I've just had a very good experience with the Testament label that
I thought I'd share with the list.  I bought the 1951 Knappertsbusch
GOETTERDAEMMERUNG from Bayreuth when it appeared.  It played fine on my
CD players at work, and it was only sometime later, after I had taken it
home and played it on my CD player there, that I noticed some skipping.
Sure enough, when I checked there were some small scratches, but it seemed
to me too late to return it to the store where I had bought it.  So I
continued to listen to it on my players at work, but I was sad, as I had
wanted to hear this recording since I read about it in John Culshaw's RING
RESOUNDING, and I had eagerly awaited its appearance after I learned that
Testament would be releasing it; I wanted the CDs to be perfect, and I
certainly wanted to be able to play them on my main system at home.  A week
or so ago I saw Testament's web address (www.testament.co.uk), so I wrote
them, explaining the situation and asking if I could purchase a replacement
just of the damaged CD.  A couple days ago I received from them a catalog
with a note saying a replacement CD was in the mail; yesterday the
replacement CD arrived.  I hadn't expected them to replace it and was taken
aback not only by their willingness to do so, but by the speed with which
they did it.  (I live in west Michigan, and Testament, of course, is a UK
company.) Well, they've made an enthusiastic customer out of me!  I'll be
putting their catalog to good use in planning future purchases.  It's a
real pleasure to deal with a company like this, and I wanted others to know
about it.

Nick
[log in to unmask]