Ethics question

[Tom Servinsky]

I had a similar experience not too long ago.
I was hired to evaluate and appraise a grand by a potential buying customer. We had a discussion that I was being hired by her, the buyer, and not by him, the seller. Reason was that she didn't want me discussing anything with the seller while I was at his home, which I agreed to. I was representing her, not him. Fine.
After the appraisal, she and I discussed the findings and I had informed her that this  would be a good buy however it needed x, y, and z. And because it needed things like hammers I told her that the cost of those parts and installation would be over and above the asking price. Her response was "if that's what it needs, I'm not interested. At that point I had completed my obligation with the potential buyer. She paid my fee and that was it.
 In the meantime I had 2 or 3 other potential buyers looking for the exact piano that I had just appraised. I sent her several email after making sure that she wasn't interested. She keep saying no, so I called the seller and informed him that I have several potential buyers who are looking for a piano like his. His response was that he had promised the piano to the party that hired me to do the appraisal. I informed him that she made it very clear that she wasn't interested due to the price and work which needed to be done. Come to find out that she, the potential buyer, and he, the seller, were very close friends and she hadn't informed him that she wasn't going to buy the piano. He was shocked and hurt. He caller her and I guess that had words. She call me and we had BIG words. She felt as though I had violated her terms of our agreement. I had no business of approaching the seller in no uncertain terms. Of course I didn't see it that way but understood the predicament that I found myself in.
Bottom line is that I had completed an honest and complete evaluation of the instrument, all in good faith. It wasn't until a week later when she announced that she wasn't interested in this piano and would be looking elsewhere that I approached the seller.
After the uncomfortable position I found myself in, I excused myself from the seller and haven't suggested his piano to anyone.
Tom Servinsky
  From: PJR 
  To: ilvey at sbcglobal.net ; Pianotech List 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 8:34 PM
  Subject: Ethics question


  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




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