lesson learned

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 6/29/00 8:25:19 PM Central Daylight Time, 
lesbart1@juno.com writes:

<< Two or three questions.
    1) How far "out" out does it have to be before one says "pitch raise
 extra tunings"? (given a decent piano)

Depends on how quick you are at rasing pitch, and how much time you want to 
spend on it. I feel comfortable raising pitch up to 20 cents without charging 
extra, if I know the piano is not going to be used for a concert, (in other 
words, home use). 

    2) How do you get it through customers' heads that there is a problem
 that won't go away in one tuning?

Don't try to emphasize that the piano will go out of tune soon. Explain that 
the piano was bad, and that you recommend that she not wait so long the next 
time. Emphasize the 6 months tuning. Tell her that because of the piano was 
badly out of tune, she should experience a little "drift' in the tuning in 
about 3 or 4 weeks, or longer, but that is a normal reaction to a piano that 
was very much out of tune. You can even compare it to a doctor's visit, that 
you want to see the piano again in 3 months to see how it's doing. (People 
expect to pay for that doctor's visit.) By the same token, if you went  to a 
doctor and got a shot, but you didn't' get well right away, do you think the 
doctor is going to see you again on short notice, AND not pay for a visit?. 
 
Willem