Re: [Harp-L] Hering Repair USA Department announcement

["Vern Smith" <jevern@xxxxxxx>]

There has never been anything wrong with Hering Harmonicas.

There has been a lot wrong with Hering customer service.  My 
impression has been that eager and competent dealers and 
repairmen have quit in disgust over Hering unresponsiveness.

I started out using Herings in Hands-Free-Chromatics but 
quit when deliveries were unreliable.

There have been false starts. The president visits SPAH, 
promises are made, then nothing changes.  I hope that Dave's 
experience is different.

Vern

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe and Cass Leone" <leone@xxxxxxxx>
To: "David Payne" <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Hering Repair USA Department 
announcement


> On Jun 5, 2009, at 11:58 AM, David Payne wrote:
>
> > Gang,
> >
> > The general concensus and my experience in the past has 
> > been that  Hering harmonicas were, as a rule, very 
> > responsive, but there was a  considerable obstacle in the 
> > United States of maintaining those  instruments and many 
> > were frustrated because there was no repair  department 
> > in the country to send the instrument to.
>
>      s.j. That's correct. I play the Hering and I repair 
> my  own..when and if they need it..which is no more 
> frequent than other  makes.
> > Hering has realized this and has made an effort to 
> > rectify this  situation by establishing a repair 
> > department in the United States  to handle repairs, thus 
> > when customers purchase a Hering harmonica,  they can 
> > have the confidence of knowing that there is a local 
> > entity representing the company for after-the-sale 
> > service to  maintain those instruments.
>
>     s.j. My information is that Hering has tried to get a 
> repair  facility going several times but the vendors who 
> have undertaken to  do this work..didn't do it. In which 
> case, Hering got blamed for  shoddy products. This is 
> unfortunate as their products are not  shoddy. Considering 
> their comparative prices, they are a value buy.
> > That entity is me. Hering and I recently worked out an 
> > agreement  where I am the company's official repair 
> > representative in the  United States. I am in a position 
> > to offer that now with life  changes in recent weeks, I 
> > am in a far better position to organize  such an effort 
> > and get the work done in a respectable time frame.  In 
> > the past, I was managing Elk River Harmonicas, plus 
> > working full  time in the news media. Thanks to meager 
> > conditions in the news  industry, I am now a full-time 
> > harmonica man...
> >
> > Official Hering repair is one of many offerings of Elk 
> > River  Harmonicas and nothing else about Elk will change 
> > in the immediate  future. My relationship with Seydel is 
> > unchanged and I will  continue to offer authorized Seydel 
> > repair for Elk River customers  (non-Elk customers work 
> > with Seydel USA prez Rupert Oysler for  those services).
> >
> > I am also now an authorized Hering dealer. That means I 
> > will be  selling Hering harmonicas as well and will be 
> > customizing the  Hering 1923 diatonic and, at some point, 
> > Hering chromatics. Those  will be on the Web site soon.
> >
> > With the lack of a Hering repair department in country, 
> > there are  some folks who have done Hering repair on the 
> > side. If you have  somebody you are already using for 
> > Hering repair and are happy, by  all means continue that 
> > relationship if that is what you wish. You  can, of 
> > course, use whomever you want.
> >
> > Hering is sending me the initial parts from Brazil and 
> > will build  over time according to customer needs. Before 
> > harmonicas are sent  to me, I want to make sure I have 
> > parts on hand for the repair to  avoid any confusing 
> > delays, especially for the first few months as  the finer 
> > details are worked out. I know there are many of the 
> > older Hering chromatics out there with cracked combs (my 
> > forte  repair) and those customers can typically send 
> > with impunity as  there is no need for specific parts to 
> > make that repair.
> >
> > You can contact me at dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Dave
> >
> > ______________________________
> > Dave Payne Sr.
> > Elk River Harmonicas
> > Hering Repair
> > PO Box 3382
> > Parkersburg, WV 26103
> > _______________________________________________
> > Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> > Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> > http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>
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