Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof

[Farrell]

In Brandon my fair-sized bedroom community suburb of Tampa, on one of the main drags through town, are two music stores. They both sell and rent band instruments (local schools), guitars, keyboard, amps, music and other common music accessories. They both offer music lessons on a wide range of instruments, including piano. One store has four pianos and the other two. I tune their pianos at no charge three or four times a year. They have large Yellow Pages displays and are prominently located in town (they are very visible in the community). All the inquires they get about pianos are referred to me. I get several a week from them.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Casper" <gcasper@pacbell.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 1:15 AM
Subject: RE: Dealer Prep/Lack Thereof


> 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
> >
> 
>