Another thing to consider too is the post office itself. I cannot count the amount of times a church or school told me they had sent payment only to find when they checked their bank records that it had never been cashed. I never got it. I have no doubt they sent it to me when they say this. But, I always ask them to check the bank records to make sure I cashed it. Half the time, it probably winds up in Bulgaria for all I know… Jer Groot From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Israel Stein Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:38 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Cutting off your nose to spite your face (was:Don't work for this manufacturer) Hello, all Some twelve years ago - when I first moved to California and was building up a new business - I got a warranty job from Baldwin, to take care of a bunch of backchucking (pulley) keys on a new SF-10. Took me forever to get paid - Baldwin was then in the process of running itself into bankruptcy, and their processes weren't the most efficient. But I got to keep that client - who is a piano teacher. Since then he has brought me at least $1500 per year in added business - and often a lot more. He himself is good for 4-5 tunings per year (and he now has a Steinway D - lots of regulating, hammer filing and voicing work), plus his students. He referred me to two schools. One is a concert venue - so I get 3-4 calls per month for concerts and master classes (somebody cheaper does their junk pianos, which is fine with me). The other is a small university music department - that was good for 15 tunings in September, and will probably yield a few more over the school year. So yes, it took me a few months to get my money from Baldwin. But hey - I don't care... Sometimes it's a hassle to deal with big corporations. The mail clerk misdirects your invoice. One of the people who processes it quits - and between her and the new trainee the thing gets mislaid. There are incompetent employees - it takes time to weed them out or transfer them where they do less harm (ask me about what the Kawai parts department was like in the late 1980s - sheesh!!!). If you don't need the business - great, avoid working for manufacturers or specific manufacturers. But then please don't whine about not having enough business. Because the hassle may just be worth it. And that ain't no fiction... Israel Stein _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 091027-0, 10/27/2009 Tested on: 10/27/2009 4:38:40 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2009 ALWIL Software. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091027/31db5e53/attachment.htm>
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