"guarantee...?"

[Wimblees@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 10/29/00 11:22:03 PM Central Standard Time, 
pianolover88@hotmail.com writes:

<< "Well, the piano seems to have kinda gone out of 
 tune and I didn't expect to have to pay you AGAIN to tune it."
 I reminded him of what i had told him when i first tuned his piano, and that 
 pianos cannot be "guaranteed" to stay in tune indefinitely, especially a 
 piano that had been so severely neglected and was so  flat. Then he 
 said.."well, I just don't have the money right now." I did what i could to 
 be "diplomatic", and ended the conversation by thanking him for calling, and 
 to please call again when his situation changes, and i would be happy to 
 schedule a follow-up tuning. I am wondering how other list members have 
 dealt with this type of situation. Thanks.
 
 Terry Peterson
 Associate Member PTG
 Los Angeles, CA >>


You did the right thing, Terry. Any customer who wants a "guarantee" on a 
tuning, even if it didn't need a pitch raise, just doesn't understand how a 
piano works. The customer has two choices. He can either pay you to have it 
tuned again, or he can pay someone else if he thinks you're "ripping him 
off." Stand by your policy. 

The only time I would consider going back to retune a piano is in the first 
couple of days if I didn't do a pitch raise. I will give the benefit of doubt 
to the customer if he/she tells me the tuning isn't right. Maybe I missed a 
note, or just didn't hear it, or I might have had a bad day. When I do go 
back, (which is very seldom, but it does happen), I did miss a note, or a 
note slipped slightly, and the customer has a good ear. Most of the time, 
however, I don't hear anything, and neither does the customer. I then wonder 
if the customer just wanted me back for a visit, or because they want to get 
their money worth. (I usually take about 45 minutes for a tuning, and some 
customers think I should stay for an hour. So they call me back to get their 
hours worth of "service" from me. I guess that is why they call me back). 

Willem