[pianotech] i'll take a pass

[Scott Helms, RPT]

Gary -

I agree with you totally! I raise the pitch in a separate appointment from
the final fine tuning, separated by about 2 weeks. I always ask on the
phone how long it's been since the piano was last tuned. If it was a year
or more (because typically you can double how long the customer "thinks"
it's been), or if they don't know because they just bought it, I give them
the "spiel". I used to talk about a pitch raise, but have switched to just
saying, "every piano is different, but since it's been longer than a year,
there's a possibility that it will need 2 tunings, spaced about 2 weeks
apart, to get it back up to pitch." No need for technical explanations
about a pitch raise - that just muddies the waters. With very, very few
exceptions, the customer is not at all suprised at this information, and
is fine with paying 2 full tuning fees to get their piano back up to
snuff. After all, they know they've neglected it, so it shouldn't surprise
them that it will take something extra to make up for it.

I know it's possible to raise the pitch & fine tuning in one visit.
However, just because you CAN do it doesn't mean that you SHOULD do it.
I'm not talking about the well-being of the piano in this case. I want to
accomplish more than just getting the piano tuned at pitch; I want my
customer to realize that it's not a good thing to let the piano go so long
without tuning, and if they do, it's gonna cost them. They will learn that
lesson much better if they have to have 2 visits, at a full rate, than
they would if I did it in one and charge an extra $30 or $40. I DO believe
I earn that money, too - as somebody said in this thread, some pianos can
be a BEAR to pitch raise. Am I gouging my customers? I don't think so.
Look at it this way - they are STILL paying WAY less in two full tuning
fees than they would have paid over the course of X years, had they
serviced the piano every 6 months as they should have. In my eyes, it's a
bargain. How many times on this list, and in PTG classes, has the point
been made that we need to charge more for our services?

Once in awhile, I will come across a piano that needs a pitch raise, even
though the customer had told me on the phone that it was tuned recently.
If I didn't give the "2 tunings" spiel on the phone (and I always make a
note on my records whether I gave the "spiel" or not), I will sometimes
decide to just do the pitch raise and fine tune in one visit and not
charge extra at all. That is a rarity, but in that situation I would
prefer to not enter the "bad vibes" realm and charge them more when
they're not expecting it. That might happen once a year for me. I will,
though, tell them about it, and tell them that I didn't charge anything
for the extra work this time, but if the piano really had been tuned that
recently they either got a bad tuning or the piano is unstable, and we'll
have to see how it responds in subsequent tunings.

As with everything else in self employment, you have to do things in
whatever way works for you. I'm sure some would argue with me that because
2 visits aren't necessary to achieve the desired tuning outcome, it
shouldn't be done. I just don't believe it's very effective to wag your
finger and tell them that it's hard on the piano to neglect servicing. To
me, a $30 upcharge for a pitch raise and an extra 20 minutes of listening
to "pling, pling, pling" is no more effective than a finger wag in getting
them to change their piano maintenance habits.

Scott
------
Scott A. Helms, Registered Piano Technician
480-818-3871
www.helmsmusic.net






> My business is still very new and I get a lot of these long un-serviced
> pianos-they are my bread and butter at this point.
>
>
>
> My standard procedure for large pitch raises has been to pitch-raise and
> tune as well as I can on the first visit and inform the customer that it
> requires another fine-tuning in 2-4 weeks for stability.  I charge my
> standard tuning fee for each visit.
>
>
>
> But then, recently, I read here that many of you don't charge as much for
> a
> pitch-raise, so I began to wonder if I was over-charging.  But I got over
> that quickly-I have yet to have a customer complain or look at me sideways
> when I inform them it will require two visits, each at my standard rate.
>
>
>
> And I was worried that I'm not able to get most of these wildly off pitch
> pianos stabilized in one visit until I read here that many of you do the
> follow-up visit as par for course on very flat pianos.  But then I read
> recently in Reblitz's book that I *should* be able to accomplish the pitch
> raise and fine tune in one visit so I worried about my competency.
>
>
>
> Because I get so many of these pianos, I've become adept at explaining to
> the customer, on the first phone call, that if the piano has been sitting
> idle for many years, it will likely require a pitch raise in addition to a
> fine tuning.  Most, I find, understand completely why that might be the
> case
> and I have yet to have any problems with it.
>
>
>
> I love these long neglected pianos.  I love taking these discordant noise
> machines that no one wants to play and turning them into wonderful
> sounding
> instruments again.  It's a real sense of accomplishment.  When I'm done, I
> always play arpeggios as prettily as I can, from bottom to top, changing
> chords each time, and love filling the home with beautiful music-it also
> serves to let the customer know I'm done and that they now have a
> wonderful
> instrument to play.  It almost never fails that they come into the room
> with
> big, goofy grins on their faces.  How could you not love this job?
>
>
>
> And from a financial aspect, they are perfectly suited for my nascent
> business, often a double-shot of income.  (And I feel confident that I am
> earning every dime).
>
>
>
> Gary
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
> Behalf
> Of Terry Farrell
> Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 7:31 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] i'll take a pass
>
>
>
>  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
>
>
>
> On Aug 21, 2009, at 6:08 PM, Britney Kirk wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> That's how I do it.  It gives bad vibes when you get to someone's house
> and
> say, " By the way, it'll cost you even more than you originally thought!"
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
> Behalf
> Of Noah Frere
> Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 3:58 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] i'll take a pass
>
>
>
> So am I to understand you have one flat rate for every tuning, no matter
> how
> long it takes?
>
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Tom Sivak <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
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