[pianotech] call-backs you can't charge for

[David Ilvedson]

AND every time you start trying to think how you will give the most complete disclaimer the next time...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 11/26/2009 7:54:29 PM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] call-backs you can't charge for


>I especially love the ones when they call you three months after you've been
>there and say, "Gee this started happening right after you were here" (a
>sticking note right after a tuning suggesting that your tuning caused the
>note to start sticking).  Usually these are the once every 5 years
>customers.  

>David Love
>www.davidlovepianos.com


>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "David Nereson" <da88ve at gmail.com>
>To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 5:50 AM
>Subject: [pianotech] call-backs you can't charge for


>>    A client called and said her daughter hears several buzzing notes.  I 
>> just tuned it a few weeks ago and didn't hear any buzzing.  But I go to 
>> check it out.  Client wasn't home --  forgot I was coming.  Fortunately 
>> there was a housekeeper who let me in.  I play up and down the scale, and 
>> sure enough, there's some buzzing underneath somewhere.  I open the bottom

>> panel and see two small, rusty woodscrews lodged between the plate and the

>> bottom board, one of them against the soundboard. I remove them, and, 
>> "Presto!" -- no more buzzing.  (Why couldn't they have buzzed when I was 
>> tuning a few weeks ago?)
>>    Suddenly client shows up (was walking the dogs).  I show her the 
>> screws, tell her there's no more buzzing, and she says, "Oh, thank you 
>> soooo much!" in a tone that's so grateful I can tell she thinks I came to 
>> remove the problem as a huge gratis favor, and that certainly I don't 
>> intend to charge anything.  (When they say, "Do I owe you anything?" then 
>> you KNOW you'd better say, "No, that's OK -- I was in the neighborhood" or

>> something similar.)
>>       I spent a half-hour driving, two minutes finding the problem, ten 
>> minutes waiting around for the client, and another half-hour back to the 
>> shop -- 1 1/4 hours for no compensation. Sometimes you just get the "vibe"

>> from the client that they think any buzz, noise, tinnyness, or other quirk

>> that shows up within, say, a month after you tuned it, is your fault, 
>> since it wasn't doing that before you tuned it, and therefore must've been

>> caused by your "tuning" and you should come fix it for free.
>>    Oh sure, you can say, "I have a $xx minimum billing for service calls,"

>> but then you lose the customer and any referrals from them.
>>    I've even done 12 hours' extra labor on a large reconditioning job to 
>> get rid of problems they implied were my fault, even though these things 
>> were not in the job estimate, but from their tone of voice and attitude 
>> you can tell that it's either fix everything for free or get into a big 
>> argument, much unpleasantness, and maybe even a lawsuit.
>>    But of course you can't deduct the value of your time on your tax 
>> return, since the IRS doesn't see your time as being worth anything.
>>    --David Nereson, RPT