Overcharge?

[Wimblees@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-02-10 17:42:21 EST, you write:

>$60.00 standard tuning
>$40.00 for pitch change (any amount at all over +/- 15c,regarless of the
>number of passes)
>And then another tuning in one month.
>
>Thanks for the wisdom of the list.
>
>Dick Day


You fees are too low. But what ever you charge, you are entitle to them. The
husband is way out of line, but unfortunately, you're never going to see your
money.

A similar incedent happened to me about a year ago. It was a 2 year old piano
that had never been tuned before. I told the customer it needed a pitch raise
and told her the fee. She said fine. Just as I was finishing the tuning, the
husband came home, and after a few minutes of conversation in the kitchen, he
came in the living room demanding to know why I was charging $110 for the
tuning, when he was told the tuning would be $70. When I explain the pitch
raise, he said, "A tuning is a tuning, and it should cost any more than the
fee you quoted over the phone". When I tried to explain why it needed a pitch
raise, he told me didn't understand what I was saying, and therefore, because
he didn't understand,  I must be wrong, and he wasn't going to pay me the
extra money. He told me to finish the tuning and leave. When I came in the
kitchen a few minutes later, he demanded that I finish the tuning. When I told
him I was done, he still was refusing to pay me. I was so furiuous with him by
that time I was ready to punch his lights out, but I kept my cool, and waited
to get my check. He paid me, and as I left I told him he deserves not to have
his piano tune ever again, or some other insulting remark. It took me 30
minutes driving home to calm down.

Last night, Dee Schaefer of our chapter gave a program on pitch raising. She
calls it a pitch correction, citing that the if something has to be corrected,
it must be wrong to begin with. I have been telling me customers that I need
to stabalize the pitch by giving it a pitch rasie. Most of my female customers
understand that. It's those cheap husbands who think they know everything that
don't understand. (I bet he was an engineer).

Wim