[CAUT] All $teinway?

[Ron Nossaman]

A440A at aol.com wrote:
> Greetings, 
>     I just had a customer call, wanting to sell her 7 year old Steinway 
> upright.  She had already spoken to the local Steinway dealer, who offered to 
> take in on consignment for 50% of the selling price. 
>     I suggested that she call one of our "All Steinway" schools to see if 
> they were interested, and she responded that she had already done that and 
> was told that the school had signed a contract that stipulated that they 
> couldn't purchase pianos from anyone but the dealer.  
>     Is this normal?  

Normal? No, but it does seem to be usual.


>Seems that a school would be crazy to  both forego the 
> ability to acquire instruments from other sources and completely lose their 
> bargaining power!  

"All Steinway" comes at a price. Do they want prestige, or 
reasonable choices?
Ron N