turning down unwanted biz

[John Formsma]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:56 AM, David Nereson <dnereson at 4dv.net> wrote:

>      How do you tell people you don't want to work on their old beater /
> junker / clunker without coming off as a piano snob, especially if the
> person who referred you has a piano you've been tuning for years that's no
> better?  ("You worked on theirs, now all the sudden ours isn't good enough
> for ya?")
>     --veteran tuner, but still stymied by certain situations
>     --David Nereson, RPT
>
>

That's an easy one.  <g>  OK, here's are two things you can say when you
find out on the phone they have an old beater.

   1. "I no longer work on pianos that old except for those customers I
   already have."  If they persist ...
   2. "A service call for an old upright is a minimum of $300."

Which I'm finding that $300 will sort of get most old uprights so that all
the notes will at least work.  You can glue a few jacks and hammer shanks,
take up lost motion, and tune for something close to that.  Obviously, the
tuning pins would have to be tight enough.   But I usually scare 'em off
with the first one, and totally scare 'em away with the second one.

When I ask questions on the phone, I always try to find out immediately if
the piano is an old upright.  ("Is it one of the really tall old pianos?")
 But then there are times when the customer has said it's not.  Then I get
there, and it's an old upright.   Nothing left to do but condemn the piano
by telling them it will cost thousands to get it working properly again.
 Collect the service call fee and leave.

-- 
JF
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