Thank you, Dennis, for sharing your experience; I think there are some lessons here for many of us. Like Dorothy, if I were in your shoes, I would not deal with this piano owner again; he betrayed the trust you placed in him as your client. He dragged you into a relationship with the dealer, which is something you explicitly told him you did not want. You were honest with him right up front; at that point he should have either accepted the risk of paying you for the work you did and then going after the dealer for reimbursement, or looked for another technician who was willing to play the game he wanted to play.
However...
I think your story illustrates that the short answer to your closing question is No. As long as there is a warranty still in effect, the potential for a three- or four-way relationship always exists (the fourth party being the manufacturer). And that is where the written contract can come in as a very useful tool. For a situation like this, it might be useful to have some kind of template document, the details of which can be filled in by hand, and which the piano owner must sign before work commences. It would be nice if we didn't need such instruments, and with most clients we don't because they are honourable people, but you never know until they pull something like what this guy did to you.
I've gathered from many of the comments that have been posted on this subject that most of us feel a certain sympathy for piano buyers. Many of them have no idea how this machine that's sitting in their living room works (or should work), no idea what latent problems exist within it, no idea what they should do if a problem comes to their attention, no idea how difficult it may be to have that problem properly rectified (read: how unwilling the dealer and/or manufacturer may be to foot the bill for correcting the problem), etc. On the other hand, most of us also feel a sense of loyalty to the dealer, who is the one who in many cases has hired us to deal with whatever problem may have arisen. This is as it should be; most dealers are honest people who in many cases are dependent for their technical knowledge upon information supplied to them by the manufacturers whose products they're selling.
So, how do we deal with this potentially divided loyalty? When we find a problem that neither party is aware of, a key question seems to be, whom do we tell first? BOTH the piano owner and the dealer have a right to know, but do we "take sides" with the owner and tell them about it as soon as we discover it, and thereby risk alienating the dealer by exposing him to unwanted expense, or do we remain "loyal" to the dealer who's paying our bill by reporting it to him first, and thereby risk leaving the owner with a problem that never gets fixed?
While these kinds of problems will not cease to arise, I think one of the best approaches we can take is to disclose fully our position to all parties involved. When a dealer calls and asks us to look into a complaint from a piano owner, it might be a good idea to tell him right away that we feel strongly that the owner has a right to know exactly what kind of condition her piano is in, and that we intend to fully disclose what we find to the owner. If the dealer is willing to accept those terms, great (and what I said in another recent post about having a written contract applies). If not, he can find another technician. If, on the other hand, a piano owner calls upon us to deal with something that has the potential to put us in the midst of a warranty situation, it would likewise be a good idea to disclose our terms explicitly, and to either demand immediate payment or have a written contract (or both).
While that's about all I have to say about that, I do see a tie-in with our roles as CAUTs. Just as we can (and I believe must) play an important role as educators of piano owners, dealers, and manufacturers, I think we must also play such a role with respect to professors, administrators, students, and other players in institutional settings. They desperately need some of the knowledge we are able to share with them (although it often seems few are aware of this fact).
I could go on and on, but I've a touchup to do.
Albert
--- On Wed, 11/25/09, Dorothy Bell <dabell58 at earthlink.net> wrote:
Hi, Dennis --
Sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds as if you were called by a customer who was hard to satisfy and didn't like paying his bills. There were some tip-offs -- history of difficulties between customer and dealer was one, and the customer not being there to let you in was the second. Implications: he was an argumentative person from the get-go, and he didn't want to take the trouble to be responsive to you even by letting you into the house himself. So it doesn't surprise me that the customer didn't pay you. You may not have been the only person in his life that he has balked at paying.
At this point, because of similar experiences, I only take new customers if they will be in the house themselves at the first visit; we go over the work to be done and the cost at that point. And there have been customers in my life who have never paid me -- they were too disturbed to follow through, and trying to chase them down dis-spirited me too much. Sometimes I just have to cut my losses, when doing that is cost-effective. I would not go back to the customer you describe. Life is too short. Move on.
It's unfortunate that the dealer became a player here. (That's why I changed the subject line.) You had no arrangement with him, and I don't think he should have been obligated to pay you. His getting involved was a result of arm-twisting by the customer, and you became a factor in his quarrel. Bad feelings all around. If I were in a mood to be a purist, I probably would have sent back the dealer's check, because taking it muddied the waters. The customer is the person who owes you. Let him fight with the dealer all he wants, but he needs to pay you.
I have no idea what this has to do with CAUT -- I can't find a tie-in. Sorry about that.
Best wishes,
Dorrie Bell
Bell's Piano Service
Boston, MA
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Johnson
Hi-
So since we've taken it this far, I have a question. This is a real problem which has happened to me, and fairly recently. I am called to tune and check and service, as feasible, a piano I have not known from a new customer who is referred by older customers. The piano is from eastern europe and probably about 5 years old. They are very unhappy with it to say the least and have been through the dealers service enough times to be looking elsewhere. I arrive, the customer is not even there but arranges for someone to have let me in. Via phone, I confirm lots of regulation, voicing and tuning needs, but only have about 3 hrs max to offer with this visit. I explain very clearly that I am not a representative from the dealer and do not have any prior association with that particular dealer, and, nothing personal, but I'm not here to start such a relationship with that dealer either. I could greatly improve this piano, but this is between
you -the customer- and me. As I see it, my rate was most reasonable anyway, but the point is the customer should be able make that choice. I was not interested in going though or working for that particular dealer. Just how it is. Customer approved this arrangement and I got to work and left my invoice. A few weeks later I wasn't paid yet, so made a call. Turns out the customer changed his mind and decided that indeed the dealer should pay anyway so he made an issue. You can imagine what happens next. In the end the dealer paid, but wasn't very happy and I feel betrayed by the customer. I don't know if I'll go back there or not. There is no other product I can think of in any market where customers seem to have so much flexibility about service. Take your car anywhere you want, but if the dealer is going to pay for it under warran ty you need to talk to them. Can we not trust an independent agreement with the piano owner
for service on a piano less than 10 years old? Any suggestions.......?
cheers,
Dennis Johnson
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