lessons learned

[Alan]

1. When I darn a piano to heck but the people otherwise are interested
in pianos, I do not charge them and I help them, if they desire, in
finding another piano. I want the long-term business, the referrals, and
the good PR.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rottenluck, but these pianos were made in the early
days of plastic. It was strong when made but has become very weak, over
time. Here, let me show you <snap, crackle, pop> The repair would cost
$A,LOT ..." etc.

2. If they seem surprised at the cost, you might give the example that I
always use. "Let's say I had to replace these bridle straps—they get
fragile over the years. Snipping out one of these, measuring and cutting
a new one, then inserting and gluing the new one only takes about 1 1/2
minutes. Does that seem reasonable? ("Yes it does," she says) But there
are 88 of them. So 1 1/2 times 88 is 132 minutes divided by 60 is 2 1/3
hours. I charge $MODEST_SHOP_RATE per hour so this job costs
$"WOW,THAT_MUCH?"

I don't know how to advise you in customer relations because it so much
depends on your personality and the customer, etc. As for me, I make
every effort to make a friend from the minute I get the phone call--not
just breeze in and out like someone from the phone company. I want a
long term relationship .... uh, well, in most cases. Then I educate
clients (as much as they can stand) and I am honest and thorough in
explaining everything.

I've had exactly one--count 'em ONE--customer call another tuner the
second time. Word got back that I was too slow and talked too much. Oh,
well.

Alan R. Barnard
Salem, MO

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Charles Neuman
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 3:33 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: lessons learned

Can someone help me out with what the tech should say in this case?

I would have a hard time saying, "Gee, see this cheap plastic? It broke.
It's not my fault, and I'm not fixing it. But you can pay me $40, and
now
your piano doesn't work. See ya!"

Is that pretty much what you have to say, but in a way that makes the
customer happy? Seriously, I'm really scared of a situation like this,
especially if I'm not armed with a way to handle it.

Thanks,

Charles Neuman
PTG Assoc, Long Island



>   Tvak@aol.com wrote:=20
>
>     To all=20
>     Today I taught myself a couple of lessons.  First of all, I will =
> never break the following rule ever again:=20
>
>     Don't ever...ever....even TOUCH a plastic flange unless it is
glued =
> to the doorknob of the exit door and even only then if there's no
other =
> way out.=20
>
>     I replaced a set of elbows today.  I knew that it had plastic
wippen =
> flanges.  Why was I so careless snapping that first elbow in place?
The =
> price?  Removal of the spinet action to replace the cracked plastic =
> wippen flange.=20
>
>     The other 87 elbows snap in place with no further problem due to =
> extreme care on my part.  Adjust the lost motion and...play the piano.
=
> Hmmm...the hammer on middle C is double striking.  I'll just move the
=
> backcheck forward and... (What was I thinking...?)=20
>
>     Out comes the spinet action to replace the newly broken plastic =
> wippen flange.  While replacing the wippen flange I brush against a =
> damper lever and...now I can replace the plastic damper flange on that
=
> damper lever and... the one next to it which I also bumped into with
the =
> screwdriver.=20
>
>     Back goes the action and as I play the piano I realize that the =
> damper lever on D5 is not damping due to it's also being cracked.  (I
=
> did look at them all while they were out of the piano, but it was not
=
> visually apparent.)  Now, I was nowhere near D5 so I wonder if this
was =
> a pre-existing problem, which leads me to the next lesson I
learned:=20
>
>     Check the piano first to see if there are any problems.=20
>
>     BTW, my original service call on this piano was 6 months ago at =
> which time I replaced 4 elbows and informed the client of the
existence =
> of all the plastic flanges, and the costs involved in replacing them.
I =
> advised him NOT to put any money into this Lester spinet, other than =
> replacing those 4 elbows that had already broken.  Six months later he
=
> called to tell me to go ahead with the elbows.   In the back of my
mind =
> I was thinking, wasn't this the piano with all the plastic flanges?
But =
> rather than say anything, I just went ahead and made the appointment.
=
> Which leads me to the last lesson for the day:=20
>
>     Take better notes on each piano for future reference.=20
>
>     I rarely share my experiences with others on the list.   Hope this
=
> was worth reading...=20
>
>     Tom Sivak
>


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