Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof

[Greg Casper]

Terry:

By "studios" do you mean things like conservatories and educational
institutions, or recording studios...?? What?

Greg Casper
San Jose, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf
Of Farrell
Sent: Sunday, May 26, 2002 7:51 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof


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
>