overbooked

[Tom Myler]

Remember that hindsight is always 20-20.

I think you chose the most ethical and honorable option.   Depending on who
the appointments were that could have been postponed (for example, were
they all long-term, "valued" clients), you might have gone ahead and set a
new precedent by bumping one of them to accomodate the church.   I have
done this on rare occasions, but share your feeling that it just ain't
right.  Why should another client suffer for the church's lack of
preparation (assuming such was the case)?

My vote: You did the right thing, even though adhering to your professional
standards may have cost you a client.   Assuming that this church had been
happy with your work (8 years suggests they were), you were appropriately
apologetic when referring them elsewhere, and that you have in fact lost
their business to another tuner as a result of your handling of the
situation,  I would suggest that you are better off without their business.


All of that having been said,  why not call the choir director to "touch
base"?

--

Myler, Tom

"When All Else Fails, Do It Right"

----------
> From: Wimblees@aol.com
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: overbooked
> Date: Monday, September 30, 1996 3:35 PM
>
> Overbooked
>
> Chris Trivilas, in his "Touchup Revisited: article in the September
Journal,
> mentioned the dilemna of having one of your best customers call at the
last
> minute for a tuning. I had that situation happend a couple of months ago.
On
> a Thursday evening I got a call from the choir director of a large church
> with many pianos, for whom I have been tuning for 8 years, (and in the
market
> for one of my rebuilt grands), to tune the piano in the sacntuary before
> Saturday, when he had 3 weddings scheduled. With no time on the calander
> on Friday, I had 3 options. 1. Work an extra couple of hours on
> Friday, 2. Cancell one of my appointments, on 3. Recommend another tuner.
>
>
> Since my wife and I had tickets to the symphony Friday night, I couldn't
work
> the extra hours. I thought about cancelling one of my other customers,
> figuring that one of them wouldn't know the difference why I cancelled.
But
> then maybe this customer belonged to a church with a lot of pianos, or
needed
> her piano rebuilt, or had a friend who needed her piano rebuilt. I have
never
> cancelled one appointment to schedule another. I have cancelled because I
was
> sick, or because of an emergency, but never to schedule another
> appointment, and I didn't want to set a president to do that. So I did
what I
> thought was best. I recommended he find another tuner. Since I didn't
know
> the
> schedules of the other RPT's in the chapter, I just told him to call
someone.
>
> I haven't heard from this choir director since he called me, to tune the
> other pianos at the church. I have been wondering if I lost him to a
> competitor, or is he mad at me for not dropping everything to take care
of
> him, or is he just late getting around to calling me?
>
> The question I have is this. Should I have given up the tickets to the
> symphony? Should I have cancelled one of my other appointments? Did I do
the
> right thing?
>
> What are some thoughts and opinions on the matter.
>
> Willem Blees  RPT
> St. Louis