Clunkers we have known and loved….

[unknown-user]

Oowwww….is that an additional extra that I can order??? As we have just stripped back the carpet on our oak floors and they are covered in….nasty lead based pink paint. We have started sanding them back and it is such a chore and really quite hazardous to ones health.

[David Ice]

It will also microwave split pea soup simultantously….

Pink paint?

[unknown-user]

The previous owners and pink paint? I think that they attempted to sand back the original boards, put it in the “too hard” basket, painted over their botched attempt thinking it would hide the evidence, then hid that under even more hideous lime green carpet….

And think, all they needed was Dave’s extra special demonic paint stripper and kitchen handy heated harp!! ..fry eggs on the base board….grill cheese in the back of the soundbox…fill with water and steam clean the carpets… the uses for a demonic harp are endless…Who needs an exorcist in this consumer friendly and efficiently pragmatic

[unknown-user]

Reading all of the stories about things that have happened to old clunkers brings something to mind: What happens to NEW clunkers?

[unknown-user]

Yes, I know. That actually has been worrying me a little about the new clunker that I finally got the company to take back…I lost over $13,000 on it as they retained some money without explanation and also with the exchange rate changing and freight etc. I’m worried that they may just

[unknown-user]

Rosemary, I have never seen this ‘clunker’ but here is my story for what it is worth.

It’s all because of a ghost!

When I was small, we lived near a town that had two Catholic colleges, one for women, one for men, on opposite sides of town.

[Tacye]

As with so many people in the UK I started playing the harp because of an Erard.

[sherry-lenox]

Hi Rebecca- This story leaves me wanting to know more about your family. I hope now and then you’ll share more stories about them.

My dad was thrown out of the eighth grade because he stated some things that were historically accurate but unflattering

[Jerusha Amado]

I find it reprehensible that harp makers would sell a new harp that sounds as dead as a door nail (with no hope of revival) or is seriously defective from the outset, as was done to you and

[unknown-user]

Hi Jerusha,

Yes, it has really bent my brain….as they say. I’m still feeling quite confused about it all and do not know quite what to think about it.

And

[unknown-user]

Rebecca – fab story. Yes, I think clunkers are special. And that one is special to your family. Maybe you could write to the nuns about it and they may give you a discount…as your mum used to work for them after all….so she has sort of paid for some of it already…(unpaid overtime?) (being silly, but you know what I mean).

Do you know what brand/model it is? Maybe we could get someone to do an appraisal on it for the nuns, so they know its real worth as an instrument….hmmmm, I want it for you!

[Jerusha Amado]

Hi, Rosemary!

I don’t have anything against old clunkers per se, as long as the

[unknown-user]

Too true, Jerusha. I was attempting to be diplomatic as someone bounced me on another thread

[unknown-user]

Rosemary,

It sounds as if you’ve been treated terribly.

[Kathleen Clark]

Jerusha, I totally believe this is what happened to me. I had to send
back TWO new harps. I felt totally taken advantage of because I was a
newbie who was not able to travel. The first came with a cracked
soundboard and the second was not put together with enough glue. Until
a company tech rep could okay the warranty issues all I could do was
take notes and photos, and in the case of the glue issue, made weekly
pencil rubbings on a piece of paper to highlight the separations.
Measured the widening cracks on a weekly basis. Made charts, diagrams,
documenting everything week by week. Took a whole year before my second
harp was okayed to be sent back.

As a newbie I did not know what to look for or what was wrong, but my
gut instinct was that something serious was wrong with both harps right
from the start and I was right. The third time my husband and I were
taking no more chances and sent my harp teacher across country to personally oversee
and select my harp. All did not go smooth as the transaction itself
went haywire and took months to sort out and get everything in writing
to protect ourselves (thousands and thousands of dollars of
overcharging). We are not wealthy people. If the harp center had not
been overseeing everything and constantly going to bat for us I don’t
know where we be or what we could have done.

Because what got me the most was the arrogant attitude. Oh, nothing
could possibly be wrong, it must be me. I really felt like they dumped
two new clunkers on me and expected me, as a newbie, to just take it or
not recognize what they were trying to do. There was an eight month
delay between my second and third harp, so I was essentially harpless
at that time, went to the Harpfest in SLC and discovered there that I
was not the only one that this was happening to. I confronted one of
the harp maker representatives personally about what had happened to me
and the reply was that it was no big deal about returning those harps
because if I didn’t want them “then someone else would.” That is a
direct quote. Talk about adding insult to injury. Even after taking a
clunker back on warranty (and it is not easy to return anything on
warranty) the attitude was still that someone else would be inexperienced or fool enough
to accept it.

I never want to have to go through this again. My heart just aches for
anyone going through this expensive ordeal. Oh, and another one of the
‘attitude’ things that irked me through this whole process was “each
harp has its own personality so they are all going to be different.”
Yeah, well, that is true. That is why I have more than one harp. But
when harp manufacturers use that line to force defective merchandise
onto anyone, especially newbies who they hope might not know better, it is unethical. I for one am glad to
have a place where this can be discussed openly so that people have
support and can be forewarned. The support is not going to come from
the manufacturers. I found that out the hard way. Note that I said
“manufacturers” plural. Sad to say, it isn’t just one of them.

[Author]

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