who's responsible?

[Piannaman@aol.com]

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Terry,
 
Whether responsible or not, in the customer's eyes, you are.  It's  better to 
offer to pay for damages and maintain a decent relationship with the  
customer than to battle her and risk any kind of negative feelings that dreaded  
by-product, bad word-of-mouth.  Bad press in a business that relies almost  
entirely on referrals is not a good thing.
 
Don't feel too badly...we all do this sort of thing from time to  time.  I 
dropped my tuning hammer on the fallboard of a brand new Mason and  Hamlin 50 
inch upright a few weeks back.  Put a nice gouge right on the  most visible part 
of the piano.  The job I did might pay for the finish  work, but I doubt it.
 
I'm just happy she's one of my most understanding customers! 
 
When one feels hurried, bad things happen.  
 
Good Luck,
 
Dave Stahl
 
In a message dated 12/15/2005 5:44:22 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
gnewell@ameritech.net writes:

My  thoughts are, Yes, you are responsible. Too bad it worked out this way 
but  that's what insurance is for.

Greg Newell


At 12:25 AM  12/15/2005, you wrote:
>Inadvertantly forgot to replace customer's music  desk in her Weber grand. 
>I'd been there for about 3 1/2 hours doing a  major "technical" cleaning, 
>big pitch raise, tuning, and finally made  a pattern for a custom string 
>cover, which I sold during the visit.  The customer had to leave just after 
>I got started, but her  housekeeper was there for the duration of my visit. 
>Upon completion, I  closed the lid and flyleaf and played a couple pieces 
>on the piano,  enjoying what I felt was  job well done. At just about this 
>time  I received a call on my cell. I told the caller that I would call her  
>back in a few moments, then proceeded to pack my tools and move on to  the 
>next job.
>
>As stated in the outset, I forgot to  replace the music desk, (a first for 
>me, but hardly the end of the  world, right?) which I had placed out of 
>eyeshot, under the tail  section of the piano. While speaking on the phone 
>several hours later  to the customer from my home, informing her when her 
>new string cover  would be ready, I heard a loud crashing sound, which she 
>told me, to  her shock, was the music desk falling OUT OF THE PIANO, 
>resulting in  some case damage to the piano! She told me that the music 
>desk  appeared to have been "sitting just inside the piano under the top 
>lid  but apparently NOT installed properly". She said that when she tried  
>to lifit the music desk UP it crashed to the ground, hitting the piano  in 
>a couple areas causing the damage.
>
>Here is what MUST  have happened: After I left, the housekeeper noticed the 
>music desk  was still on the floor, and attempted to put it inside the 
>piano, but  did not slide it onto the tracks! When the customer returned 
>home that  evening, she lifted the flyleaf back, then lifted the desk 
>upward, and  that's when the accident occured.
>
>Yes, I left the desk out in  my haste, But am I responsible for the 
>Houskeeper's actions? My  feeling is that if they would have called me 
>FIRST, I would have made  the short trip(less than 10 minutes) back to 
>reinstall it---no harm  done, case closed.
>
>Any thought? Thanks  all!
>
>Terry Peterson
>





Dave  Stahl

Dave Stahl Piano Service
650-224-3560
_http://www.dstahlpiano.net/_ (http://www.dstahlpiano.net/) 

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