Welcome to the wonderful world of Youtube. Nice relaxed presentation and a familiar tale to me, at least.
In my case, I have had mixed luck with mass retailers. I think a lot depends on the manufacturer. I couldn't fault my Oscar Schmidt 8 String - which I bought from Amazon and which arrived totally playable out of the box (it was nearly in tune, even). I bought an OS Concert for a friend from Amazon and that arrived in playable condition too.
However, I did have a lovely Tanglewood Electric Tenor which sounded great acoustically but was terrible through an amp that went back to Gear4Music. One advantage of the big guys is they usually have a no nonsense / no questions asked returns policy. Gear4Music have been particularly good in that respect, even replacing a buzzy amp with another identical model, without insisting I return the buzzy one (which stopped buzzing not long afterwards
).
As you say, it is best to go for someone like Mim or other online retailers who guarantee they do set ups. My problem is that living in Catalonia, unless the retailer offers a
pay your tax at the same time deal (as Amazon and Musician's friend do) then, it is a lottery whether the instrument simply arrives at my house or is held in customs until I go down there personally to pick it up and pay the import duty (pain in the ass as I live 50 kms inland from the Customs office).
Anyway, I look forward to seeing your Music Videos on YouTube - Hey! Why not join us in the "
Seasons of the Ukulele"?
Cheers,
Berni
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBerniArmstrong/videos
