Just had something I thought I'd run by the list... I've made some mistakes in the past, and I'll admit that. Hopefully, some of these experiences will have taught me valuable lessons. One that's still a bit of a thorn in my side... Left PA to move to LA in March. Had a job (reed organ rebuild) sitting in my shop waiting to be started. I didn't have time to do it before I left, so I called up the customer and asked if I could bring the organ with me to LA and return it in May, when I had scheduled a return to the area. (Incidentally, I had two of these things to be returned in the same trip.) Rebuilt both of the reed organs in LA and returned to PA with them as scheduled in May. The first one I knew there would be a delay of payment because I was doing the work for another technician who was then going to do a bit of cabinet work and return it to the customer, paying me upon completion and return to the customer, all understood up front. No problem. Got paid just fine. But the other one... Delivered it as scheduled. Sat down and played a song on it, slowly pulling out all of the "bells and whistles" all the way up to full organ. The thing sounded fantastic and I practically received a standing ovation from the family and a few neighbors who came in to hear. Pulled out the bill and handed it to them, to which they replied, "We'll see to it that you get this right away. We're not going to pay it, but our daughter who lives upstate who will be getting the organ..." Well, I would have liked to simply loaded the thing back into the truck and driven away, but I couldn't do that. It was a rented truck and I was 1000 miles from home. So I left it there and asked that they please not put off making payment as I had a considerable amount invested. And you know what's next, you can see it coming. It's going on 6 weeks now. I haven't been able to reach them by phone. At 4 weeks, I did send off a letter reminding them that I haven't received payment and that I would appreciate them sending it promptly if they haven't already. I guess the question is, what's next? If it was just a $75 tuning, I could swallow hard and really not miss it so badly. But this bill was about $1000. (Should have been more, but I stuck to my estimate.) Any suggestions on collecting? (This is what I get for 'trusting' a retired pastor.) Thanks for letting me vent a bit. This one's been bugging me. Take care, all. Brian ===== Brian Trout Grand Restorations 3090 Gause Blvd., #202 Slidell, LA 70461 985-649-2700 GrandRestorations@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC