underwriter lab (was "What would you do?")

[Ron Nossaman]

At 09:05 AM 12/01/1999 +0100, you wrote: 
>
> I am sorry... I have to aggree with Ron N, and C. Purdy on this. This is no
> "burden" .. it is a challange that we as an organization are certainly up to
> tackling. And if you dont think the manufacturers will sit up and take
> notice, then you underestimate the power of such things. In this computerized
> day and age it is easy to get information out to key players..
> universities... organizations of all types... even home buyers acess the PTG
> pages for information these days. 
> Richard Brekne 
> I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F. 
> Bergen, Norway 


Hold on there. I didn't agree at all. I don't think the PTG has any business
passing judgement on anything as an organization. We are a professional
organization, not a business or a union. Any opinion proclaimed by the PTG
regarding any make or model of any piano cannot possibly reflect the opinion of
the membership, any more than any single member can speak for the rest. The
discussion on this list has abundantly and interminably illustrated that fact.
I said that individual techs can very effectively kill a piano sale. All it
takes is a few well timed remarks. Whether the tech knows what he's talking
about of not has never been an issue in this kind of situation. He is an
authority figure to the customer, and has a certain amount of built in
credibility. The public knows SQUAT about the PTG, and wouldn't pay any
attention to recommendations from such a source anyway. Throw in the problem of
finding someone in the organization to make the judgement calls that represent
the opinions of the members, the likelihood of finding the FTC on the threshold
by Tuesday, and the probable defamation lawsuits from the manufacturers not
smiled upon by our appointed representative, and it looks for all the world to
me like an extremely bad idea.

Count me out.


Ron N