Liability advice

[Frank Weston]

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The following is not legal advise.  It is advise based on experience.

In dealing with the public, you will find that about one in ten =
customers is totally unreasonable/irrational/uninformed.  The good news =
is that another one out of that ten will believe anything you say and =
gladly pay in advance for the advice.  The rest are somewhere in =
between.

You have encontered one of the unreasonable/irrational/uninformed kind.  =
Your best approach (if you intend to stay in business) is to clearly =
explain your position one time, and then put the customer out of your =
mind until they make a subsequently reasonable request or until you hear =
from their lawyer.  Otherwise they will drive you crazy.  Your position =
should be that they bought a piece of junk and you did nothing to make =
it worse.  Don't worry that they will sully your reputation if you don't =
give them what they want.  The damage is already done on that point, and =
attempting to placate them won't make it any better.  On the bright =
side, they're probably the kind of people no one gives much credibility =
to anyway and they are almost certainly too cheap to hire a lawyer.

You did nothing wrong, and you owe them nothing more than the courtesy =
you would show any other customer.  If you feel like being chatty, you =
might point out that they should go after the church that sold them this =
piece of junk.

Frank Weston

P.S.  If they hassle you any more, offer to buy the piano for what it's =
worth.  Then they'll owe you money.

-----Original Message-----
From: Al & Jody Williams <bluefiddle@texoma.net>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Saturday, September 04, 1999 9:51 PM
Subject: Liability advice


    I have been a RPT for the past 19 years. Last week I tuned a new =
customer`s Grand spinet piano. They had bought it from their church =
where it had been in storage for no one knew how long. I measured  pitch =
with my Sanderson and found A4 15 cents flat of pitch, the treble 25 =
cents flat, and high treble almost 1/2 step flat. Minimal rust on =
strings and pins reasonably tight, so I raised it to standard pitch , =
was paid, and left. A week later my customer calls complaining of a =
terrible buzz throughout the piano, so back I go to investigate. I found =
every single last rib had pulled away from the soundboard on both ends. =
I had a good conversation  with the husband explaining that this =
condition  is one of the pit falls of buying a used instrument without =
having it inspected by a piano tech., and that normal maintenance such =
as a pitch raise and tuning did not cause the problem. Several days =
later the Lady of the house calls and explains that she has spoken with =
another tech.-qualifications unknown- who told her that before any pitch =
raise the customer should be warned of the irreparable structural damage =
that can occur during a pitch raise.Since I did not give her fair =
warning as to what could happen,  she feels that I am liable for the =
damage to her piano`s ribs. Her thinking is  that it worked fine before =
I tuned it and now it is broke. So what do you all think?  I plan to =
present her with all the responses I receive to this post and she can =
decide if I am liable, a crook,a con artist or what ever.RPTs,give me =
your thoughts, privately if you like at >bluefiddle@texoma.net.< Thanks, =
Al Williams.

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