CAUT's Ethical quandary

[Jon Page]

Avery,
Any  dealer should be able to withstand their pianos being
put under a bright light. If there is a problem, they may have
overlooked it.  This also keeps everyone on their toes.
For  whatever reason you may not recommend the piano,
the dealer can not blame you for the piano's inadequacy
or for their incomplete reconditioning. Or perhaps
you know the specific needs of the customer, which this
pianos will not fill.  A salesman will not necessarily try to
fulfill a specific need , rather the sale is his motivation.
We all know a salesman will tell you anything to make a sale.
(another pet peeve)  You have nothing to gain from the sale.
So the customer is requesting your objective view.
Look on the bright side, you might even like the piano;
think what that will do to your 'relations'.

What would a rejection do for your 'relations'?  Reinforce it,
they now know they can't sneak anything by you.
They will respect you for it and so will your customer.

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
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At 10:30 AM 3/16/97 -0600, you wrote:
>List,
>
>   I've been reading the current Ethical Quandry thread with interest.
>Since this particular "wrinkle" hasn't been mentioned, I will.
>   This would apply primarily to CAUT's, but how do you, as a full-time
>employee of a university, feel about doing evaluations of a piano for an
>outside customer at a dealer's store? In my case, I have relations, one way
>or the other, with the three major dealers here: Steinway, Yamaha and
>Baldwin/Kawai. FYI, these "relations" involve, at various times, leasing,
>purchasing, loaning, store tuning (VERY rarely) and C & A work.
>   Because of this, I have been very reluctant to go to a store and
>evaluate (primarily) used pianos for an outside customer. If I had to
>advise the
>customer not to buy the piano, for whatever reason, I'm afraid it would
>damage my, so far, good relations with these dealers.
>   Am I being overly cautious? Could I have some of your generous feedback
>on this issue? Thanks.
>
>Avery
>
>_____________________________________
>Avery Todd, RPT
>Moores School of Music
>University of Houston
>713-743-3226
>atodd@uh.edu
>http://www.uh.edu/music/
>_____________________________________
>
>
>
>

Jon Page
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
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