You vs. Them

[Dean May]

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A couple of weeks ago I was at a client's house. Tuning and repairs came =
to $167. She couldn't believe it. Went on and on about how she used to =
pay $20 to get her piano tuned and she was never going to recommend me =
to anyone. My next appointment tuning and repair came to $145. She was =
really happy. Both were contemporaries in their late 60's. Some people =
you can please, others you won't.=20
=20
On my follow up thank you card to the first client I listed all of the =
area tuners. I told her the ones that were in my price range and those =
that were considerably cheaper. And I sincerely thanked her for her =
business. I take care of too many people who are very happy with my =
service to worry about it.=20
=20
Dean
=20
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802
=20
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On =
Behalf Of Tvak@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 1:53 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: You vs. Them
=20
List

Second visit to a client's house yesterday.  First call was a tuning.   =
At that visit she complained about my fee, claiming that I tuned her =
neighbor's piano for $20 less.  This was simply not true.  She =
reluctantly paid it, only after arguing with me for a good 2 or 3 =
minutes.  I wouldn't back down.  (My fee is not even on the high end of =
techs here in Chicago.)

Why did I agree to come back and do repairs for her?

Upon handing her the bill she claimed I told her it would take me only =
30 minutes to do the following: =20
     replace a broken treble string
     replace two broken hammer shanks with new ones
     repair/replace two broken key buttons

There is no way I would ever estimate that to take 30 minutes.  Maybe =
one of you guys could do that in 30 minutes, but not me.  It actually =
took me 90 minutes, mostly due to it taking me forever to cut down a new =
key button to fit a dogleg key.  I felt that it should have taken me =
less time to do this, (any tips on this procedure would be welcome: I =
used a little saw, then filed it and it came out nicely, but there has =
to be a better way...) so I only charged her for 60 minutes plus parts, =
which is what I believe I quoted her on my estimate.

She wasn't satisfied until I charged her only for the 30 minutes plus =
parts.  I simply refused to argue with her beyond the first 2 or 3 =
minutes, and I caved.  I have to point out that my labor rate is lower =
than any other tech I know.  So the bill was LOW to begin with.

Now I should probably just let this go and move on, but I am about to =
mail her a letter in which I advise her to find another technician to =
work on her piano in the future.

When it comes down to you vs. them, how do you deal with that?   Perhaps =
in her country of origin it is appropriate behavior to haggle over =
things such as this.   I found it offensive.  I just wanted to get out =
of the house and be done with her.

Luckily the day ended on a nicer note.  Another repair, another house.  =
This time I handed her the bill and she said, "Oh, no, that's not =
enough!" and gave me an extra $10.

Tom Sivak
Chicago=20

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