 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-30 17:44
A few months ago on this bulletin board Scott Kurtzweil who is the Director of Marketing for Conn-Selmer, offered to replace my Selmer Signature Bb clarinet that I purchased brand new from Kessler music after I complained that it had a partialy blocked tone hole and the finish on the lower joint didn't look worthy of a $4500 clarinet. Through a series of email exchanges between Scott Kurtsweil and myself and after providing serial number and order number for the clarinet, Scott assured me that a brand new hand picked clarinet would be sent through their shop for inspection and then sent to me. Scott emailed me a week or so later telling me that a new clarinet was on the way to me. I waited and waited for the clarinet to arrive but I never recieved it. To this day, over a month after Scott informed me that is was shipped, still have not recieved the new Selmer Signature clarinet Scott Kurtzweil offered in exchange for the defective one I purchased from Kessler for $4500. By now it is clear to me that there is no clarinet and probably never was. I don't know what the deal is or what happened to the clarinet but I never got it as promised and I never recieved an explanation from Scott as to what happen. So below is the post on the BB from Scott making the offer and the series of email exchanges between me and scott.
Here's the post from Scott Kurtzweil in pertinent part:
It is regretful that selmerplayer has not had the experience that was desired from the purchase of a Signature clarinet. To make this right, I would like to offer assistance in hand selecting the very best Signature we have in our current inventory with regard to fit and finish, running it through a secondary set-up here in our Elkhart facility and sending that clarinet through Kesslar or the retailer of choice. If you would like to contact me offline to work out the details, I am more than happy to assist you in any way that I can.
Scott Kurtzweil
Director of Marketing - Clarinets
Conn-Selmer Inc.
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I emailed Scott after he made the offer and told him that I wanted to take him up on his offer. He emailed me back requesting the order number from Kessler's and I provided the order number and the serial number. He stated he would get a new clarinet picked out and send it to their shop to make sure it was perfect. I Here's his email to me.
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. Either summarize or ask Scott for permission to post private correspondence. ]
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A few days later Scott emailed me back and this is his emial:
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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A week or so later I got this email telling me where to send the old Signature and a progress report.
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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After waiting for some time with no word I emailed Scott and this was his reply:
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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The next email I recieved from Scott informed me that the new clarinet was on the way. Here's that email from Scott.
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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After that email from Scott I was pretty excited because this was a hand picked clarinet that had been sent through their shop to be inspected and I knew it had to be perfect. I waited for it to arrive but after waiting for over a week it never did so I emailed Scott asking if there was a problem and this was his reply:
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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I waited for him to email me back with an answer and a tracking number but never got a reply. I waited for 2 weeks or so and then emailed him again asking where was the clarinet because I never got it. This was the last email I recieved from Scott.
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[ personal email from Scott deleted as per BBoard rules - Mark C. ]
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I never got any answer from Scott but he is more than welcome to respond to this post with an explanation. I'm not mad just baffled.
Post Edited (2009-08-30 17:49)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-08-30 18:01
I was the one that bought this to Scotts attention back when you first posted it. I just sent him your post and asked him to do something about it. It is not very good publicity for Selmer to treat someone like this and I told him so. Keep us informed if you hear from him and he does what he said he would. ESP
http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: USFBassClarinet
Date: 2009-08-30 19:08
The same kind of thing happen to me. My post is actually on the leblanc website. He said something about trying to get me a new case for my bass clarinet selmer 67 because it has rapidly fallen apart it seems. but after I emailed him as his request he never answered back.
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-30 20:54
The same kind of thing happen to me. My post is actually on the leblanc website. He said something about trying to get me a new case for my bass clarinet selmer 67 because it has rapidly fallen apart it seems. but after I emailed him as his request he never answered back.
Yeah I'm starting to think that he does this as a sick joke.
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Author: feadog79
Date: 2009-08-30 22:42
Unbelievable...I hope you get your instrument. Many companies these days are seeming to forget the importance of customer service/satisfaction.
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-31 00:26
feadog79 wrote:
> Unbelievable...I hope you get your instrument. Many companies
> these days are seeming to forget the importance of customer
> service/satisfaction.
Yeah I guess they just don't care. They certainly don't care about product quality.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-08-31 00:54
Out of curiosity, have you tried picking up the phone and calling them? This info comes directly from their website (www.conn-selmer.com). It took me all of ten seconds to find it:
Corporate Office Contact Information
Conn-Selmer, Inc.
P.O. Box 310
Elkhart, Indiana 46515-0310 U.S.A.
Local: (574) 522-1675
Toll Free: (800) 348-7426
Customer Service: (800) 348-7567
Jeff
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-08-31 01:17
Why should he have to call them when it was they who promised to correct the problem? The responsability lies with them.
Even an email saying, "Sorry for the delay. It will take more time." would be better than the treatment he's getting.
selmerplayer- "I'm not mad"
That's amazing. I would be very mad- even used car salesmen have better customer service habits than this.
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-31 01:29
Author: JJAlbrecht (---.lightspeed.brhmmi.sbcglobal.net - ISP in Franklin, MI United States)
Date: 2009-08-31 00:54
Out of curiosity, have you tried picking up the phone and calling them? This info comes directly from their website (www.conn-selmer.com). It took me all of ten seconds to find it:
Corporate Office Contact Information
Conn-Selmer, Inc.
P.O. Box 310
Elkhart, Indiana 46515-0310 U.S.A.
Local: (574) 522-1675
Toll Free: (800) 348-7426
Customer Service: (800) 348-7567
Jeff
I have thought about doing that but I don't want to get the guy fired. I don't really know what I'm going to do at this point.
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-31 01:37
Why should he have to call them when it was they who promised to correct the problem? The responsability lies with them.
Even an email saying, "Sorry for the delay. It will take more time." would be better than the treatment he's getting.
selmerplayer- "I'm not mad"
That's amazing. I would be very mad- even used car salesmen have better customer service habits than this.
Well you're right of course. I should be mad but right now I'm just bewildered as to why the Director of Marketing would offer to personally replace a clarinet and then not only go back on his word but just leave me hanging with no explanation at all. It demontrates a complete lack of respect indeferance. If this is the way Selmer treats their customers then they won't be in bussiness much longer I hope.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-08-31 02:40
Poor customer service aside, it could be lost in the mail. Maybe his email with the tracking number never made it to your inbosx.
It could also be that something else tragic has happened. A phone call could be the best way to find this out.
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Author: scott kurtzweil
Date: 2009-08-31 14:48
He's correct. We dropped the ball . . . myself included. Now that I am back in country, I'll be following up better with the distribution center to make sure this goes out as quickly as possible.
Scott Kurtzweil
Kurtzweil Musical LLC
www.kurtzweilmusical.com
269-340-9013
scott@kurtzweilmusical.com
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Author: selmerplayer
Date: 2009-08-31 15:27
scott kurtzweil wrote:
> He's correct. We dropped the ball . . . myself included. Now
> that I am back in country, I'll be following up better with the
> distribution center to make sure this goes out as quickly as
> possible.
>
Please send a tracking number when you do finally ship it. That way I will know exactly what day it will arrive. Thanks
Post Edited (2009-08-31 16:01)
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Author: Philcoman
Date: 2009-08-31 16:06
As one who worked conscientiously in a customer service capacity for some time, I know the sting of being condemned when my entire department was trying to do its best. Many, many things can happen in a shipping department and en route. Lesson learned: For CS folks, be sure to follow up with your department when you're making a special effort for a customer, and provide the customer a tracking number. For Customers, Lots of CS people are dedicated to their jobs, but sometimes you have to meet them half way -- if an item doesn't show up when you expect it to, drop them a line or give them a call before you start sullying someone's name.
"If you want to do something, you do it, and handle the obstacles as they come." --Benny Goodman
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Author: Ed Svoboda
Date: 2009-08-31 16:18
It looks like it is all being worked out. Kudos to Scott for taking the time to respond in a public forum.
www.woodwindforum.com/forums
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Author: Bartmann
Date: 2009-08-31 16:49
Selmerplayer,
I started to read through your correspondence with Selmer but I kept seeing:
"personal email from Scott deleted...."
Granted this is a private forum, yet I kind of stopped reading because of the Big Brother feeling of the editing.
Sorry about your horn.
Bartmann
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-08-31 16:59
Bartmann wrote:
> I started to read through your correspondence with Selmer but I
> kept seeing:
>
> "personal email from Scott deleted...."
>
> Granted this is a private forum, yet I kind of stopped reading
> because of the Big Brother feeling of the editing.
Considering that it is both extremely bad form to post private email without permission (and possibly a violation of law) and that it is expressly disallowed in the published rules right there the Help/Rules section, it causes consternation on the part of the moderators when we get these kinds of posts. I have the choice of either deleting the whole post or editing out the parts that don't conform to our published rules. The poster would be then free to summarize and edit out _my_ edits, as I told them.
What would you do, given those constraints?
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-08-31 17:25
Mark's right. I would rather read that a thread or post had been edited than to see that he had been sued for allowing private e-mails to stay on the BB and that he was going to shut down the entire system.
There's nothing particularly "Big Brother" or oppressive about what he did; it's his system, and he has rules he expects us to follow in exchange for the considerable time and expense he puts forth to maintain the system. It's more than a fair bargain, if my opinion counts for anything.
Jeff
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2009-09-01 02:24
Personally I think Mark C is more than generous to allow such a public airing of dirty laundry. Yes the OP got a bum deal, but posting private email correspondence on a public forum shows not only a lack of decorum but is also a legal no-no.
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