Completely unprofessional from a reputable repair shop

[tubaribonephone]

I needed to get my mouthpiece replated and since this was around Christmas time, my girlfriend said she would pay for it, but she was wondering if there was anything special that I wanted done to it. I thought for a while and since she insisted, I decided to have the bowl done in a satin silver finish. Since there isn't a place that does replating here in Utah, I decided to drop it off at a place that is near the place we were spending our Christmas vacation. I dropped it off on Dec. 18th, 2007.

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.....

I received an email yesterday (Monday, Feb. 18th) saying that my "mpc is completed. 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."

After opening this email and reading it for the first time, I WAS FURIOUS!!!! I kept reading it over and over again thinking that I wasn't reading it right and that I was missing something!!! Not only was I mad but after I told my girlfriend, she was not only mad but sad that her Christmas present for me was not perfect. Plus they told me it would be done and I'd have it back in my hands within 4 to 6 weeks!!! I received this email exactly 8 weeks after I gave it to them!

Honestly, what would you do if you expected your mouthpiece to come back to you a certain way and at a certain time, only to find out that the repair tech decided that it would look as good as the way you wanted it and it came back late???

[TexTuba]

[tubaribonephone]

I have not paid them so asking them to do what I paid for won't exactly work. But I do have the invoice they gave me when I gave them my mouthpiece with a description of the work to be done. It says this exactly: "Dillon PS 01 tuba mouthpiece TO BE SILVER PLATED (SATINIZE THE BOWL)"

On the bottom of the invoice, it says that instruments not picked up and paid for within 30 days are going to be charged a storage fee of $15. If it's not picked up within 90 days, it becomes their property.

Since I haven't paid for it yet and I don't live anywhere near the shop (not even in the same state), I'm afraid that they will just keep the mouthpiece if I put up to much of a fuss. Hopefully this won't happen and everything will be taken care of. I thought that this was a good shop since I've seen some of their bigger projects on TubeNet, it's just unfortunate that a job this small isn't take as seriously as the bigger ones.

[kingrob76]

I received an email yesterday (Monday, Feb. 18th) saying that my "mpc is completed. 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."

Perhaps I'm just a bitter middle-aged person, but, I would BLAST the name of this shop and this person over every medium I could find. At the very least they owe you an explanation. IMHO they still owe you the service you paid for, some kind of discount for your trouble, and an apology. They absolutely should have called you BEFORE changing your order. At least they didn't just ship it and say "oops".

It's comparable to a car salesman saying "I didn't think you'd like the silver Lexus you ordered so I ordered black instead" or a waiter saying "I know you ordered a Porterhouse but I thought about it and the chicken suits you better".

Sorry, but this just smacks of lazy IMO. Blast away, I say.

[brianggilbert]

I agree with many of the comments posted here, but I would open up a line of dialogue pertaining their reputation and their "web presence" on forums like Tubenet.

I wouldn't necessarily threaten them, but let them know word of this would get around.

Here's a thought - you could make a case for maybe getting your linemates to satin finish their pieces in a similar fashion to yours! If they make it right for you, it would make it worth their while to be the "Official Mouthpiece Replater" for the Phantom Regiment Contra Section!

Brian "who convinced my linemates to all run out and buy Perantucci pieces back in the day" Gilbert

[brianggilbert]

And that's assuming that you're still marching there...

[eupher61]

Certainly you have the right to expect the work to be done AS YOU ORDERED IT before you pay, if that's the way they operate.

You should not have to pay for this work, as done so far. You should be expected to pay for the work you ordered. If it costs the shop extra to redo their work, tough.

If I order a pizza with anchovies, pineapple, and andouille, and it comes with those plus Spam, I have the right to request a new pizza be made. This is no different, except it's probably more appetizing.

[tubaribonephone]

And that's assuming that you're still marching there...

I wish I was still marching.... I was a "rook-out" in 2006. I'm just happy that I at least got to march in a drum corps!!! And happier that I got to march in Phantom!!!!

SUTA

[Rick Denney]

First, take a deep breath. (I'm talking to some of the people posting in this thread, heh, heh.) This is a complicated world, and stuff happens. It happens to me; it happens to you. A little forgiveness goes a long way for minor delays.

Let the anger bleed away before responding. Anger will accomplish nothing except encourage the shop to dig their heels in and turn what could be a minor issue into a war. Do not publish the name of the shop (sorry, Rob, I disagree with you here). That is a disproportionate response that can't be undone. The opportunity for harm mushrooms and for solution vanishes when you take it public.

Once you are calm, respond to the message with something like this:

"No, I'm sorry, but that is not acceptable. You accepted the work to provide a satin-finish bowl, and that is what I want. I'm sorry that message wasn't clear to you, but a satin bowl is what I expect. I'm hoping you can have it ready with the satin bowl by (give a date six weeks from now). If not, let me know now, and please return the mouthpiece so that I can have it done elsewhere."

The shop may come back and try to persuade you that the mouthpiece looks better shiny, but politely stick to your guns since you feel strongly about it. It's really a business decision for them to make at this point: Do it over or eat the cost.

But before doing that, please go back and make doubly sure that your instructions were clear.

Rick "who has pitched many a fit and keeps learning this the hard way" Denney

[kingrob76]

Well, Rick is right in the long run, and what he suggests makes the most sense. Yes, absolutely follow all the standard approaches. However, don't let them make you feel like you're in the wrong - stick to your guns, politely but firmly. You asked for a satinized bowl, you're paying for it, and you deserve to get what you paid for. In my mind there is no room for interpretation in what you asked for from them (I'm making the assumption the instructions on the order were as plain as you stated in the original message). Speak with the owner of the business if at all possible, and do it via telephone and not email.

Of course, if all that fails, if all reasonable and level-headed discussion leads nowhere, I would blast away like there is no tomorrow. I work in an industry where customer satisfaction is first and foremost and I probably have a lower-than-average tolerance for persons and/or organizations who simply shrug their shoulders when something is wrong and say "oh well". Ok, I have no tolerance for it. I also have no tolerance for salespeople who try and convince me I want Widget A when I really want Widget B and have made it very clear I want Widget B.

Chances are they made an honest mistake and simply are hoping you'll take the shiny finish because it's easier for them if you do. I'm quite curious to see how they respond next and what they offer in terms of a "make right".

[windshieldbug]

Go to the shop, look at it carefully, and say, "Well, that's a nice beginning. I would have thought you'd do the satin finish first, and THEN plate over it, but that's just me. When will it be done? It's already 2 weeks past what you'd promised it would be!"

(But I'm known for being a smart@ss... )

You didn't get what you paid for. Doesn't matter how it happened, or whose collective fault it is. Can you imagine leaving a tuba for a satin-finish replating and going to collect it with a trombone slide attached because they thought it would "look better"? And if they didn't believe you, show them a picture of Mr. Oberloh's mouthpiece work!

[MaryAnn]

I have gotten much, MUCH farther with "work not done to spec" by being reasonable. I was not reasonable most of the time when I was younger, and did not get the results I wanted. Now that I'm older, I've learned, most of the time, to just sit on myself until I calm down. Put yourself in their shoes, and assume the best: that they are not trying to "get" you in any way, maybe they were trying to help, but most likely they just did it wrong and are trying to see if they can get away with not doing it over, by saying they thought it looked better that way. Now, that is unacceptable, but you have to approach the *work* and not the *person* ... that is, stick to facts. Maybe the preson is an arrogant a$$hole, but right now what you want is to get the job done the way it was agreed to be done; you don't have to deal with that shop ever again, if you don't want to. I will not deal ever again with a very well-known custom case maker because of work done poorly that cost me a lot of money for nothing. Sometimes you just lose, but in the end you will feel better about it if you have maintained your cool.

What Rick suggested as wording is right on, and I would go with something very similar to that. Personal attacks just make people back into corners and fight.

MA

[Dan Schultz]

.... Satinize the bowl - bowl is sometimes used in reference to the INSIDE of the cup of the mouthpiece. Funnel vs. Bowl, etc...
This is a stretch, but if they were thinking inside of mouthpiece, then that would explain a lot. .....

This is EXACTLY what I thought when I read the original post. Who in The World would want to satinize the inside of the mouthpiece? The original poster did mean the OUTSIDE of the bowl, didn't he?

[tubaribonephone]

.... Satinize the bowl - bowl is sometimes used in reference to the INSIDE of the cup of the mouthpiece. Funnel vs. Bowl, etc...
This is a stretch, but if they were thinking inside of mouthpiece, then that would explain a lot. .....

This is EXACTLY what I thought when I read the original post. Who in The World would want to satinize the inside of the mouthpiece? The original poster did mean the OUTSIDE of the bowl, didn't he?

Yes I did mean the outside and it was very clear under the instructions section of the invoice.

This is actually kinda funny that you mentioned satinizing the inside of the bowl.... I talked with a trombone player who said the he had never heard of satinizing the outside of the bowl. He said that he has only heard that musicians have only done the inside of the bowl for better grip! I don't know if this is popular with trombone players or other brass players but this just didn't make sense to me....

[lgb&dtuba]

The inside of the bowl should always be sanitized. Especially after it's been thoroughly flushed and scrubbed with a brush. If you share it then you should always insist that it be sanitized. Didn't your mothers teach you basic higiene? And if you paid someone to sanitize the bowl you have every right to expect it to have been done. Just polishing it to a shine doesn't make it sanitary. Looks nice, but the germs are still there.

Oh... satinize. Well that's completely different. Never mind.

[MartyNeilan]

Yes, please sanitize the bowl:

[Dan Schultz]

... Oh... satinize. Well that's completely different. Never mind.

That's priceless! I really miss some of the OLD SNL folks.

[Mike Finn]

Yes, please sanitize the bowl:

That is the exact color of our toilet, tub, and sink! I can't wait to replace them all, but we're pergo-ing the floors first (one room at a time).

To the OP, you've already gotten plenty of advice, some of it conflicting, but I'll add my two cents anyway: I'm of the mind that it was an error on their part and they just don't feel like fixing it and hope you won't mind. I really doubt that they would deliberately finish the mouthpiece other than requested because they don't think it would look good, even if that's the excuse they gave you. Just let them know that you (and your girlfriend) would really prefer it to have the satin finish on the outside, and you don't mind waiting a COUPLE more weeks for it to be done right. (Not six more weeks.) Be polite, but firm. I've often had delays in delivering mouthpieces to my customers for various reasons, but most often there have been delays at the buffing and plating stages. I've even had to send damaged mpcs back to be re-done, which can prolong the waiting time by several weeks. Does the shop that has your mpc do the buffing and plating in house, or are they sending it out to be done elsewhere? This could certainly account for the error and the delay.

Good luck,
MF

[tbn.al]

musicians have only done the inside of the bowl for better grip! I don't know if this is popular with trombone players or other brass players but this just didn't make sense to me....

If this has become a grip issue then we must defer to Doc.....

Q: What's the difference between pink and purple?
A: The grip.

[Chriss2760]

Hey Mike, that is a seriously nicely finished piece of work. Great job.