Altenburg/Samick grand action problems

[David Ilvedson]

Mike

You will have to repin the action, otherwise you will be coming back 
time after time to fix a few at a time.  This isn't your problem.  The 
customer saved a lot of $ on an inexpensive instrument and it's 
time to pay the piper.

David I.

On 6 Jan 2003 at 10:24, Mike McCoy wrote:

> 
> Well, I went back out there this weekend because the son had a
> performance coming up and couldn't practice. This time it was 6 very
> slow jacks and the only thing that helped was pulling the pins and
> running a Mannino burnisher through the bushings. The pin plating
> looked fine under a magnifier. Also, almost all of the hammer flanges
> are slow again to the point that I had to do the same with a few of
> the worst offenders, and these had Protek treatments a number of times
> previously, I wasn't about to do all of them until someone agrees to
> pay but I felt better about doing the right thing for the customer. No
> one was home at Samick when I called. Talked to the salesman again and
> he informed me that Samick has nothing to do with it, when Altenburg
> puts their name on it they assume the warranty supposedly. He told me
> that when they send in their "special techs" they sometimes will lay a
> heater bar on the action for a few days then sell and install a
> Dampp-Chaser system and that takes care of the problem.... and I
> thought I was a special Tech! So it was clear to me that I would not
> be called to go back there again and I'm not likely to be paid, that I
> can deal with but I'm concerned about what is really going on with
> this action. Does any of this make sense???
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Mike
>     ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Nichols 
> To: Mike McCoy ; Pianotech 
> Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 9:03 PM
> Subject: Re: Altenburg/Samick Grand action problems
> 
> Mike,
>  There is a temporary deadlock, for sure, but one of the things you
>  need to watch for is the 
> mistaken assumption about who is responsible for the warranty. There
> are as many different "dealer agreements" between suppliers and
> dealers as there are brand names. Maybe more. 
> 
>  Give an estimate, or not, of the cost of repairing defects, and
>  advise the customer to seek 
> satisfaction from the dealer. The customer may need to get legal or
> semi-legal assistance. State attorney general down to local Chamber,
> BBB, or Arbitration board. Don't do any more work without a solid
> assurance of payment.
> 
> Just my 2¢
> 
> Guy Nichols, RPT
> 
> At 04:16 PM 1/3/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>     Hi List,
> 
>     Subject: 3 yr old Otto Altenburg grand made by Samick. Cust has
>     been complaining of "sticking keys" and keys "not bouncing" since
>     new. I am the 3rd tech involved. Previous techs have done the
>     Proteck thing without having found anything specific wrong and
>     have been trying to sell a Dampp-Chaser, so I'm told by the cust
>     and dealer. The player is a 13 yr old boy who plays VERY well. I
>     did find VERY sluggish hammer and extremely sluggish wippen
>     flanges to the point that most had to be re-pinned and a few wip
>     flanges had severe wood binding. Temp was 71deg and humidity was
>     42%. I charged the dealer for the work. Two weeks pass and she
>     called me again stating it is a single key "not bouncing", I asked
>     her to have her son mark the offending key, which he did and it
>     was failing when I arrived. The problem was a severely tight
>     jack/flange.. it was taking 1-3 minutes for the jack to get back
>     under the knuckle, again, pinning was not the issue but a wood
>     binding problem. All was well. I didn't charge anyone this trip.
>     Temp 70deg, humidity 43%. Today she called back again, 3 weeks
>     later, with the same issue, different keys. The dealer made it
>     clear to me last time they would not put any more money into this
>     piano so I told the cust I would be happy to fix the offenders or
>     take the action home but I would have to charge for it this time.
>     She told me it had a lifetime warranty and the dealer would have
>     to pay me.
> 
>     So... as I se it, this is a piano that was not right from day one
>     and the action or the piano should be replaced or at least the
>     dealer needs to pay whatever it takes to make it right but they
>     don't want to do that. Is this a common Samick problem? I know you
>     get what you pay for but she paid for a working piano and it
>     doesn't.
> 
>     Thanks folks!
> 
>     Mike
> 
> 
>     Mike McCoy RPT
>     Chapters 170 & 190 PTG
>     Langhorne, Pa
>     mailto:mjmccoyrpt@earthlink.net
> 
> Mike McCoy RPT
> Chapters 170 & 190 PTG
> Langhorne, Pa
> mailto:mjmccoyrpt@earthlink.net