I’m sending this to both Pianotech and CAUT, because there have been discussion about dealer service on both. Don, Mark, & Roger This post is directed not only at you, but also all the factory representatives that teach at PTG sponsored seminars and technical institutes. But since you three have been monitoring this list, and since you were involved in the recent discussion between “us” and “you”, I want to address this to you three. Let me start by saying thank you, for al the time and effort you give teaching at the seminars. From what I understand, although your expenses are basically paid, the time you spend on the road, away from your family, is all part of the job description, and you are expected to teach at these seminars over and above your “day” job. So, again, thank you for all your dedication to this industry. It is much appreciated. >From what has been posted over the past several weeks, the basic problem seems to be getting dealers to properly prepare your pianos before they leave the store. There seems to be a dichotomy here. The manufactures spend a considerable amount of money sending you to seminars and conventions to teach us how to properly take care of your pianos. Yet your company does little to educate the dealers on the importance of hiring and properly compensating trained technician to prepare your pianos before the leave the store. Although there are exceptions, dealers, for the most part, hire untrained, inexperienced piano tuners to just barely tune the pianos on the floor, and are reluctant to allow repairs, much less regulations, to be done to a piano unless it’s absolutely necessary. As a long as a customer doesn't complain, pianos are sent out “as is”, and the dealer crosses his finger that the customer will not notice. Then when the customer asked one of us tune the piano, and discovers the problems, we have to jump through hoops to get the dealer to pay for the work. What I’ve been arguing, yet you think I don’t seem to understand, is that as long as there is no directive from the manufacturer, stores will not change the way they operate. We want to work with you, and we want what is best for our customer. But the relationship between us and the dealers are sometimes strained, because we want to do things to the piano to make it play and sound right, that the dealers don’t want to pay for. The only time they are willing to pay, is when they can get reimbursed by the manufacturer. But the manufactures want documentation from us on what’s going to be done, prior to it being done, and we must get permission from the dealers to do the work. I can understand the need for this procedure, but if pianos were properly prepped in the store before they left there, there would be very little need for us to do warrantee work in the field in the first place. You want to train us, and we want work on your pianos. Yet the middle man, the dealer, doesn't seem to know, or care, about that relationship. Unless, and until, the manufactures start insisting that pianos should be prepped by properly compensated, factory authorized and trained technicians, before they leave the store, dealers will not do their part to make sure the pianos are ready for the customer to accept. This is where I think you, and the marketing department, can do a much better job educating your dealers. From the posts you have written, it appears you are taking the attitude that the stores are doing what they can to service the pianos, and that my suggestion that dealers be required to hire trained technicians to properly prep pianos, is not realistic. I’m sorry, but as has been shown here on the list, most technicians are of the opinion that stores, for the most part, do not seem to care about service before the sale. Perhaps when stores are required to hire trained technicians to properly prep pianos before they leave the store, we would not be having this discussion. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician 94-505 Kealakaa Str. Mililani, Oahu, HI 96789 808-349-2943 www.Bleespiano.com Author of: The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20091126/d670f645/attachment-0001.htm>
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