A question of liability

[Jon Page]

Knowing the weight of the piano and density of the flooring steps
should be taken to eliminate damage. Pads could be folded and
inserted under the wheels on each end and the pads dragged
(careful not to use a work pad which may have dried glue, etc to
scratch). Painters use drop cloths (I don't know why, it's the customer's
paint).

I recently delivered a player piano. The floors were new pine. I was
careful to
place a pad on the corner while tilting to take it off the dolly but did not
pad
the other end, so when I lifted the padded side to remove the pad, the wheels 
rotated slightly in the caster. After I lifted the non-padded side into
place I
noticed the dent. I immediately pointed it out to the people. They were very
understanding and appreciative of the care I_had_taken. Actually thanking me
for pointing it out because, "The cabinet guy made a big gouge, and just left
without
saying a thing."  They realized their error in installing such delicate
flooring
especially with a child on the way, kids; look out.

Nonetheless, I felt it was my responsibility to insure no damage was done.
I arbitrarily rebated $200,00 which they refused but I insisted.

Some lessons are harder than others.

To fix something like that, the WHOLE floor would need to be sanded and
repainted.

As Wim pointed out, chances are that there are other marks which they have
learned to live with, some made by themselves. Just hope he doesn't expect
you to cover his mistakes also. Considering the age of the flooring, if it
came
to a settlement the judge might apportion the repairs. (?).

Stop me now, I'm getting into scenarios !

Good Luck,

Jon Page

At 07:07 AM 03/25/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>There's a first time for everything....
>
>I have a customer with a 100 yr old full size upright that has a lot of
>very loose pins in the center section, so on Thursday of this past week I
>rolled the piano away from the wall, put it on its back on the tilting
>truck, applied CA, tipped it back up, and stopped back after 4 other
>tunings to tune the treated section.  It was perfect, and the customer
>couldn't have been happier.
>
>Then yesterday I get a call that her husband is pretty upset that the
>piano left "dents" in the floor where I moved it out.  Not caused by my
>tilting truck... it seems it was the piano casters.  She didn't think it
>amounted to much, but asked me to stop by on my next visit to the area to
>see what I could do.
>
>My question is this:  to what degree am I liable if it was caused by
>their piano and their casters, and all I did was roll it out from the
>wall.  She claims it is not a marring of the finish, but a denting of the
>wood that the husband is unhappy about.  
>
>I have liability insurance, but wanted some input from the group as to
>whether any of you has been in this situation before.
>
>Thanks
>
>Mark Potter
>bases-loaded@juno.com
>  
Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
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