Fair fees

[Lance Lafargue]

Dearest Listserv,

I was recently called out to service a piano for a local dealer.  The
dealer's regular tuner had already gone out and couldn't or wouldn't
help.  The scenario: Upright, good quality studio in a small
"spirit-filled church" with breaking strings.  I knew what I would
find... Poor church, upright on stage, 5 foot tall bass amp and drum set
RIGHT NEXT TO the piano. (no monitor for pianist) Two broken plain wire
strings, about four broken bass strings, and the strings left were VERY
badly out of tune with no consistency in pitch whatsoever.  Hammers were
lightly worn since it was still a new piano.  The manufacturer told me
that the piano sold was inappropriate for it's intended use, but that
they now had a revised string scale (bass) made for that piano that they
would be willing to send at no charge, but the dealer would have to pay
all labor, etc.  I assume that the new scale has thicker core wire and
less copper wrap for strength.
1)First visit, I evaluated the piano, tied off the tenor strings and
tuned it. (I could not tie off the bass stings because they were breaking
at the winding near the top and I did not install universals because said
manufacturer was 2nd-Day Airing the new strings.)
I took all info down, called the manufacturer, called the pastor, called
the pianist, (all at their request) spending probably 30-45 minutes
explaining to them what was happening and defending the piano
manufacturer and dealer. I also spent about 20-30 minutes on the phone
with the manufacturer's phone system (press 1 if you're sick of being on
hold, press 2 if you don't have another tuning today,etc.)
2) I got the strings, rescheduled customers so I could quickly go out to
the church (30+ MINUTES AWAY), tilted the piano, restrung the bass,  DID
ALL STRING VOICING, tuned the piano (I think 3-4 times in bass and 2-3
round pitchraise for whole piano), touched up the voicing and
regulation, misc. problems, called the folks to come and lock up, and at
least 7 hours later loaded up my tilt dolly and drove home. The piano
sounded pretty darn good!
3)I called the dealer long distance, explained the
problems/solutions/actions. I billed the manufacturer $505.00 for the
labor, forgetting that the dealer should have been billed.  When I later
talked to the service guy I spoke to originally, he reminded me that I
should have billed the dealer. As he was reminding me he said, "Let me
ask you something.  Do you usually get $500 for restringing the bass in a
piano?" He went on to say that their guys didn't get near that and that
no one else does. I'm usually an easy going technician. I reminded him
that as the invoice indicated, for the $505 I did the service call
(touch-up tuning, tie-offs, evaluation, phone calls,etc), restrung the
piano, pitchraised it, fixed other existing problems like clicks, buzzes,
sticking keys, non-returning jacks, etc.,and would be going out a third
time to tune the piano again in a short time.

I concede that this MAY be high in some parts of the country, but I don't
see why I should work for less on one piano, when I've got folks begging
me for reminder cards and am booked 4-6 weeks in advance.  I'm not trying
to gouge anybody, I just don't like haggling over what my work is worth.
When I look at all time spent traveling, talking, working, etc......It's
taken me YEARS to get to the point where I honestly look at the hours
worked and charge the houly rate.
O.K.  What do you think??


"I am what I am"
               (Popeye)