Samick warranty work

[Joseph Alkana]

List,
I've stewed about a situation for awhile, now I'd like some help in
making a decision, if any of you are willing to post an opinion.

A Samick grand I take care of for a private client has bad knuckles. In
the past couple of years I have replaced several sets of knuckles all
under warranty and all authorized and paid for by Samick. No real
problem, unless you consider the paltry sum paid to me for the amount of
work done, but in some ways that's another story.

This time I was told that if the bill exceeds $160.00, Samick would pick
up the piano from a local dealer who sells Samicks (not the original
dealer, by the way) at their convenience, transport the piano to their
warehouse facility in California and do the replacement and regulation
necessary there. All, I was told by a Rich Austin, at the total cost to
Samick of $80.00 transport cost each way. Needless to say the customer
would have to foot the bill for transport to the dealer's facilities
which in this case would be about $175.00 each way. (Gee, I wonder if
the piano might go out of tune somewhere along the way?)

So far I have not relayed this information to my customer.

I have mixed feelings about the situation and I'm sure all of you good
people can see many of the ramifications involved. Not the least of
which I feel is the potential loss of credibility as a qualified
technician to do what I consider very minor work. However, the Samick
warranty does specify that at its option any warranty work may be done
at a facility of their choice, which may indeed be a Samick facility.

Yesterday I learned that a fellow tech here in this area (Seattle) had
exactly this same situation occur. The customer is furious with Samick
and had the local technician do the work at the customer's expense. The
technician was as generous as he could be, but I am sure the total bill
was more than Samick ever would agree to, which as stated above is only,
and forever, going to be $160.00 maximum.

Comments please.

Joseph Alkana RPT