Re: [Harp-L] Harrison Harmonicas - Give Them A Break!

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary:

I used to work at HH as you know. I can tell you who wrote that text you quoted. 
It was me. I don't think I've ever been perceived as fussy.

What strikes me is not so much what is said, but who is saying it.  Gary, you're 
the Suzuki USA repair department. I know when I've had a relationship with a 
harmonica company -- I've had working relationships with three harmonica 
manufacturers, directly employed at some time by two of them and dealer and good 
friend of the other -- I have never gone to a competitor's Web site, pulled off 
some text and bashed them publicly about it. At each of those three companies, 
we treated our competitors with class, it was a code we lived by. When I was 
working at HH, we even had one competitor go through our list of endorsees, 
contact every one and offer them endorsement deals... and they put out feelers 
to lure away key employees. That's the kind of unspoken stuff we dealt with. We 
never said a word. Even now that I finally get around to mentioning that it 
happened, a year later, I'm not saying who it was.

Here is the story behind that policy: We had one instrument come in once for an 
adjustment and it had dried, chewed up pizza inside. It was really gross. That 
was the hygiene issue. We never mentioned, or thought of developing a 
no-spoiled-pizza-policy before, so we cleaned it out, made the adjustment and 
for the future, we put it on the Web site, to prevent additional instruments 
coming in with pizzas inside. The point is, "please wash your harmonica out 
before you send it." That's not too much to ask.  My point in writing that last 
line about returning dirty ones was if we ever got one with a slice of spoiled 
pizza inside, we'd send it back and politely ask them to please wash it out. 
Spoiled pizza and the like was what we meant by dirty instruments.

I need to make fully clear that I have never seen anything but class from Suzuki 
and they always have had my highest tokens of respect. My view of Suzuki in that 
regard is unchanged by this. I'm just really shaking my head in amazement on 
this one.  I will give you the benefit of the doubt and hope that message was 
accidentally CC'ed to Harp-L or something...

David
www.elkriverharmonicas.com 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elk-River-Harmonicas/143747822356030




________________________________
From: Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Robert Coble <robertpcoble@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Harp-L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, April 26, 2011 3:15:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Harrison Harmonicas - Give Them A Break!

I just went to the Harrison Harmonica website to have a look around--
They are, of course, not currently accepting any new orders, so I think
anyone who has spent money ordering a harp might be able to auction their
interest off on eBay (or the usual harmonica web pages, this being one of
them) if they think they have made the wrong decision.
I was struck, however, by this information:

"Due to hygiene issues, the instrument must be clean and free of any foreign
substances (dried saliva, food particles, etc.) before returning it to us
for repair.  Please clean the outside of the instrument with rubbing
alcohol. If there is any visible debris stuck in the holes please take the
instrument apart according to the
video<http://harrisonharmonicas.com/support>on our website and clean
with a plastic bristle brush such as a tooth brush.
Please remember that your harmonica, like all fine instruments, is
temperature sensitive.  It is ok to clean the comb under running lukewarm
water. Do not attempt to clean it with hot water or place in a dishwasher
for cleaning.  Also, do not dry with heat (such as with a blow-dryer) as
this could damage the instrument and void the warranty.  Once dry, please
reassemble before shipping.

We will return all dirty instruments that are sent to us for repair."

Does that strike anyone as, well, fussy?