Piano Fiasco/univ sales digress (beware of long lecture)

[Farrell]

".......and the piano inventory was no different than the dealer's showroom
floor."

I can only speak for the local University sale I have experienced, but the
answer to the above is because the pianos you saw at the sale WERE the same
pianos that were on the dealer's showroom floor the week before the sale
(the local S&S dealer). I saw no pianos from the university at the sale (I
presume there were one or two shoved off in the corner somewhere). The same
beat-up Kawai studios were in the same practice rooms after the sale. The
same moldy Steinway grands were in the same other rooms after the sale. The
only thing I noticed that was "university" about this sale was that it was
held at the university.

"We piano technicians hear from college piano sale customers who leave these
events feeling duped."

The university sale I went to was the year before I had ever seen the inside
of a piano. I bought a piano at that sale. I got DUPED. Big time. That may
go a long way in explaining why I might be a bit sensitive to a client that
appears to have been duped by a piano salesperson.

I can smell the smoke coming from my ears again, so I will go away now.

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bdshull@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2001 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: Piano Fiasco/univ sales digress (beware of long lecture)


> Jim, list:
>
> <<  this goes on at all too many
>  of these Armory/University type sales and is not a unique event.....would
>  that we could do something to keep this from happening
but.................
> >>
>
> But...and that is probably as far as we will be able to take it, but
> FWIW....(Ron saw this coming and tried to divert me...)  My position on
this
> is that we can begin (or continue) to work away at the universities' piano
> service programs and inventory condition, without forgetting the reason
for
> the development of these sales.  Piano techs - including contract college
> techs - are in a position to persistently and systematically work to
educate
> the music department heads as to what their best options are.  All schools
> should be aware of the PTG CAUT "Guidelines for Effective Institutional
> Maintenance" (with revisions incorporating lease pianos to be approved in
> Chicago in 2002) and how their programs come out in the analysis - they
need
> to know there are standards, and how they meet the standards as these
> standards apply to the music department's own goals.  That means the one
way
> or another we need to crunch the workload formula numbers for each of our
> colleges and be fully conversant with their situations.  Mac and PC
> downloadable versions of both the current and proposed (new) workload
> formulas in spreadsheet form are obtained at
>
> http://www.mursuky.edu/caut.php/guidlines_pg.htm
>
> I speculate there is a correlation between the condition of college piano
> inventories and future/long-term piano sales.  For the short haul the
piano
> sales rake in the bucks, but for the long haul students regularly play
badly
> out-of-tune pianos which do not begin to represent good tone and pitch -
this
> may not help long term piano sales.  College pianos generally should
> reinforce the inspiration and artistic discovery which attracted the music
> student.  That is good music education AND good long term retail strategy.
> Lease pianos receiving 2 or 3 tunings in the year cannot begin to
accomplish
> this.
>
> If the retail trade would commit to supporting additional tuning work on
the
> new lease pianos (I know of one dealer who did this), the new pianos could
> have 6-8 tunings in the year they sit in practice rooms, studios and
> classrooms.  Unfortunately this is not likely.  How many schools tune
their
> lease pianos 4 times in the first 3 months?  That is what they usually
need,
> regardless of use.  And a dealer tuning subsidy would just result in the
> school re-allocating the budget, probably.
>
> That does not address the problem of the 'aura' which a university sale
has,
> that contributes to that special feeling of betrayal which affects many
> would-be buyers.  We piano technicians hear from college piano sale
customers
> who leave these events feeling duped.  The letters they received from the
> department heads convinced them that this sale was different, and they
found
> out it was worse - they had only a few hours to make up their minds, if
that
> - and the piano inventory was no different than the dealer's showroom
floor.
> Not all leave this way, but mostly because they knew better to begin with.
> And some actually do leave having purchased the piano of their dreams, in
an
> epiphany.  (Of course, the responsibility is still on the consumer to do
> their homework - it is their decision.)
>
> With this in mind, consider that without active efforts on our part to
raise
> the bar in college piano service, the next step is for the dealer to
"become"
> piano service at the college.  It's beginning to happen.  Why not?  The
> dealer supplies half the pianos in the university's inventory, has a fleet
ot
> top-flight technicians ready to work (right?) and can promise more bang
for
> the buck - more and cheaper tunings (which is all the school needs if all
it
> has are lease pianos!).  Obviously the lay person wouldn't know the
> difference - who does the lay person call to get piano service?  The local
> retail affiliate of a major piano brand - the dealer.  And the dealer may
be
> more adept at perceiving the business needs of the school, and talking the
> language of the financial analyst - or at least appearing to.  [The
> administrator might be more comfortable playing golf with the dealer too,
> especially when a few perks come along - not in the more obvious, and
> possibly more questionable ways, but in the form of opportunity to make
> private purchases at or below cost (and we can argue this up and down, but
it
> happens and will continue to happen;  it ranges from being innocuous to
> mildly illegal, if the school is not private).]
>
> We all depend on the work of the retail trade to provide our income  -
that
> is obviously how the pianos get sold.  But it wouldn't threaten our
> livelihoods if all of us who do any kind of college work (most of us are
on
> part-time contract, not employed) get up to speed on institutional piano
> service standards and begin to get the word out.
>
> Maybe the lease piano sale has saved the piano from obsoletion.  Maybe we
> need to swallow our moral pride (gulp) and thank the college sales folks
for
> keeping the piano alive and our jobs intact - and just go on tuning, doing
> our part to satisfy the retail customers from these special events.  But
if
> upgrading the quality of service and inventory contributes to increased
sales
> in the long haul we all will have gained.
>
> Bill Shull, RPT
> CAUT Contract Committee Co-Chair