[pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises

[Paul T Williams]

Ed this is why I don't do outside tunings! 

How exact you make your tunings may not be as exact as I make mine. 

Don't get off of accusing me of charging too much for outside work.  I 
state this upfront and tell them that I don't have time to tune outside my 
work at the university!! Economic status has nothing to do with it.  There 
is no way I can judge over the phone where someone is, nor would I !! Come 
on!  I went to Steve Ballmer's cabin in Washington, not realizing who he 
was, asked a few questions to his wife, gave them a quote, went there, and 
there was a Lester Spinet.  NO, I did not automatically say, "Oh, you're 
rich, so this will cost 300 buck to tune!!!""  NO, I tuned and charged my 
normal rate!!

I tune a piano as if I have to play it myself, so therefore, I only tune 
for me....and it takes more time, because I'm picky! I don't take economic 
status into consideration at all. I DO state this upfront, on the phone, 
before even going there. If they want me to come, than FINE.

3 hours is the extreme for the piano faculty or anyone, when they're nasty 
after the summer before classes start and they need to be perfect since 
they're is no time to get in there often. 

And then some action work when needed, so I should have been more clear. 
But who tunes a piano without looking at the action and regulation???  Bad 
form.

My pitch raises take nearly 1/2 hour.  Boo hiss on you who take 15 minutes 
to do so.

I don't take "advantage" of anyone!  Instead I state my higher rates, 
noting my lack of time outside my job, and if they want it, then, so be 
it.  They know it up front.  It just so happens that the people who still 
want me to come will be in a much higher economic situation rate than the 
average economic folk. 

I adhear to the PTG code, and therefore do not take on the really nasty 
jobs, as I stated before if you read more carefully. Perhaps I should 
never go out to private parties at all!?!?!  I don't get too many takers, 
as you might think, and I always refer calls to qualified techs in the 
Guild to help them out;   those outside clients, I must say are great 
people with very nice pianos, which I plan to nuture into the future. 

Please back off!

Best
Paul








From:
Ed Foote <a440a at aol.com>
To:
pianotech at ptg.org
Date:
10/31/2010 02:51 PM
Subject:
Re: [pianotech] billing dilemma with pitch raises



 Paul writes:
>>  Even here at UNL when the weather changes, find some pianos horribly 
wild and will struggle with them for 2 or 3 hours, sometimes... 

           I am astounded that it would take 3 hours to tune a piano.  It 
only takes 15 minutes to get a piano to pitch, and then perhaps another 90 
minutes to fine tune.  Exactly what takes 3 hours? And, if a piano is 30 
cents flat or sharp(!), there is no point in trying to end up with a 
super-fine tuning, since the wood will move around in the next 48 hours, 
and that tuning will not be there afterwards. (see below)
 
>>My tuning rate is constant, (much higher than the local techs...for a 
reason) but the pitch adjustment charges will vary, not by time, but by 
how far out they are....sharp or flat (being wildly both ways in the 
midwest). 
Of course, some wealthy folks will still ask for me ( I guess it's the 
position here...) so I give them my higher than normal rate; they like it; 
and off I go. <<

      This doesn't compute.  If you charge by how wealthy the customer is, 
your rate is NOT constant, it is opportunistic,   and it will only be a 
matter of time before some customers find out that they are being charged 
more because they have more.  This will not be a happy day for anyone. 

>>I will also advise them before I start when nasty flat or sharp, that my 
first visit will require a follow up tuning (or 2 or 3) in the coming 
month or so, if they want the piano to get to a stable point.  

   That is the point; a horribly out of tune piano will need another 
tuning, later.  Is it in the customers best interest to be charged for 3 
hours of work when it will have to be redone in a couple of weeks? 
Wondering, 
Ed Foote RPT 
 

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