Jon and David, Very well written. I strongly agree with these sentiments. When we discover an issue, it's our responsibility to address it, and to disclose it. Dealers may not like it, but that's life. If I don't disclose something which later comes to light, no matter under what context, it looks like a cover-up on my part. I've always believed that my primary responsibility is to my piano owning clients, and dealer comfort is second. As Jon alluded to, I do think that when issues are discovered, they can and should be disclosed tactfully, without casting aspersions at the dealer/manufacturer until the dealer has had a chance to correct the problem. If it's handled diplomatically, it really should not be a problem for the dealer, unless they decide not to take responsibility. William R. Monroe On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 6:59 AM, Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net> wrote: > D. Love writes: > > ...I don't agree with that and I don't really like being put in the > position of having > > to cover for a dealer or manufacturer at the expense of compromising, in > the eyes > > of my customer, my own expertise and commitment to provide relevant > information > > so they (the customer) can make informed decisions about how to handle > > potential issues with their piano... > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > ...Rigid, by-the-book approaches tend to produce mediocrity. Truly > skilled techs > > see beyond "by the book" and do what needs to be done to really elevate a > piano > > to its highest potential. That's the art of what we do and what separates > the > > really skilled from the competent... > > > > I don't want to mollycoddle a dealer at the expense of my reputation. If > something > is glaringly wrong, I will point it out to the customer and suggest a > discussion with > the dealer. > > When things are acceptable but could be better, many times much better; I > will compare > it to buying a garment off the rack but a little tailoring can improve the > fit. Or how a car > off the showroom floor can have the performance improved with custom engine > modifications. Not that they are not acceptable as they are but there is > potential > for high performance, if they wish to take it over and above factory/dealer > offerings. > > As I said before, I usually hear afterwards, "Why didn't it play like that > from the factory?" > To which I reply that in production assembly the time consuming, custom > tweaking > is not cost effective and it is left to the aftermarket at the owner's > discretion. > The dealer simply needs to meet the manufacturer's standard and not all > customers > appreciate/notice custom performance enhancements so again it is not cost > effective. > > I think that the there is an unspoken ideology: if the customer does not > notice a problem... > there is no problem. All too often I'll come to a piano after the 'company > guy' had been > servicing it for years and point out a small problem. They'll say that had > been bothering > them for years but thought it would work itself out or maybe it was just > them because the > other guy didn't bring it to their attention. It may have been something > covered under > warranty or dealer responsibility. There's that integrity thing again. > > So no, I don't cut dealers slack. Sometimes the dealer is reluctant to > deliver on the sales > person's hype but that is their fault, which seems to be the case for > Jeannie taking the hit. > > -- > > > Regards, > > Jon Page > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20091125/83cbc08a/attachment.htm>
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