A Business Dilemma

[Farrell]

Hi Paul. I had an experience this past spring inspecting a new grand at a
local dealer. The long bridge was riddled with cracks at the bridge pins in
the high treble, producing a plethora of prominent false beats. You could
simply gently press a brass rod to the top of individual pins and the note
would completely clear up. The dealer leaned over the piano and proclaimed
"I don't see any cracks, and what you are hearing is the rich, full, Brand X
sound - many technicians only like that simple Yamaha sound because they are
easier to tune - but this piano has a sound more rich and much more complex
than a Yamaha" (each string sounded more like ten trash can lids being
struck at once, rather than a piano string). Well, some of that may well be
true, but this particular piano had BAD false beats. The prospective
purchaser decided against the piano and bought a new M&H instead. I have not
run across the dealer since then (hey, he was likely busy shipping the piano
back to the factory???......or maybe not). We sometimes have our chapter
meetings at that shop. I hope the dude is a bit more level-headed than your
man from Music Mart. The guy insisted that his piano was A-OK, and I held my
ground (believe me, with my little experience, I was totally less than
confident in my own mind). I had to force myself to think totally
analytically, and understand that I had diagnosed the problem correctly. All
we can do is call 'em like we see 'em.

In your case it appears that the only thing you did that the dealer has a
beef with is to be honest with the prospective purchaser about the range of
prices for similar pianos. You may have covered this with your client, but
just in case - I usually explain to the client about prices for pianos
generally being lower in a private sale and higher in a dealer sale. I will
suggest that the private sale is "as-is" and it is clear that you need to be
able to evaluate the piano condition - even if the piano does not have
defects, it may be lacking in routine maintenance. The dealer used piano
"presumably" has been "gone through" and they will offer some sort of
limited guarantee if you press them for it (30 days, whatever). Not that
most dealers do in fact "go through" the piano that I have seen, but that is
part of the justification of the higher price. If the tech can report of the
dealer used piano that it is free of defects and is in good regulation,
etc., such a report may in fact justify a price at the higher end of the
spectrum.

I have only sold one piano. A 15 year old Kimball stencil spinet (excellent
condition case, belly, etc.). I bought it for $200 and sold it for $1,300.
Was the price at the high end of the spectrum? You bet! BUT, I completely
refelted the keybed (mice?) filed hammers, full key level/dip and
regulation, brought up to pitch, and a couple tunings in my shop to
stabilize, and delivered it. I gave the happy new owners two free in-home
tunings, and a one year guarantee to fix anything that goes wrong with it.
Did she get a good deal? I think she did just fine. If I were inspecting
this piano on a dealer's floor at that price, what would I report? I would
tell the client that the piano is priced way at the top of the range, and
she/he could find a similar piano in a private sale for perhaps as little as
$400 (I see 'em all the time). HOPEFULLY, I would also point out that the
private sale piano may need an inspection, pitch raising, tuning, key
leveling, regulation, delivery, etc. I think it boils down to whether or not
the dealer has "gone through" the piano to justify the typically higher
dealer used piano price.

I could go on and on. I'll just pull the plug here. Just a few thoughts.
Hope your situation works out.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: <Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 9:01 PM
Subject: A Business Dilemma


> 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