visit to Biasco

[Bill Ballard]

At 7:06 PM -0400 8/8/03, Tvak@aol.com wrote:
>Thanks to all for the advice...  To briefly recap, I was hired to 
>examine a Yamaha U1 which my client purchased from Biasco Piano.  He 
>wanted me to inspect it before he took delivery.  I arrived and was 
>shown to the piano, which had a different serial number than the one 
>sold to my client. (!) So I inquired if there was a mistake, but I 
>was told that this was indeed my client's piano.  When I pointed out 
>to them that it had a different serial number, they told me that 
>they never sell the pianos off the floor.  They take a piano from 
>the warehouse to deliver to the client.

About fifteen years ago, a guy in the town just south of here bought 
himself a Baldwin 6000 Series vertical (52", if my Alzheimers isn't 
too bad), through a large Baldwin dealer's "Tanglewood Sale". He 
loved the one he played in the showroom, but the one they delivered 
from the warehouse sounded only marginally better than a Baldwin 
Hamilton 245 (45"). No matter how many tuners he called on on it.

>Unanswered questions:  If they don't sell the pianos off the floor, 
>where did the piano my client bought go?  And if they don't sell the 
>pianos off the floor, then are they intending to deliver yet a 
>different piano to my client?  Am I inpsecting a random U1?

Maybe they don't sell pianos off the floor to your customer, but do 
to other customers. BTW, where did the SN on the bill of sale come 
from? Is it say, the number which your customer personally copied off 
the piano he saw and thought he was buying. In that case, when they 
roll out the piano with that SN (if they still have it....), it'll be 
the one he picked out. But maybe not, especially if he doesn't know 
the SN of the one he picked out. There could be three pianos here: 
the one he picked out, the one with the SN on the bill of sale, and 
the one they rolled out for you to inspect. What a shell game.

The game was over when your client signed a sales contract specifying 
that particular SN. Unless there was some provision in that bill of 
sale for exchanging a defective or unsatisfactory piano, there was no 
reason (relating to the client's deal with the store) for you to look 
at the piano. All you could tell him was its condition before they 
moved it to his house. Without an exchange clause, the piano 
specified in the sales contract was already irreversibly his, for 
better or worse.

>Interesting sales ploy:  Yamaha U1 advertised for $1695 in the 
>newspaper.  Sign on piano: "To qualify for this price, you must 
>purchase bench."  Cost of bench: $325. (no frills standard bench) 
>My client tells me he also paid $175 documentation fee.  So you can 
>add $500 to that advertised price.  ($2195 for a U1, still not a bad 
>price.)

"Glengary Glen Ross" is a great movie to rent if you want to sell 
salesmen at work.

Mr. Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"So come on down, for the best in fidelity"
     ...........AM radio spot for the local Radio Shack store.
(Thank you, I'll take a space between the last two words.)
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