lessons learned

[Mike Kurta]

    Hi Charles:
    No, No, No, don't say those statements, don't even think that way.
First and foremost, protect yourself by pre-conditioning the customer by
educating him or her.    Here's how:   "Mr/Mrs Customer, I notice that your
piano has a number of action parts made of plastic, here let me point them
out to you. (as you show them with a flashlight and a pointer).  Nothing
wrong with plastic parts in a piano action, they have some definite
advantages, however your piano was made in 1952 when plastics were still in
its infancy.  They have improved greatly since then.   At the time, the
material looked promising and was used by several manufacturers, but with
the passage of time, this "first generation" plastic dried out and became
very fragile and brittle.  Now, 50 years later, we are seeing these
instruments breaking down as these parts crack and split through normal use"
    At this point you have made the customer aware that the broken parts in
the piano really aren't your fault.  You've done this in a non-accusatory
way to anyone, with no emotion much like a doctor explaining to a patient
what is wrong and why.  The next step is to explain their options.  You will
have all this done mentally in advance.  1.  They can elect to have you or
someone else replace just the broken parts.  But they have to know that more
will likely break as time goes on because they are all the same age, and
subject to the same failure.   2.  They can decide to replace all the
plastic parts in the piano knowing the cost and time involved (if it is even
possible).  3.   They can decide not to have the repairs made, to defer the
decision to a later time, or to even replace the instrument with another.
    All of these are valid and proper conclusions to the basic problem.
Once you have carefully outlined the situation and their possible outcome,
the customer will look upon you as knowledgeable, professional, and most of
all willing to take the time to explain in detail the choices they have.
After this, even if you leave not having done any repairs,  a modest charge
of $40 for the time spent in making the service call and educating them
about their piano (which likely no one had ever done before) will seem very
reasonable to most piano owners.
    This is long winded, but you get the idea.  Treat the customer as you
would like to be treated.  These verbal tools may be helpful when this comes
up in the future.  It probably will......
    Mike Kurta
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 4:32 PM
Subject: Re: lessons learned


> Can someone help me out with what the tech should say in this case?
>
> I would have a hard time saying, "Gee, see this cheap plastic? It broke.
> It's not my fault, and I'm not fixing it. But you can pay me $40, and now
> your piano doesn't work. See ya!"
>
> Is that pretty much what you have to say, but in a way that makes the
> customer happy? Seriously, I'm really scared of a situation like this,
> especially if I'm not armed with a way to handle it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Charles Neuman
> PTG Assoc, Long Island
>
>
>
> >   Tvak@aol.com wrote:=20
> >
> >     To all=20
> >     Today I taught myself a couple of lessons.  First of all, I will =
> > never break the following rule ever again:=20
> >
> >     Don't ever...ever....even TOUCH a plastic flange unless it is glued
=
> > to the doorknob of the exit door and even only then if there's no other
=
> > way out.=20
> >
> >     I replaced a set of elbows today.  I knew that it had plastic wippen
=
> > flanges.  Why was I so careless snapping that first elbow in place?  The
=
> > price?  Removal of the spinet action to replace the cracked plastic =
> > wippen flange.=20
> >
> >     The other 87 elbows snap in place with no further problem due to =
> > extreme care on my part.  Adjust the lost motion and...play the piano.
=
> > Hmmm...the hammer on middle C is double striking.  I'll just move the =
> > backcheck forward and... (What was I thinking...?)=20
> >
> >     Out comes the spinet action to replace the newly broken plastic =
> > wippen flange.  While replacing the wippen flange I brush against a =
> > damper lever and...now I can replace the plastic damper flange on that =
> > damper lever and... the one next to it which I also bumped into with the
=
> > screwdriver.=20
> >
> >     Back goes the action and as I play the piano I realize that the =
> > damper lever on D5 is not damping due to it's also being cracked.  (I =
> > did look at them all while they were out of the piano, but it was not =
> > visually apparent.)  Now, I was nowhere near D5 so I wonder if this was
=
> > a pre-existing problem, which leads me to the next lesson I learned:=20
> >
> >     Check the piano first to see if there are any problems.=20
> >
> >     BTW, my original service call on this piano was 6 months ago at =
> > which time I replaced 4 elbows and informed the client of the existence
=
> > of all the plastic flanges, and the costs involved in replacing them.  I
=
> > advised him NOT to put any money into this Lester spinet, other than =
> > replacing those 4 elbows that had already broken.  Six months later he =
> > called to tell me to go ahead with the elbows.   In the back of my mind
=
> > I was thinking, wasn't this the piano with all the plastic flanges?  But
=
> > rather than say anything, I just went ahead and made the appointment.  =
> > Which leads me to the last lesson for the day:=20
> >
> >     Take better notes on each piano for future reference.=20
> >
> >     I rarely share my experiences with others on the list.   Hope this =
> > was worth reading...=20
> >
> >     Tom Sivak
> >
>
>
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