I love it when customers show some initiative of their own toward caring for their instruments, especially if we end up having it as a joint project, they do what they can and I do the rest. Most instrumentalists take care of their instruments; most pianists think it's some mysterious big box that makes sounds, which invariably ends up meaning that what's inside doesn't matter. Once they start really _looking_ at the insides, their desire for better quality generally goes up. My only problem, as Ron, Patrick, Clyde, and others have pointed out, is to try to keep it from being a time, emotion and economic sink. Diane > >Your ethics are fine; perhaps it's the business sense of the >transaction that merits discussion. Did you charge enough? If your >whole day was full of these appointments, could you survive? Did you >have a reasonable markup on the parts (note that Apsco presumes 100% >markup). > >I imagine the Maytag man would be willing to sell me washing machine >parts, but I'd have to pay $35-40 for the "service fee" of him >walking in the door, and $50 for a diagnosis/estimate (that's what >happened 2 years ago; the diagnosis was buy a new one -- he threw in >a $30 rebate coupon toward a new Maytag purchase). > >I hope you charged her at least at minimum service fee, perhaps >equivalent to one hour of your *skilled* labor rate. >Patrick Draine, RPT _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
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