At 1:35 PM -0500 12/30/02, Sherry wrote: >Obviously I have not been clear enough about >what is "included" in a tuning call and what should be considered a new >service call request. I have a feeling this lady will have a lot of things >go wrong with this piano since it was not maintained properly for many years >and just keep calling pretty much forever asking me to stop by without >charge for "little things" that are wrong. > >1) Any suggestions for this particular situation. One idea is to do a "give-the-customer-the-benefit-of-the-doubt" service call. That's where you would fix the *one* sticking key at no charge, and do a thorough examination of the the piano's weakness, especially those which which would give her an excuse to call you back next week. Hopefully, *one* sticking key is all she knows about at this point after you've thoroughly sized up the piano (and her), you can tell her that currently the piano works as well if not better than when you first saw it. Tell her the truth about the piano, its age, the clear lack of regular service to the to, those things which are likely to need repair in the near future (more key easing, jack springs, loose action fasteners, etc.) Tell her that she can either take care of these things one at a time, one service call per repair, or she can allow you to deal with them sensibly, ie., spend a day of your time to fix what's broken or about to break. At this point her excuses to call you back have been eliminated, or if they still remain in the piano and ready to act up, you've explained to her 1.) that these repairs are what she has to look forward to, and 2.) how you'll accomplish them ($ and time) when the time comes. >2) How can I delineate what is and what is not included in a regular tuning >appointment (re: repairs, etc) I have a count-down timer on my watch which I set for 90 minutes (starting when my tool bag is open by the piano, and I grab the first case part. My Standard Tuning fee covers 90 minutes of work whether it's done tuning or on other small repairs. (Of course there are some very slow tuning pianos which will drag on through two to maybe three hours, say a piano with high pinblock torque and higher yet string friction.) If the tuning runs beyond 90 minutes so be it. The piano gets tuned for the standard tuning fee. But if things run smoothly I'll be done with the tuning in ~ 60 minutes. The rest of the time gets spent on small repairs and improvements. That said, it's difficult to ignore noisy pedals and sticking keys, even when the 90 minutes has run out. How about small to medium repairs which clearly won't fit into the time remaining after the tuning? These you can spot in the first two minutes, before you even start the tuning. Be prepared to estimate them on the spot, and that will keep them from somehow slipping into the description of what the piano owner gets for a standard tuning. We could be better focused in our suggestions to you if we knew more about your experience and background. Bill Ballard RPT NH Chapter, P.T.G. "Can you check out this middle C?. It "whangs' - (or twangs?) Thanks so much, Ginger" ...........Service Request +++++++++++++++++++++
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