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I was looking at horns for my son on eBay and saw these ads. Talk about misleading. The title is "New Double French Horn w/Yamaha care Kit. I can see it now, some parent is told by their kid's band director that Yamaha is on the list of good instruments and here is a horn that has Yamaha in the title for only $255 or $285 with buy it now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Double-French-H ... dZViewItem

This makes me feel sick

Well, it says (down in the fine print)

Manufacturer: Victory Band Inst.
Double (Not Single) in B Flat
Teacher approved: Yes

I think I'll get 50 instead of 1 stinkin' Conn 8D... you get water in 'em, don't pull slides, just toss the horn and grab a clean one!

I sent a complaint to e-bay, not that it's likely to do any good. Deceptive to the max, yes, but not going to be considered fraud , I don't think. The seller is a big-time power seller, so they will get a lot of slack from e-bay.
Nice to know that it's "teacher approved", though!

To this guy's credit (and by the way, I have no connection to them or the instrument manufacturer) his customers seem to be happy with the instruments they do get. I went through his last 600 or so feedbacks and the biggest complaint is that he wouldn't sell for a too low price and the shipping time. Personally, he should be raked over the coals for putting something out there and then not accepting the winning bid and one could view the post as misleading.

sinfonian wrote:. . . . The title is "New Double French Horn w/Yamaha care Kit.

Four words:
Keyword spamming; Caveat emptor

This is exactly why I have the terms -"care kit" and -approved in all of my ebay "saved searches". (Plus "-sax*" because of all the idiots who put saxophones under "Musical Instruments > Brass".)

Too bad it's against ebay rules to contact bidders on these auctions to warn them....

JohnH wrote:

thomaji wrote:some days i wished i spoke latin.

But who would you speak it to, unless you have a time machine? Read and write it maybe.

You can listen to a weekly news bulletin here:

http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/

And you could chat up this fellow:

i checked out this page, i dont see why this is misleading. it doesnt say "yamaha french horn" it says double horn with yamaha cleaning kit. where is the problem here?

Getzeng50s wrote:i checked out this page, i dont see why this is misleading. it doesnt say "yamaha french horn" it says double horn with yamaha cleaning kit. where is the problem here?

Congratulations: You read and comprehend even the nuances. Unfortunately, many parents seeing this are going to fall for the misleading interpretation that since Yamaha is touted as the care kit, the whole thing is Yamaha. The seller is never going to come out and say they are selling an ILO, but infer that the horn and kit are the same maker. Nuance, as Kerry put it.

Besides ONLY having the name Yamaha in the advertisement, it says, very plainly at the bottom: * coloration may vary