Distance selling regs re Wind Instruments

themaverick1953

I have bought my wife a flute for Christmas which I collect today. I enquired with the company about returning i9t if it doesn't suit her. They say for health reasons it can't be returned.

Has the law altered due to covid or are they incorrect?

JJ_Egan

Presume they mean if its been used  , mouth to flute etc .

Sandtree

How did you buy it? Did you buy online/on the phone and collect it from their store or did you reserve it and then buy in the shop?

If it is a remote sale then there is a statutory right for return for most goods. There is an exception on the grounds of hygiene however the legislation talks of hygiene seals being broken being the grounds for exception. If it was ultimately bought in store there is no statutory right of return for what is ultimately a change of mind.

Did she actually use the instrument to see it wasnt suitable or was it visible as soon as she saw the box?

oldagetraveller1

Possibly nothing relating to the lurgi.

No doubt for the same reason earrings (pierced) and simailar can't. Going to a more extreme example, underwear.

I realise a flute isn't usually in direct oral contact but it's still "breathed" into and the condensed breath will deposit internally.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Is the flute hygienically sealed? 

Ergates

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Is the flute hygienically sealed? 

Unlikely.

Second hand wind instruments are definitely a thing though, and a flute is made of metal so can be sanitised quite easily, so it's not like it couldn't be sold once it's been used.

mattyprice4004

I certainly wouldn't want a flute that someone else has used - so you're probably able to return it, but they're entitled to make a (probably quite heavy) deduction in your refund as they'll need to sell it as used. 

Alderbank

I certainly wouldn't want a flute that someone else has used

I don't play flute but I play brass and other woodwinds. It wouldn't bother me.
I do prefer to use my own mouthpiece especially for clarinet and sax but that's all.

I bet that most musical instruments in use have had several players - musicians are more interested in tone, keys, pads, leaks and squeaks, etc. than whether anyone else has blown it. If you are moneysaving you will probably get a better instrument second-hand than new at almost every price point.

Mattyprice - perhaps cheap Chinese stuff is different but if you want a decent woodwind instrument that no-one else has used you will struggle. All instruments are repeatedly played in the factory (and afterwards) by the skilled craftspersons who tune them, voice them, fit the keys and pads, etc.

Sandtree

Alderbank said:

Mattyprice - perhaps cheap Chinese stuff is different but if you want a decent woodwind instrument that no-one else has used you will struggle. All instruments are repeatedly played in the factory (and afterwards) by the skilled craftspersons who tune them, voice them, fit the keys and pads, etc.

Ignorance can be bliss.

theoretica

It is standard when buying at any decent music shop to try out the instruments - do the people you bought from have a physical store?  Do they prevent people trying flutes there?

Sandtree

theoretica said:
Do they prevent people trying flutes there?

Only American Pie "band camp style" flute trial is probably banned in store