Wow! Drop Action Spinet rust on tuning pins removed with WD40- only 900$

[R Barber]

A new customer bought a piano from a guy in our town who is
apparently cleaning up gunky pianos with a WD40 type rust
remover.   Tuning pins were greasy, it looks as though he
sprayed something on there to help him get the rust off.

Customer informs me its this guy who takes old pianos, "fixes"
them, and sells them back into the used market.  Same guy is
apparently teaching piano lessons in his home also, which is
supposedly chock full of these instruments.

This drop-action I tried tuning had glittery green felt glued
to the top under the lid, and glittery red felt woven into the
bass section strings just below the tuning pins.  I tried
driving the pins in further to no avail.

I felt really bad for the customer, and told her tunings won't
last, and see if she could either get a replacement instrument
or money back from this guy.

Im wondering, even though these things are sold as-is, with
that kind of damage, ain't there a law against selling those,
since they will never hold a tune?  If not, there should be!

Also wondering if thin CA glue would rectify the situation,
or have no effect because of the penetrating oil already down
there?

Thanks-
Richard Barber
Morgan Hill, CA