Concertina Connection wants Return Shipping for Warranty work?

[Lolwut]

I’ve never had a company asked me to pay for the return shipping all warranty service, usually it’s the other way around and they offered to pay for your shipping.

 

I’m inclined to pay it because that’s how European I am but still, is this usual?

 

https://imgur.com/a/SFbt8Sq

 

https://imgur.com/a/uurP4lP

[Theo]

I think you would have to read the terms of your warranty.

[Mikefule]

The law and usual practice will vary from country to country. The first thing to do is read your terms and conditions and the next thing to do is have a friendly chat or exchange of emails with the dealer.

 

I deal with warranty claims for  UK retailer.  We get large numbers of false warranty claims: no fault found, user error, lack of maintenance, accidental damage, etc.  One of our processes is to ask a customer to charge an inspection fee which we can refund if inspection reveals a warranty fault. Sometimes we insist on a customer returning an item at their own expense. 

 

The balance is between providing a fair and accessible warranty service, and protecting the business against the costs arising from invalid warranty claims.

 

We normally give a fair hearing and better service to people who make friendly inquiries and act straight with us.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I cannot give advice on this issue; only to say I know it is: always a concern when things are still under a warranty of any kind, to know what you should do.. to my mind once items are out of warranty it is then easier to attend to problems one's self.. depending upon what is wrong with instrument itself. Because, of course if you do that now.. you will void warranty completely. I say be civil, patient, and things will get sorted out eventually.

[Wally Carroll]

As a maker this a tough issue because shipping is so very expensive if the instrument is going to be fully insured (for me this is $75 within the States and $400 overseas!) but it is not something that is required as the buyer is free to pick it up in person.   From my perspective, I am producing the instrument and the buyer is asking me to ship it to them for their convenience (so that they don’t have to make the trip).   I’m happy to fix any issues, but I can’t pay for shipping because that has not been priced in.  Similarly, I wouldn’t expect a local business to pay a courier  to come to my house to pick up a defective item that I purchased from their shop.  I would assume that the Concertina Connection is operating under a similar premise.  

[Clive Thorne]

I would hope anyone selling/shipping a new or reconditioned item (ie with some sort of warranty) that turns out to be defective to cover the full cost of the repair whilst in the warranty period.

 

If shipping is too expensive then they should cover the cost of the corrective work being done by a local trusted repairer.

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Clive Thorne

[d.elliott]

For repaired or refurbished concertinas there are too many variables for a hard and fast policy. You can contract to say re-pad, re-valve and adjust tuning. However, the instrument is well over 100 years old. What do you do if an endplate bushing drops down once the owner starts playing the concertina? whose fault? or a reed suddenly starts to go flat, a cracked reed? I think you have to separate new made from vintage instruments in this argument.  On a refurbishment you have to consider the scope of work. If the end plate bushings have been replaced and one drops into the instrument, then it may well be a workmanship issue.

 

Basically, it is a matter of T's & C's, the contract and what is the agreement, where does the risk lie. 

[Stephen Chambers]

It seems that Lolwut joined, posted, and last visited the forum on 15th October, which suggests that they don't actually care what answers anybody offers to their query anyway.

 

Indeed, I see "lolwut", meaning "lol what?", is usually said to indicate "comedic indifference to whatever was said. Also, if you don't care what was being said. Useful if you are in a place you shouldn't be." (Urban Dictionary)

 

Enough said, I'd doubt their bona fides.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Stephen Chambers
Edited to add (Urban Dictionary)

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

Yes, this is unusual posting .. particularly the links they provide.. I only briefly tapped on the links and it goes to a sort of application of some kind..( called Imgur! )

EVERYONE be  cautious about this I also say. 

 

[Clive Thorne]

3 hours ago, d.elliott said:

For repaired or refurbished concertinas there are too many variables for a hard and fast policy. You can contract to say re-pad, re-valve and adjust tuning. However, the instrument is well over 100 years old. What do you do if an endplate bushing drops down once the owner starts playing the concertina? whose fault? or a reed suddenly starts to go flat, a cracked reed? I think you have to separate new made from vintage instruments in this argument.  On a refurbishment you have to consider the scope of work. If the end plate bushings have been replaced and one drops into the instrument, then it may well be a workmanship issue.

 

Basically, it is a matter of T's & C's, the contract and what is the agreement, where does the risk lie. 

Well yes, I'd agree that any warranty can only cover the work done. And I can see how a vintage one might be different. I guess you have to be very specific in the agreement, as you say.

 

I've had the same situation with machine tools. You do some work on the electrical side, say on a 40 year old machine, and suddenly the customer thinks that anything going wrong is your responsibilty.

 

[Wally Carroll]

On 10/22/2022 at 10:45 AM, Clive Thorne said:

I would hope anyone selling/shipping a new or reconditioned item (ie with some sort of warranty) that turns out to be defective to cover the full cost of the repair whilst in the warranty period.

 

If shipping is too expensive then they should cover the cost of the corrective work being done by a local trusted repairer.

 

I would agree with this. Of course, most concertina owners aren’t going to have a local repair person that they can go to in such an event.  Fortunately, most things that can go wrong can be corrected by the owner with a little instruction and the necessary parts. Because of all the moving parts and tight tolerances, every concertina will eventually experience some kind of an issue, and so I would suggest that a potential owner who is not willing to open the instrument and make this type of guided repair should strongly consider playing a different instrument. I include a repair kit with my instruments and have created several repair videos that address the issues I feel comfortable having my buyers perform. 

[Ken_Coles]

As always, I am impressed with all the repair people and makers who share their time and experience with us. Thank you!

 

Wally Carroll makes a telling point - concertina ownership comes with ample opportunity to become a mechanic.

 

Ken

[Stephen Chambers]

46 minutes ago, Ken_Coles said:

Wally Carroll makes a telling point - concertina ownership comes with ample opportunity to become a mechanic.

 

Which is how people (like me) end up as concertina repairers (for 52 years now).

 

The first one I ever had was a 30-key Lachenal that had absolutely everything wrong with it, including a serious degree of rust, and a heavy infestation of moth and woodworm - frankly I'd only consider using it as a "donor" for spare parts these days - but it taught me a lot!

[d.elliott]

my first attempt at fixing was a brass reeded 48k English, 24 leak bellows, split mahogany ends. Tuned in the old pitch. The valves would have been decorative if they had been clean. 

[Paul_Hardy]

My first attempt at fixing was https://pghardy.net/concertina/lachenal_52313/lachenal_52313.html, bought as "for parts or not working" for the express purpose of learning concertina repair on an instrument that I couldn't make much worse than it was at the time.

 

It turned out a bit of a challenge, but a good introduction to concertina fettling. It's for sale now at a cheap £250 if anyone is interested - Old and basic but quite playable.