[pianotech] i'll take a pass

[Terry Farrell]

FWIW, I also add one more thing to the appointment phone call  
regarding fees. I also tell the caller that every once in a while -  
not often - maybe two or three times a year - I run into a piano that  
hasn't been tuned in 20 or 30 years and that sometimes such a piano  
will require multiple pitch raises - but again, that is not common.

That way they know the total tuning fee will likely be for a tuning  
and maybe a pitch raising fee will be added to that. And that there is  
also a slim chance it might be more......

Terry Farrell

On Aug 21, 2009, at 8:15 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

> Terry Farrell wrote:
>> Which is why I always explain to a caller that if the piano is up  
>> or near standard pitch, my $95 tuning fee covers what I need to do  
>> regarding tuning. But if the piano is significantly below standard  
>> pitch, then we will have to do a separate proceedure called a pitch  
>> raise to get the piano up to standard pitch before I can tune it.  
>> My fee for a pitch raise is $45 - but, of course, only if your  
>> piano needs it. I approach this statement by asking how long it has  
>> been since the last tuning...... (Yeah, yeah, I know - but this is  
>> how I present my tuning fee structure to a caller.
>> That way, no surprises come appointment day.......
>> Terry Farrell
>
>
> Me too, just like that. It gives them a chance to back out and go  
> shopping for someone who quotes a cheaper price and *doesn't* warn  
> them up front, and it takes the edge off the "service work = rip  
> off" angst inherent to the process from past experience. They feel  
> less cornered and more in control. Should I find a piano pleasantly  
> within the one pass tuning realm, I'll delightedly do it in one pass  
> and not, naturally, charge them for a pitch raise. Being presented  
> an invoice from a service tech that is (incredibly) less than  
> expected is something a lot of consumers have never dared dream of,  
> let alone experienced. This seems to endear me to them right off,  
> though I'm pretty endearing on occasion anyway (just not to you guys  
> <G>), and they'll actually listen honestly to whatever I try to tell  
> them about their piano, and it's care and feeding. I've gotten  
> adopted as the ancestral piano tech many times just by treating  
> customers as real people. Not as "bosses" who are always right, and  
> not as "sources of protein" in the victim pool, but more as harmless  
> relatives of the eccentric but benign (a nice boy, a quiet boy...)  
> second cousin on the father's side. When we get to the dumb jokes  
> and pithy quotes, I graduate to first cousin, or big brother, in  
> some cases, and have to schedule extra time with the tunings.
>
> It's really bizarre (to me, at least) how well showing up as  
> yourself and giving them the real stuff works in some situations,  
> and how abysmally it fails in others.
> Ron N