---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Ric, Just catching up, hacking my way through the abundant mail that stacks up fromm the list, and I read this one. Sorry for the delay! My strategy in warranty matters depends on the severity of the problem. I will always contact the company in question(dealer or manufacturer or both), explain the situation to them, and get authorization to try to solve the problem myself. I'm honest with the customers, and usually try to go to bat for them in dealing with manufacturer's or dealers. I will generally not charge anyone anything if I can't fix the problem. Fact is, most customers are ill-equipped to explain to a dealer or factory what is wrong with their pianos. Sometimes, as in the case of a Bergman upright I recently serviced that had serious key-weighting issues, the real fix would not be covered by the piano's warranty. But then, those aren't Godo pianos, are they...:-)? Some companies are willing to replace strings--notably, wound bicords in the tenor--that are untunable. Would I bring that to a customer's attention? Certainly, because otherwise, if the customer has half an ear, my tuning capability will be called into question. I've been followed up a couple of times by Bill Spurlock when I couldn't deal with an issue at hand(I broke off an e-z out trying to extract a broken plate screw and didn't know how to get the remaining mess out of the piano. I ended up getting a valuable lesson in that sort of repair from Bill). No shame in that for me, though it may have cost me some points in the customer's eyes. But I feel that the real issue is whether or not the customer gets what they paid for--a piano that works, in most cases--and whether I get compensation from dealer or manufacturer(depending on the problem)for insuring that the customer is happy with the product. There are times when I just have to tell people "you get what you pay for...trade this one up as soon as you can afford it!" Hope this helps some, Dave Stahl .In a message dated 4/3/05 9:42:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ricbrek@broadpark.no writes: Hi folks In an off list converstation an interesting subject matter came up and I thought I'd put it to you all and ask your thoughts, then sit back and read the responses with out commenting. Just for my own edification. Many of us have been in the situation where we are servicing a piano which presents some problems that require some form of warranty repair or compensation. One situation in particular that I think most any tech who has been in would rather not find themselves in again is the case of a new piano sold which has serious problems that can not be addressed by the field technician. There are a variety of scenarios that fit the general case for sure, but one very common denominator is the risk to the technician for being <<blamed>> for why the piano does not sound or perform well. My own thoughts are that if the piano is truly in such a state, then I call the customer in as soon as possible, explain what I believe is the problem and suggest they call the dealer or manufacturer. I want to involve the tech up the ladder right off because if I am convinced the thing is bad... then I am not at all intimidated by a tech from the factory showing up and trying to make the customer happy. They will confront the same problem I did. Sometimes I make this move on my own inititative... sometimes it comes up when the customer is checking the piano out after I am finished, sometimes its on a second visit. Depends on the problem, how I judge the customer... etc etc. whether I take initiative right off. I would like to hear your various strategies for dealing with the situation.... how do you go about covering your own butt as it were whilst attempting to look out for the customers interests and at the same time keep any negatives with the manufacturere/dealer to a minimum. Cheers RicB ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/2c/d7/f9/8a/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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