Trying to Be a Grown Up

Last year I mentioned an issue we had with C's French Horn (mentioned in the third bullet here).

Since that nasty experience, I've avoided the instrument company. I cringe with every check I write to them (and make sure - just as I did before all this - that the check is NEVER late).

This summer, C's teacher told me it was time to move up to a better instrument. I was confused. I was told when the whole instrument thing started that these were great instruments, would take them through, etc. Apparently that is not really the case, especially in French Horn land. Single French Horns are pricey enough; doubles are, that's right, almost double.

While I was first annoyed that this wasn't wholly communicated at the start (as I might have been one to just go for the better instrument to start rather than having to do this swap thing), my bigger concern was how to deal with the instrument company. I can ask the music department to be more upfront with incoming students at another time.

I researched double-horns online. Ouch. From a straight cost perspective, ouch. Buy a new one and keep paying on the current one? Not in the budget. (Especially since another added cost this year is that the small group instruction lessons we were promised through 8th grade have stopped and now all 7th grade and up musicians have to pay for weekly private lessons. School budget cuts.)

I knew that the instrument company claims to do trade ups, etc., on the same contract, so as much as I disliked the company, I made a phone call. I felt stuck by the rental contract. But dealing with people we don't necessarily like is part of being an adult. I'm trying to move on here, trying to be that grownup.

I left a message. No call back.

I called again. No call back.

I called three more times. No call back.

This week, C's teacher called them. She sent me an email this morning, and without telling me the entire conversation (which I suspect was nasty on their part), said I should not expect a call back. They are refusing to do further business with me. C's teacher is great and is rather floored at their response. She's had a bad experience with them before this, too.

If I return the French Horn now, it's a straight loss of $1387.50. Yup. Almost $1400. To buy the rest of it out so I don't have to deal with them anymore is $1276.50. Then I'd need to buy the new horn somewhere. I looked online about selling this one, and there appears to be a glut of French Horns available for sale (not a time people are buying, and a time when people are trying to sell lots of things in general). No matter what route I go, it's a loss.

And this company is taking advantage in a tough economic time, ignoring the needs of one of the music students it likes to claim is so important to them.

Looking back on that heated exchange last year, both sides said things they probably shouldn't have. I can see that. But I stand by my original issue of the company returning a "repaired" instrument to me with a pencil inside. I suspect the company is digging in their heels so much because they know they were wrong on some level. Whether it was the original error of the pencil in the tubing while they were resoldering a strut or accusing C of sabotaging his instrument, it doesn't matter.

I've thanked C's teacher profusely and left a message for the head of the music department about trying to do right by a student. Isn't that the bigger point here? Getting kids involved with music, and keeping them involved?

If C didn't actually enjoy playing his horn, I'd just be done with all of this. I would.

Oh, and that solder point? It's broken again.

Sigh.