Customer Complaint on Tuning

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Are there other tuners in the area who might have tuned her piano in the past?
If so, you might want to check around.
 
I did have one customer who did this kind of thing. Didn't have her piano tuned
often but when she did she would call a new tuner. Then complain until her money
was refunded and be happy until the next time it "needed tuning." Which might be
five years later. Then she would call another tuner and repeat the process. In a
reasonably good sized city such a person may never have to pay for a tuning.
 
ddf
 
 


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From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Farrell
Sent: August 15, 2008 8:30 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Customer Complaint on Tuning


Wow. This is a first for me. This lady is nuts. I checked the piano out this
past Sunday. It had a few unisons singing a bit (IMHO, not uncommon a week after
doing a 25-cent pitch raise), but otherwise sounded fine (well, as "fine" as
most any 1970 Baldwin console sounds). And I told her so. I checked octaves,
thirds, fourths, etc., etc. and it's all in the ballpark.
 
She plays a tune and stops and says "hear that? it's wrong"! Well, sure, anytime
you play an E and an F# together it sounds pretty bad! But she'd play other
things and stop and say "that's wrong". Sounded fine to me. I didn't know what
to say really. We did talk about the possibility that she had just gotten used
to how it sounded when it was way out of tune. She agreed to play it a bit more
and see.
 
So she calls me just now ranting and raving "it's all wrong, it's all wrong".
She says even her students are complaining. What the ........
 
She tells me that some times one song will sound fine, and then the next one
sounds wrong.
 
Does the piano good. Of course not. It sounds like a crappy little Baldwin
console that has sat too many years on the back porch (enclosed) of a home in
Florida. But it sounds to be in as good a tune as any little piano like it.
 
So I guess the next step is to simply tell her that I don't seem to be able to
satisfy her piano service needs and that she might be more satisfied with
someone else's services. But that leaves one question remaining - in her view I
have not tuned her piano - in my view I have. I don't think I should be
returning her $95 (yeah, yeah, I didn't charge her for the pitch raise....). But
then again, I'm sure she's on some sort of fixed income, and I've really never
had an unhappy customer before......
 
I don't think there is any real good resolution to this situation. Any great
ideas? Just tell her to find someone else and leave it at that? Seems like the
only thing that makes any sense to me - but I kinda hate taking her money
also.....
 
Terry Farrell
 

----- Original Message ----- 


The saga continues...... and builds. This one has the potential to set the
standard.
 
Just got a call from........ guess who?
 
Ms. X, I LIVE AT ...... YOU TUNED MY PIANO. IT SOUNDS HORRIBLE. SOMETHING MUST
HAVE HAPPENED.
 
Maybe I should have asked her, but I wonder if she remembers that we talked
yesterday. I told her I'd be stopping by tomorrow early afternoon and she seemed
okay with that. I hope she sleeps tonight.
 
Either this lady is in the wrong "home", or the plate split in two after I left
from tuning it. Either one - I can't really figure out anything else.....
 
Oh boy..... gulp.
 
Assuming I live through it, I'll file a report tomorrow afternoon.
 
Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
 
Oh boy. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Should have just erased the message and
not called..... 
 
Lady leaves message on my answering machine: I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. MY PIANO
NEEDS TUNING. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. IT SOUNDS HORRIBLE. I LIVE AT 123 MY
STREET. I NEED IT TUNED TOMORROW. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. CALL ME.
 
After my ears stopped ringing, I call her..... and they started ringing again.
Made appointment. Pull up in her driveway Wednesday - I could hear the TV LOUD
in the driveway. 120 year old lady - very sweet - she had the big eyes and high
cheekbones - could tell she must have been a knockout 95 years ago. I asked how
long it had been since last tuning. She didn't answer so I asked: HOW LONG SINCE
LAST TUNING. She said many years. Anyway, I did a 25 cent pitch raise and tuned
the so-so condition 1970-ish Baldwin console.
 
FWIW, she is a "musicologist". What is that? She also teaches piano.
 
She calls me yesterday and says that some notes still don't sound right
together. I didn't have the heart to ask which ones (like maybe C and C#?). So I
told her I would call her Sunday early afternoon and stop by to check it out. (I
have a morning appointment nearby that day.)
 
I know what it will sound like - a crappy little old Baldwin console that just
had a pitch raise and a tuning. She's going to plunk away at several keys, not
hear a darn thing, and ask me: "see? hear that?"
 
So what's the plan? Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and say: "Oh, yeah, that
should sound better now...?"
 
This is my second call-back on a tuning in 10 years. The other one was a few
years ago from a 115 year old lady who couldn't hear a fire engine honking it's
horn if she was standing right next to it.......
 
:-(
 
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano
 
www.farrellpiano.com
terry at farrellpiano.com

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