YAMAHA Service Bond Service

[RndyPotter@aol.com]

Daryl Matthies
MATHIS PIANO TUNING & SERVICE
Asked the following:

<Do any of the subscribers here work for or are contracted by a YAMAHA
dealer?
I am interested in finding out if you bill the dealer more than what they
receive from YAMAHA for the tuning & additional work stated on the service
bond card.  I've tuned and serviced new YAMAHA's with service bonds for many
years, but would like to share thoughts on this.
E-mail me directly if  you like.>

I do, and I know a lot of piano technicians who do, also. In fact, I do work
for two dealers, both of whom have stores over 100 miles away, and I used to
do all the work for the local dealer. Now, one of my technicians does the
work for the local dealer.

The question you seem to be asking, I think, is whether or not *other*
dealers also expect their technicians to tune and service a new piano for the
20 or 25 bucks Yamaha reimburses the dealer for providing this service.
Right?

The short answer is "no, most dealers expect to pay reasonable, fair, wages
to their technicians".

  Some history: When Yamaha first began this policy called the Yamaha Service
Bond, there were a couple reasons for it. The technicians in their U.S. piano
service department realized that new pianos needed more than just the one
"free" tuning most dealers were offering during the first year, and were
looking for a way to assure that. Second, they realized one of the ways to
build loyalty among independent technicians was to promote their services to
piano owners. Third, they realized that by coming up with a program, The
Yamaha Service Bond, which gave new purchasers two services instead of one,
they looked better than other manufacturers, whose dealers were only giving
one.
  There were, of course, other reasons, and the corporate schpeel may say so,
but these points are evident to anyone who watched what was going on,
discussed these matters in detail with Yamaha's piano service people, and who
took the time to look at their advertising, both what they said and what they
were doing.
  I do not say that this would suggest, in any way, shape or form, that there
was anything wrong with this. Quite the contrary, for several years they went
unchallenged. Later, Baldwin copied their program - and even improved on it!
While Yamaha was reimbursing the dealer $20 for each Service Bond Card, No. 1
or No.2, returned to them, Baldwin was reimbursing the technician, directly,
$50 for the second service! If anything, even though it has been mis-used by
dealers who were both ignorant of the piano service needs of the instruments
they were selling and, in some cases, well, I will just say prone to be
*shifty* in their dealings, it was a very good thing for our industry, the
piano service industry, as a whole. - - For the first time ever, the piano
dealer was acknowledging to the purchaser that the piano they were buying was
going to require regular service, and that they should call on their trusted
technician to perform this service.

  When I attended Yamaha's Little Red Schoolhouse in 1983, and when one of my
technicians attended it a few years ago, the question Daryl is asking came
up. And, I have heard it come up in Yamaha Service Seminars at PTG
Conventions on many occasions. In each case, the Yamaha reps I have heard
said the same thing: "We are not saying the dealer should pay only $20 (now
$25, I think) for this service. This is our way of saying to the dealer that
because we are requiring two services, whereas they are used to only offering
one for the other pianos they sell, we are willing to offset part of the
extra expense by reimbursing part of that expense they incur." Now, realize
that my *quote* is a conglomeration of many statements I have heard over the
years, not a succinct representation of their position. I do not speak for
Yamaha, but am giving the sense of what I have heard their reps say time and
time again, and believe that this accurately represents what they have been
teaching.

  It is absurd, I think, for a dealer who is earning at a minimum several
hundreds, and usually at least a couple thousand, dollars on a piano sale to
expect the piano technician to go out and service the piano for one-third, or
one-fourth, his regular fee!
  I am not saying the dealer should not expect a break on the fees he pays.
Some technicians think they should be able to charge the dealers full price,
the same price they would charge an individual client, and if that is the way
they feel that is their opinion. The fact that I, or other technicians, feel
differently does not make them wrong. But I, personally, do believe in giving
dealers a discount. Call it a quantity discount, if you like. When I bid a
school district, I bid a lower price because I only have to deal with the
"customer" once, and only have to do one billing, but get to do a couple
dozen pianos. When I buy donuts, I expect to either get a discount for buying
a dozen at a time over the price of 12 singles. Our local shop gives a
discount, plus the Baker's Dozen, 13th donut, too. When a dealer is sending a
lot of new business to me, I think he deserves a better price. Years ago,
nearly 20, when I was building my first business in Portland, I was doing
outside tunings for $30, and charging Sherman & Clay $15 on the floor and $25
in homes. During a one-year period of time, I did about $2,000 worth of work
(discounted price = money collected from them), and the sales staff
recommended me to more than $8,000 worth of additional outside work. Your own
opinion may vary, but I did not mind giving them a discount for all they did
for me. (Oh, I brought in a box of chocolates every few months, took the
manager and the salespeople to lunch now and then, and so on. With all I was
earning as a result of my association with them, it was a small price to pay.
And they thought I was a nice guy!)

  I know of a case where a dealer had a _____ grand on the floor for over a
year. It was demonstrated, played and broke in, and by the time he sold it
was in severe need of regulating. He expected the technician to make it like
new for one the price of a tuning. Turns out the technician did not know that
the dealer made over $15,000 on the sale - until we were having a phone
converstion. (Yes, there were costs, but after taking moving, service,
delivery and sales commission into account, he made over $15K. This was an
expensive grand.) The dealer had led him to believe that because _____
charged so much for their pianos, he was loosing his shirt, and therefore the
technician should do all this work for free. When the technician learned
this, he walked in and said something like "you cheap jerk. You used that
piano as a demo for a year, sold a couple dozen pianos off it, made 15 grand
on that one piano sale, and you are not willing to pay me a day's work to
regulate and voice the piano! You have to be kidding!" The dealer agreed to
pay for the needed service, and life went on. He still works for the dealer,
too.

  The saying "a workman is worthy of his hire" is true, and we, as
professional piano technicians, are worthy of our hire.
  You may be willing to do work for dealers for little or nothing in order to
get their referrals and recommendations - and that is your priviledge. But
agreeing to do this, because you want to, is different than letting the
dealer tell you that the piano manufacturer expects you to work for little or
nothing servicing their instruments. The manufacturers know that, as a
general rule, when you pay a low price, you generally get low-end service.
Most of them want the best trained and most competent technicians servicing
their pianos in the field, because they know that if we care for the piano
properly, the owner enjoys and uses it. And if they enjoy and use it, they
recommend it to their friends. And the only way they make money, and stay in
business, is if people buy their pianos.

  No, most Yamaha dealers are not so ignorant (i.e. lacking knowledge) and
cheap (i.e. cheap) as to expect their piano technicians to tune and service
the pianos for a measely $20-25 in the home. At least, most of the ones I
know are not. Though I have heard, from other technicians, of dealers who
expect this.

  But then, when push comes to shove, as they say, most of the *ignorant*
dealers are ignorant because their piano technicians have done nothing to
teach them about their pianos. If they don't know what service their pianos
require it is probably because you and I have not taught them. If they don't
know what fair costs for these services are, again, its because you and I
have not taught them.
  And there is only one way to solve this problem - for you and I to spend
some time educating them. You will find, however, that it pays well.

Randy Potter, R.P.T.