I don’t think Jane is particularly happy about having to publicly state here that check # has been issued, no doubt she considers it a private matter between her (as Samick’s representative) and you. I suggest that you apologize to her for your grumpiness, and then politely work with her privately until your issue is resolved. Will Truitt I have sent jane a private e-mail, and hopefully we have resolved the issue. Let me state this. If this had been a first time situation, I would not have complained. But when it happened a second time, I get upset. As I indicated in my letter, I had tried to get the issue resolved on numerous occasions, but each time I was either given the run around as to whey the check had not been issued, or I got no response at all. What Jane said about my invoices was wrong. I sent all the correct information when I submitted my invoice. There is a chapter in my book on how to deal with the complaining customer. It basically says that the complaining customer is your best friend, because it's only when you know you've done something wrong, that you are able to correct it. I hope that this episode will be a learning experience on Samick's part. By their own admission, they've had difficulty in getting invoices paid in a timely manner. Hopefully, somehow this problem will be solved. As far as biting off your nose. The customer doesn't even know about this problem, and he continues to recommend customers. I will also continue to work for the dealer, but just not send the invoice to Samick. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: William Truitt <surfdog at metrocast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Tue, Oct 27, 2009 12:06 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer Wim: While I can appreciate your frustration in getting paid for such a long time (whatever the reasons were, whether internal issues of undefined nature at Samick or an imcomplete invoice on your end; I make no judgement either way), I think that your airing your laundry in such a public way in this forum was not appropriate or useful. I have read many of Jane’s past posts to this forum, she seems capable and caring, and seemed to be working towards resolving your complaint. So why did you continue to bite the hand that was reaching out to help you? I would not have aired my complaint on this forum in the first place, and I certainly would have gone to dealing with Jane privately and directly once I saw her effort to resolve the issue. My mother used to say, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” I used to be a Baldwin dealer. I had many, many problems with them that I had to resolve on an almost daily basis at one time. But I could get people to help me because I was friendly, cheerful, and persistent. They all knew me on a first name basis and always greeted me in a friendly manner, and they wanted to help me. We always dealt with PROBLEMS and never with PERSONALITIES. They helped me get done what I needed. I say the best way to deal with problems like this is to make someone your friend at the company. I have always made it a point at conventions to get to know the tech people at the manufacturers on a friendly basis. A lot of them I know on a first name basis over time, and it works in two directions. When they have a problem in my area, I can get that call to assist them. Or if I am having a problem, I call them and ask the appropriate questions. I wouldn’t be averse to calling the tech person at a manufacturer and asking how to grease the wheel for my problem. Sounds to me like Jane could be that person at Samick, she certainly seems eager to help. I don’t think Jane is particularly happy about having to publicly state here that check # has been issued, no doubt she considers it a private matter between her (as Samick’s representative) and you. I suggest that you apologize to her for your grumpiness, and then politely work with her privately until your issue is resolved. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jane Jones Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 3:01 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer Willem, As someone pointed out, I don't think this is the place to be airing. Everyone can make his or her own judgement, but we all have to work together. Accounts payable gave me check # 83594 that they have mailed to you. Your invoice was sent back to me because it was not complete.. All it had under "service rendered" was "3 hours". Obviously, they needed more information. I gave them the information and you have been paid. As for emails answered, I responded to all but the last one, but I do not respond to inappropriate language. If I somehow owe you an apology, I apologize. The industry is too small and too important to what we do to be arguing and I won't go down that road. I implore anyone who has any outstanding issues to contact me. Working together, we can resolve them. These types of inuendos and accusations do nothing to move us forward. Jane --- On Tue, 10/27/09, wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com> wrote: From: wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 1:25 PM By the way, for the record, this technician has been paid for all his services, and the dealer was notified of this. Dealers are reimbursed, as well. Most of the time technicians are not privy to this information, as dealer accounts are credited many times instead of sending checks. Jane Jones Samick Music Corporation For the record, unless the check was sent yesterday, I have NOT received payment. As far as the statement "In most cases, manufacturers have problems processing invoices when they are not complete." all of the information about these repairs (customer name, address, piano name, model and serial number, amount of repairs, what was done, etc. ) were on my invoices. As I asked Jane, if the information was not there, why wasn't I asked about it in a timely manner, like a week or two, instead of 3 months later. The bottom line is this. Samick is a VERY SLOW PAYER. Don't work for them Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Jane Jones <jjmusic at bellsouth.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Tue, Oct 27, 2009 1:11 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer I am sorry this type of action has been taken. As this has come up before, I feel the need to respond. If you will recall, we have had this problem before, but for the most part all issues have been resolved. From time to time, things do take longer than they should. In most cases, manufacturers have problems processing invoices when they are not complete. That was the case here. (In addition to not receiving the invoice when this tech thought we did.) I will be reviewing the way invoices are submitted and although typically, it has been a very easy process for a tech to submit an invoice, this will probably change. I encourage any technician to contact me personally at jjones at smcmusic.com if you have any outstanding issues, and I will gladly resolve them. By the way, for the record, this technician has been paid for all his services, and the dealer was notified of this. Dealers are reimbursed, as well. Most of the time technicians are not privy to this information, as dealer accounts are credited many times instead of sending checks. Jane Jones Samick Music Corporation Please be assured that we appreciate all help that is received by technicians in the field. We realize what you face out there and have every intention of taking care of you. --- On Tue, 10/27/09, wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com> wrote: From: wimblees at aol.com <wimblees at aol.com> Subject: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer To: Pianotech at PTG.org Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 3:10 AM Technicians are asked by stores to take care of problems with new pianos. In some cases the store pays the technician. But sometimes the store ask the technician to send a bill to the manufacturer. In all my years of doing this, the manufacturer usually pays within a month, and sometimes even as soon as a week. But I want to warn you about one manufacturer that doesn't pay in a timely manner. I am telling you my story, so that hopefully other technicians won’t have the same problem as I have had. Last June the dealer for whom I do some work asked me to make a case repair on one of the pianos in his store. At about the same time, he asked me to make a minor repair on a piano of the same brand at a customer’s home. The dealer asked if I would send the bills to the manufacturer. That was at the end of June. I finally got a check at the end of September, 3 months later, but only after five or six e-mails back and forth, where each time the factory representative promised a check would be sent “right away”. About 2 weeks before I got my check, the excuses were they she had been gone for a week, and the accountant had gone on vacation. In the middle of August I did some more work on the same piano, and sent another bill to the manufacturer.. I still haven’t been paid, even though the factory representative told me, after she admitted never having received the original bill, she would personally “walk the bill to the accounting department”. Now when I send an e-mail, I don't even get an answer back. I am telling all of you this to warn you NOT to do any work for the Samick Piano Company. If a dealer asks you to send the bill directly to Samick, either don’t do the work, or tell the dealer you want to get paid by him/her. The dealer will probably hesitate, because from what I’ve been told, Samick doesn’t reimburse its dealers, either. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091027/4fe9d883/attachment-0001.htm>
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