The day's frustration

[David Love]

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Choose your battles and don't try to be a hero.  You have a customer who
is not loyal to her former technician, it's a poor quality piano, it's
kept in an unstable environment.  You should have charged her for the
pitch raise, told her that the piano might benefit from a string seating
and hammer mating session, and advised that tuning stability has
everything to do with stability in the environment.  While I don't pass
out pamphlets, when I get a new customer I always talk to them before
leaving about frequency of tuning as I try and establish how often they
want me to issue a reminder.  I always tell them that the frequency with
which the piano needs to be tuned will depend largely on the stability
of the environment.  If the humidity swings heavily in one direction or
the other tomorrow the piano will likely go out of tune.  I advise that
if they want to ensure greater stability, install a damp-chaser.  If
they don't, then I advise them to tune the piano at least twice a year
and say that it's up to them and what they can tolerate in terms of the
piano sounding out of tune.  Even with an old customer, if I find the
piano has drifted significantly off pitch, I go through the rap again
just to remind them that environment is everything.  You'll accomplish
several things:  You will sell some DC systems, you will clarify their
requirements of "in tuneness", you will establish a schedule for their
tunings, you will cover yourself for being blamed for the piano going
out of tune from a change in humidity, you will also be able to talk
about other things the piano needs that might contribute to a perception
of out of tuneness like string seating and voicing.  Pamphlets are nice
but, unfortunately, people don't read.  
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Piannaman@aol.com
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 10:36 PM
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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