>>If you offered your customer a longer guarantee . The guarantee is always implicit. This story illustrates the reason why our charges must be generous enough to cover such potential losses. If Patrick charged enough for the job the first time, he should have enough cushion to replace those monochords at his own expense. He'll just have to eat the labor charges. I would do it, even if the string maker refuses to stand behind them. Because when we do this kind of work it is our reputation that is on the line. The customer is spending a lot of money to do something that he doesn't have much knowledge about. He is trusting us to select the right supplier, to make sure the strings are properly scaled, properly installed, that the pins will be adequately tight, that we will twist or not twist as is appropriate, etc.. Lots of decisions that he is trusting us to get right. Unfortunately, Patrick, you made a choice to get your strings through a supply house instead of going directly to a better quality custom string maker. It requires a little more effort on your part to pick a good string maker (I like Arledge). You have to do some research, talk to other technicians, set up a new account or get a business credit card. You'll likely have to pay a little more per string, but it shouldn't effect the overall price to the customer significantly. And these kinds of supply house string problems have disappeared for me since I made the switch. 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 wimblees at aol.com Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 2:25 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] String Guarantee Issues Patrick Unfortunately, if the supply house says there is only a 6 months guarantee on the strings, you're out of luck. Had you notified the supply house the first time, you might have had a case. But since you didn't, they don't have to replace them. If you offered your customer a longer guarantee, then you personally have to stand by that. But the supply house doesn't. Sorry, Pat, but that's the way I see it. Wim -----Original Message----- From: pcpoulson at sbcglobal.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Fri, 8 May 2009 4:20 am Subject: [pianotech] String Guarantee Issues Good Morning: I am dealing with a problem with the bass strings I put in a baby grand in 2007. Approximately 6 months after I restrung the piano,some of the monochords started rattling, so I loosened them, put a twist in each one, and retuned them, which seemed to remedy the situation. I bought these strings from a supply house who has them made by a string maker in the East. Three months later I came to retune the piano and found the same problem. I have an occastional string go bad on me before, but never so many and never so soon. I called the supply house, who told me that strings were not made by them, but by the string maker they contract with whose guarantee to replace defective strings is only six months long. I now have a customer with a piano that has 8 out of 10 monochords needing to be replaced. It is my belief that it is the supply house's duty to replace these defective strings, as it is the business that I bought them from. If a part that I install fails, I wouldn't tell my customer to call my supplier to complain - I am the guarantor. I feel that my supplier should replace these strings without a charge. Of course, the labor to install and retune the strings I will have to eat myself. Any feedback on this situation would be appreciated. Thank you, Patrick C. Poulson Registered Piano Technician Piano Technicians Guild _____ Shopping for Mom? <http://shopping.aol.com/mothers-day-gifts-for-mom?ncid=emlweinstor00000003> Save yourself a little time and money on AOL Shopping. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090509/b084dd82/attachment-0001.html>
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