On March 9th I ordered 3 clarinets from Hakam-Din, based on a pro-forma they had sent me (from their USA based offices: [email protected]).in particular, I ordered 3 clarinets (one Bb Boehm, one Bb Albert, and one Eb Boehm, all of them in blackwood and with silver-plated keyworks).in the pro-forma they stated instruments would have been shipped after 35 days. Payment was made via PayPal the day after, in full (USD 787.59).
After 35 days I sent a message to find out what was going on, as I had no news, but I got no answer. I opened therefore a dispute on PayPal. After that, I was contacted several times, by phone, by somebody telling me to be the manager of Hakam-Dim, who informed me that the factory had been closed for 10 days because of his marriage, and they were going to ship my order in the next 10 days, asking me, at the same time, to cancel the dispute on PayPal (he said that it could be opened again afterwords, if needed, which is not true). I did not cancel the dispute, which was transformed in a claim. Just few days before the expiration they did make a shipment.
The instrument I received, though, were not the ones I ordered, they shipped a plastic Eb Boehm, while the two Bb clarinets (Albert and Boehm) present mistakes in their production making them unusable (The barrel of the Bb Albert is out of specs and standard mouthpieces do not fit in it; the speaker-key of the Bb Boehm is too short, so the intrument can only be played in its first - lower - register). Moreover, the bells are not in the specified wood (but in hard rubber), all instruments present the keywork as nickel-plated, rather than silver-plated. I complained and informed PayPal. PayPal however closed the claim in favor of the seller, as they cover only the case of not-shipment (therefore the seller can just ship anything to bypass PayPal protection).
I contacted them several times, and they offered to ship me an extra instrument, and eventually to exchange, or fix, the instruments, if I was willing to pay their shipment to Pakistan (about 150 USD), which I refused, as I was sent instrument different from those ordered at purpose (to bypass PayPal rules). They informed me, indeed, that instruments with the specs of the ones I had ordered would not have been ready before another 45-60 days. I want everybody to know about this fraudolent action by Hakam-Dim, and I think they should refund me in full.
Carmine
Satriano di Lucania (PZ)
Italy
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