Ethics question

[timothy ehlen]

Phil,

May I suggest what I might do at this point: contact your 
customer, explain exactly what happened, and offer to 
purchase the piano he/she bought for the same price he/she 
paid; in addition, offer in turn to sell the piano that you 
bought to your customer for the price that you paid, the 
asking price.  I would explain that you assumed that their 
offer of a few hundred below the asking price would be 
accepted, as it often is in transactions such as this.  
Naturally, after the customer had already bought another 
piano, you didn't see any harm in buying it yourself.  But 
after thinking about it, you realize that it's best to make 
this offer up front to your customer.  

If the customer doesn't accept your proposal, then he 
probably has the piano he wants; regardless, you can know 
that you did all you can to make the matter right, ethically 
speaking.  I would guess that your reputation would grow 
after sharing your current concerns with your customer, 
regardless of what he decides to do.  

If you don't like this idea, I suppose you could still tell 
your customer what happened and offer to refund the money 
that you accepted to evaluate the piano.  Or, you could try 
this first and play it by ear, and determine if your 
customer harbors any bad feelings about the whole thing.  
Regardless, I think, for myself, I wouldn't feel so good 
keeping silent about it, based on what I understand in your 
email.  It probably would have been best to tell the 
customer at the time of your appraisal that you would 
purchase the piano if he didn't, but of course hindsight is 
20/20.  My impression is that you really weren't trying to 
do anything underhanded--it's just that, considering the way 
things turned out, it could be perceived that way by the 
customer.

Tim


---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 03 May 2006 20:34:53 -0400
>From: PJR <pryan2 at the-beach.net>  
>Subject: Ethics question  
>To: ilvey at sbcglobal.net, Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
>
>   I was asked to evaluate the condition of a used
>   piano for a customer (buyer)  for a nominal fee.  It
>   was a private sale.  When I went to see the piano,
>   it was one that I had been wanting for some time.  I
>   wanted to buy it from the seller.  Question: How,
>   when and/or what must I do, ethically, to buy it 
>   from the seller seeing that now I had a fiduciary
>   relationship with the customer who paid my fee?
>
>   What actually happened:
>
>   I wrote a positive report of the piano and
>   recommended the buyer offer several hundred dollars
>   below the asking price.  She did so, but, the seller
>   rejected her offer.  The buyer  left the deal and
>   bought another piano elsewhere.  When I heard she
>   bought another piano, without telling her,  I
>   offered the original seller his price and bought the
>   piano.  Did I do wrong?  Should I have asked her
>   permission?  Should I tell her now, especially since
>   she plans to  hire me to tune her new piano?  I have
>   a queasy feeling about the deal. Should I?    It
>   could be a future, awkward situation.
>
>   Phil Ryan
>   Miami Beach