Author: Joseph Tomasso
Date: 2013-07-02 04:28
Here is an update on my very, very, very sad situation.
Buffet has been awful to deal with. I live 90 minutes from Jacksonville by car so I drove up with my broken oboe only to be harassed and ridiculed that I do not know how to put an oboe together (never mind that I have a masters in oboe and owned both a fox and marigaux 901 for 7 years with absolutely no issues whatsoever).
I had to complain continuously to get a 30 day loaner (which I now have but had to sign documents saying I would return it at a moments notice and that I am not allowed to keep the oboe one day over the 30 day "trial" regardless of when I have a replacement top joint). The loaner instrument is subpar to my original (of course that is to be expected). I was hoping to get to at least play several and pick one but they said you can have his one or nothing. I took it of course
I have been told to expect 4-6 months for a replacement because of current demand for the Orfeo (They are really amazing instruments with an incredible sound, but my god if you even breathe by it the oboe snaps). They seem to believe that I dropped it, but besides the fact that no keys are bent and there is no other damage to the instrument I am still being made to believe this is my fault and the fact that they are even considering replacing the joint is a miracle.
So here is the downside for me as a buffet customer. They value getting new players to buy the Orfeo rather than keep the people who spent a fortune (the orfeo was 8600 new 7 months ago) playing their instruments. We all know its less expensive to retain a customer... not to mention that I will never, ever, ever allow a future student to buy a buffet instrument. Keep in mind i have performance degrees in both clarinet and saxophone. No more R13s in my studio and you can bet I am going to boycott the Senzo saxophone they recently launched. A student of mine bought a buffet Greenline about a month ago and we are in the process of returning it and getting her another instrument (thankfully we just made the grace period, she'll have to pay a small fee to return the instrument but I offered to pay it out of my own pocket, mostly to prove a point at how incredibly upset I am by this).
In further news, I have had to cancel my graduate recital. I missed too much practice/rehearsal time not having an instrument I felt comfortable with. I was able to get 75% of my tuition back but I am now having to delay a cross country move by almost 5 months in order to give a degree recital in the fall (how sad is it that this is costing me thousands of dollars and I do not even own a working oboe!).
I'm also not sure what is going to happen when buffet calls me in 3 weeks saying "give us the loaner back, by the way we still have no replacement top joint for you." If it was 7 years after I purchased the oboe I could see why they were being reluctant, but this was 7 months!
I have made the apropriate phone calls, emails and followed all the channels provided so my only other option is to put up a very, very loud digital complaint in hopes that buffet feels some customer pressure.
The oboe was a dream of an instrument, but how can anyone buy in confidence knowing that the possibility of an accident/catostrophe (especially one where there is no user error) can result in half a year of no instrument. Forget giving a good graduate recital, how about taking an audition for a job? Or having to turn down gigs with orchestras who call because I am uncertain if I will even have an oboe to use?
I will hopefully be getting a rental oboe from RDG (where I purchased the orfeo in the first place) soon. I was mostly happy with my marigaux 901 but did upgrade for a variety of reasons, none of which would be worth going through this experience again. If I can even sell this buffet at all I guess i'll be going through the entire process of buying a new oboe again this year. Buffet is off the list... Time to give another set of Loree, Marigaux, howarth and yamaha oboes a go. Who knows, maybe I'll end up with another dream of an oboe... but i'll settle for a working one at this point that hasn't been blown out from 30-40 years of use already. My friends Laubin I tried is an awesome instrument but I sure as heck can't make it work right!
Please feel free to share my experience with your friends and colleagues who ask about the greenline and the orfeo. Beautiful sound. Wonderful pitch center. Spontaneously combustible!
Bachelor of Music, Sax/Clarinet Performance (2005, 06)
Master of Music, Multiple Woodwind Performance (2008)
Master of Music, Oboe Performance (2013)
Gainesville Chamber Orchestra (Clarinet)
University of Florida 2010-2011(Visiting Lecturer in Woodwi
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