Update on my tales of woe:

The morning after my post (Wednesday March 24) I tried once again to call Jim at Calton. I connected with him right away, rather than his answering machine. He was apologetic about my plight and immediately processed the UPS waybill and customs documents from his computer. They showed up in my email about 10 minutes later. A couple of days later I had the case packed up and off to the UPS store. During this period I had to contact him a couple of times to ask for details about what he needed with the case, etc. I sent him emails and they were answered very promptly. In fact, in one case it was Friday afternoon and I really needed to speak with him. And, it was 4:05 in his town which was 5 minutes after the shop closed. He answered the phone right away and was very friendly and helpful.

I emailed him photos and sketches to help with the repairs and he acknowledged their electronic arrival rather quickly (within 20 minutes) and said that they will be extremely helpful. He expects the case to arrive this Friday or next Monday and that they will get started on it right away.

I will be the first one to applaud any improvement in service, especially this big of a change, and thought I would share it with you all. I am now more than cautiously optimistic. I think something rather dramatic and positive has happened at Calton and I will keep everyone informed of how things go.

Now saving for a round of beers,

-Brian