It happens that good brand product may come with big defects. I purchased the Buffet Crampon E-11 France Intermediate Bb Clarinet from Amazon for $1,201 with free shipping sold by WeinerMusic on June 11, 2013. It took a week to deliver. When I tried to assemble the clarinet, I noticed there is something wrong with it. I took the box to my clarinet teacher who checked it and indicated there might be serious issues, thus he suggested me to take it to a local music store for evaluation and repair. The technician at the store (Northridge Music Center, 7871 Greenback Lane, Citrus Heights, CA 95610) saw numerous problems: (1) The corks were oversized too much even for a brand new clarinet, (2) The cork connecting the bell had several cracks to it, and (3) The ligature screws were rusty (both).
According to the technician, this instrument was shipped with significant defect. It is a quality control problem for both the manufacturer Buffet and the seller WeinerMusic. Buffet should not let it out of the factory, and WeinerMusic should the check the assembly before shipping. Buffet is a very good and trusted brand but this product was totally unacceptable. WeinerMusic did a very poor job for product inspection at shipment. Ironically, WeinerMusic said "Remember, every instrument is serviced & play tested. Mark Kasten heads the servicing department, call him with questions & concerns."
I contacted Amazon for return, and it was authorized. It costs me $20 to ship it back to WeinerMusic via UPS. It took a while to get the refund, but I get only $1,176 rather than the full price of $1,201. There is no explanation by Amazon or WeinerMusic why there is $25 less. Since it is a small amount, I don't bother to ask; I already spend too much time for the return process. In summary: poor product, poor vendor, poor service.
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