This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Jon Page=20 To: pianotech@ptg.org=20 Sent: August 31, 2001 3:55 AM Subject: Re: referall fees; last gasp (reality) .... After all, if you are charging for information; expect to pay for = it. That'll be....$.02, please... Regards, Jon Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------= ----- Ah, now this raises an interesting issue. What about the technician who = calls another for advice or for help with a technical problem he/she = can't solve on their own? I get a number of these calls and, believe me, it is the rare technician = calling for advice who offers to pay for telephone--and sometimes, = shop--time spent helping them work through a problem.=20 Yes, in addition to the more than occasional phone call, I've had = technicians bring jobs they couldn't handle into my shop for what = amounted to a lengthy hands-on training session who didn't seem to = believe any monetary compensation was in order. They, after all, were = doing the actual work.... Once I had a technician--a PTG member, as a matter of fact--call and ask = me to send him a copy of the hand-out for a class I was scheduled to = teach at a regional conference somewhere. The conference was in his own = town, but he wouldn't be attending. There were only three classes he was = interested in and, unfortunately, two of those three were on Friday and = he didn't want to miss a whole day's worth of tunings. So he figured if = the instructors of those classes would send him their class = hand-outs--plus copies of any pictures or illustrations they planned to = use--he could look them over and then call some evening, or perhaps on a = Sunday afternoon, and go over the material in the hand-outs by = phone--that way he'd save the price of registration and he wouldn't have = to take a day off to attend the conference. Oh, and did I have an 800- = number? (I don't know about the others, but he didn't get mine. I was = the first instructor he'd called with this idea and I was some = unenthusiastic about the idea--in fact, I'm afraid my response was a bit = scathing.) I've had factory reps call for advice--in a couple of cases the results = of those calls have actually shown up in production--and not one of them = has ever offered any compensation. (I'll leave it to the reader to = speculate over who gets credit for the ideas involved.) On one occasion = two principles of a piano factory called, taking up nearly 4 hours of my = workday, who were surprised that I would expect to be compensated for my = time. After all, it was just a phone call, right? (No, I haven't been = paid and doubt I ever will. And, no, the company involved is not in = bankruptcy.) For years I allowed myself to be exploited in this way. Now, I'm a bit = more hard-nosed about these things. Though I still can't bring myself to = charge for a quick phone call--I'm so shocked when a calling technician = offers to pay me for my time I've usually not the heart to say yes--the = days are gone when I am willing to spend a half-hour or longer on the = phone with somebody and not expect something in return.=20 Especially when I read about some of you who are expecting a 20% = referral fee on a $10,000 to $20,000 job for what amounts to a phone = call or two. OK, I'll crawl back in my hole now and wait for the phone to ring.... Regards, Del Delwin D Fandrich Piano Designer & Builder Hoquiam, Washington USA E.mail: pianobuilders@olynet.com Web Site: www.pianobuilders.com ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/ec/ac/ff/2d/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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