You vs. Them

[Tvak@aol.com]

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List

Second visit to a client's house yesterday.   First call was a tuning.    At 
that visit she complained about my fee, claiming that I tuned her neighbor's 
piano for $20 less.   This was simply not true.   She reluctantly paid it, only 
after arguing with me for a good 2 or 3 minutes.   I wouldn't back down.   
(My fee is not even on the high end of techs here in Chicago.)

Why did I agree to come back and do repairs for her?

Upon handing her the bill she claimed I told her it would take me only 30 
minutes to do the following:   
     replace a broken treble string
     replace two broken hammer shanks with new ones
     repair/replace two broken key buttons

There is no way I would ever estimate that to take 30 minutes.   Maybe one of 
you guys could do that in 30 minutes, but not me.   It actually took me 90 
minutes, mostly due to it taking me forever to cut down a new key button to fit 
a dogleg key.   I felt that it should have taken me less time to do this, (any 
tips on this procedure would be welcome: I used a little saw, then filed it 
and it came out nicely, but there has to be a better way...) so I only charged 
her for 60 minutes plus parts, which is what I believe I quoted her on my 
estimate.

She wasn't satisfied until I charged her only for the 30 minutes plus parts.  
 I simply refused to argue with her beyond the first 2 or 3 minutes, and I 
caved.   I have to point out that my labor rate is lower than any other tech I 
know.   So the bill was LOW to begin with.

Now I should probably just let this go and move on, but I am about to mail 
her a letter in which I advise her to find another technician to work on her 
piano in the future.

When it comes down to you vs. them, how do you deal with that?    Perhaps in 
her country of origin it is appropriate behavior to haggle over things such as 
this.    I found it offensive.   I just wanted to get out of the house and be 
done with her.

Luckily the day ended on a nicer note.   Another repair, another house.   
This time I handed her the bill and she said, "Oh, no, that's not enough!" and 
gave me an extra $10.

Tom Sivak
Chicago 

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