Service calls

[Farrell]

I'm puzzled at how you can determine over the phone whether a piano is "questionable". A Whitney is more likely than a Wurly, Grand, Jesse French, or any old upright to be "questionable"? IMHO, it's pretty easy to put any piano more than maybe 30 years old into the "questionable" category sight unseen. One could even make a argument that many less than 30-year-old pianos could be labeled "questionable"!

I find that it works well to ask a few questions about the piano over the phone. I ask how long it has been since the piano was last tuned, how old the piano is (they often don't know), how tall the piano is, whether all the keys work (that one often gives it away I've sold elbow replacement jobs over the phone without ever seeing the piano!), and whether they are aware of any other problems with the piano.

I group my daily service calls to one general area of town. So if I have one that falls through, it is usually no big deal. Yes, once or twice a year I'll find myself with two hours of down time on the other side of town - but I find that's really somewhat rare.

If I didn't have to drive out of my way and I only spend a short bit of time to condemn a piano, I have charged as little as $20. However, I can see the argument that I should charge my "standard" service call fee of $50 at all times.

If you get your local heating/cooling technician or refrigerator repair dude out for a repair and they tell you your old unit is toast and that you need a new fridge or AC unit, how many of them will hesitate to charge you a minimum $50 or $75 service call fee? And after you pay the AC guy $75 for the info, s/he will also be happy to leave you with an estimate for a new one! They'll get you coming and going! But then again, you called them and asked for their expertise.

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message ----- 

  Many times I get a call from a new tuning customer with a "questionable" piano. If the piano is old, especially if it's a Whitney, Sojin, Lyric (offshoot of Wurlitzer), or any piano I suspect may be untuneable, I do the following: if the customer lives in an area that I frequent, and most do, I tell them that I'll stop by when I'm in the area, at no charge, to look the piano over in order to see if it's workable. In this way I don't end up setting aside a couple of hours for a job that will never materialize. I guest most technicians have the policy of just making the appointment and charging for a service call if the piano's a bomb. I don't like doing this, because the customer feels badly enough being told that there's no hope for his/her piano. To charge him/her a service call on top of this bad news just adds insult to injury.This is how I feel. Your comments?

  Jesse Gitnik
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