A Business Dilemma

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Dear Folks:

I encountered a strange circumstance recently which may or may not have 
bearing on all of our one-on-one dealer relationships, as well as 
chapter/dealer relationships. It involves only myself and no other technician 
as far as I know, yet. 

For years, I have referred people to Fandrich Pianos at the DePaul Music Mart 
(absolutely no business relationship with Del and Barbara Fandrich) both to 
look for pianos and as a place of business for which I had a modicum of 
respect. At one time, actually, I happily agreed to a request by Ed Richards 
for him to use space in our shop to prep a piano for a show at McCormick 
Place; he used space in our shop for about a week for this purpose. At other 
times, I have looked at pianos for clients at their store, and in all cases 
but one, advised the clients that the pianos were satisfactory; so far as I 
know, deals were made. 

Recently, a client called me to look at an Everett console at the Fandrich 
store. I called and spoke with Jim, their sales person, and made an 
appointment several days in advance to go down to the store and examine the 
piano; my client had already been there to see it. The night before I was to 
go down, both my client and I were left messages that the appointment had to 
be cancelled. When I spoke with my client that next day, he told me that he 
had been told that I was not welcome in the Fandrich Piano store because I 
had "blown a deal on a Steinway for them", that, "because he sells pianos", 
he (I) had disrecommended the transaction. When I called the store, I spoke 
to Jim, the sales person who said that he was acting on orders from Ed 
Richards; when pressed about the reason, he was unclear about why, and became 
quite insulting in the process. I had asked for him to ask Ed to call me at 
his first opportunity, but as yet (a week later), I have not heard from him. 

As you may or may not know, I (we--Oksana and I) do not buy or sell pianos. 
All of our business is by contract, although we at one time experimented with 
rebuilding speculatively (not at the time of all of this). When I looked at 
the Steinway at Fandrich for a client, we were not selling anything 
ourselves, and had we been, I would have recused myself from such an 
appraisal as a conflict of interest. I advised the client in that case that 
the piano was good, but at the very highest end of the price range and so 
should be excellent. I never heard again from him or what the results of his 
dealing with Fandrich were. 

I had encouraged my current client (for the Everett) to go ahead and think 
about it seriously since it was a good price fit and a good use-fit for his 
kids (if the piano was any good, as I expected it to be given my prior 
experience with Fandrich). My client had already gone out of his way to go 
down to Fandrich and look at the piano. My client has decided, only on the 
basis of what had happened and through no persuasion from me, not to deal 
with Fandrich and to look elsewhere. 

This situation, although an insult to a customer and disconcerting to me, 
leads me to a few observations of a broader nature, which you may or may not 
be inclined to think about for yourself, or for your chapter. 

1) If techicians cannot neutrally evaluate pianos for clients in a store 
setting, then there is a problem. This neutrality is important on both sides 
of the coin, technician and dealer. We very strongly recommend that buyers 
have us look at pianos prior to purchase because of the complexity of the 
instruments and all of the other factors involved in piano transactions. Is 
Fandrich pianos going to make such exclusions a common practice, or decide 
whom they like and don't like based on whether the technician always 
recommends a transaction. Should we now become wary of being honest?
How should we need to posture ourselves? As the client in this matter said to 
me in an email, "I believe that, as a neutral technician seeking to operate 
in this market, you have a legitimate gripe that should be aired for your 
sake and for the sake of all technicians who want to provide clients with 
honest evaluations of pianos." 

2) If our chapter arranges to have a chapter meeting at Fandrich (or any 
dealer), and Ed Richards (or any dealer) specifically excludes one member of 
the chapter from coming into the store, what position does this put the 
chapter in? 

Just so you know, as well, I sent a copy of this email to Ed at Fandrich last 
week so that he might have a chance to respond one on one and keep this 
personally between us; I had asked that he recant his story of the events and 
apologize for the slander regarding my behavior and for the unprofessional 
manner in which he dealt with my client. He sent back the letter unaccepted 
and unopened. Ed is also a member of the PTG (associate in the Waukegan 
Chapter); while there is obvious recourse to us through the ethics committee 
and the disciplinary code, I and Oksana choose not to take this path. 

I am quite baffled by all of this. I would welcome any comment or 
recommendations on future business dealings from any one of you. I have tried 
to do my business as faithfully as I can, and to make ethical judgments as 
well as I can.

Regards all.

Paul Revenko-Jones