I let my clients know that a piano begins going out of tune the moment you stop tuning it. James James Grebe Since 1962 Piano Tuning & Repair Creator of Handsome Hardwood Products( 314) 608-4137 1526 Raspberry Lane Arnold, MO 63010 Researcher of St. Louis Theatre History BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE! www.grebepiano.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Geoff Sykes" <thetuner at ivories52.com> To: "Pianotech at Ptg. Org" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 8:48 PM Subject: [pianotech] Satisfied but persistent customer question Greetings all -- I have a customer with a 1982 Kawai KG-C6 grand. She's a musician. She has ears. This piano is a nightmare to tune. Getting the strings to render through the bearing points so that it is stable enough that I even feel comfortable leaving requires far more pounding than I think any piano should endure. Yet she loves the tuning's I put on it. (-sigh-) Unfortunately, since this piano lives in her home studio she is constantly aware of when it is even the slightest bit out of tune. And I get called back. I guess today's question is what qualifies as a no-charge callback? Now for a home piano, should a tuning I do go noticeably out within a week or so I would happily return and put it back in without even a thought of charging for the call. Fortunately this happens extremely rarely. On the other hand, for studio gigs I feel totally justified for charging either full rate or an agreed upon lower amount for frequent routine tunings. But this situation is neither. And she wants me to put it back in tune at no-charge, or at least a reduced rate. I have suggested that due to the difficulty I have with putting this specific piano into what I would consider a stable state that she contact another tuner who may have more experience with Kawai's. Unfortunately she is hesitant to do that because she loves how I leave the piano. When is a piano out of tune? If I were to have to deal with callbacks every time a customer thinks a unison has slipped a teeny tiny amount I would be broke. As piano technicians we understand that pianos simply start to go out of tune beginning from the moment we pack our tools. We simply cannot be expected to be responsible for natural and expected changes in the piano, for whatever reason, that can slightly affect the tuning over very short periods of time. Keeping a piano in tune at this level would be a full time job. I'm looking for suggestions as to how to respond to her latest request for a tweak after only two weeks since my last visit. I've been back there about four times in the last two months due to similar requests. It's not like it's actually gone drastically out of tune. If it were a home piano nobody would notice. If it were a legit studio piano it would be being tuned every couple of days and, again, nobody would notice. How do I tell her that I can't be responsible, at no charge, for the inability of this, or any piano for that matter, to maintain a concert level tuning over even short periods of time? And when I do have to go back, how do I charge her without her feeling ripped off and me going broke? She lives far enough away that even a 50% charge would wind up being a break-even trip for me. One of the hardest things to master in this profession is customer relations. Ya can't keep everyone happy, but you can at least try to not make 'em mad. Looking forward to your comments and suggestions. OH, and Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks to everyone who participates in this invaluable forum. -- Geoff • Geoff Sykes, RPT • 626-799-7545 • www.ivories52.com <http://www.ivories52.com/> No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.200 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1865 - Release Date: 12/26/2008 1:01 PM
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