Business Ethics Question - Very Long Post (sorry)

[Delwin D Fandrich]

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Mickey,
 
Were it me, I'd try to have a chat with another musical instrument repair
professional. Real Soon Now. Someone who would better understand the ins and
outs of bassoon repair than we piano technicians. 
 
I've had many folks contact me with their own version of this horror story (only
as it applied to their pianos, of course) over the years. Sometimes it is just a
misunderstanding between the two parties and I've been able to help bridge the
communications gap. Other times the horror stories have been real and I've been
able to explain what has happened to the piano owner. It's a tricky tightrope to
walk but I expect you will be able to find someone who can help you make sense
of it all. 
 
In the meantime you might refrain from sending out another check. At least until
you've had your instrument examined by someone else who is familiar with the
work that should have been done.
 
Del


  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Mickey Kessler
Sent: August 11, 2005 9:16 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Business Ethics Question - Very Long Post (sorry)


I have a somewhat lengthy somewhat off-topic question; I only ask it to this
group because everybody here is some way or other in the music business. I am an
Associate Member who doesn't do much piano work anymore (got a full time gig
teaching college), but I know that the Guild expects a certain level of
professionalism from its members. I've just run into a situation with another
sort of musical instrument repair professional, and I'd like to know if I'm in
the wrong.

 

I'll try to convey the facts as objectively as I can. 

 

After a layoff of over 30 years, I took up the bassoon again last year, playing
in an amateur orchestra. When our season was over I decided to have my bassoon
overhauled by a professional - it had been in a closet for decades; it seemed to
play okay, but I felt it was due for some TLC. I scouted around on the internet,
got a few quotes, and made a decision based on nothing much more than instinct.
The gentleman I chose for the job submitted  in fact the highest quote I got -
maybe I was thinking that that meant quality; I don't know.

 

After some phone tag we finally made contact. I asked him how long of a waiting
list he had, and he assured me he could get to it right away. No problem. A week
or so later I shipped him my bassoon.

 

Three weeks or so went by and I heard nothing from him. I sent him a couple of
emails, which went unanswered, and left a couple of phone messages. I don't
recall the exact sequence of events - maybe he answered one of my emails and
told he was just getting to it, or something like that. At the time I wasn't
worried, just missing all that practice.

 

In any case, we finally spoke, and he was very pleasant, said he was working on
it, that it was "just fine, just fine" and that he'd have it in transit to me
within about a week.

 

After about ten days I tried again to contact him. He didn't return my phone
calls. 

 

Finally I got an email from him in which he asked for my address; he said he'd
lost it. I was by this time (nearly two months had gone by) getting a bit
anxious, but I was glad to hear that the instrument was going to be on its way
back to me soon.

 

About a week later I came home from work and found a FedEx notice on my door. I
was so excited about getting my bassoon back that I blew off a rather important
meeting that night and went instead to the local FedEx depot, where I picked up
the package. When I got it home and opened it up it turned out to be the wrong
bassoon. He had sent me somebody else's.

 

I contacted him right away by phone and email, and the next day got back an
email saying he'd probably put the wrong shipping label on the wrong package and
that I should deduct the cost of shipping it back from my bill. The next day I
shipped it back to him. Remember that by this time, roughly two months had gone
by since I originally shipped him my bassoon. When I didn't hear anything
further from him, I sent him an email (and I think a phone message, too),
advising him that for the summer, I would be in and out of town sporadically, so
it was imperative that he let me know when the package (with my bassoon, this
time) be shipped so I can be sure to be in town to receive it.

 

About a week or so later I came home to find anther FedEx notice. Again, I drove
out to the FedEx depot and picked up the package. When I took it home and opened
it, it was in fact my horn.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the luggage tag I'd put on the case with my
name and address was still there. Then I noticed that the four or five business
cards I'd strewn around inside the case were still there. I couldn't figure out
how he could have misplaced my address.

 

Then I tried to assemble the instrument. He had replaced the corks on the
tenons, so I had to use a good bit of cork grease, but even then it was so hard
to assemble I was afraid I was going to break a key. I finally got it put
together. When I played it, I found that it was okay - nothing extraordinary,
but maybe it wasn't in such bad shape to begin with, so maybe the changes
wouldn't be so startling- except that I couldn't get the low b flat, the lowest
note on the instrument, to speak. I tried whittling my reeds, dropping my
embouchure, the few tricks I knew, and I could get it to speak sometimes. I
could play a chromatic scale down to low b, but when I hit the b flat lever, it
would just seize up.

 

When I tried to disassemble the instrument, I found in nearly impossible. This
time I was really sure I was going to break something. Finally I got it apart
(at one point I thought I would have to use a strap wrench, but brute strength
got me through).

 

Because of time commitments it was another day or so before I could try it
again. I put on more cork grease, had nearly the same trouble, and, using
several different reeds, still could not get the low b flat to speak with any
kind of reliability. Did I mention that before sending it to him the note worked
fine?

 

So I emailed him. I told him about the problem note. I figured I would have to
cope with the tight fit myself; maybe, I thought, the cork needed to be worked
in or something.

 

His response was that when I hit the low b flat key, the low b key probably
eased up just enough to leak slightly. His advice was to glue a tiny sliver of
cork onto the key's spatula.

 

I wrote him back telling him that I found that unacceptable. I compared it to
getting your car back from a mechanic, finding that it stalled at every red
light, and being told to just take a screwdriver and turn a screw on the fuel
injectors half a turn to the right. 

 

In the same email I told him of my problems assembling and disassembling the
instrument, and I said I had to question whether or not he'd actually tested the
thing after doing the work. I also told him, as politely as I could, that his
quote was the highest I had received but that I'd gone with him anyway, more or
less on faith, and that I felt that we needed to work something out.

 

Please understand, I was firm in my email, but I wasn't trying to insult him. I
pointed out the problems and asked for a resolution of some kind.  I expected
that he would respond with anything from further advice on how to fix the
problems, a statement to just give it time and it would work itself out, maybe
an offer to discount the bill at least somewhat, maybe something that implied it
was my fault - anything but what I got.  

 

What I got was an email stating the he "disagreed with everything!" I said, and
if I felt that way I should just keep my money. His wording was stronger, though
not obscene. He was clearly furious - with me.

 

About an hour later he sent another email saying that on second thought he
wanted the cost of one part that he had  installed at my request ($36). Again,
his anger - at me - came through quite clearly.

 

I thought about it over the weekend and decided that I should at least pay him a
reasonable fee for parts and labor. A full set of pads and corks for a bassoon
costs about $50 retail, and I know that a skilled craftsperson can do a complete
repad job in a couple of hours, and I also knew that he had done some other
work, so I sent him a check for $300 - half what he was going to charge me
originally. I figured he'd either take it and that would be the end of the
story, or he would get back to me, say that he'd written in haste and
reconsidered and wanted the whole amount, or he would counter-offer in some way.
Just to protect myself, I wrote on the bill (not on the check) that this was
payment in full: full price less shipping of wrong bassoon and estimated bill to
fix low b flat and adjust tenon corks. I suppose that work wouldn't really cost
$300, but again, I figured that if he wanted,  he could respond in some way that
would leave room to work things out.

 

Instead, a week later, I got an envelope in the mail. It contained my check,
torn to shreds, and a piece of his stationary with the words "F**k you!"
scrawled across it.

 

Did I deserve that? Am I in the wrong? Would there have been a better way for me
to handle the situation?

 

The more I think about it, the more I've convinced myself that I did nothing
wrong, and nothing to deserve that kind of response. I've been in business; I
know that customers frequently have complaints, some reasonable, some not, but
that as a business person I have to deal with them and try to come to a win-win
solution. Again I ask: am I wrong?

 

Should I just chalk it up to one guy's lack of anger management? Would the
stand-up thing be to send him a check for the full amount of his bill? (I mean,
he did do work on the instrument.)  I feel pretty bad about the whole affair,
and at this point it's like a sort of bad karma that takes a whole lot of fun
out of playing has invaded my instrument.

 

Sorry for the length of this, but I've tried to give all pertinent details. You
are all professionals I respect. I'd sure appreciate some thoughts from this
group. 

 

Mickey Kessler


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