Completely unprofessional from a reputable repair shop

[sungfw]

The original poster failed to mention that [blah, blah blah]

All that is well and good, and no more than should be expected given the shop's screwup, but since none of us in the TNFJ know whether the accommodation was offered up front or only after negotiation with a dissatisfied customer, I'm not prepared to throw the OP under the bus in this instance.

Could (should) the OP have handled this privately with the shop? Yes.

But by the same token, the shop must bear the lion's share of the blame in this instance, not so much for failing to perform the job as specified (mistakes can and do happen), but for attempting to justify that failure by characterizing it as an intentional decision by the shop to disregard the explicit job specification, i.e., "I plated it in bright silver as opposed to a satin cup. I hope you don't mind. I did not think it would look as good"; ESPECIALLY since, as the shop knew—and as much as admitted to knowning by the offer to plate another mpc free of charge—that a redo of the original mpc would be less likely to take than the initial replating.

If, in fact, the shop truly believed that a satinized mpc would not look good, they had a professional obligation to dissuade the customer from having it satinized before accepting the job or to decline the job altogether; and even if the shop did attempt to dissuade the customer from satinizing the mpc and failed to do so, by accepting the job, the shop accepted the professional ethical obligation to perform the job as specified. That they failed to do so, whether through their own fault or that of the plater (assuming it was sent out for plating), and attempted to explain away their failure is, ipso facto, a breach of professional propriety.

So, yes, even if the mpc was bright plated rather than satinized as a result of an honest mistake, the attempt by the shop to explain it away was a completely unprofessional response, despite whatever remedy was subsequently offered.

[eupher61]

so the truth lies somewhere between "[we] didn't think it would look as good in satin" as stated in the OP and "we screwed up, here's $15 discount" as stated by DP.

Wherein lies the truth? BIG difference.

[TexTuba]

[sungfw]

"we screwed up, here's $15 discount" as stated by DP.

From the info in DP's post, it appears that the $15 reduction in price was not a discount, but the difference between the price of bright and satin finishes. If that is the case, they still charged the OP full price for bright plating the mpc. BIG difference.

It also appears that the offer to re-do the mpc in satin was only valid if the OP agreed to pay the full price he was originally quoted. If that's the case, no discount was offered. Again, BIG difference.

So, despite DP's portrayal, neither offer in any way compensates the OP for the disappointment or aggravation caused by the shop's failure to perform the work they contracted to do or for the time the OP has been—and, assuming he does have the mpc redone, will be—without his mpc because of their screw-up. In light of that, the offer to replate another mpc free of charge can hardly be construed as particularly generous or accommodating.

Bottom line: the shop screwed up and then tried to make it look like they were doing the OP a favor: "Yeah, we know you wanted a satin finish, but we know better and we think it looks stupid, so we did it in bright silver instead and we're only going to charge you for bright silver. We'll re-do it in satin if you really want to look like a dork, but you'll have to pay the difference." Hardly the type of behaviour that would encourage repeat business or postive word-of-mouth referral.

Bottom line: the shop screwed up. Man up, admit it, and offer an equitable resolution before the customer has a chance to get upset.

[Brucom]

A few months ago I wanted to get a "real" mouthpiece receiver on my old tuba - supposed to be better than the basic lead pipe. (That rhymes with weedpipe, not the weapon in Clue.)

So I called a local shop here in Cleveland, got a verbal quote for $30.

I took the horn to the shop, left it a few hours, then picked it up. My first impression was "adequate job". I mentioned that the third valve was a little slow, so he grabbed his pliers and pulled the slack out of the spring under the finger paddle.
Now the valve moves quicker. Then he asked for $45 cash, so I paid him. I guess the extra $15 was for pulling on my wire spring.

But when I got home, I discovered that my first valve was suddenly noisy, gritty, grinding. Apparently the old fart put my horn "valve-side-down" when he used the hacksaw on the lead pipe. The filings from his hacksaw must have fallen down the pipe and into my first valve. So, I spent that Sunday giving my tuba a good bath and reassembling it.

What a moron. I'm never going back there again.

[sungfw]

as if that whining wasn't bad enough, the fellow omitted all the considerations and efforts to work with him (by the shop) in his public/anonymous whine. Dude needs a Red Foreman in his life.

When a business makes a mistake and tries to cover it up, it is acting unprofessionally; when it then permits an employee or henchman to rip the customer in a public forum, it compounds its lack of professionalism, and drives away potential customers by causing them to wonder whether they will be treated similarly.

I believe the owner of the shop would be well advised to tell DP to put a sock in it before people start PM'ing the OP to find out the name of the shop in order to avoid patronizing it.

[Dean]

Blah blah blah.... blah.... blah....


There are WAY too many "IFs" and "should've" and "did you...?" in this thread. Way too many.


I suggest the OP finish his dealings with this shop! Call them. Email them. Tell them to complete the job.

You do all that stuff FIRST. Then, if they still do the job wrong, THATS WHEN you publicly trash them. Why come here in the middle of the process (and yes, you are in the middle of it).

I have had dealings with many different companies in the past who have screwed up their deal with me. In all but one that I can remember, they all fix the issue--in the end, I had my work. I even ordered a euphonium from one company and got an OBOE! (it was an expensive oboe too--coulda made an EBAY fortune)

Now that someone from the shop knows you are here trashing them, you might have trouble with that appeal process....

Talk to them, let them fix it. Will you then come back and publicly PRAISE them??

[Yosef: Tubist]

I don't want to say just yet where this place is and what the name of the shop is because I want to ask what you guys would do if next part happened to you.....

IDK what you guys are thinking, but this doesn't really look to me like the original poster was bashing the shop, he never said the name. He was just describing a problem that he had run into and was coming here for opinions and advice.. he really doesn't need anyone coming on here and shaking fingers at him... he just wants to get what he ordered done properly.

[Rick Denney]

There are several possible motivations for posting a complaint about a shop:

1. The customer wants to use the threat of public excoriation (look it up, kiddies) to coerce a favorable response. This is unethical, in my view. No shop can come on Tubenet and trash a customer, even if the customer deserves trashing. Doing so ALWAYS backfires, and smart business people know they can never do it. Thus, trashing a shop on Tubenet is like shooting at an unarmed person. I don't think this is the case here; the OP didn't identify the shop. But the rest of us are trying to make it so.

2. "I just want to warn others". Not the case here--the OP didn't identify the shop. When it is the case, though, it's almost always B.S. There are ways to offer those warnings without these sorts of stories. Threads that start out that way quickly spin out of control.

3. The customer involved is genuinely confused about how to deal with a situation. That is how I perceived this case, and that's why I offered the advice I did.

Too many people are too quick to jump down a shop's throat, and too eager to believe a story offered by one of our tuba brethren. Or, they are too eager to jump to the defense of a shop because that shop's owner happens to have a good Tubenet rep.

Folks, there is NO WAY to know the facts in cases like these. In every case--not just those involving tuba shops--where I happened to know all the facts, the presentation on the internet was skewed. We are masters at making victims out of ourselves, and we believe it when we do it. On Tubenet, truth is unknowable, and so judgments are made on the basis of mere plausibility. It's not necessarily dishonest--most think they really have been abused, whether they have been or not. But it is unethical.

For example, I assure you that if a shop pissed me off, I could make them look like evil personified on Tubenet. That's not truth, that's just language skill.

So, there is no bottom line. Quit trying to look for it.

The OP has his advice and he can take it or not. That should be the end of it. If he thinks he's been trashed by the shop, then he can dispute his credit card charge, or go to the BBB, or sue them in small-claims court if he feels strongly enough.

Tubenet as a righter of such wrongs is just too imperfect, too easy too manipulate, and too unable to gain perspective on a specific conflict.

Now, let's all shut up.

Rick "watching the waves of conclusion jumping crash to and fro" Denney

[The Big Ben]

Bloke, you forgot 4/4 versus 5/4

No, bloke's decided that- I go out, throw the horn, he measures the distance, feeds the numbers into his formulas and then you get the size.

Simple as that.

[tubarepair]

Only one way to truly solve this one...

[windshieldbug]