Sorry for this double posting, but I just remembered that I need to state that I am an associate member, so I don't think that I am allowed to pass out PTG literature (that is soooo stupid) that would maybe go a long way in helping these folks. Terry Farrell On Mar 23, 2010, at 10:28 AM, Terry Farrell wrote: > I'll try to make this as short and clear as I can. A piano teacher > calls me asking $$ for tuning. I tell her my standard fee. She asks > if I give discounts if she can get some of her students pianos for > tunings. I said I don't discount. She asks again. Business is a bit > slow due to economy. I said that I do discount $10 off a tuning for > churches or other organizations with multiple pianos where I can > submit one invoice. She asks if I can do that for her and her > students. I want more work, so I relent (yeah, yeah, you know where > this post is going, don't you?)...... Okay, standard $$ less $10 for > you and your students - if we can get them to schedule on the same > day, etc. so it works well for me. Agreement reached. > > First of all, it took me three visits to tune her Yamaha upright > (nice piano). First visit I raised the pitch about 15 cents (she did > move the piano from out of state, and was somewhat flabbergasted > that it was off pitch because she has it tuned every year). While > raising the pitch, about 15 little children showed up along with > about 5 young mothers - kids screaming, TV blaring, moms chattering > - you get the picture. I told her I could not tune her piano with > all the noise - let's reschedule. She agreed and apologized for the > noise - the new appt. would be noise-free she said - we set it for a > few days away at 4 PM - I told her it would take me an hour to tune > her piano. I was over on the far side of town that afternoon on > appointments and ended arriving at problem piano teacher (PPT) at > 4:30 PM. She let's me in the door and asks why I wasn't there at 4. > I told her my schedule and work got me here at 4:30 (with an > apology). She said she had a date with her husband at 6 and needed > to start getting ready at 5. I said okay. She said she was > uncomfortable with me in the home after 5. I said "okay, I > understand, I apologize for the confusion, let's reschedule - is > tomorrow at X okay?" She said that would be good. Show up for the > third time (Saturday afternoon - she had a recital that evening and > I wanted to be sure to have her piano tuned for it), give the nice > Yamy a darn good tuning. She wrote me a check for PR + Tune less $10. > > Before I left, she asked me if I could fix her player unit > (disclavier (sp?)) - turned out it worked okay, but after she played > a bunch of pieces, I asked her if that was a quiet at the unit would > play (the best it could do was approaching forte!). She said yes, > that was as quiet as it would play - and then added that level was > as quiet as SHE could play the piano. I said something like "I'm > sure you can play quieter", she said no. I opened the piano lid and > looked at let-off. Most hammers were letting off at 1/4" to 3/8". I > explained about action regulation and how excessive let-off would > make it difficult to play quietly. She said she understood and that > my explanation made sense. I told her if she ever wanted to improve > the performance of her piano, we could schedule an action > regulation. She said she would think about it. Great. > > So the next day I tune the piano of one of her students. This was > the Funky-Case 1959 Wurly console I posted about yesterday. This > piano had seen A LOT of HARD playing - like it had been in a > southern Baptist church for many years. The entire middle section of > keys were low (key-leveling low), for whatever reason, let-off was > about a micron away from the strings (those notes that went through > let-off), excessive lost motion, and needless to say, the entire mid- > section of the action had bobbling hammers. You could get most of > them to strike the string once if you really whacked the key, but > most of them would bobble on a medium blow. All hammers were deeply > grooved. Several hammers were flat because their center pins had > walked out and they moved erratically (wildly). Another 8 or 10 were > very loose and you could see the pins had walked. Another dozen or > so felt okay, but you could see the pins walking. An old stick & > wire repair on a hammer shank fell off while I was testing things. > > I discussed the piano ailments with the owners. The player was a > young child playing only a few months. I recommended three levels > piano improvement: 1) replace piano now; 2) do minimal regulation > and repair to make the piano functional and reasonable for a > beginner student and then replace piano within a year or two; 3) if > the piano were not going to be replaced, then I recommended full > action regulation and repairs. Hubby asked repeatedly if we > shouldn't do the full monty anyway, I said that was fine, but that > if they were going to replace it within a couple years, that I could > make it function reasonably well for half the full monty cost. They > agreed to the minimal regulation/repair approach to restore > function. I told them I would call them to schedule the work. > > Before I left, I raised the pitch of the piano 50 to 90 cents and > spliced a bass string that broke during the pitch raise (man, that > was the loudest break I have heard yet!). Told them we could settle > up $$ when I complete all the work. > > Except for three trips to tune PPT piano, sounds okay so far - right? > > So, yesterday evening, PPT calls and leaves message - "How come you > are charging Mrs. Funky Case (FC) $X to tune her piano when mine > only cost $X/4?" PPT apparently played the FC piano when they > bought it ($300) a few months back - she concluded that the piano > played just fine. I called her back after waiting for the smoke to > stop coming out of my ears....... I explained to her about action > wear and regulation. Fortunately I was able to incorporate what PPT > and I had talked about with the excessive let-off on PPT Yamy. I > also explained that half the notes on FC piano had gone so far out > of regulation that they were bobbling (multiple strikes) AND that > several hammer/butt assemblies where FALLING OFF AND that another > dozen were very loose. She explained to me that FC didn't even want > to tune the piano, but that PPT had told FC that the piano was > sooooo far out of tune that she really should have it tuned (wow, > imagine that). She told me there was no reason to do any more work > on FC piano that what I did to her piano (PR + tune). I bit my > tongue and said that was fine with me, but that the piano was > untunable as notes were bobbling and hammers were falling off and > were not even hitting a number of strings and that I would not be > able to tune the piano. Goodbye! (I was maybe a tad huffy, but > given the situation, I think I kept it quite reasonably under > control.) > > Okay. There it is, that brings anyone that has read this long > diatribe this far up to the current situation. I'm of two minds: 1) > Do not do any more business with PPT or ANY client spun off from her > AND, when someone calls asking for a discount, tell them YOU DON"T > DISCOUNT PERIOD!!!!; or 2) Do whatever FC wants and try to make them > as happy as possible. Mrs. FC and Mr. FC really seemed very nice and > concerned about having a decent piano for their children (four) to > play. > > Believe me, I have no problem at all walking away from ANY work > related to PPT and her spin-offs. I value peace and low stress in my > life. BUT, I would like to help them if they want to have their > children playing on a functional piano. Can anyone think of an > approach to convey to Mr. & Mrs. FC that I'm not trying to rip them > off, that their piano is worn to the point of disfunction, and that > it will be a detriment to their children's piano progress and > experience to have to practice on that piano in its current > condition. Heck, I don't really need to take the action back to my > shop to repin a dozen action centers - the main reason I was going > to take the action back to my shop was that I was going to file the > hammers at no charge - that didn't need to be done to restore > function, but I just couldn't stand it! > > I find this situation bizzare. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. > Right after I got off the phone with PPT when we set our initial > appointment, I walked over to my wife and told her about the > discount, and I said that I just know something really funky is > going to happen with this teacher. I know I shouldn't have given her > a discount, but with business being a little on the slow side, I'd > rather tune several pianos at $10 off rather than zero pianos at > full price - but I just know something bad is going to shake out > from doing this. > > Any suggestions to help four kids get a functioning set of keys > under their little fingers? > > Oh, and, I have not yet called FC back to pick up action (since PPT > told them there was no reason to repair/regulate their piano). > > I'm glad this list is here for venting. I feel a bit better! > Thanks! :-) > > Terry Farrell > > PS, I hope there are not too many misspellings and grammatical > errors in this post. I usually re-read before sending, but in this > case, in an effort to not get all steamed up again, I'm just going > to hit send now! > >
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