Charged ... Charged Again

[Guy, Karen, and Tor Nichols]

At 02:12 PM 5/11/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello Everyone!
>
Zen,
(by the way, as a member of the odd names club, where'd yours come from?),

Our retail volume is low enough so this kind of thing doesn't happen....
often. We did have a case where a trade-in was sold by the truck driver,
though! Lucky for us, all we discovered was a need for lotsa-lotsa lost
motion reg and a pitch raise. We do have to cover our butts with the
"as-is" thing, but we warrant the basic integrity. (block and plate, basic
tune-ability, etc.). I think the dealer you're talking about likely did the
right thing, trade-wise, and were it me, I wouldn't have charged for the
delivery/exchange. Then again, I'm one of the movers, and southern New
Mexico doesn't have stairs! Maybe this fellow has super-high moving
expenses. Even then, he could have factored it in the trade-up price,
depending on stock. Maybe. 
	Boils down to the customer choosing a piano, not being pushed into one.
I've "walked" too many sales due to lack of pressure, so the competition
can "fib" or whatever, and get the sale, but.... well... gosh. At least
I've got tons of service to fall back on. I do love the expression on a
prospects face when you tell them that you wish they wouldn't make a hasty
decision."Sleep on it, or whatever, and by the way, here's the big city
fellow's phone #. He's got some big name imports for you to try." ALMOST
works every time. :^)>

Main thing is to make sure that the customer doesn't wind up with a bad
taste in their mouth... from anything or anyone in the biz, no?

g





>Here's another Customer Relations story complete with what started off as
>what many of us may perceive as a dirty deal at a dealership.
>
>Real quick.
>1] Customer goes to dealer, is pressured to buy well-used console before
>she felt she had explored all options, including what she can "live with"
>for piano's shortcomings and faults.
>2] Shortly after delivery, action starts to feel weird, some keys hardly
>playing anymore.
>3] Dealer's terms -- As Is, No Exchanges Or Refunds (Clearance Sale).
>
>The piano was full of plastic parts from the 40s and 50s, the kind that are
>crumbling now.  By fluke alone, none of the flanges had started breaking,
>but the backchecks were rapidly disintegrating.
>
>Now really ... wouldn't you think that a dealer would be interested in
>making sure anything they sold had some promise of longevity or at least
>some semblence of integrity?  Apparently this console was taken in trade
>and simply turned around and sold without having their house technician do
>so much as give it a sideways glance.
>
>My temper, being what it is, absolutely flew at the dealer.  I wrote a fax
>in which I laid out why I thought the piano was unsaleable.  The owner of
>the dealership responded in a cool [read: slick] way saying that he would
>call the customer and offer to take back the console in a trade-up to a
>better instrument.  Of course he had to be held to his promise.
>
>The trade-up was granted, but for a price.  The customer has to pay
>delivery charges all over again.  "We have to pay the movers every time a
>piano is moved." was their explanation.  Yes, I understand the concept of
>paying the movers, but I also feel that this dealer should be willing to
>eat certain expenses for a piano that was essentially D-O-A.
>
>Opinions, anyone?  Thank you all in advance.
>
>ZR!  RPT
>Ann Arbor  MI
>diskladame@provide.net
>
>