David Porritt wrote: >My biggest concern in the poor piano area is sales people who sell truly >BAD pianos with the implication that they are just slightly inferior to >the best. This is a problem, and the Russian pianos are definitely examples of BAD pianos. I believe that our responsibility to the industry and to piano owners is to help all parties understand the shortcomings of poor pianos, especially the unacceptably poor ones. This gives them some facts to work with, and also gives manufacturers the chance to respond by improving quality. I work for a dealer who recently took on some Russian imports, and have handled the situation by keeping him and his salesman informed of all the extra service I have to do just to make these things play. They accepted this extra cost at first because "the pianos are still inexpensive, even with the added prep." But, after detailing their construction problems and my belief that they will not survive the 10 year warranty period, I got their attention. I also copied the distributor who is ultimately responsible for the warranty. He responded by thanking me and passing my comments along to the technical advisor in Russia. I have taken the time to communicate quality problems to some American manufactures as well, and have usually found them to be very accepting and appreciative of the feedback. Taking the time to get to know manufacturer tech reps, and then to give constructive feedback, is one way that PTG members can affect the quality problem while enhancing our status in the industry.
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