Dear Greg and list. In my humble opinion, this is why I tell propective purchasers that Japanese pianos are better than Korean pianos. Just the facts as I see them. James Grebe pianoman@inlink.com ---------- > From: Greg Newell <gnewell@EN.COM> > To: pianotech@ptg.org > Subject: Re: Tech/Dealer Relationship > Date: Thursday, September 11, 1997 8:05 PM > > On Thu, 11 Sep 1997 15:54:59 -0400, jpiesik@arinc.com wrote: > > > A particular piano dealer in my area has a reputation for not properly > > preparing pianos for sale or rental. > > > <big snip> > > > > How do I come out of these situations without mud all over me? Should > > I just refuse to service pianos sold or rented by this dealer? Should > > I just go ahead and say, "what a marvelous piano you have" and move > > on? How can one be honest without getting smeared in this situation? > > > > Maybe I already know the answer, "what a marvel... > > > > Moving on, > > > > John Piesik, RPT > > > > > John, > I greatly sympathize with you on your dilemma. I recently wrote to this list of a > similar situation. I would liek to expound on that now and ask the lists advice for me as > well. > About a month ago I went on a call to a newer customer of mine with a new > Korean (is that non specific enough) piano. He was experiencing some minor clicking > in the action and a general poor level of control. After examining some action centers > and a host of other things, I determined that the hammer flanges should be repinned > because the pins were quite loose on one side and quite tight on the other. This was > exacerbated by a rather uneven regulation throughout. > I would like to digress for a moment to explain that this is the type of player who > timidly plays when noone else is around for fear that someone else might hear him. He > traded in an organ for this piano and has mentioned the difficulty in playing this > instrument from the start. > Here's where the trouble begins. I contacted the dealer (I do all his service > work and that is how I got this customer) and the dealer points me to the manufacturer. > The manuf. claims that the instrument was not properly prepped before the sale. This is > true! If noone pays for it , I'm not workin' for free!!! Anyway the Manuf. says the dealer > should pay, the dealer says the manuf. should pay. I discuss this with the dealer and > ask how I can keep the owner happy. He first mentions that he cannot make any > money doing the prep work to the extent that the manuf. feels is his responsibility. I can > partially agree. A complete regulation should not be needed on a new piano. I'm sure > touch up and tweaking are needed on every one that goes out but I feel that there > should at least be a good stable base from which to work. Furthur, I feel that repinning > definitely comes under the heading of warrantee. > At this point the dealer is feed up with the manuf. and has stopped carrying > these pianoes anyway as he's just completed a long going out of business sale and > has closed the doors. He's since been opening under a new name etc., etc. but > anyway not in a position to help. He offers that I should tell the customer to call the > manuf. and get help directly and is necessary start yelling about State Attourney's > general. This I do and now it gets fun. > The manuf. now sends out a local tech representing the firm now carrying their > line and he does some things to the piano like, rub on some microfine teflon on the > knuckles adn adjust the letoff throughtout. My customer and I both came to the > conclusion (seperately) that this was incomplete. My customer still has the same > trouble with the piano. Nothing has been solved. He called the manuf. and relayed his > disatisfaction with the result and was told that " they were fine when they left Korea" "we > don't know what happens to them one the big boat" and "we don't know what happens > to the in the warehouse or on the trucks" . These statements were relayed to me by the > customer. If this is true then; Why don't they know what happens to them? and Even if > they can't control what these pianos go through, don't they still have the responsibility to > stand behind them? > The customer is very unhappy about the whole deal (no kidding). He is now > looking for a buyer so that he can go get a real piano. My questions are; Is there a > better way that I could have handled this? Where does one parties duty end and > another begin? To what extent should a piano be prepped? And who does what > aspect of the prepping? Is it any different for higher quality instruments or is right, right > no matter what? What should be done for this owner now? Any other advice? > Greg Newell > Greg and Mary Ellen Newell > Greg's Piano Forte` > Lakewood, Ohio 44107 > gnewell@en.com > >
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