"guarantee...?"

[Clyde Hollinger]

Terry,

It sounds to me like you handled it pretty well.  I have a couple thoughts.

This situation brings to mind something that happened to me last year.  On May
10 I tuned a little church's piano, and on June 22 I got a complaint that
several notes sounded out of tune.  I was dubious but agreed to call back and
check it out.  Indeed, for no reason I can explain, one of the E5 strings was
wildly out of tune.  I was quite embarrassed, fixed the offending note and
retuned the whole piano at no charge.  Is there a chance that this may have
happened in your situation as well?

I'm also thinking that when I have clients who've left their pianos go 180 cents
flat, they don't generally hear a little slippage that occurs over three
months.  Could it be that he is listening to the beats of the thirds or
something, and mistaking that for out-of-tuneness?

In relation to "guaranteeing" my tunings, if I am called within a month or so (a
rare occurrence), I usually go out to see what the problem is and have done
retunings or touchups at no additional charge, but that usually includes a
little education also.

In one case, I had tuned in July, when the air conditioner was on.  Two months
later I got a complaint, and when I went back, the piano was wildly sharp in the
tenor, during a cool humid September streak when the air conditioner was off.  I
charged half, although I should have charged the full price, because the tuning
change was due to no fault of mine.  The piano needed a humidity control
system.  But there are times when it's worth it to give a little free time just
to preserve goodwill.

Regards, Clyde

pianolover 88 wrote:

> I got a call tonight from a customer who told me that his piano has "kind of
> gone out of tune." This particular piano (very old spinet)was 180+ cents
> flat when I pitch raised and tuned it close to 3 months  ago. I originally
> told him that his piano, having been neglected for many years, would very
> likely need to be tuned again in about 3 months, (How's that for timing?)
> due to the years of neglect and the fact that it was so flat, not to mention
> the sheer age and overall condition of the piano.
>
> So, i asked him if he would like to schedule a follow-up tuning, and that it
> probably would NOT need another pitch raise, (as I had left it a little
> sharp, anticipating another, albeit lesser drop) just a basic tuning, and i
> quoted him my basic tuning fee. WOW! He immediatey asked ... "Don't you
> guarantee your work?" (I Didn't see that one coming, so i asked him what he
> meant.) He continued... "Well, the piano seems to have kinda gone out of
> tune and I didn't expect to have to pay you AGAIN to tune it."
> I reminded him of what i had told him when i first tuned his piano, and that
> pianos cannot be "guaranteed" to stay in tune indefinitely, especially a
> piano that had been so severely neglected and was so  flat. Then he
> said.."well, I just don't have the money right now." I did what i could to
> be "diplomatic", and ended the conversation by thanking him for calling, and
> to please call again when his situation changes, and i would be happy to
> schedule a follow-up tuning. I am wondering how other list members have
> dealt with this type of situation. Thanks.
>
> Terry Peterson
> Associate Member PTG
> Los Angeles, CA
>
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