Tuning Complaint - Help!

[Farrell]

Wouldn't you know it. The other day I had a great compliment from a professional pianist that I put the best tuning he had ever received on his Yamaha U3. Today I get my first tuning complaint!

I am looking for recommendations on how to handle this one. The elderly (mid-eighties) woman call me and tells me that some other tuner tuned her piano a couple weeks ago, but it still sounds flat - will I tune it for her? Sucker me says yes. I go there three days ago. Kimball/Whitney 36" spinet, 1960s. A real gem. Piano is pretty much in one piece, but typical for the breed. The piano was indeed 40 cents flat. I thought - "hey, this lady's got pretty good ears."

So I raise the pitch to A441 and use the Thomas Moore temperament. I give it a second fine tuning pass. Piano ended up sounding, er, a, well, like a tuned 1960s Kimball/Whitney 36" spinet. I play some scales and cords. She says it sounds good. Great. Collect fee, chit-chat about cute dog. Say good bye.
  
She just called this morning and says her piano sounds flat. It is just like before I got there. I ask her to play middle C. It sounds the same as my Boston grand at home (pitch-wise at least). It is not 40 cents flat. 

She asks me to listen to her play Amazing Grace. This is not one of my top tunes, but I do know how the melody goes. I have no idea what she played. It was just a bunch of notes mashed together. I think perhaps she doesn't know her notes very well and thinks that the bad sounds are the tuning, rather than the playing.

This woman is very sweet, and did not call with an aggressive tone at all - she is not trying to be antagonistic - she honestly thinks her piano is flat ('course, maybe she is just hearing "bad" piano). I want to make her comfortable with the situation, but I know that I can't significantly improve the tuning on this nasty little piano - it is indeed pretty much where it needs to be (although one could make an argument for the dump).

Any suggestions on how I can show her that the piano is as good as it is reasonably going to get? I don't play. I could possibly drag my wife over there and get her to play Amazing Grace.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Terry Farrell