lessons learned

[Farrell]

"But I think in the future I would consider explaining "a string might fail" BEFORE doing a large pitch raise."

ABSOLUTELY! I do it before ANY pitch raise on any piano. That will go a long way toward explaining why you want to charge them for TWO pitch raises on that rusty 1915 Starr upright that is 100 cents flat!

On a newer piano and/or a small pitch raise, I will still inform them of the risk of string breakage, but then also say that it is unusual for strings to break on a newer piano like theirs - just to put them at ease (even though you have put them on notice!).

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Neuman" <piano@charlesneuman.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2003 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: lessons learned


> Mike Kurta wrote:
> >     Hi Charles:
> >     No, No, No, don't say those statements, don't even think that way.
> > First and foremost, protect yourself by pre-conditioning the customer by
> > educating him or her...
> 
> Thanks Mike,
> 
> That's just the kind of thing I was looking for. Would you recommend
> educating the customer in this way before doing just a tuning? Suppose
> nothing is broken (yet), and you fear that some elbows will break during
> the tuning.
> 
> I have successfully gotten through the "a string failed" speech, and I
> purposely gave a low price to replace it to show that I wasn't making it
> up. But I think in the future I would consider explaining "a string might
> fail" BEFORE doing a large pitch raise. That way, a customer CHOOSES the
> pitch raise, fully knowing all the risks. Then I would feel more
> comfortable charging a more apropriate rate for a string replacement.
> 
> Thanks for the tips. This is really helpful.
> 
> Charles Neuman
> PTG Assoc, Long Island
> 
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