Lark in the Morning ordering experiences?

Ballyshannon · Post by **Ballyshannon** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 4:25 pm

As some of you may have seen from my posts, I'm looking for a Harper high D, but unfortunately LIM is the only U.S. vendor for Harpers and they have none available in the warehouse...and haven't had any for over a year. However, the Seattle store has one new high D left, but I'd have to follow protocol and order through the warehouse since customers can't place orders directly through any of the stores. The warehouse would have to fax my order to the Seattle store for shipment and this communication process makes me a bit nervous, especially after hearing several negative experiences about LIM in the past.

Has anyone here had any problems with them?

synergy · Post by **synergy** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:19 pm

I've purchased from them on ebay. All went well there.

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 6:49 pm

Yes, bad.

Messed up shipping.

Subbed items for a specific order.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:08 am

Somehow I imagined this thread was about which parts of the tune "The Lark in the Morning" went in what order....

Ballyshannon · Post by **Ballyshannon** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:21 pm

Innocent Bystander wrote:Somehow I imagined this thread was about which parts of the tune "The Lark in the Morning" went in what order....

bill · Post by **bill** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:59 pm

I ordered a chieftain whistle from them in 2006, and didn't get any sort of reply from them about the order. A few weeks later I called and they said that they were out of stock and that they had no idea when they would get more. I kind of forgot about it and then about 5 months later it showed up on my doorstep. That has been my expirience with them.

Tim2723 · Post by **Tim2723** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:03 pm

I've used them a number of times, but the store is nothing like what it was when Mickey ran it. Be sure to call ahead to check the availablity of any item. They don't seem to buy like they used to, and about 80 percent of the catalog is out of date. There are some items on back order for a year or more, which really means they're no longer available. It seems like they only add to the catalog, but never remove anything. If they tell you an item will be in stock next week, call back in a week and only order when they confirm that they have your item.

Understand that I've never had them cheat me. They've always delivered any item they actually had to sell, but they have practically no inventory compared to their advertisement. They've only had about one in ten items I wanted.

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:00 pm

Tim2723 wrote:They've only had about one in ten items I wanted.

Hmmm... Maybe you wanted ten times more than what you should have.

Jason

Ballyshannon · Post by **Ballyshannon** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:02 pm

Appreciate all the input.

Like I said, the Seattle store has the Harper in the store in the display case...at least according to John (manager), and a salesperson I spoke with. My concern is the communication between the warehouse and the Seattle store regarding my order and my CC#.

I normally trust my gut on these things and for some reason don't have a good feeling about it. So I think I'll just continue to wait for someone here who may eventually have one for sale. If it's meant to be, it'll happen.

Jason Paul · Post by **Jason Paul** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:42 pm

Can you not order directly (by phone) from the Seattle store?

Jason

kkrell · Post by **kkrell** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:47 pm

Any Chiffers in Seattle who can just buy it out the case for you?

Tim2723 · Post by **Tim2723** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:49 pm

Jason Paul wrote:
Tim2723 wrote:They've only had about one in ten items I wanted.
Hmmm... Maybe you wanted ten times more than what you should have.

Jason

Nah Jason, you can never have enough toys!

Ballyshannon · Post by **Ballyshannon** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:03 pm

Jason Paul wrote:Can you not order directly (by phone) from the Seattle store?

Jason

Oddly, No. I was told by the manager they weren't set up for mail orders and all mail orders must be made via the LIM warehouse. When you access the Retail Stores link link at the bottom of the LIM home page and view the information for each store, you'll see "Not for mail orders" in bold red beside the phone numbers.

kkrell wrote:Any Chiffers in Seattle who can just buy it out the case for you?

A noble thought, but an awful lot to to ask of someone who doesn't know me...or who I don't know. Besides, the store's price is $40 higher than the online price/ordering via the warehouse, so purchasing direct from the store isn't an option...which is probably why the whistle's been sitting there for several months.

kennychaffin · Post by **kennychaffin** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 8:37 am

bill wrote:I ordered a chieftain whistle from them in 2006, and didn't get any sort of reply from them about the order. A few weeks later I called and they said that they were out of stock and that they had no idea when they would get more. I kind of forgot about it and then about 5 months later it showed up on my doorstep. That has been my expirience with them.

sounds like my current on-going experience with Boulder Early Music shop.....

I've not ordered from LITM but have had good experience with Hobgoblin and Doc (of course)....

Ballyshannon · Post by **Ballyshannon** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:17 am

kennychaffin wrote:I've not ordered from LITM but have had good experience with Hobgoblin and Doc (of course)....

Same here. Unfortunately, Hobgoblin U.S. doesn't sell Harpers and the UK prices are very high. Doc said he's had Harpers come through his store but few and far between.