> Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 07:24:05 -0500 > From: A440A@aol.com > Subject: Ethics on a "Wim" > To: pianotech@byu.edu > Reply-to: pianotech@byu.edu > Del Gittinger writes; > > > I can't justify charging different fees to separate > >customers for different work. > > and also; > > >I'd feel ripped off if I was charged $100 for something my brother got for > >$75.00 and if I got the low price I'd question the integrity of the > >technician and/or their skill and/or the quality of the service that I > >received. > Ed, I tell my new customers the very same thing. I don't know if I will have to pitch raise etc. so I give them a range...normal to worse case scenerio. My fees are based are around the first hour and each hour following. The first hour is more expensive to include travel time. I have no problems except for the shoppers and I don't certainly don't run my business around them. I have always felt that any business has customers looking for the low end and customers looking for the high end. I don't worry about the low end... ilvey, RPT > Must we expect all jobs to take the same amount of effort? > > If we are to charge one price for "tuning" a piano , isn't the price > set for the "average" amount of work done? If so, those customers with more > difficult pianos get a little extra for their money, and those whose pianos > tune like silk are having less work done for the same price. Is somebody > being cheated here? > > My point is, having a fixed price assumes a fixed job, and most pianos > are different. To end up with the same result, ( in tune, at pitch), on > different pianos, requires different amounts of work. Why should one not > charge different prices? > Is it the fear of the perception of unfairness? This is a poor > rationale for making business decisions, IMHO. If you are doing clean, > dependable work, and pricing it honestly, you will build a customer base > that will trust you, and differing prices will have no effect. If you are > competing for the customer that considers price first/quality second, and > this forces you to fix your price to an unchanging rate, either the work or > your time will be compromised on the difficult tunings. > It is perhaps not a paradigm of salesmanship to quote prices on a "not > less than" basis, but that is what my first time customers hear. I charge > more to tune a difficult piano because it takes more time, and my time is > all I have to sell. > > .02c there..............keep the change > > Regards, > Ed Foote > >
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