Stealing customers? Many of the members on this list are very leery of discussing tuning fees. This has to do with "restraint of trade" issues, which ultimately cause customers to lose the benefits of competition, generally price competition, when anti-competitive agreements are made. This type of restraint of trade is justifiably unlawful. Consider the real professionals out there, the veterinarians, doctors, dentists, etc. It is an everyday occurrence for them to lose patients to other practitioners, or to gain patients from them. They refer to each other. This is good. Think of the second opinions you might have gotten, or the number of dentists you went through before finding one whose style suited you. Not a darn thing wrong with this. If you hesitate to assume another technician's customer, you would in essence be fostering "restraint of trade", which is unprofessional and goes against the common good. I live in a big city with a hundred tuners. Customers come and go, it is a fact of business and I don't know of anybody that gets upset. A small town which might comfortably support only one tuner might actually have two or three borderline successful tuners, and customer transfers would be better known. In this case I suggest that it is even more important take on every customer as they come, do your best, let the chips fall where they may. That is the most professional behavior, and properly exercised, should eventually cause the worst technician to turn to other work. This is best for the customer's interest, so there is nothing wrong with that. I have always seen the PTG as promoting professionalism. I have never personally seen it used to restrain competition. My two cents, Bill Simon Phoenix
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