Pitch Raises

[Larry Gardner]

Dear list,

Lately I've been considering charging a "New Customer Fee" since I find that
servicing a new customer is typically extra work due to pitch raises as well as
extra work cleaning the piano.  I typically clean the soundboard on grands and
vacuum up the dust on the inside of a vertical each time I do a service.   It seems
like these are the customers that haven't tuned their piano in 10 years (or who
knows!) and have the 40 to 100 cent pitch raises.  Also, these are the customers
with a few  little problems that only take a minute to fix, so I end up not
charging.  Does anybody else charge a "1st time customer fee" ?

Thanks

Larry Gardner
Fresno CA


> Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 09:55:56 -0500
> From: Jon Page <jpage@capecod.net>
> Subject: Re: Pitch Raises (Was re:Year??)
>
> Another option before getting underway is to ask the customer
> what use the piano gets. If the piano is not used for lessons or
> played with other instruments the concept of pitch is irrelevant.
> The piano can be tuned to itself with the customer acknowledging
> its shortcomings.
>
> If the pitch were brought up about 4cps the tuning would still be
> appreciable. At subsequent tunings the same pitch raise is applied.
> Over time the tension will come up to 'pitch' if they continue on a
> regular basis, if not; you didn't knock yourself out. A cursory pitch
> raise for a customer such as this can be accomplished in 30 minutes.
> A slight discount can be applied as an incentive for them to schedule
> these pitch raises every 6mo. to a year. More likely is the case where
> minor action adjustments could be made to fill in the time slot and
> price difference and this will also impress the owner.
>
> Most the time though, it's like a drive-by shooting.
> You're there, you tune away, you leave.
> On to the next victim, er. . . customer.
>
> Pitch is very important though, ask a house framer; climb a pine tree;
> talk to a piano salesperson or any salesperson for that matter.  :-)
>
> Did you catch that one?
>
> Jon Page
>
> At 06:16 AM 11/21/1999 -0600, you wrote:
> >Dear Ed,
> >
> >Pitch raises aren't fun and make our work harder.  But if the customer
> >doesn't have their piano tuned often enough to prevent the piano going flat
> >in pitch due to neglect, they should not object to an extra charge for the
> >pitch raise over and above the tuning charge.  They have not had their
> >piano tuned for years and saved lots of tuning fees over the years in the
> >process.  With regular tuning every 6 months, the pianos wouldn't be 40
> >cents flat.  Now that you have brought the piano up to pitch and done a
> >fine tuning, the customer is happy and rushes to their checkbook to pay
> >you.  Since you have done extra work, you should get paid extra.  If you
> >are still grumbling after you got paid, raise your price until you aren't
> >grumbling and your customers are!
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >David A. Vanderhoofven
> >Joplin, MO
> >
> >>Ed Carwithen wrote
> >>
> >>  This and two others were my days work.  All three over 40 cents low. The
> >>other two were Gulbransens.  3 pitch raises and tune in one day is more
> >>than I care to repeat for awhile. (grumble, grumble, grumble)
> >
> Jon Page,  Harwich Port,  Cape Cod,  Mass.  mailto:jpage@capecod.net
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>