Phone Troubles at WWBW

[Roger Lewis]

We have installed a new phone system at The Woodwind and The Brasswind and are working the bugs out of it. My extension is not working properly, so if you need to reach me please call my cell phone - 269-506-5312.

Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.

Roger

[SplatterTone]

I gotta tell you there are more problems than just the phone system. The order I placed on 9/6/2009 for something "in stock and ready to ship" is still sitting in limbo. I've called about it twice. I had a previous order that sat in limbo for a long time. I kept checking on it, then one day my entire order history was gone.

I don't know where wwbw is getting its technical help, but somebody needs to pay more attention to what they are getting (or not getting).

[Roger Lewis]

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with us. If you ordered it on-line, or even through our phone representatives, if there was only one and two people ordered it at about the same time, the order with the lowest number gets preference. I don't believe there is any system in the world that can avoid that.

I would like to know what it was you ordered, because sometimes we have items in the South Bend location that might not show on the web site. Your item may be in stock, but backordered because our computer can't see this inventory.

Call me on my cell (as listed above) and let me see if there is something I can do to correct this situation. I'll do my best.

Roger

[euphoniumist789]

I to had an awful experience ordering from Woodwind and Brasswind, and will never order from there again. I bought a defective gig bag from them over the summer, called to return it, paid to have it shipped back, and then never heard from them agan. I had to call them three times in the month following to see what happened to my refund. Finally they said they received the case, and would credit my credit card. It never got credited, I finally called back today, and was on the phone for over twenty minutes. They said my credit card was never credited, and they had not yet processed the return, contradicting what I had been told two months ago, and finally after all that they never even apologized.

[jamsav]

Guys !! Your biting off the hand that feeds you. Roger is one of our sponsors- if you've got or had an issue, take it up with him. He's offered his personal cell phone for Gods Sake ! This isn t the place to blast him.
My experience(s) with WWBW have all been fine. They cover 100s if not thousands of transactions weekly, I'm sure most go fine ! Think twice, post once !!!

[WC8KCY]

Regarding WWBW...I've ordered online, ordered over the telephone, and visited their store in South Bend many times and have received the most professional service every time. Yes, times have changed and the inventory of items at the South Bend store doesn't seem as extensive as it once was, but the staff I've encountered have sincerely tried their best to provide an excellent shopping experience.

My local music stores, even though they're good-sized, don't have many tuba-related items on hand other than Bach 18 and 24AW mouthpieces. I'd be stuck waiting and waiting for special orders through my local dealers if it weren't for online retailers like WWBW. For the low brass player, they remain a great resource.

[TubaGuy1982]

i personally would like too thank Roger for posting his cell number on this website....its easy to get ahold of him and he is very knowledgeable about tubas and accesories....i have really enjoyed the tuba i bought from WWBW and the jet tone mouthpiece that i bought from Roger a few months back
have had nothing but a positive experiece with there store and there online service
will definitly be visiting the store in the future

[SplatterTone]

It's too bad there are those who assume any advice is necessarily criticism. Most people have the brains to differentiate between advice for a company and criticism of an individual. As much as we all love and adore the owner of this web site, there are those who occasionally offer up advice on something that isn't working as well as it should. Most of us have the good sense to recognize this is not a personal attack.

I don't call the sales staff at wwbw and bug them about the chronic inventory control problems. I'm sure the sales staff have more than enough to keep them busy without tracking down inventory control problems which are properly the domain of the IT and shipping and receiving staff. As one who has ordered a lot from wwbw, I know they have had problems for years. I tend to let it go as being the result of dealing with a store that values its sales staff and the walk-in customer more than a no-name Internet order from somebody who just wants to get something.

I don't expect the Internet service at wwbw to ever come close to that of a place like Mouthpiece Express which makes its living from the Internet. However, it is still appropriate to let somebody know there is a chronic problem. I can appreciate the attention wwbw gives to its sales staff, but more attention needs to be given to the IT side of things.