Kawai warranty question

[Piannaman@aol.com]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
 
I'll chime in with Avery on this one.  They really do their best to  help 
technicians in the field.  I usually deal with Andrew Thomas, who is  the primary 
phone contact.
 
I have a Kawai GE2 that I service in a private piano school that has had  the 
living daylights beaten out of it.  The customer was convinced that the  
piano was no good and was in need of warranty replacent because it was breaking  
strings and needed voicing in the worst way.  When I heard how hard the  piano 
was being played, I understood immediately that the piano was under severe  
duress.  Nevertheless, Kawai went beyond what they were responsible for in  
order to make the customer happy.  
A piano like the one you are working on gets far more wear and tear than a  
concert instrument.  
 
Kawai's phone number is 800-421-2177.  Just ask for acoustic piano  tech 
support.  If it is a warranty fix, you will get a claim form.   IMHO, this is a 
(ab)use issue.  People that use their pianos often and hard  need to spend more 
to have them serviced and repaired regularly.
 
Good luck,
 
Dave Stahl
 
In a message dated 4/4/05 6:21:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time,  
avery1@houston.rr.com writes:

Tom,  

Since no one else has responded to this, I'll stick my nose in! I  don't know 
if this type of thing would be covered under warranty or not. I  doubt it. 
But, I do know that Kawai will bend over backward to help you.  They've done it 
for me several times! I haven't developed a relationship with  Nick yet (but I 
need to). However, I've known Don for years and he's really  helped me a LOT! 
Many times! All I can say is, ask their advice about what to  do! Believe me, 
they won't screw you! :-) 

Avery 

At 08:23 AM  4/4/05, you wrote:

List

I service a Kawai grand, model number not at hand right  now, that is 10 
years old.  This piano is owned by a piano teacher and  she uses it for her 
lessons, so it does get heavier use than most home  pianos.  Still, I am surprised 
at how poorly it was fared.   

Key bushings are completely worn and need replacing.  Dampers  lift 
immediately upon depressing the key.  The damper lift, I am going  to remedy next week, 
but I wonder if the key bushings are something that  would be covered by a 
warranty.  (She couldn't find the warranty when I  was there, but hopefully will 
have found it by the time I return next week  to regulate the damper lift.)

I would think Kawai would warranty  their new pianos for some length of time. 
 But even should the warranty  still be in place, would key bushings be 
covered?  

Having been  in the business for only 6-7 years, I'm not really sure how long 
key  bushings are supposed to last . So maybe it's unrealistic for me to 
expect  them to last longer than 10 years.  Please straighten me out on this if  
my expectations are off.

And unrelated, really, to the above:   let's say that a Kawai did have 
something that needed fixing that was  covered by an existing warranty.  How would 
you go about getting Kawai  to cover the cost of the repair? Or even agree to 
have the repair  done?  Why would they trust my opinion that the key bushings 
(or  whatever) needed replacing?  Would I have to produce some evidence to  
prove it?   I've never had to do any of this before.  And  yes, I could probably 
call Kawai and get an answer, but then, as a  hypothetical question at this 
point, I wouldn't want to bother them with  it.  Certainly someone here has done 
warrantied repairs: how is it  arranged?

Thanks,
Tom Sivak
Chicago Chapter PTG  Associate 



 

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/b0/7a/78/8c/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--