I KNOW what’s wrong with my trumpet!
February 24th, 2008 | by mbhunter |A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to trying to fix my trumpet. The spring for the water key (”spit valve”) broke a year ago or so, and currently a rubber band is holding the water key closed. Solution: buy a water key spring, and replace it.
I go into the one music store in town that I know, and look around for repair kits. These usually contain valve springs, corks, felts, valve guides, and water key springs. None to be found. I approach the gentleman behind the counter, and wait for him to get done talking with his buddy.
Him: “Can we help you?”
Me: “Do you sell trumpet repair kits?”
Him: “Repair kits?”
Me: “A kit that has springs, felts, corks …”
Him: “We don’t do that.”
Me: “You don’t?”
Him: “How it works is you bring in your horn and we’ll give you an estimate of how much it is to fix it.”
Me: “I know what’s wrong with it. The water key spring needs to be replaced.”
Him: “Water key?”
His buddy: “Spit valve.”
Him: “Well, we don’t know your horn. We can’t tell you without seeing it.”
Me: “I know what’s wrong with it! There’s a rubber band around the water key. Couldn’t be any clearer.”
Him: “The owner’s been doing this for 30 years, and he’s not going to sell you the part, so bring your horn in and it will be fixed.”
Me: “I can get the springs on eBay for a few bucks! I can do that myself.”
Him: “That’s fine. Have at it. We won’t sell you the part, though.”
This irritated me, and still does a little bit. Why wouldn’t he just sell me the part? Then it hit me: He wasn’t catering to cheap do-it-yourselfers because if he did, he’d probably run himself out of business.
He has a skill: repairing musical instruments. There’s as much art as technical know-how; the fixes have to look good. If he’s been in business 30 years, he’s probably quite good at it. He can charge a lot for it; it’s high-margin. People obviously pay it, or he wouldn’t have been in business for 30 years. He has a local market, and he’s more than likely the best choice in town. His store has a good location. His competitive advantage is his service.
By not selling me the parts, he’s forcing me to either pay for his repair services or not pay for them. If I don’t, others will, and he can get their instruments back to them faster. He really can’t compete as a parts dealer because he has too much competition for that market now: the Internet. Nor would he really want to. Anyone can sell parts. So, he doesn’t compete. He’ll let someone else take low-margin customers like myself. They have to have volume. If he sold parts to me and other folks, it would undermine his repair business, which is his bread and butter.
Some repairs really do need expertise, but most probably need only a special tool or two, the parts, and a little patience. Replacing a water key spring is one of the latter repairs. (The parts are on order now.) The same people that would buy their own parts probably also would search around for price, so he’d only typically sell them at a thin margin. He doesn’t want to let word get out that he does that. People would bypass him to get to his supply of parts.
In general, this is a good way to go about business. Cater to people with money in your local market, solve their problems, and charge appropriately for the service. Don’t cater to people who will undercut you every chance they get or sell things that are price-sensitive.
19 Responses to “I KNOW what’s wrong with my trumpet!”
By Meg from All About Appearances on Feb 24, 2008 | Reply
You hit the nail on the head!
But you know what, customer service is still a lot of it, and that’s what those people don’t get.
I play woodwinds, mostly the saxes, so it’s usually worth it for me to just take them to a repair guy since it gets complicated very fast.
Fortunately, I’m very happy with the new repair guy in town. He’s great to talk to, really shows you what was wrong, what that means as a player, and how he has fixed it. And he definitely knows his stuff. I’ve started bringing in all my instruments to get him to look over them because they come back better than new.
Fortunately, his prices are great, and when he fixed up my flute in a few minutes, he didn’t charge me since it was such an easy fix. (I then bought a flute case sleeve from him for $10 because 1. I wanted want eventually anyway, but 2. it was less than half what I expected to pay for the repair.)
He really takes pride in his work. He polishes the instruments before giving them back (he says to use Pledge on lacquered instruments, btw) and even filled in the logo on my clarinet when I had brought it to him for a tuneup.
I say all this because it got me thinking, if the repair guy in your area had such great customer service and prices, maybe it would still be worth going to him for such simple things. I bet that the guy I know would hardly charge you anything for the spring and his service (heck, this guy would probably sell you the part and give you some tips on how to repair it best).
And the you’d be like me and spreading the word to everyone in the area.
And while I’m used to ordering supplies online, I’ve started coming to him because his prices are very reasonable and I’d rather support a local business where the owner treats me like a friend and not… well, I would say customer, but that would be a step up from a lot of businesses that seem to think that I work for them. (So far, I’ve bought the flute case sleeve for $10, and an alto sax case for $99, so he’s definitely making money from me before I even buy the reeds he has ordered for me.)
By Early Retirement Extreme on Feb 24, 2008 | Reply
This is similar to how watches are always sold with huge bands and how stores charge a $30 to fix them. It’s a racket, I swear.
By Kaye on Feb 24, 2008 | Reply
My husband was quoted over $400 to replace the water pump in his car. He bought the Chilton manual for his car, about $80 in parts and did teh job himself for a total of some time and about $110.00. He didn’t do it as quickly as the repair shop, but it worked, and we saved over $300. It sometimes is well worth the trouble to investigate if you think you can fix something yourself. And yes…neither of us have died operating the car yet, so he must have been successful. =)
By Tyler on Feb 24, 2008 | Reply
I feel the same way about service professionals. There was a time when I would do my own taxes, but now that I have multiple businesses and sources of income, it is in my best interest financially to have a professional do them.
I’ve saved thousands of dollars in taxes over the past two years by paying a professional about $500.00/year.
This goes to the previous comment regarding woodwind instruments.
By Catherine Shaffer on Feb 24, 2008 | Reply
Okay, I don’t think you’re allowed to be angry with him until you take your horn to the shop and get an estimate on the repair cost. (The estimate is free, right?) See, I myself have had the experience occasionally of going in for a repair and being gifted with free repairs or other little extras. The last time I wanted to get a battery replaced for my watch, I took it to my favorite watch place, and the guy took it back, twiddled with it for a good five minutes, then came back and told me to put my wallet away. He said that the battery wasn’t dead, it just needed cleaning, which he did for free.
I’ve also always had a lot of success with instrument repair shops. I doubt that they need to overcharge you for minor repairs to stay afloat. There are always plenty of major repairs to go around.
All of this is to say that I think this is an unfinished rant. You have to prove they were going to cheat you by taking your horn in. Good luck!
By mbhunter on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your comments!
Catherine: I don’t know that the estimate was free. It could have easily been me bringing in the horn, he looks at it, determines the problem is exactly as I’ve stated, and “The estimate is $35. You owe me $15 before I’ll give you your horn back, but I’ll apply this amount to the repair.” I didn’t have my horn at the time, and it’s a 20-mile drive to the shop from my house.
Might he give me a break on the repair (say, $5)? Sure, but I doubt he’d do that on the first repair. I’ve gotten breaks in different contexts, but only because I’m a good customer (i.e., spent hundreds or thousands, in some cases tens of thousands of dollars). This guy doesn’t know me from Adam, and he doesn’t know if I’m ever going to come back.
Overall, I wasn’t irritated by the prospect that he’d cheat me. I was irritated (not so much now) that he wouldn’t do things my way, which would be to sell me the part. Businesspeople have to do things that work for themselves and their customers, and if it works for him, great, but I also have the right not to accept his terms.
By Meg from All About Appearances on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
I’m going to have to second Catherine on this one.
In my experience, estimates for this sort of thing are free — though you should always check, of course.
And since you don’t even know what it will have cost, it’s a bit early to think that he was going to cheat you.
Would he have fixed it for free? I don’t know. I didn’t expect the repairman I saw to fix my flute for free — but he did. I had seen him once before, but I wasn’t exactly ol’ pals with him, either.
Did he know that I was going to come back? Did he know that I was going to tell all my fellow band geeks about him? No. He didn’t even say, “Spread the word and I’ll do this for free.” But I did.
By mbhunter on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Meg: Maybe I’m shortchanging what this guy would do. It might have been exactly like your experience with your repair guy. Maybe it’s a trumpet player thing.
By Meg from All About Appearances on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
LOL! The funny thing is that it does sound like a trumpet player attitude! We saxophonists are a bit more laid back… or so the stereotype goes.
Of course, if he does turn out to be a jerk, then please rant away.
By mbhunter on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Meg, I was talking about myself
Q: How do you know if you’re talking to a trumpet player?
A: He shook your hand and said, “I’m better than you.”
By Meg from All About Appearances on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Yeah, I actually got that ; )
And yes, great joke.
By The Debt Eliminator on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Mbhunet – Hopefully, you got a good repair guy. I too find a good repair guy for my watch. He does service for less cost than others and do it very well, but rarely i fail to get some much variety or standard spares from him (Like straps, case and dial).
By Jesse on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
Wow no joke I had a similar experience with my trombone. Having a slide is one of the more treacherous things to have on an instrument and lends itself to being bent, dented, etc etc. In any case repair is one thing that I never skimp on, thats for sure. I should have added that to my “things not to skimp on” article probably
By pete @ biblemoneymatters on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
I’ve got an old violin that was cracked and needed some repairs. The violin wasn’t a particularly nice one, but had some sentimental value. When I brought it in to get checked, I found that to have it fixed would cost just about as much as to get a new one. Needless to say I won’t be getting it fixed.
By Money Blue Book on Feb 25, 2008 | Reply
MBH
Wow…that’s exactly what happened to me when I got my oil change. I asked the fella how much it would cost for labor only to replace a set of break pads if I bought the break pads on my own online. The guy started going into this long winded speech to dissuade me and said they didn’t do that and that I would be best served letting them provide the “genuine parts” for me. I eventually gave up and went elsewhere. I guess everyone always wants to make the sale. Except they’ll likely alienate customers in the process.
By Neo on Feb 26, 2008 | Reply
He may not have been in the business of selling parts, but at least he could have made a couple of dollars in the deal. In buying from ebay, you would have shipping charges and a wait time to deal with. Buying directly from a local business likely saves you time and money.
Additionally, it was clear that you were not going to bring in the horn and have him do the repair on it, so he lost all possibility of making any money off of you. If he had just sold you the part you were looking for, he could have made something. He may not be a parts dealer, but doing a one off “favor” like this could win him a future customer on a more expensive repair, or even a new instrument. You’re probably less likely to shop at his store after the experience you have, than if you had gotten what you were looking for.
By Kaye on Feb 26, 2008 | Reply
mbhunter: Funny comment about the “I’m better than you” My husband is a trumpet player and he and I both can appreciate the stereotype. =)