Aaargh!!...aka customer relations

[Dave Davis]

Dave,
I had a "happy ending" call like this a few weeks ago.
 The mom called and said there was an "echo" sound
around middle C or B that sounded real bad.  I
arranged to go a few days later and was a bit
surprised to find no problems.  When I asked her
exactly what the problem was, she called in her 8 year
old girl who sat right down and played the C and B
together.  She said, "see, that sounds really bad!". 
The embarrassed mom offererd to pay me, but instead I
chatted with the family and showed the kids how a
piano action works.  

Moral of the story?  I have dismissed 2 rude customers
from my list.  But, tuning for families with kids
taking lessons makes it worth it.

Dave Davis, Assoc.
Renton, WA

--- Piannaman@aol.com wrote:
> Fellow self-employed types,
> 
> Has this or something like it happened to you?  I
> had just gotten my 3 year 
> old to sleep last night and was about to nod off
> when my phone rang.  I glanced 
> at the clock and it was almost 10:30.  I picked it
> up, and a man stated his 
> name, and said that I'd been out to his house last
> week and tuned his piano.  I 
> remembered him, and I remembered his demanding
> nature.
> 
> He said that the teacher had been to his house and
> had played the piano.  She 
> said that the bass was out of tune.  Now this
> doesn't surprise me a bit.  It 
> was a pitch raise of gargantuan proportions and a
> tuning.  2 hours worth of 
> work, and I didn't charge him for the pitch raise,
> because he was a new 
> customer.  I did warn him that the next time he'd
> pay.  The piano is approximately 5 
> years old, and if had ever been tuned in his house
> I'd be surprised.  Normally 
> when I pitch raise a piano, it's pretty stable, as
> long as it was stabilized 
> at one point in it's life.  That was certainly not
> the case here.
> 
> In my dazed state, I stated that I'd come out(today)
> and check it out.  He 
> was extremely rude, and acted as if I'd done
> something wrong.  My first reaction 
> was to make it better so that the customer--and his
> teacher, who'd 
> recommended me--were no longer disgruntled.  I
> thought about it for awhile, and realized 
> that I'd done nothing wrong, and had indeed given
> him far more than he paid 
> for.  I called him back and left him a polite
> message to that effect on his 
> work phone, which he should pick up today.  I
> pointed out that I'd do it for free 
> this time, but that I wasn't the one who let the
> piano go untuned for so long.
> 
> Any advice on possible responses to this sort of
> thing?
> 
> This type of stuff really rankles me.  I guess the
> lesson here is to not take 
> it too personally.  Kinda hard to do sometimes when
> you're the whole show.
> 
> Thanks for reading.  
> 
> Dave Stahl
> 
> 
> 


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