Paying for Information

[Clyde Hollinger]

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Del,

Time to develop a policy.  I would readily give short answers over the
phone if I don't receive too many requests, and if I know the asker
pretty well.  Precedents have been set.  I know Larry Fine has
advertised phone consultations for a charge, and that seems fair to me.

Regards, Clyde

Delwin D Fandrich wrote:

>
>
>      ----- Original Message -----
>      From: Jon Page
>      To: pianotech@ptg.org
>      Sent: August 31, 2001 3:55 AM
>      Subject: Re: referall fees; last gasp (reality)
>        .... After all, if you are charging for information;
>      expect to pay for it.
>
>      That'll be....$.02, please...
>
>      Regards,
>      Jon Page
>      -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ah, now this raises an interesting issue. What about the technician
> who calls another for advice or for help with a technical problem
> he/she can't solve on their own? I get a number of these calls and,
> believe me, it is the rare technician calling for advice who offers to
> pay for telephone--and sometimes, shop--time spent helping them work
> through a problem. Yes, in addition to the more than occasional phone
> call, I've had technicians bring jobs they couldn't handle into my
> shop for what amounted to a lengthy hands-on training session who
> didn't seem to believe any monetary compensation was in order. They,
> after all, were doing the actual work.... Once I had a technician--a
> PTG member, as a matter of fact--call and ask me to send him a copy of
> the hand-out for a class I was scheduled to teach at a regional
> conference somewhere. The conference was in his own town, but he
> wouldn't be attending. There were only three classes he was interested
> in and, unfortunately, two of those three were on Friday and he didn't
> want to miss a whole day's worth of tunings. So he figured if the
> instructors of those classes would send him their class
> hand-outs--plus copies of any pictures or illustrations they planned
> to use--he could look them over and then call some evening, or perhaps
> on a Sunday afternoon, and go over the material in the hand-outs by
> phone--that way he'd save the price of registration and he wouldn't
> have to take a day off to attend the conference. Oh, and did I have an
> 800- number? (I don't know about the others, but he didn't get mine. I
> was the first instructor he'd called with this idea and I was some
> unenthusiastic about the idea--in fact, I'm afraid my response was a
> bit scathing.) I've had factory reps call for advice--in a couple of
> cases the results of those calls have actually shown up in
> production--and not one of them has ever offered any compensation.
> (I'll leave it to the reader to speculate over who gets credit for the
> ideas involved.) On one occasion two principles of a piano factory
> called, taking up nearly 4 hours of my workday, who were surprised
> that I would expect to be compensated for my time. After all, it was
> just a phone call, right? (No, I haven't been paid and doubt I ever
> will. And, no, the company involved is not in bankruptcy.) For years I
> allowed myself to be exploited in this way. Now, I'm a bit more
> hard-nosed about these things. Though I still can't bring myself to
> charge for a quick phone call--I'm so shocked when a calling
> technician offers to pay me for my time I've usually not the heart to
> say yes--the days are gone when I am willing to spend a half-hour or
> longer on the phone with somebody and not expect something in
> return. Especially when I read about some of you who are expecting a
> 20% referral fee on a $10,000 to $20,000 job for what amounts to a
> phone call or two. OK, I'll crawl back in my hole now and wait for the
> phone to ring.... Regards, DelDelwin D Fandrich
> Piano Designer & Builder
> Hoquiam, Washington  USA
> E.mail:  pianobuilders@olynet.com
> Web Site:  www.pianobuilders.com

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