11/7/2011
Pat North has done it again. She finally sent back the Zitan wood head joint to Dr. Tate late in 2010. Then she agreed to repad the Jupiter 1011 of one of my other students to make things right with him. This was also late in 2010. Ms. North has once again disappointed. There has been no visible progress on this simple task that she undertook to make things right with the client. Almost a year has gone by and the flute has not been returned. In the meantime, Pat sent me a few notes suggesting I take down my review since, according to the positive ""reviews"" on this site, she was way ahead of schedule and doing stellar work. Very interesting.
10/06/2010
Would you believe that Pat North has not returned the Zitan wood head joint to its owner after 3 years!!! (See previous review.) Dr. Tate has filed police reports, contacted the Ohio Secretary of State and filed a complaint. And also hired a private detective to get the item returned. All to no avail. Another of my students had to hire a private detective to get his instrument returned, but it was missing the HJ which has never been returned. Plus the quality of the work done on that flute was substandard. I find it simply amazing that Cincinnati Fluteworks is still in business. How can this be??? I would never recommend doing business with this vendor as she has repeatedly lied to my students and cheated them out of goods and services. Plus she has made no attempt to rectify the situation even after several years. I used to recommend Pat for many years until she proved herself unreliable.
Previous Review -
Avoid Like the Plaque
I had used and recommended Pat North's Cincinnati Fluteworks services for 17-18 years. Over the past several years in particular I had, and my students, had purchased instruments, headjoints, and repair services from Cincinnati Fluteworks. Unfortunately, Pat now appears unable to fulfill even the most simple tasks in any sort of timely manner.
For example, my undergraduate flute teacher of some years past :-), purchased a Zitan wood head joint to play with her flute and guitar duo. Since the HJ did not fit on her Powell or Williams flutes, I convinced her to get a Jupiter 711 flute to match the HJ from Pat North. A 2-3 week transaction, at best.
Pat North required payment for the flute up front and had the HJ shipped to her. And get this, the flute and head joint got lost in the UPS!!! After months of excuses, and no production of a tracking number, the flute was supposedly returned to Cincinnati by UPS and then sent out by DHL. Bad move by Pat as DHL was able to ascertain that no package had been sent out to the recipient's location even without a tracking number.
My former flute teacher, tired of the lies and the unprofessional treatment, was finally able to get a charge back on her credit card several months after the normal time frame. But Pat has, in effect, stolen her irreplaceable Zitan wood head joint, as she has refused to return it.
A student of mine sent his Jupiter 1011 to Pat North to have work done. After over a year, he ended up hiring a private detective to pick it up from her. He got the flute back minus the D1 head joint and minus the extra C foot he had purchased. And the flute doesn't work well.
Another student sent her flute to Pat a year ago for a new HJ. Pat did some pad work and sent the flute back with no new HJ.
So, just in the past year or so, three of the people that I recommended deal with Pat are now out over $2000 in goods and services.
I now warn people against using Cincinnati Fluteworks.
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