Dave, I had a "happy ending" call like this a few weeks ago. The mom called and said there was an "echo" sound around middle C or B that sounded real bad. I arranged to go a few days later and was a bit surprised to find no problems. When I asked her exactly what the problem was, she called in her 8 year old girl who sat right down and played the C and B together. She said, "see, that sounds really bad!". The embarrassed mom offererd to pay me, but instead I chatted with the family and showed the kids how a piano action works. Moral of the story? I have dismissed 2 rude customers from my list. But, tuning for families with kids taking lessons makes it worth it. Dave Davis, Assoc. Renton, WA --- Piannaman@aol.com wrote: > Fellow self-employed types, > > Has this or something like it happened to you? I > had just gotten my 3 year > old to sleep last night and was about to nod off > when my phone rang. I glanced > at the clock and it was almost 10:30. I picked it > up, and a man stated his > name, and said that I'd been out to his house last > week and tuned his piano. I > remembered him, and I remembered his demanding > nature. > > He said that the teacher had been to his house and > had played the piano. She > said that the bass was out of tune. Now this > doesn't surprise me a bit. It > was a pitch raise of gargantuan proportions and a > tuning. 2 hours worth of > work, and I didn't charge him for the pitch raise, > because he was a new > customer. I did warn him that the next time he'd > pay. The piano is approximately 5 > years old, and if had ever been tuned in his house > I'd be surprised. Normally > when I pitch raise a piano, it's pretty stable, as > long as it was stabilized > at one point in it's life. That was certainly not > the case here. > > In my dazed state, I stated that I'd come out(today) > and check it out. He > was extremely rude, and acted as if I'd done > something wrong. My first reaction > was to make it better so that the customer--and his > teacher, who'd > recommended me--were no longer disgruntled. I > thought about it for awhile, and realized > that I'd done nothing wrong, and had indeed given > him far more than he paid > for. I called him back and left him a polite > message to that effect on his > work phone, which he should pick up today. I > pointed out that I'd do it for free > this time, but that I wasn't the one who let the > piano go untuned for so long. > > Any advice on possible responses to this sort of > thing? > > This type of stuff really rankles me. I guess the > lesson here is to not take > it too personally. Kinda hard to do sometimes when > you're the whole show. > > Thanks for reading. > > Dave Stahl > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com
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