What do you tell... + a true story

[Kent Swafford]

on 3/3/01 11:40 AM, kam544@flash.net at kam544@flash.net wrote:

> I had a
> situation where some tech removed the remains of the worn out leather pad
> under the rod in the sustain pedal system on old cherished Steinway grand,
> and put something new in.  Not a big deal, right?  Simple enough, yes?
> Wrong !!!
> 
> The customer was *distraught* when I arrived.  I was requested to undue
> what the other person did, and to put the remains (that they salvaged from
> the trashcan and saved in an envelope) back in and make it like it was.
> Tall order, my friend, and one that I never adequately was able to fulfill.
> They have never been happy since, and feel the piano, and their playing
> time on it, has been injured for life.
> 
> The lesson I learned here is, don't go doing unnecessary service work,
> however minor, on someone else's property, thinking you're going to be a
> hero and appreciated, until you clear it with the owner/player.  Otherwise,
> it could very well be a huge disservice.

Hi Keith,

I haven't been able to get your post out of my head. I understand completely
the truth of what you say. I do not disagree with you. But... what you are
describing is really a no win situation for the techs of the world, one that
I don't see much of any way to avoid. So...

If we operate under the assumption that every little service procedure that
we undertake must first be approved by the customer, then we will:

1) spend time selling every little service procedure before we undertake it,
thus increasing our costs in terms of the time it takes to provide the
service,

2) run the risk of setting off anxieties in customers who are inclined to be
hand-wringers (Should I let this guy mess with my beloved piano? What do I
do?!),

3) annoy customers who do not wish to know the details, but only want good
performing instruments.

There are certain scenarios that play themselves out over and over again.

I spent 7 hours working on a 1098 last week for a dealer whose customer had
never been happy with the piano. At least three other techs had been out to
service the piano. I was sent out to this 1098 as the expert who would
finally make a difference in this piano, and I took the job only as an
open-ended appointment so that I could work until the work was done. The
customer hovered, had a million questions, which I answered as well as I
could without stopping work to explain things. With sticking keys, bleeding
dampers, poor repetition, bad action regulation, and bad tuning, there was
no time to explain everything, so I just did the work and made a big
improvement in the piano.

The point is that the other techs did not have the credibility to work this
way, and so -- they didn't. The maddening thing is that I am part of this
scenario over and over, more often as the no-credibility early tech than as
the later expert.

OK, back to the leather pad under the damper rod. Did it need replaced or
not? My policy is to _never_ get involved in another tech's service
disagreements. I tell customers to call the original tech and give him a
chance to explain/make things right.

I have little to no sympathy with customers who do not want proper service
for their pianos. When customers engage me to tune their pianos, they have
also engaged me to do at least enough service to complete the tunings to
reasonable standards, assuming that the needed repairs/adjustments are such
that they can be done within the approximate space of a service appointment.
If I run across minor details that I can take care of in a short amount of
time, then I do them. If in a particular scenario, I am an early
no-credibility tech and the customer chooses not to call me again, fine!
Even when the customer calls someone else, then the needed service work got
done and the piano is still improved (as long as you don't come along and
undo the work!) and I am rid of an insecure, anxiety-ridden customer and the
hassle they are likely to provide me, with more time to provide good service
to appreciative customers.

Thanks, I feel better.

Kent Swafford