I don't know why, but I have done business with Thompson-Kramer many times. When I took my alto clarinet to have pads replaced, the instrument came back with the key work put back on incorrectly causing the instrument to leak air when attempting any note above the break. When I asked them to fix the mistake, the repairman blamed my ligature - until I showed him my technique on the low range. Only then did he fix his mistake. Deciding to take my bass clarinet here was an equally bad decision - the exact same problems happened. I am currently a clarinet performance major so I do know what I am talking about. I do not expect the level of expertise that a clarinet repair specialist has, but replacing pads is an extremely basic task - if this can't be managed, what can?