The day's frustration

[Terry]

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What I find even more frustrating than Dave's day (as frustrating as it =
obviously was) is folks who would pilfer from the PTG rather than =
support an organization whose sole purpose is to foster the availability =
of state-of-the-art technical information on piano technology.

"If I hand my customer a printout from the PTG website" ........... you =
will be guilty of copyright infringement. Don't do it. These materials =
are available for sale at  http://ptg.org/merchandise/PTGStore05.pdf .

"If I hand my customer a printout from the PTG website, it not only =
credits the PTG for all of the information given, it also gives the url =
for the PTG's website..." It not only gives the URL, but also indicates =
that it is copyrighted - "=A9 1992 & 1994 The Piano Technicians Guild, =
Inc."  And if you look just a little further, on the home page you will =
see:=20

"=A92000 This site is subject to copyrights owned by the Piano =
Technicians Guild. All materials posted to this site are subject to =
copyrights owned by the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) and other =
individuals or entities. Any reproduction, retransmission, or =
republication of all or part of any document found on this site is =
expressly prohibited, unless the PTG or the copyright owner of the =
material has expressly granted prior written consent to so reproduce, =
retransmit, or republish the material. All other rights reserved."

You might want to consider joining the PTG and supporting the =
organization that makes available technical information that is =
"EXTREMELY useful in circumstances like these." "Printing off a copy of =
the PTG explanation of a Pitch Raise..." or anything else is illegal and =
IMHO, downright dishonest. Please consider supporting the PTG rather =
than pilfering from the PTG.

Terry Farrell
  I have actually found the PTG's website to be EXTREMELY useful in =
circumstances like these. Printing off a copy of the PTG explanation of =
a Pitch Raise (along with the faq of "why does my piano go out of tune" =
yadda yadda), not only gives the customer concise information on piano =
care and behaviour, but also gives them a legitimate reference point =
outside of the word of one new tuner. They obviously don't know that =
your work and intentions are honest, so for all they know, you could =
just not be a very good tuner, and/or you could be trying to take them =
for a ride, billing them for a bunch of bogus work. To their credit, =
they're right to be skeptical - there ARE unfortunately a lot of tooners =
(and other service people) who make their livings off of dishonest =
upsales/scams. *WE* know you're not one of those, but your new and =
uneducated customer doesn't. Think about it - it's kind of like when you =
go in for a simple oil change and JoeBob at the quicklube tells you that =
you need about $200 worth of additional work done on your car (even if =
it's a tuneup, transmission flush, new air filter...). But last time, =
you had your oil changed by Tommy up the street, and he didn't mention =
any of that. Tommy's been changing your oil for years and has never had =
to do anything more to it - tuneup? What's that?=20
  If I hand my customer a printout from the PTG website, it not only =
credits the PTG for all of the information given, it also gives the url =
for the PTG's website - aha! Another valuable resource for piano owners =
who just don't know any better. It also earns me brownie points for =
going out of my way to show that *I* care about their piano, and that I =
want to bother explaining these things to them. Lastly, it leaves them =
with written information in a clear format (not handwritten. And do you =
really want to take the time to write the whole pitch raise and false =
beats shpiel out?) - 90 percent of what you verbally tell a customer =
goes in one ear, gets jumbled up and confused, and leaks out the other =
ear. Not because customers are stupid, but because most people simply =
don't have the time or attention span - they have kids, which means they =
have scouts, soccer practices, piano lessons, sunday school, pta =
meetings, karate, ballet, etc. That simple piece of paper is something =
they can refer to. Maybe they'll read it and respond positively, maybe =
not. But you're at least covering your butt, doing all you can do, and =
giving a chance for it. 
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