rebuilding deadlines/angry client

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

Hi Ric
  I love to do business on handshake & I have  but it's not good business 
practice.  Yes we must be good for our  word.....& so should our clients 
but......  
     Some contracts are verbal & legally binding but written ones  are much 
more secure. I've said it before but Contracts, Contracts, Contracts  are a 
huge help & protection for both the client & us a  rebuilders. 
     It is a sacred right of law  under the Constitution of the U>S of A. & 
Habeus Corpus I believe to  contract.  As long as it's legal it's A ok.
   People agree to things all the time but  even the most well intentioned 
people get sick or in jams.  I find the  longer I have  a piano  in the shop the 
more potential for client  relations, intentions & expectations and there tax 
refunds/home equity lines  to wander.  Git it in & gitter done & git it out 
is the best  plan.
  Technicially her problems are not yours no  matter your level of compassion 
but because of her frightening life circumstance  the piano is an after 
thought for her & now your stuck. 
  Be kind & compassionate.  Rattling the  saber in front of  a traumatized 
person won't help but politely try to  secure an agreement of payment & a drop 
dead date & go from  there.  Speak with her Husband or next of kin & not her,  
she's too emotional.  Heck one time I had to go thru the interior  des- a 
-crator ..I mean decorator to get it resolved.
  Hope it works
  DAle

 
List,
 
Sept.15th,2005 I took delivery of a 1902 Schirmer  upright from a woman who 
wanted it rebuilt. I had given her an estimate of  total cost of which she paid 
half on the 15th and was to pay the balance when  completed.
 
I had said that I would try and have the piano done by  Christmas 05, but as 
often happens, work schedual did not allow enough time to  do that.
 
I spoke with her just prior to Christmas, and she said  to take as much time 
as I needed. In her defense, she never bugged me about  the piano, and when it 
would be done.
 
I finished it at the end of May , and spoke with  her then to say that the 
work was completed. She needed to have a friend  and her husband work out a time 
to pick it up, and was working a golf  tournament on the weekend of June 2-4. 
She also told me that she had spent the  tax refund that was to go towards 
the balance.That was the last time I  heard from her.
 
I left her a message about two weeks ago asking  when she was comming to get 
the piano and pay the balance. No reply after two  weeks. I called again two 
days ago, and told her I had another job  comming in next week and needed the 
shop space, and would have to move her  piano to a storage unit which would 
cost $150mo. plus $175 to  move. 
 
Bingo!  She left a message today reading me the  riot act , telling me she 
just had a mastectomy, and the  piano wasn't exactly the most important thing on 
her mind. I'm deeply  sympathetic about this serious health crisis, but had 
no way of knowing that  was the case. My messages to her were polite, and 
professional and without the  benifit of a crystal ball. It was understood that 
payment was expected upon  completion.
 
I had intended to use the money from this job to take  my family on a short 
summer vacation, and having already told my 9yr.old ,  felt under the gun.
 
Help!!!! I need some advice on how to procede. Is  there a way to mend this 
situation?
 

 
Thanks,
 
Rick Ucci/Ucci  Piano 



 
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