[pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer

[Mark Wisner]

In the case Israel relates below, it seems like the proper thing to do would be to notify the manufacturer that you have discovered a defect that you believe should be covered and corrected under warranty.  If the maker agrees, they'll authorize you to do the job, then you send them the bill when the work is done. 

It's certainly possible that I've misunderstood what Wim wrote earlier, but as I recall the dealer asked Wim to do the job and send the bill to the manufacturer, without it ever being authorized.  You usually don't get to spend someone else's money without them saying it's OK first. 

Mark Wisner 

>Greg, 
>
>Good for you. But it isn't quite that simple. What would you do in a case that you find a serious warranty issue in a new piano that the new owner isn't quite aware of? Say - backchucking (pulley) keys. It doesn't bother them now - but sooner or later their checking will go to hell, and the keys will get noisy. Too soon for the age of the piano - but probably after the warranty expires. So you are going to tell the owner about this - and charge them a fairly steep fee to fix it right - and make them chase the manufacturer for the cost? Good f.....n luck, Greg. Most of the time they'll think you are trying to pull a fast one on them. OK, so you'll just keep your mouth shut and not say anything, right? Would that be ethical? 
>
>There is more to the business of piano tuning than just doing the work and collecting the fee. If we want to be treated like professionals, we need to behave in a professional manner - which sometimes means dealing with manufacturers and other large companies, and jumping through whatever hoops they make us jump through in order to protect our clients' best interests. And sometimes it's a hassle - but hey, that's all part of the business... 
>
>Israel Stein 
>
>
>>>-----Original Message----- 
>>>From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark Wisner 
>>>Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 10:21 AM 
>>>To: pianotech at ptg.org 
>>>Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer 
>
>>>Wim wrote..."I hope that this episode will be a learning experience on Samick's part..." 
>
>>>Wim, I've no doubt Samick, and Ms. Jones, have learned something from this experience, but I suspect the lesson they learned wasn't the one you intended to teach. 
>
>>>The "learning experience" with Samick could have been avoided by following a rule I learned a long time ago (the hard way) which is: Whoever requests the service pays the bill. For example; When a party requested that I submit my bill to a third party for payment I'd ask if they were confident that the third party will pay the bill in a timely fashion? And when the inevitable "yes" response followed, my reply was along the lines of "Fine, then you won't have a problem getting reimbursed". 
>
>>>Mark Wisner 
>
>
>