changing tuners

[Carl Teplitski]

Subject has come up that could use a little discussion.  One fellow was
wondering how often clients change tuners, and for what reasons. A
dentist friend of mine once made a statement to a question of this
nature;
that it didn't much matter how good a "tuner" a fellow was, apart from a

very famous one, the average business will change over 20 % most every
year. I think he was mostly referring to his business, but thought it
might
apply to others as well. I have often asked a new customer who the last
tuner
was, and were they satisfied with him/her. Not trying to put the
customer on
the spot to say that they didn't like the last tuner, for what ever
reason. Occasionally,
they will volunteer a reason for not going back to said tuner. I've been
told who a tuner
was, and knew that he/she did good work. Yet the customer changed. Some
tuners
have said that there wasn't much reason to do anything special, because
the customer
will probably get someone else next time anyway. Sometimes it's price,
other times
it may be that the tuner has BO.  Whatever!!!!  I have some customers
for many years,
and some I have never heard from again. Of course, some only tune their
pianos every
10 years, whether they need it or not. I suppose that could be the best
reason.
Just curious what others know about said subject.

Carl