damage evaluation

[G GRAVINA]

Hi, Patrick.

Why would the customer not demand that the work be re-done properly by a 
competent refinisher?  Shouldn't it be repaired, not devalued?

Jerry Gravina, RPT
Babylon, NY

At 03:18 PM 10/25/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>A new customer called me to appraise and tune their Kawai KG-2E (5' 10", 
>right? 1987). The reason for the appraisal? They recently moved, and while 
>their piano was being craned out an apartment window it slipped, swinging 
>about 4 feet before slamming into the brick exterior of the building.
>Fortunately they had paid the movers for a policy to insure against 
>damages. Unfortunately the  movers/insurance company went with the lower 
>of two bids on the repair work.
>While the workmanship is acceptable in a salvage scenario, it's the 
>movers/insurance company's obligation to compensate for the loss in value 
>between what it had been, and what is now. Or at least that's the 
>customer's, and his lawyer's, viewpoint!
>
>The impact had moved the right cheek out about 3/8" (they appear to have 
>fixed that OK), mangled the corner pretty well, caused some stress 
>fractures on the inside of the cheek, damage to the keyslip, etc. There 
>was a pretty big ding below the keyslip (forgetting my case terminology) 
>around middle C. Below is a shot of the which shows  how the 
>"refinisher"/touchup guy colored the keyslip with a heavy red tone to 
>disguise his work, and the poor match of finish on the front of the cheek. 
>I'm not a whiz at closeups with my digital camera so I don't have better shots.
>Any thoughts on how much a 15 year old "very very good" condition Kawai 
>KG-2E (gloss walnut) is worth, and  how much it's worth when there's 
>several areas like this that  shout "I've been repaired by a "so-so" (not 
>expert) touchup guy."
>(OK this what I *think* but tell me if I'm off base -- similar size new 
>Kawai lists for $25K, heavily discounted to $18. If it hadn't been damaged 
>-- $10 to $11K. "Touchup guy" was paid ~ $1800 ((losing bid was $3500)). 
>So is it appropriate to say that the piano's been devalued by $1500? Or 
>what figure seems correct to you?).
>Thanks,
>Patrick
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>Roll 34 - 10
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