Diane wrote: ".....One day a young man phoned him and started asking to buy two universal replacement stickers. The phone calls kept coming in for advice on how to do this or that, but for some reason my father did not turn him away as he normally would have done......So the young man took my course for a year........I told him how impressed I was with what he had done. He said in a low voice, 'it's the only thing I have ever done right in my entire life.'..........As for my Dad's former customer, the "hippie", he sent us three students for our piano school, purchased two new pianos from us for his private high school (sight unseen), introduced us to our current landlords, hired us numerous times to work on pianos at two of his schools, was instrumental in a Christmas rental of a grand for Seagate Technology (hard disk manufacturer) where he was the head of manufacturing (and our landlord's boss). .............My Dad's kindness to that young man changed our lives forever." Sounds convincing to me.....Everyone comes out a winner! Someone else wrote: "My policy is to never sell parts to non technicians in order for them to work on their own piano. Why? I am in business to make money, and this takes money away from me..... That does not sit well with me......I had a piano owner cuss me out for not selling the parts and he even said he would bad mouth me to other piano owners." Seems to me this attitude only produces losses for everyone involved. I enjoy the interaction with piano owners who want to take a stab at servicing their piano. This is not a licensed profession. They have ever right to service their own piano. I feel no threat from that they will take money out of my pocket. The professional technician indeed does need to make clear that they are not in the business of providing hours of free consultation. I try and establish that by never bringing the part to them, rather having them pick the part up at my shop during hours that I am there. It's fun to have them spent 15 minutes touring your shop and explaining a few things about how they can install their part, etc. A couple times, after explaining what I am doing to this or that piano, they ask "can you do that to my piano also?" (just a couple months ago a guy whose piano I tune - old Chickering grand - bought several brass wippen flanges from me - after seeing the job I did on the ivories of a rebuild in my shop, he asked me to do his!) These customers end up being impressed with your business, tell their friends, etc. I have little doubt that one can refuse to sell any parts, etc. and maintain a profitable business. There is a big demand for piano technicians. But is this how we want to interact with our community? Have you ever wanted to fix a squeak in your electric dryer and needed a little felt part? I did. Damn thing squeaks louder now. Now I'm trying to decide whether to "fix" it again, or call a pro and pay the $80 to $150 (or more?). I'm glad I had the availability of the $1.50 felt part - and no animosity from the appliance repair place I bought it from (the guy even spent a few minutes telling me how to clean off the old glue, how to position the new piece and then glue it in). I know who I will call in the future for parts OR service. Oh, well. Enough (as I step down from my soapbox). Terry Farrell Piano Tuning & Service Tampa, Florida mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
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