I have been having difficulty trying to contact the whistle shop for several weeks. I have tried both phone numbers during posted store hours (always busy) and after store hours (left messages - not returned). I have also emailed them with no response. Is everything OK there?
They had given me a good price (under $3)on Clarke Meg whistles for a class I was leading in January and I now want to place a larger order to bring on a missions trip to Mexico at the end of the month. (100 -300 whistles depending on weekend benefit concert) I don’t know if there is somewhere else to get such a large quantity quickly at that price. Any ideas?
I placed an order with them online yesterday and have recieved a response that it will be shipped tomorrow. Someone must be there.
Those particular responses may be automated. Responding to individual email generally takes a little longer. I’ve never had to wait for a personal response from Thom for too long. I don’t know what to tell you, preacher. It definitely seems out of the norm for him to go weeks without responding.
They never answered my email and I couldn’t get through on the phone (busy busy busy) so I gave up. I don’t think my experience is unusal (see other thread on this). Also their website seems in need of an update. They are, however, very quick with responding to and shipping orders.
I have sent several e-mails in the last few weeks with no answer.
The phone is also busy!
whatever…
With an order that large, you can buy directly from the Clarke company, and possibly get a bit of a price break to boot.
Go to their trade inquiries page at
http://www.clarke-tin-whistle.com/educational.html
and leave them a message letting them know you’re interested in buying bulk whistles (and tell them the quantities you are thinking about) for religious purposes and see if they won’t send you a wholesale trade sheet.
I’ve actually had this same problem with them. And my order wasn’t very big at all. Unless something’s broken or whatever, that’s bad customer service.
Clarke’s is actually really good about selling their instruments in bulk at wholesale prices. If you fill out an inquiry I’m sure they’ll sell them to you. Clarke’s accepted an inquiry I put in a while back for a large supply of whistles, and it wasn’t even for a cause as worthy as missionary work.
Not trying to take business from the Whistle Shop, but for an order that large it would be smart to go direct.
I had the same phone experience - busy all day at both the toll-free and the LD numbers. They also took several days longer than necessary to send out the shipment and I ended up getting it 1 day too late. I guess next time I need something by a certain time, I won’t order from them unless they answer the phone (so that I can tell them when I need it by). They did pay attention to what I wanted though, when I emailed them asking to add something after I had already finalized the order, I’ll give them that.
Hope it didn’t seem like I was being critical here -just concerned. Actually my 1st experience with them was excellent -good phone conversation and got a very good deal for 30 whistles. That’s why it just seemed a little strange this time and was hoping everything was OK with them.
Based on responses I did send inquiry to Clarke and waiting now for reply.
I took Wanderer’s advice and contacted Clarkes - they gave me a real good price.
Hi, I’m new to C&F. Just wanted to say that I placed a small order on their website on Monday and I got it today. So there’s somebody on the other end.
About me, I picked up a Generation Pennywhistle years ago after the STNG episode where Picard learned to play. I wonder how many Trekkies did the same thing. I never got very good and just recently picked it up again to show a couple of my daugthers a few tunes.
My order from the Whistle Shop was for Bill Och’s Clarke book/cd and a tweaked sweetone. I played with the whistle a little bit and it’s much nicer than the generation. I’m hoping to find the time to work through the book.
mikeg