Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof

[Farrell]

I did work for dealers on and off my first two years. I couldn't take it. Too much B$. So I quit and with some of my spare time did free tuning for a couple of the prominent music studios in the area. That helped get me real busy real quick. I still tune their pianos at no charge. I get many referrals from them. Way more than I got from the stores.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 9:33 AM
Subject: Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof


> List,
> 
> I've been doing a fair amount of work for dealers lately, and I've been very 
> frustrated by the lack of prep done on new pianos in the stores.   Most of 
> them get tuned once before delivery, then one free tuning in the home.  Few 
> get the recommended full-on prep/regulation .  It's usually enough to get 
> them out the door, which is what a salesperson is SUPPOSED to do.
> 
> Granted, the SF Bay Area is a very competitive market.  All the major brands, 
> and many lesser known brands are available within easy driving distance.  
> School sales abound, close-out sales are rampant.  I understand that dealers 
> must keep costs down to sell things at competitive prices.  And for the most 
> part, customers want cheap first, quality second.  Shiny PSOs.
> 
> The problem lies with the dealer avoiding the maintenance issue:  frequency 
> of tuning(3-4 times a year for the first 2-3 years according to the manuals)  
> Regulation is seldom, if ever, mentioned in a sales pitch.  Repairs are often 
> left for the customer to happen upon after delivery.
> 
> I don't want to bite the hand that sometimes feeds me by calling the dealers 
> liars, but I don't want the pianos and owners to get sub-par service because 
> the dealer said "tune it once a year, whether it needs it or not."   By 
> saying things like this, the dealer is cutting us out of the loop, and doing 
> the piano and its owner a great disservice.
> 
>  I'm sure many of you have faced or still contend with this issue.  How do 
> we, as techs, tell the customer that the piano needs more frequent and more 
> thorough service without heaping the blame on dealers?
> 
> Looking forward to a time I'm too busy with private tunings to work for 
> stores....:)
> 
> Dave Stahl
>