Yamaha Service Bond

[Billbrpt@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/5/98 2:33:48 PM Central Daylight Time,
dkvander@clandjop.com writes:

<< When I talked to the dealer technical service manager and turned
 in my bill, she said that the Service Bond usually takes about 45 minutes
 to an hour.  I have been spending two hours for an upright piano, and three
 hours for a grand piano.
 
 Here is what I have been doing:...(snip)
 
 If there is a pitch raise and tuning, I add an extra hour to hour and a half.
 
 How much time should it realistically take to do a Yamaha Service Bond on a
 new piano?  Is 2 to 3 hours of work in addition to tuning more than I
 should be doing?  
 
 Maybe someone who does a lot of these can respond.
 
 Thanks!
 
   David A. Vanderhoofven, RPT
 Joplin, Missouri >>

Don't worry David,  you've been doing things the right way and those pianos
that you service will be all the better for it in the future.

I'll be very candid by saying that that Dealer Service Manager expects you to
"Justoonit" as they pronounce it here in Wisconsin.  If there are any sticking
keys, just "give 'em a little wiggle".

I do not work for theYamaha dealer here but I see a lot of their pianos.  I
can claim with a completely clear conscience that the only pianos they have
sold which EVER had a full Service Bond performed on them were the ones which
I did myself and for which the customer paid after someone else supposedly had
already done it.  I made that statement in a letter to the dealer.  He told me
that he had sent a copy of it to their attorney (implying a threat of a
lawsuit).

Thereafter, I began a policy of calling the dealer each and every time I found
a piano of theirs which obviously had not had the Service Bond done.  Each
time they claimed it had been done, they had a record to prove it.  They
claimed that it just needed doing again. This went on for about three years
until finallythe owner said, "OK, Bill, we get your point. But why do you
suppose we have all of these cards on record where the technician checked all
the boxes and signed his name"?

My answer was that if I were only being paid $30.00, that's all I would do
too.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

P.S.  No lawyer ever called or wrote me and my relations with that dealer are
much better now.  I still treat their pianos as I would any piano, in the
proper way and I get paid for my work.