Isreal’s comments are spot on. As a former Baldwin dealer, I occasionally needed the services of a technician for repairs too distant for me to make. I took care of getting the authorizations from the manufacturer, told the contracted technicians to contact the customer and perform the service, and then bill me directly. Which I promptly paid (you have to remember that I am a technician too). Then it would be up to me to deal with the manufacturer about getting paid, and they were often slow in paying. But this kept my problem from being the tech’s problem, and allowed me to maintain a positive relationship with the technician, whom I regarded as an asset. Will Truitt If Samick does operate the way Steinway and Baldwin do, then they are keeping that a secret. Jane never said anything to me about getting approval for doing the work before hand. I even talked with Jane in GR, and she told me the invoice had been received and processed, and that a check would be sent "soon". If Samick has a policy of granting approval for any work, they never told the dealer, because the dealer assumed I would get paid by sending the invoice directly to Samick. Will, I greatly appreciate your other post. I do need to get over this issue. It has taken too much of my time, and it has stressed me out. Despite of what I wrote above, I need to get over this concept that I have to be "right". Thank you for pointing that out to me. Wim -----Original Message----- From: William Truitt <surfdog at metrocast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Thu, Oct 29, 2009 11:31 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturers Isreal’s comments are spot on. As a former Baldwin dealer, I occasionally needed the services of a technician for repairs too distant for me to make. I took care of getting the authorizations from the manufacturer, told the contracted technicians to contact the customer and perform the service, and then bill me directly. Which I promptly paid (you have to remember that I am a technician too). Then it would be up to me to deal with the manufacturer about getting paid, and they were often slow in paying. But this kept my problem from being the tech’s problem, and allowed me to maintain a positive relationship with the technician, whom I regarded as an asset. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Israel Stein Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:45 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturers Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:17:21 -0400 "Gerald Groot" <tunerboy3 at comcast.net> Yes. But, I would have then billed the dealer and let them collect from Samick in that case. Either that or, if they asked me to bill Samick, I would have contacted Samick first to make sure because all warranties are technically through the company not the dealer. Jer Jer, Exactly. The point here is to understand the relationship between the dealer, the manufacturer and the technician. The dealer is not an employee or an agent of the manufacturer - so he or she cannot incur obligations on behalf of the manufacturer (which what "approving a repair" means). When I worked for the Steinway dealer in Boston (first as a contractor and later as an employee) they always got prior authorization from Steinway before authorizing any job that they expected Steinway to pay for (no matter who billed them - they or I). Same for the other manufacturers whose pianos they carried. They are in the same boat as we are, as far as billing the manufacturer for work is concerned. If the dealer doesn't want to bother with pre-approval from the manufacturer - then they should pay the technician and themselves take on the responsibility of billing the manufacturer and themselves take the chance that perhaps the manufacturer will not cover the repair (or the full amount) for some reason. It is rather unprofessional of a dealer to ask a technician to bill a manufacturer without getting pre-approval. They should either get the approval or pay the technician themselves. Israel Stein From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of wimblees at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:33 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer That's how I see it Wim. Sorry, but I can't side with you on this one either… Jer Jer 2 things. One, I got permission from the dealer to do the work. Should that be considered "pre-approval", or is pre-approval only issued by the manufacturer? Second. When the factory representative tells you that a check will be sent in a few days, wouldn't that more or less indicate that all the information they have is correct, that the payment has been approved, and it's just a matter for the paper work to get processed. But when the check doesn't come, and a second, and even a third, phone call or e-mail message is sent asking about the check, wouldn't that more or less indicate that perhaps someone, somewhere isn't being honest with you? Wim -----Original Message----- From: Gerald Groot <tunerboy3 at comcast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wed, Oct 28, 2009 6:06 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Don't work for this manufacturer I have never had a problem with being paid by any manufacturer and I have sent plenty of bills for warranty claims over the years. The reason is, I contact them before hand to get approval and find out what information they require on my bill along with a PO # if required. If the said information billed to a church for example, is not completed properly, i.e., work done, what was done, why it was done and above all, pre-approved before the bill was sent, I would not expect to be paid. That's business. We send estimates to everyone before doing the work. Dealers and manufacturers are not excluded. If it is a warranty problem, it must be pre-approved unless you have something set up with the company in advance for pre-approval. I recently talked with someone from a different piano company via email about a warranty problem. I was told exactly what information I needed to record onto my bill, was asked what needed to be done and why, I explained it all, filled it out as requested and was paid within 2 weeks. Basically, it is our responsibility to see to it that all information is filled out correctly before we send out our bill. It is not the other parties responsibility to see to it that we filled it out correctly after they receive it. Example. I have a school here that I have been tuning for over 20 years. I get a PO # to use for the entire school year. I sent out a bill last year and forgot to type in the PO #. 2 months later, I called them. They looked it up and told me what happened. I wasn't all that happy that they didn't call me but I also realized that they probably receive thousands of bills besides mine and are not my baby sitter so, I re-typed out my bill, included the PO # and within 10 days, got my check. My screw up, my fix. That's how I see it Wim. Sorry, but I can't side with you on this one either… Jer -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091029/691d9116/attachment.htm>
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