Steinways / David Andersen

[David Love]

I'm not sure what you hope to achieve.  Each dealer is independent and
handles things differently.  Some are very good some not so.  My experience
with the local dealer is quite positive.  In a recent situation they have
jumped through hoops to resolve problems that they easily could have
dismissed as within normal manufacturing.  A Model B that was purchased by
my customer had problems with sloppy pinning (though they met the
manufacturers stated guidelines of between .1 and 4 grams of resistance).
The dealer paid to have the flanges repined.  At my urging, the dealer has
strongly advocated for the replacement of a set of noisy backchecks even
though the manufacturer at first was eager to consider it "normal" and the
new set is now being sent out for replacement.  The piano was otherwise
prepped quite well out of the store.  

I fully expect that the experiences with dealers around the country will
vary, some like the local dealer here going the extra mile to satisfy the
customer and undoubtedly some not.  It is my experience that most people who
buy the pianos don't have complaints.  That's not necessarily because there
may not be things they could complain about, but because their own demands
for the piano are not high enough to pick up these more subtle problems and
many technicians don't want to get involved in battles to get things
repaired that fall into the grey area and that people aren't really
complaining about.  Since the bulk of the purchase experiences probably fall
into that area, the dealer/manufacturer perception may be that there is not
really a problem.  Putting together a "task force" of technicians (who would
choose them, who would pay them, why would they want to do it?) to oversee
or monitor manufacturer/dealer relationships seems...well, ridiculous to be
completely honest.  

The dealers do provide customer satisfaction surveys.  The overall
impression of those can be misleading, however, because they are given to
people who felt good enough about the instrument to buy it in the first
place.  The more useful information in terms of quality control might come
from those who opted not to buy a Steinway.  If they could survey those
people they might find the myriad of problems listed that we are talking
about, but that, of course, is harder information to come by.  Steinway
might be well served by an online survey for technicians who work on their
instruments where reports of problems can go directly to quality control--it
could even be anonymous.  Whether they are interested in that, I don't know,
but information never hurts in my view.  

As a technician there is also the problem that if the customer is thrilled
with the piano should I take it upon myself to destroy the experience of the
customer's very expensive purchase by pointing out every little thing that I
consider to be a problem even if the customer is not complaining about it?
And, if so, which ones should that be and which ones should I let go?  While
it may be that some technicians who work for the dealers don't pick up on
these problems, for many of them, it may be their bread and butter and most,
I would guess, are not willing to put their positions with the dealer at
risk in order for the opportunity to ride in on a white horse and be the
hero.  Quite honestly, in such cases, the benefits do not outweigh the
risks.   




David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of RicB
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 3:06 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Steinways / David Andersen



Now... back to the Dealership thing... I believe thats what we should be 
talking about here... because I believe there is an area we can affect 
change. 

Cheers
RicB