FEEDBACK

[Paul Brown]

Larry: I had a situation which the other techs didn't cover. I was called
to go out and TUNE a piano (about 30miles away). The owner told me that she
would also probably like to have some other work done, and that I could
tell her how much it would cost when I got out there. I told her how much
my tuning fee was and went out to the home.

When I got there, I took apart the piano and noticed cracked treble and
bass bridges. I again said to her, "Do you want me to tune this?" She said,
"Yes". I said that it could not be tuned because of the condition of the
bridges (not to mention the fact that the whole piano needed a complete
rebuild as well.

At that point, I asked her if she wanted me to appraise the piano. I told
her it would cost a smaller appraisal fee. She said "What! I just had
several technicians in here and they didn't tell me the piano couldn't be
tuned! They also didn't charge me for an appraisal, they did it free."

I told her very calmly and politely that my policy was to charge for
appraisals, and in this case I was called out to tune the piano - not to
appraise it. She finally agreed to pay for an appraisal and I did my work.
It took an extra half an hour of being a kind diplomat, and we have been
joking over the phone ever since.

The moral of this story is: Tell the customer not only your tuning rate,
but also your service call rate in the event THE PIANO CAN'T BE TUNED!

The piano? Why she got someone else to rebuild it, of course!

Paul Brown, R.P.T.
paulb@Direct.Ca