FEEDBACK REQUESTED

[Larry Fisher]

Hi All,

I thought this forum would be a good sounding board for some feed back
concerning an event that happened to me recently.

     A customer calls and says they want me to restore their upright piano, and
I tell them initially that the cost could be around $2000-2500 for a typical
restoration not including refinishing and providing the piano is worth it to
begin with.  This being understood, the customer has me come out and do an
estimate anyway.  On paper I show them that indeed the restoration comes to
around $2200 and proceed to tell them that the estimate is $35 for the house
call and that the $35 will be taken off the final bill if they decide to have
the work done.  They inform me that they won't pay it because I didn't tell
them in advance that the estimate would cost them and they wouldn't have had me
come out it they knew it would cost them.

     It boiled down to two statements.  Me saying to the customer, "I never told
you this was free." and the customer saying, "You never told me it would cost
me."

     I'm open for comments here.  I'm toying with the idea of mailing the
responses to the customer, so please indicate if you would like to remain
annonymous.

     It's only $35, but I'm at odds with the reasoning.  Usually I don't have
to deal with this sort of thing, my clientelle knows I don't work for free.
The customer knew the estimate ball park previous to the call, and had no
intention of spending that much for the job, but still had me come out anyway.

Larry Fisher 11/11/95






--- Larry Fisher RPT, Portland Metro's Authority on PianoDisc Systems
        For more information call (360) 256-2999 in Vancouver, Wa.
                      or email larryf@pacifier.com