Has anyone else had a bad experience with Lyon and Healy’s rental program?
I’m actually still kind of baffled by how poorly I feel this was handled.
About two months ago I reached out to Lyon & Healy about renting a harp. I live in San Francisco, but I was planning a trip to Chicago and thought it would be fun to pick it up in person and drive it back home with me.
I specifically asked if that was okay, or if they only allowed in-person pickup for people who live in the Chicago area.
The rental coordinator replied and said it should be fine, but told me to reach out closer to the date since inventory can change.
Great. I was super excited to start learning, found a harp teacher near me, and started planning around bringing one home.
Three weeks ago, about two weeks before I got to Chicago, I emailed again saying I’d like to pick up on August 4th and sent over the documents they asked for.
I got an auto reply saying he was away at a conference until July 20th. Totally fine. I resent the email and documents on the 20th.
He got back to me and said the Ogden I wanted was out of stock, but they had a Drake and asked if that was okay. I said absolutely, I was still excited.
Then he asked for my documents again, so I sent them again.
A week goes by with no response.
I follow up and get another auto reply saying he’s away at a conference until August 5th.
While he’s away, he does respond to me and sends over the contract. He also asks for my documents again. At this point I’ve sent them multiple times, but whatever, I send them again, fill out the contract, and ask what time I should come in for pickup.
By this point I’m already in Chicago on vacation.
August 4th comes around, which was the day I originally wanted to pick up the harp, so I follow up again asking if we can schedule something.
On August 5th I send another email basically saying, “Just wanted to get back to the top of your inbox, I’m only here for a few more days.”
At 10:36 PM I finally get a response asking if I can meet the morning of August 7th.
Great! I don’t have to leave until Friday afternoon, so that works perfectly. I tell him yes and ask what time I should meet him at the office.
No response.
Then Friday at 11 AM, he messages me asking if I can meet at 1.
At that point I had already left Chicago. After not hearing anything for over a day, I just assumed it wasn’t going to happen.
So over about two months, I sent my documents four times, asked to schedule a pickup date or time six times, and had the pickup pushed around multiple times.
And now I don’t have a harp.
I had cleared out space in my apartment for a little harp corner, booked lessons, ordered a spare set of Drake strings, and bought a transport case. Thankfully I can return the strings and case, but it’s still really frustrating.
A few of my friends mentioned that maybe they thought it was weird that I live in California and wanted to pick up in Chicago. That’s totally possible, but if that was an issue he could have just told me that when I asked two months ago.
I happily would have paid to have it shipped.
That’s honestly the part that gets me. I specifically asked if picking it up in Chicago was okay, was told yes, and then spent the next two months trying to get a date and time nailed down.
I completely understand being busy, going to conferences, and inventory changing. None of that is really the problem.
I just don’t understand why getting a simple response like “come by at 10 AM on Friday” was so difficult.
I was really excited to start learning harp, and I’m mostly just disappointed that after all that planning and back and forth, I came home without one.
Edit: Thanks everyone for listening to me vent. I’ve found a reputable harp renter in the bay and will probably move forward with him.