Grey Market Pianos/Dealers

[antares@euronet.nl]

On zondag, maa 2, 2003, at 09:02 Europe/Amsterdam, Joseph Garrett wrote:

> One of the sub-topics of this thread is whether the "Dealer" should 
> disclose
> the facts of the Grey Market Pianos. If the "Dealer" is a member of 
> the PTG,
> he/she is bound by the "Code Of Ethics". Therefore, it seems to me, 
> that the
> "Dealer" is bound, by the Code of Ethics to disclose. If said "Dealer" 
> does
> not, then he/she is in violation of the Code of Ethics and would be 
> subject
> to disciplinary action by PTG. Another good reason to get the 
> Dealerships to
> join, IMO. Hopefully it would cut down on this sort of thing, 
> somewhat. Or
> am I being obtuse?
> Best Regards,
> Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)
>

Recently there was a meeting of the few certified appraisers here in 
Holland.
One of the issues was the 'Grey Market Pianos'.
It should be more than clear - by now - to all technicians AND dealers 
that in the case of Yamaha there are three different climatized pianos 
being made there. One is for desert countries like Saudi Arabia etc, 
the second one is for the US and Europe and the third one is made 
especially for the so called 'domestic market' and the tropics.
Ok, we all know this story.
The fact remains that we keep seeing these different species in places 
where they should not be, according to Yamaha. For that reason Yamaha 
in Holland issues a special certificate that the piano being sold here 
has been manufactured for the climate where the instrument is sold.

I can certainly understand the side and the arguments of the dealers 
when they state that these particular grey market pianos are in a fine 
condition and that nothing seems wrong with them and that both the 
customer and the dealer is now happy etc etc.

The Dutch (certified) appraisers have now decided that they will attach 
a lower value to these grey market pianos of around 20-25 %.

I personally have been called in a number of times (as a certified 
appraiser) to write a report about such instruments. The reason for 
this was that the customers who had bought such an instrument were 
unhappy because of technical reasons caused by the difference in the 
climates as stated before.
For instance, in all cases where I was called in the varnish applied to 
the sound boards came off in huge chunks. The bridle straps were all on 
the verge of breaking, all metal parts had corroded heavily and there 
were considerable tuning problems.

This stream of the Grey Market Pianos will certainly not stop and 
dealer will happily continue to sell them.
The market is free so to speak.
All we certified appraisers here in Holland could do is discuss this 
problem and do at least something about it in the form of giving them a 
lower value because they DO cause problems and this has been proven in 
reports, with photos and before the judges.

A. Oorebeek,
The Netherlands

see my website at : www.concertpianoservice.nl