Symphony Piano Sale

[David M. Porritt]

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Wim:

The university sale for SMU is always held at the dealership.  Our
legal department would not let this commercial event take place on
campus for fear of losing our tax-exempt status.  I'm a little
surprised that this hasn't caught some other universities.

dave
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On 3/5/02 at 11:04 AM Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:
List, et al 

The piano store that has been supplying the university (Alabama) for
the last 10 years has just informed us he is pulling out at the end
of the school year. We have 12 pianos in use now. I don't know what
we are going to do to replace those 12, as all of them are in
critical positions. We do have some options, but it will no doubt
cost us some money, money that should be used in other areas.   

>From what I have been told, the university sale last year resulted in
only 11 pianos being sold. The dealer didn't even have the sale at
the university. It was held in his store. That kind of sale was also
being done in St. Louis, before I left. The store announced, "A sale
so huge, it can only happen at our store." Meaning, it was not worth
it to the store to move all those pianos to the school. 

University/symphony sales have been going on for almost 15 years now.
Although the store sponsoring these sales do sell more pianos in one
or two weekends than the store usually sells in a month or two, I
think it is getting to the saturation point. I also think the word
has gotten out that the "deals" at these sales aren't any better than
what the consumer can get at the store. It is ashamed that some of
the sales tactics have been less than desirable. It has given the
entire industry a bad name. As far as servicing these pianos, again,
if you have a problem with the dealer, I believe that the dealers
that sponsored the sales are no worse or better in providing service
than what you get for a piano that was sold out of the store. 

Although, like some of you, I was against them at first, I have come
to realize that the impact these sales have on the community, in the
way of getting more pianos in homes, is worth the occasional bad
apple, so to speak. Therefore, as I said in my first post, as
technicians I think we should support these sales. It means more
business for us in the long run. If you have a complaint about a
certain dealer, then report that to the "proper authorities." 

Wim 
_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
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