Paul, It s is quite often risky to get between the buyer and seller. I have a few horror stories, which would make you feel better. Evaluating a piano in someones store, is a bit like a mine field. There was an explision, and you don't know what you did to cause it. I don't think you should be surprised, or necessarily ticked off at the dealer...they lost a sale, and even though you may not have been responsible for killing the deal, you are held responsible for not making the deal. It is not fair. They are getting a bit of "bad press", from their unprofessional behavior, thanks to your spreading the word. Dan on 10/4/01 8:01 PM, Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM at Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM wrote: > 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
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