Posted by Joe S. on December 06, 1999 at 03:16:03:
In Reply to: cheapness posted by Steve on December 05, 1999 at 23:03:32:
I usually do on D.E.G. imported stuff, like their Swiss Kurath-made Willson products, their Taiwanese Schafer stuff, and the Brazilian Weril stuff (I should have one of the Weril 4-valve 3/4 BBb's at the store in a couple of days, and will offer a review).
The only way to beat Dennis Bamber's prices at WWBW is to match them (which IS possible) and to offer free service for some period of time. Many places now (including mine) cannot be available to act as WWBW's repair "branch offices". I personally don't have the physical capacity to repair every instrument that everyone in Memphis, Tennessee wants me to fix (whether it be "attic treasure", pawn shop special, WWBW, eBay, some bozo local (with no good repairmen on staff) competitor's instrument, or whatever) , and further I don't feel the need to subsidize any would-be competitors by making it possible for these customers' mail order instruments to be repaired withOUT the necessity of boxing them back up and sending them back to South Bend, Indiana, or the factory, or wherever.
The "customers" who REALLY get on my s--t list are the ones who come in to my store at first ignorant about makes and models, and after I explain all of the different models and show them (HONESTLY) which one is probably the best one for them AND OFFER THEM A WWBW-COMPETITIVE PRICE plus FREE SERVICE FOR A YEAR (all of this interaction consuming at least an hour of my time), they will take my advice on model selection and purchase mail order AT THE SAME EXACT PRICE, because the freight charges from Indiana total up to, say, $30 less than the Tennessee sales tax. Those people IN PARTICULAR (I refer to them as "those of the Walmart mentality" ie: "I doesn't matter where I buy it, because it is really never going to need to be fixed, and if it does, I'll worry about that when the time comes." - quite often suburbanites) are the ones for whom I will not even turn a screw to help - no matter what...[Do any of you really blame me?]
Sorry I "went off". I do NOT "hate" Dennis Bamber's WWBW. He should sell as many instruments as he possibly can. I am just tired of some people walking in to my store, expecting me to be WWBW's repair service, and then getting miffed when we are not available: "but so-and-so told me that I should take it HERE and NOWHERE ELSE to get it fixed..." (silently thinking to myself: "Gee, thanks!...Can I shine your shoes while you're here, too?")
By the way, we DO treat people "royally", service-wise, who DID purchase their instruments from us. Some people (band students, and, sort of surprisingly, some of the local saxophone-playing professionals, for example) actually trade in their instruments and buy a different one from us (especially since a superb woodwind repairman named Wil Grizzle left town and moved to Atlanta) because they know that otherwise my wife, Debbie (the only decent woodwind repair person left in Memphis), would not work on their instruments, and they would be s--t out of luck. If there is a "moral" to all of this diatribe (sorry), it is that our strategy works, at least for us, and Memphians are starting to find out PRIOR TO THE SALE by word of mouth (from other customers, band directors, and private lesson teachers) that mail order will DISQUALIFY them from service at the only decent service/repair place in town.