Liability advice

[Jon Page]

Al,
I have been tuning pianos for over 25 years and the only precaution
I offer to a pitch raise is breaking strings and tuning instability.

Structural damage such as this is a result of poor quality manufacturing,
This is why the company is no longer in business. In my early years in the
biz, I worked for a dealer who sold these wretched piano shaped objects.
I would classify them as 'throw away pianos'.

If they are looking for compensation, they should look to the seller for a
rebate because chances are that they did not store this item in a 'safe'
area or bought the cheapest thing they could find not regarding quality.

Had they had the piano appraised/inspected before purchasing they would
not be in this predicament.  You are not to blame for a series of bad
decisions made previously.

Another thought just crossed my mind and this is all too often the case:
A piano is donated to the church for a tax write-off. Usually, the theoretical
market value is higher than actual worth so on paper everyone is happy.
Many times the church finds out the piano was not worth the cost of the move
and does not have the resources to effect repairs, they get stuck.  So the 
decision to purchase on price alone may not have been the church's.

I had one irate customer call the day after a tuning, a sticking key;
my fault - right ?  She was even more livid when I had the gall to charge
for a service call when I found a piece of cat litter stuck between the keys.
It seems kitty likes to sleep on the little pillow on the bass bridge of the
S&S M.

So you customer has to accept their dilemma and maybe read the book:
When Bad Things Happen To Good People".

Jon Page

PS  Can you say: trebuchet ?

At 09:08 PM 09/04/1999 -0500, you wrote: 
>
> 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 ><mailto:bluefiddle@texoma.net>bluefiddle@texoma.net.< Thanks, Al
> Williams.



Jon Page,  Harwich Port,  Cape Cod,  Mass.  mailto:jpage@capecod.net
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