Guarantees

[A440A@AOL.COM]

 >> List,  Has anyone out there had experience with CA Glue and Bass Bridge
>> repair that goes back several years?  I just finished my second one,
>and I would like to know the advisability of giving a guarantee,  

Greetings, 
      Unless you are destitute, desperate, hungry, and hounded to the 
threshold of total, abject failure,  and cannot get the job any way but to 
give a guarantee,  don't. 
      I have sold this repair as a "band-aid approach that may work,  if it 
doesn't, then we  have to replace the bridge-cap".   This is both a sales 
pitch and an explanation of the cheapest alternative.  It doesn't tie me 
down, or create any false expectations, while letting the customer make a 
decision, (money vs. esthetics, again....).  Of course, they want you to make 
the  decision for them,  and therein lies the secret to the technician's 
control.  
      The customer will make the decision based on what they think you think. 
 If you have given the impression that the CA works in most cases, they will 
often go that way.  If you had a slight sneer when you mentioned this 
"cheapo" way,  they will regard it scornfully, just as you do,  etc.  What is 
an  important aspect here is that they don't get confusing signals. The tech 
has to have a clear course of recommendation.   What makes this difficult, at 
times is that this has to come from a flexible formula,  since the customers 
ability to afford is a factor in what the tech thinks appropriate, as is the 
condition and brand of piano.  
    "Will we be wasting our money to try this?" is the question most often on 
their minds.  I often explain that it is a gamble, these are the odds, and 
those are the stakes.  But there are NO guarantees unless it is new wood.  
(just my .02 sense)
Regards, 
Ed Foote