OPINION: Deb takes list down treacherous path!!

[Bill Ballard]

At 11:47 AM -0500 2/10/03, David Skolnik wrote:
>Is it appropriate for this list to be addressing this sort of
>customer issue?  I guess I think not.  We have certainly discussed
>aspects of the problem in the past...soundboard cracks, humidity
>control, warranties, rebuilding definitions...even $ (on rare
>occasions!).  Attempting to respond to a specific customer
>complaint, however well meaning and articulate the response, seems
>to be territory we should be wary of.

At the very least, we should recognize that she intends us to be 
experts witnesses in an dispute with the dealer she bought the piano 
from. Neither the dealer nor the rebuilder should be expected to 
respect arguments by her based on comments coming from this list. 
After all, no matter how complete her description is, none of us have 
actually seen the piano. We're all just "email addresses" on an 
internet mailing list.

>  (snip) As much as Ms. Rogers
>says that "Any advice would be appreciated...", the truth is, too
>much advice can be as unhelpful as too little especially if the
>information is conflicting or, possibly, inaccurate.  A customer
>submitting a question is not the same thing as "The Daily Puzzler",
>and should not be approached as one, to be figured out.

I'd love to sign on to a legal list and ask questions about divorce 
law, not mentioning of course what state I lived in, the presence or 
absence of aggravating circumstances, and the size and provenance of 
the marital estate. But I know better than to get something for 
nothing from lawyers. If it didn't occur to Ms. Rogers that an 
internet list with members scattered all over the world, with 
differing opinions (not all of which is backed up even by personal 
experience), with only her one-sided and non-professional description 
of the situation, can be of no help to her, I hope we can now make 
this clear to her.

I'm (in)famous on this list for sorting out the tourists (lurkers who 
think it's just neat to listen to piano techs talk) and drive-bys 
(ordinary folks who sign on only for the purpose of having a single 
question answered, like buying french fries from the side-window at 
McDonalds), from the people who actually do this for a living. And 
I'm not the only one to suggest to a newbie, that they seek out their 
local PTG chapter, or a drive-by wanting to know how much they could 
get for their Brambach heirloom baby grand that we can't possibly 
know their particular piano or local market conditions.

So I join David Skolnik and David Love in recommending that Ms. 
Rogers hire a "brick and mortar" piano technician to look at her 
"bricks and mortar" piano, if she would like satisfaction in this 
"bricks and mortar" situation.

Now, after a brief indulgence, back to my self-imposed vow of silence.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"The truth is inside you, Don Octavio. I cannot help you find that."
     ...........The mother of a delusional patient to his psychiatrist 
in "Don Juan DeMarco"
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