Scott Russ Music, Inc.

Tell us why hereWe believe there was a miscommunication between this customer and our staff concerning exactly what we were going to do to his instrument, and what the customer thought should be done. We would have liked to have been told that there was a problem after the instrument was returned to him so we would have had an opportunity to correct any issues before the customer tried to solve them on his own. While not admitting any wrongdoing on our part, we strive to keep our customers satisfied. As a result, we will gladly refund the customer the $600 as he requested(check #[redacted]).

Review: I wanted an overhaul/rebuild of my saxophone but I received mainly a standard pad job. I still have two frozen pivot screws, a couple weak springs on the horn and one half broke spring-(side D) which needed to be replaced. I also had the two smallest tone holes on the top of the horn (high F and high F trill) which had slight damage. These could have been rebuilt by soldering a copper ring and would have been done so by another sax shop like saxquest as part of the overhaul. Two of the pads (bis Bb and one other) were dry fitted and not shellaced in but that is minor considering there were still leaks all over the horn. The lower stack was not adequately set up with thicker pads which are often used on vintage horns. That's why they put a clamp on there so tight you could barely get it off the horn. Because those cheap pads wouldn't cover. I needed the tone holes leveled with state of the art tools which I don't have and the several issues addressed which I mentioned. Because I didn't spend another 1100 bucks and get the horn stripped and outfitted with Roo pads, they just did the bare minimum pad job with lowest cost materials and overlooked these primary issues. Based on this I was nowhere closer to when I sent the horn out. I had to repad the horn again myself with materials from music medic-and one day when I get the money, I will take it to saxquest or tenormadness to do the other things needed.Desired Settlement: 600.00 refund to my paypal account [redacted]

Business

Response:

We are sorry the customer was not satisfied with the overhaul we did on his horn, a Selmer Mark VI Tenor Saxophone. We maintain a policy to give a full one year warranty on any overhaul done in the store and also welcome any specific requests or recommendations from the customer. We never received any specific recommendations or orders from the customer even though he spoke with Rod, our repair technician, at length when Rod described the repair process. Rod has been repairing horns for over 50 years receiving rave reviews from top saxophonists including Stanley Turrentine, Michael Brecker, Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz, to name just a few. Many of the issues mentioned by the customer are options which are chosen at the discretion of the repair tech doing the work. We believe many of these options the customer mentioned, were suggested by other repair techs who seek to discredit others and steal away a good customer. Those other repair techs were mentioned in the original letter. The issues were as follows: 1. Removing frozen pivot screws: Our technician opted to leave any frozen screws if the keys could be removed from the opposite side. Sawing into the posts to remove the frozen screw would not only deface the horn, but seriously devalue the horn brining the value from about $10,000 to closer to $5,000. 2. Replacing older springs: Our technician opted to leave older springs when they were working well because the replacement springs are made of inferior quality metal and tend to lose tension quicker and have a weaker response. Springs were replaced when absolutely necessary, also keeping more original parts and a higher resale value on the horn. 3. Filling or soldering irregular tone holes: Again, in the opinion of our repair tech, irregular tone holes were left if the pads could be properly seated to the irregularity. Filling a tone hole not only changes the tuning of the note emanating from the hole, but drastically devalues the horn. In this case a $10,000 horn would be reduced to a value of about $4,500. Soldering tops on tone holes can work to some extent, but not only are these parts not original to the horn, they will lower the tuning of those notes and the entire horn will tune low. 4. The customer also claims that the horn was leaking: All 4 of our repair team tried the horn before it was shipped and found no leaks. In fact, we all thought the horn was spectacular. If any leaks occurred, they happened after the horn left our shop. Correcting leaks is included in our one year warranty. The owner just needs to return the horn to us so we can take care of the leaks. 5. The owner repadded the horn himself using materials from music medic: We cannot warranty a repad job done by another individual, but if the customer had asked us to use materials from music medic we would have been happy to do so since we carry their products. 6. The lower stack did not have thicker pads: Using thicker pads in the lower stack is a technique used by unskilled repair techs who rely on heavy clamps to seat a pad. Any good repair tech can seat a thin pad properly without using clamps. The advantage to using all the same thickness pads on the horn is that all the keys work in unison at the same height and the pitch is not altered. We are not against doing any specific type of repair but would not do them without consulting the customer first, especially if it would devalue the instrument. Our policy is to perform the best repair possible without permanently altering the instrument. We would love the opportunity to make this right and redo anything the customer had issues with. Please contact Scott R[redacted], owner of [redacted]c, at ###-###-####. Thank you: Musically yours; Scott R[redacted] Fax: ###-###-#### Website: [redacted] Email: [redacted] Like Us On Facebook: [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here] 1)The above response begs the question as to what actually was done for 900 dollars plus 180 for shipping round trip, besides a standard pad job replacing mediocre materials with the same quality materials. SRM saved $ on shop hours and materials by opting out of the bench work but I did not share the savings. 2)I did not send this horn out for an appraisal I wanted the above issues addressed: key swedging, body tube alignment, tone hole repair, spring replacement, installation of top quality pads with dome metal resonators, installation of top quality shellac, installation of Selmer style m.o.p.s repair/replace frozen screws, leveling key cups, post alignment pads t.d.center etc. etc. :a mechanical rebuild. [redacted] used to do this and more for 800 bucks. He would take the body tube apart and using heat tap it into a mandrel to straighten the body tube and leave it there for a couple days. 3)It's nice to know that SRM guarantees work for a year that they opted out of doing in the first place. R.B. spent an hour on the phone trying to get me to spend another 1100 to strip the plating which I did not want to do and put in Roo Pads. That's a fortune to me. Should have just told me that in the first place so I could have opted out as well instead of replacing pads with life in them for no good reason and ignoring the mechanical rebuild. 4)I am not shipping this horn out again unless someone decides to lay out the 10 grand SRM says it's worth. I spent 900.00 on the horn plus 180.00 on shipping. then another 100. myself at MM to put in the pads I wanted myself.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Business has not responded, has not forwarded refund

Business

Response:

Tell us why hereWe believe there was a miscommunication between this customer and our staff concerning exactly what we were going to do to his instrument, and what the customer thought should be done. We would have liked to have been told that there was a problem after the instrument was returned to him so we would have had an opportunity to correct any issues before the customer tried to solve them on his own. While not admitting any wrongdoing on our part, we strive to keep our customers satisfied. As a result, we will gladly refund the customer the $600 as he requested(check #[redacted]).

Review: Musical Instrument was presented as "fit for school band", and is unfit. Does not play notes correctly.Desired Settlement: I called [redacted] and asked for a full refund 3 hours after purchase and was denied.

Business

Response:

There was a miscommunication between [redacted] and myself. Our policy is to give a refund anytime the customer requests and she is coming for a full refund today. I told [redacted] that I would give her daughter a free lesson due to the fact that she was possibly using incorrect fingering. I thought that she said that she would try to bring her daughter back if she had the time and we both had a misunderstanding. We are family owned and operated since 1947 and the last thing that we want is an unhappy customer.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

The credit has not yet been posted my credit card account. At the time the credit hits the matter will be resolved.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

See attached. Firm sent a receipt showing full refund.