Grey Market Schimmel!!

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    How would you like to work for the dealer that sold it to them?   What
would you do then?


Kevin E. Ramsey
ramsey@extremezone.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Stevens" <pianotun@pirie.gulf.net.au>
To: "ChatPage" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2001 4:11 PM
Subject: Grey Market Schimmel!!


> Hi List.
>
> Had quite a shock today when I called to tune my last piano of the
day...The
> customer had informed me that they had purchased a 20 year old Schimmel
> upright from a major Piano store in Adelaide, South Australia.
>
> The previous Schimmels that I have tuned have been very fine instruments
> indeed...A new Schimmel in Australia of this size retails for around
$30,000
> while a U1 sells for about $12,000.
>
> When the customer told me that they only paid around $1900 for this piano
my
> suspicions were aroused.
>
> What I saw was a very typical Grey Market/bootleg piano...VERY loose
tuning
> pins....Hammers pointing in all directions....the whole of the Action and
> back of the key tops looked like they had been painted with dirty brown
> water....also, when any screw was removed, rust covered the screw.
>
> MY point is that while the customer only paid $1900 for this piano, the
> retailer had taken advantage of the young couple who, through a lack of
> money and knowledge of the pitfalls in buying a second hand piano thought
> that they were buying a suitable instrument for their children to learn
on.
>
> This retailer, while making a short term profit on this sale had forgotten
> that a dissatisfied customer has a very wide range of friends and
> acquaintances, who can very quickly pass the word around about this shonky
> deal.
>
> In my area when pianos arrive with loose tuning pins, after a couple of
dry
> summers they are untunable.
>
> The bottomline about this piano is ....is this a piano from Germany that
has
> spent its 20 year life in Japan?... or does Schimmel have a Factory in
> Japan, or the Philippines making pianos especially for the High Humidity
> area?
>
> The overall workmanship and quality I saw in this piano was appalling.
>
> I will close by saying that People who sell these misfit of pianos are
> underestimating the power of bad publicity.
>
> Robin Stevens
> Port Pirie South Australia
> 08 8633 0533
> pianotun@pirie.gulf.net.au
>
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