---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Del, Time to develop a policy. I would readily give short answers over the phone if I don't receive too many requests, and if I know the asker pretty well. Precedents have been set. I know Larry Fine has advertised phone consultations for a charge, and that seems fair to me. Regards, Clyde Delwin D Fandrich wrote: > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jon Page > To: pianotech@ptg.org > 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. 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. 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, DelDelwin 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/b5/e3/45/d6/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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