. I sent my clarinet to Thomas Ohme Woodwind Service shop (http://www.woodwind-shop.com/Calendar.html) over a year ago (with a check) and now believe it to have been stolen. Mr. Ohme (or who ever is perpetrating this scam) did stay in touch with me through email for much of the year, allaying my fears - and the site is SO WELL DONE! But there is no question now of it's real intent. Who would believe that someone could really profit this way? I found another unfortunate sole at http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/2003/04/000511.txt, but have no way to contact them. One of the posters here, John Scorgie, came up as another user of the service - but that may just be a name placed there by the scam artist to add to the site's validity. Please let me know if you've heard anything regarding this site (especially Mr. Scorgie) - and warn your friends not to go near it.
Best wishes,
Alex
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Author: hrvanbeek
Date: 2005-01-21 01:40
I too have been violated by Mr. Thomas Ohme. The long, drawn out process has been ongoing for the better part of 3 years. I sent a clarinet w/check to him for an overhaul and never saw it again. I've sent the BBB after him, an attorney, etc.... But you can't sue anyone who's already in debt up to his eyeballs. He wanted to replace my clarinet with another brand new one but of course by that time I had already purchased a new one and didn't need another. We finally came to an agreement on a cash settlement - 3 payments of equal value. I've received 2 of them to date. Still waiting on the 3rd. I've emailed him several times in the past few months looking for that last check but no replies. He better never cross my path on the street.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-01-21 02:33
Wow - I would be on a plane paying that guy a personal visit if it happened to me.
Maybe if you were to call the local police department where he lives they could do something about it.
A theft is a theft.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-01-21 07:03
Let me understand, you sent your clarinet to a person you've never met, never heard any recommendations, just based on their website?
Wow, not something I would do. It's always better to visit the repairman in person, or send it to someone you already trust based on experience.
Good luck, hope everything would turn out ok.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-01-21 12:27
Do a search on this guy in the Clarinet Board and Klarinet List archives. It's very informative.
Susan
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Author: John Scorgie
Date: 2005-01-21 17:53
The first clarinet which I sent to Thomas Ohme (an ancient Bettoney Mimart model) was overhauled professionally and returned timely, all at a quite reasonable price.
The next clarinet which I sent to Mr. Ohme along with his required $100 deposit -- seems to have disappeared into a black hole.
My name and the description of the clarinet (old Selmer ser # K1600 or 1700 something) continue to appear on Mr. Ohme's website but my repeated attempts to contact him by email have produced no response whatsoever.
Since it has been several years since I sent the old Selmer clarinet to him, I have more or less given up on ever seeing it again.
Between the acquisition cost of the clarinet, the shipping cost and the $100 repair deposit, I am out close to $400, an amount which doesn't begin to warrant retaining an attorney to file a conversion action against Mr. Ohme. Personal contact is not a viable option since I live over a thousand miles distant, and last set foot in Milwaukee in the late 1980s.
BTW, I seriously doubt that there is any criminal component to the problems which Thomas Ohme has been experiencing. More than likely the problems are the product of disorganization, procrastination and sloppy bookkeeping. He is apparently a fine repairman but a poor businessman.
Oh well.
I am confident that at least one of the regular posters to this BB lives in the Milwaukee area. Perhaps he or she could drop by Ohme's shop, find out what is going on and report back to us? FYI -- According to his website, Mr. Ohme's shop is located downtown -- 1100 block N Water -- (just a ways north of the old Pabst Theater, a venue which was near and dear to those of us who played there so many years ago).
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