Daughter NOT housekeeper! (was who's responsible)

[John Delmore]

Aaah, the rewards of good living!
John Delmore

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of pianolover 88
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 3:31 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Daughter NOT housekeeper! (was who's responsible)

All's well that ends well! Went to customer's home this morning to survey 
damage; very slight nicks on fallboard and music desk, no biggie. The 
customer confessed it was her daughter, not the maid who put the desk back 
in wrong and left it "teetering" just waiting to fall. Even before seeing 
the damage I told the client that I would pay for the repair, but when I 
arrived, and after telling me it was her daughter who tried to put it back, 
she said," I know it's not really your fault, and I would be willing to 
split the cost of repairs with you". I immediately told her that I 
appreciated the thoughtful (and fair) gesture, but that I still wanted to 
take care of it.

She then asked if she could still order the casters and dampp-chaser that I 
had recommended during the initial visit! So in addition to the string 
cover, cleaning, pitch raise and tuning, that was the icing on the cake! Not

to mention that she asked for several cards to give to her friends who also 
own pianos. Could not have been a better outcome!!!

Terry Peterson



----Original Message Follows----
From: Susan Kline <skline@peak.org>
Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Subject: RE: who's responsible?
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 07:32:38 -0800

Jason, that is a very good suggestion. Thinking yesterday about what I'd
do to defuse the bad feelings in this situation, I pictured myself
coming to see the chips in the finish, arranging for a touch-up guy to come
and fix them, and while I was there, giving the owner and the
housekeeper a short lesson in how to put the music desk in.

Susan Kline

At 07:56 PM 12/15/2005 -0800, you wrote:
>I agree with Susan: blame is not the issue; forgive her, forgive yourself,
>fix it and forget it. In fact, if you have the opportunity, thank the maid
>for putting it back and apologize to her for not doing it yourself as you
>should have. Wipe fingerprints off the piano. Teach the maid something 
>about
>cleaning the keys or whatever. Leave everything better than it was.
>|| ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| ||
>Jason Kanter . jkanter@rollingball.com
>Piano tuning, regulation, repair
>Serving Seattle and the San Juans
>425 830 1561
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On 
>Behalf
>Of pianolover 88
>Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 9:25 PM
>To: pianotech@ptg.org
>Subject: who's responsible?
>
>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
>
>
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>
>
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