Comments below ... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 6:58 AM Subject: Re: Killer Octave - Warranty Issue? Does it follow that if a client buys a cheap piano it all comes back to "you get what you pay for"? There might be any number of things we would consider a warranty problem in a fine piano, but not in a cheap one. True or not? + Unfortunately true, depending on your vantage point. We as technicians want the best a piano can give for our customers, but whether or not the funds would be made available for doing the necessary work is often left up to people who feel otherwise. + We might think a manufacturer of anything shouldn't make inferior merchandise, period. But as long as there's a market for it, it'll be out there. Regards, Clyde + My somewhat-limited experience with manufacturers has been that they are often (not always) more interested in a problem than the dealers. I should hope that if they get enough reports of a recurring problem, that they would do something about it, be this paying closer attention to manufacturing processes or refining the design. More than once when there was a clear defect (glue joint failures, weak pinplock, etc.) the manufacturer wanted the piano back for failure analysis but the dealer was not as enthusiastic about retrieving the piano and doing as the manufacturer requested. Instead, there was much talk about how the repair would be attempted in the dealer's back-room shop. + But yes, I have heard some less-than-enthusiastic reponses to individual problems. One manufacturer once told me "remember, this is not our top-of-the-line piano ...." I pestered them into telling me who they thought should be responsible (as in paying) for correcting this problem. They said The Dealer, who didn't perceive it as a problem. Then I badgered both The Dealer and The Manufacturer about excercising a little more quality control. + Trouble with the possible problems mentioned so far resulting in this "killed octave" is that they don't involve something as obvious as broken glue joints. A flat soundboard and/or lack of downbearing is not a sign that the piano is or will spontaneously disintegrate, despite the effect this has on the tone of the instrument. This is probably why the problem is not being taken as seriously as we technicians think it should be. + As for this particular piano, I'd be very curious about a] what the problem turned out to be (true manufacturing flaw or a design quirk), b] who takes the problem seriously, and c] what the recommended course of action is. + Now back to the original problem ... just what DO we tell the customer? I should think the first step would be to "take it to the drawing board" as in finding out what the manufacturer's expectations are for that particular model of piano. We may make recommendations on improving it, if they'll listen. It could be that they don't care about the tonal characteristics of individual pianos at the bottom of their lines, in which case you can well bet that they would not be too thrilled with honoring warranty work to improve the tone. In that case, let the customer come to their own conclusions about the tone. If they're bothered by it, suggest that they upgrade to a better instrument. Or, it could be that they are looking for the pianos that were victims of a bad production run. In that case, it will be an easy matter to tell the customer that you were specifically looking for pianos that have this problem as evidenced by the tone. + The bottom line: Find out who will give you the blessings for chasing down the problems. + Z! Reinhardt RPT Ann Arbor MI diskladame@provide.net
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