Horrible 56-key tenor/treble Stagi english concertina sold to me by Castiglione Accordions (Part 1)

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This video shows the very wobbly buttons on the left end plate of a 56-key tenor/treble Stagi english concertina that I bought from Castiglione Accordions. I purchased this concertina from them, because the proprietor (John Castiglione) promised me on the phone and on e-mail that he will have his technicians do a thorough quality inspection and necessary fixes/repairs on it before they ship it to me. Well...

When this concertina arrived at my doorstep, this is what I get:
1) all the buttons do not have bushings/felt around them,
2) all the buttons are too wobbly for playing (and members of the Concertina.net forum all agree with this opinion),
3) some buttons sit lower than the others (i.e., button height is not the same),
4) some buttons tilt differently from the others (i.e., buttons are not parallel),
5) there are about 5-7 reeds that are slow to respond (i.e., they do not sound right away when the bellows are pushed/pulled, and
6) the bellows are leaking air (i.e., if you hold it on one end only, the bellows will begin to stretch even though you are not pushing any button).

I have sent John Castiglione two e-mails (one on December 28, 2012 and another on January 4, 2013) to report the defective item he sold me and to ask for the warranty papers that is supposed to ship with it and its invoice. So far, I have not received any communication from him either by e-mail or by phone to offer any resolution to my problem. No offer to exchange it for another, no offer to repair it, and no offer to refund me (either partially or fully) so I can get it fixed somewhere else.

John promised me the sun and the moon to get my money, and now that he got it, he did not deliver on his promise and left me in the lurch. If this is their business practice, then I do not recommend (and will never recommend) Castiglione Accordions even to my enemies.

FYI, I bought this concertina from Castiglione Accordions for $1,200. On top of this, I have to pay shipping ($42) and custom duties/taxes ($160+) on it. Meanwhile, this very same concertina is on retail at Liberty Bellows for only $795 (new) and they have a better customer service policy (according to their website).

I hope my bad/sad experience with Castiglione Accordions will serve as a warning to other concertina beginners out there. Be careful who you deal with. Don't be stupid like me. $1,200 is such a high price to pay to discover this the hard way.

POST DATE:
I sent another email to John on January 11, 2013. Then I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau on January 14 when I still did not receive any response from him. On January 16, John called me by phone (yes, by phone!) to offer a settlement by giving me a partial refund of a couple of hundred dollars to help pay for its repair by a local accordion technician.

Troy
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