<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" = http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content="MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com" title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>Farrell</A> <B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org" = title=pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, August 05, 2001 6:27 AM</DIV> <DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: Under an </DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>. I wish we could charge strictly by the hour.</DIV> <DIV> <FONT face=Arial size=2>  I came into this thread a = little late Soooooooo</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>  Am I missing something?  = Why don't you, every other business does. Any way a good flat rate is supposed to = encompass prep,drive and work time.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The old upright. The old upright. Geeeeezzz. The old upright. Hmmm. = First you spend 20 minutes trying to talk the owner out of doing anything with = it. After failure at that (although I do not always fail!), you tune three = notes - pound in a tuning pin - tune a few more - now you gotta stop = because you have a jack flange unglued - fix that - bla, bla, bla, - hammers = flying off - bla, bla, bla, - you know the picture here - even though you charge = extra to fix the jack flange and unglued hammer butt leather, and broken = hammer, etc., etc., it still slows you down big time. I find that old uprights = will take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours to tune - plus the repairs.</DIV> <DIV>   </DIV> <DIV>TerryBeen there done that!</DIV> <DIV>  </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>   Time in customers home = plus travel time , multiply by your hourly rate. What's the problem?  = Educating the customer is the problem and that starts on the phone with an = explanation of cost based on time spent. Yes some people will not go for anything but = the Lowest price in town ( so what)but what are they going to get for that ? = The possibly worst most unstable tuning money can buy.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Quality most be sold and then = proven when given the oppurtunity.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> <SPAN id=__#Ath#SignaturePos__></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV>So here I tune pianos in 45 minutes to 2 hours and charge the same = thing (actually I do charge the same for all except $5 more for spinets and = $10 more for old uprights). This is dictated by piano owners expecting one price = for tuning.</DIV> <DIV>   </DIV> <DIV>    Change their expectations.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The point? Just trying to understand how others work some of this = out. Thanks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Terry Farrell</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>     Terry, when a = potential client calls we quote a price range between 90 and 125 shekels of silver = with the explanation of why and also the posibility that the piano could = possibly need other work and that I (or you or somebody) can assess that while = tuning. Mostly this scares off the low end that are only calling for my = every other-decade tune up. Yawnnnnn. These people are the worst clients and = almost a waste of your effort. They tell no one else about you and you spent a = herculean effort for the not enough shekels one price fits all tuning fee to try = to straighten out thir Sorry& and Yuck( I really liked = that)</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hope that helps. Just my two cents worth.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Dale Erwin</FONT></DIV> <DIV>----- </DIV></BODY></HTML>