Paul, It is hard for us to think about charging Mrs. Jones when her piano is dead. But, my appliance repairman charges me a service call when he tells me he can't fix my washer and it would be cheaper to buy a new one. And, doctors still charge when their patient is terminal. Hey, it's tough...I know, because it's hard for me to do it, too. But, I have made it a written policy that my minimum fee to walk in the door is $XX.00. (I wrote that policy to myself so I could strengthen my own resolve. <grin>) I'm comfortable with that. It covers basic costs of doing business. I am short-changing myself if I don't charge for EVERY service call. Having said that, I reserve the option (if I'm in the area anyway, and can stop on my way home to look at a piano), to not charge for a service call. Let's say I open the top lid to Grandma's BOU (big old upright), and see broken hammers and strings, and play down through the bass break to hear the bass bridge is separated. I can simply say something like, "This will cost at least $XXXX.00 to properly repair." If I can say that, and be out the door in 10 minutes or less, I *might* not charge full price, And I might not charge anything. On those occasions where I don't charge anything, I've had people want to give me money anyway. So they are expecting to pay. (Which, I might add, is our expectation when we hire a serviceman.) And I've also found that once I'm ready to go, people sometimes get full of questions. If I have to stay there 10 minutes telling them what's a good brand, or a good dealer, I've just ended up losing my time and getting paid zilch. Not so good, except for customer relations. :-) I do try to ascertain on the phone if the piano is a BOU, because I don't work on them anymore unless they are already in my customer database, or they are a good name piano like Steinway, M & H, etc. (Or if they want a rebuild, which rarely has happened with me.) JF On 8/11/07, PAULREVENKOJONES <paulrevenkojones at aol.com> wrote: > When I have to condemn a piano, I tell the customer about the lives of > pianos, and how this piano has lived it's useful life, but has reached its > end (barring sentimental restoration). I have found in 30+ years that I have > never once charged a client for this information. I just can't do it. I know > it's probably un-business-like, but I can't tell someone that their piano is > dead in one breath and in the next ask for money, even though it's > professional information. > > Paul
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