The day's frustration

[ilex cameron ross]

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Dave -
I have actually found the PTG's website to be EXTREMELY useful in
circumstances like these. Printing off a copy of the PTG explanation of a
Pitch Raise (along with the faq of "why does my piano go out of tune" yadda
yadda), not only gives the customer concise information on piano care and
behaviour, but also gives them a legitimate reference point outside of the
word of one new tuner. They obviously don't know that your work and
intentions are honest, so for all they know, you could just not be a very
good tuner, and/or you could be trying to take them for a ride, billing them
for a bunch of bogus work. To their credit, they're right to be skeptical -
there ARE unfortunately a lot of tooners (and other service people) who make
their livings off of dishonest upsales/scams. *WE* know you're not one of
those, but your new and uneducated customer doesn't. Think about it - it's
kind of like when you go in for a simple oil change and JoeBob at the
quicklube tells you that you need about $200 worth of additional work done
on your car (even if it's a tuneup, transmission flush, new air filter...).
But last time, you had your oil changed by Tommy up the street, and he
didn't mention any of that. Tommy's been changing your oil for years and has
never had to do anything more to it - tuneup? What's that?
If I hand my customer a printout from the PTG website, it not only credits
the PTG for all of the information given, it also gives the url for the
PTG's website - aha! Another valuable resource for piano owners who just
don't know any better. It also earns me brownie points for going out of my
way to show that *I* care about their piano, and that I want to bother
explaining these things to them. Lastly, it leaves them with written
information in a clear format (not handwritten. And do you really want to
take the time to write the whole pitch raise and false beats shpiel out?) -
90 percent of what you verbally tell a customer goes in one ear, gets
jumbled up and confused, and leaks out the other ear. Not because customers
are stupid, but because most people simply don't have the time or attention
span - they have kids, which means they have scouts, soccer practices, piano
lessons, sunday school, pta meetings, karate, ballet, etc. That simple piece
of paper is something they can refer to. Maybe they'll read it and respond
positively, maybe not. But you're at least covering your butt, doing all you
can do, and giving a chance for it.
WHEW that was long-winded!

ps - congrats on your nuptials - it's my turn this fall! *gulp*!

-ilex
  -----Original Message-----
  From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
Behalf Of Piannaman@aol.com
  Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 1:36 AM
  To: pianotech@ptg.org
  Subject: The day's frustration


  List,

  It's been a slow week for phone calls.  Getting people to make
appointments around tax time is like extracting wisdom teeth.  April has
traditionally been my slowest month, but I've kind of gotten used to it.
What's aggravating is when a customer calls to say that the piano I tuned a
couple of weeks ago doesn't sound "clear" according to her daughter and the
piano teacher(who came the day after I tuned it).

  The piano is a Kohler and Campbell console, circa 60s-70s, with false
strings throughout the treble.  It had been tuned regularly, up to a year
ago by a tuner who she thought did a great job, but whose card she "lost."
I suspect other things transpired.

  The piano is right next to a door, and the weather has undergone big
changes in the last couple of weeks.

  When I tuned it it was 20-50cents flat.  Hmm, great tuner...tuned a year
ago...next to a door...I should have begun the education process here.
Instead I put my nose to the grindstone, did a pitch raise--which she
somehow managed to talk me out of charging for (my first mistake!)--and as
good a tuning as I could get into the piano given the time and instrument
constraints.

  I agreed to go back and see if I can make the piano "sound better."  I
don't mind doing this ONCE if I can educate a customer in the process.
Don't know if that will happen, because it seems that some people choose to
remain ignorant.  I hope this was the cork on a frustrating week...

  Thanks for being my wailing wall,

  Dave Stahl

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