It is like the customer I had with an Acrosonic. After tuning it and leaving an Acrosonic as in good of tune as it can have, I get a call that it doesn't sound right. Culmination after two trips was to set the unisons about 3 to 5 cents off of each other and she was as "happy as a lark".
Ken Gerler
----- Original Message -----
From: Dean May
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Strange Customer Complaint
Back when I was a mechanic in school days our best customers/most satisfied/easiest to please were the ones who either knew nothing about cars or those who knew a lot about them. Our worst customers were the ones who knew a little about cars.
I just lost a nice church account that I had been tuning twice a year for the last 4-5 years. They had 2 pianos, a C3 and a P22. The music director was a retired school teacher that complained the P22 was badly out of tune right after I had tuned it (4-5 years of regular service with no complaints, now the piano is "badly out of tune"). I go check it, sounds good to me, I touch it up. Still a complaint. I go back out and completely retune the piano. Still "badly" out. I set up a special appointment to go back out when the complainer is there to have him demonstrate to me what is wrong with the piano. He starts playing individual notes (when they do that you know you are in trouble) going down from C4 chromatically until he gets around the break area ( I really don't remember what the note was) and said, "hear that? That sounds awful." Of course, it's a P22 and it sounds bad at the break.
I demonstrate to him that it is in tune. He has a hard time with the interval thing (he's in his 60s and admits his hearing is going), so I just show him by octaves. I put my hammer on a pin and take it a little sharp and a little flat so he can hear the difference in the octave and when it comes in tune. I then show him on the TuneLab software how it is dead on. Then, as I am showing what happens when I bring it a little sharp, he is wanting me to leave select notes 5-8 cents sharp because the bass section in his choir is tending to sing flat!!!!
As politely as I can I tell him that would be impossible for me to do and leave my name on the tuning.
Of course since he is retired high school music teacher in the community the worship committee considers him to be god in all things related to music. So after three free service calls (25 miles one way) to prove that he has no idea what he is talking about (I point out that the C3 is actually out of tune by this time but no complaints on it) they decide they are going to use another tuner. And now I just lost another good account of the same denomination due to I'm sure his tarnishing of my reputation.
It ain't right but there's not much you can do about it except shrug it off and keep doing quality work. A curse without a cause will not alight.
Dean
Dean May cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN 47802
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Sowers
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:31 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Strange Customer Complaint
Oh! I meant to mention that she was a teacher too!
On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 9:31 AM, Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> wrote:
Here's another one!
I had a client of many years call me back once after I had worked on her new grand (she had a U-1 before that). She said I didn't get the action back in right. So, I went back as soon as I could. It turned out that she had noticed that there was more space between note 88 and the cheek then on note 1! She seemed skeptical at first when I explained to her that it needed that space for the shift pedal, but was finally convinced.
On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 5:40 AM, Tom Driscoll <tomtuner at verizon.net> wrote:
Subject: [pianotech] Strange Customer Complaint
Had a music teacher ring today to complain about the tune done on the school piano yesterday. The complaint was, the top 1 & 1/2 octaves of the piano constantly sustain when the notes were played! After I explained that it was because there was no dampers on that part of the piano, he calmed down a bit. I'm guessing piano mightn't be his specialty instrument!
Alastair.
David Lawson's Pianos
Wangaratta
Australia
David,
How about the music teacher complaining that the middle pedal isn't working on her grand piano?She pushes it down and nothing happens!
Tom Driscoll
--
Ryan Sowers, RPT
Puget Sound Chapter
Olympia, WA
www.pianova.net
--
Ryan Sowers, RPT
Puget Sound Chapter
Olympia, WA
www.pianova.net
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