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<DIV>Terry,</DIV>
<DIV>You've already gotten several good suggestions, but here's an =
additional
thought: Ask that the pianist join you at the piano when you =
reschedule the
appointment. It seems only fair to me that the one doing the complaining =
should
be there for the fix. If the problem turns out to be one that is beyond =
the
scope of your control, at least the pianist will gain an insight to the =
problem
and perhaps be more understanding and less demanding the next time =
something
like this happens. I remember one situation similar to yours where the =
problem
turned out to be a buzz caused by someone taping mikes to the =
soundboard. But of
course, the piano never sounded like that before I tuned it!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Then there was the piano with the pencil on the strings. =
And the
jelly doughnut. The staple on a string. The high notes still ringing on, =
unlike
the ones that have those wood things with the pads on them to shut off =
the
sound. The mis-matched bass strings I pointed out two years ago as =
problem
notes. The woody sound of the very high treble where the hammers are =
worn to a
frazzle. And the list goes on. Very rarely on a return call have I =
actually
found a piano with poorly tuned notes of my doing. Not that I'm such a =
whiz or
anything, it's just that most return calls are for very picayunish =
details not
related to tuning problems per se.</DIV>
<DIV>Lots of luck!</DIV>
<DIV>Joseph Alkana RPT<BR><A
href="mailto:josephspiano@attbi.com">josephspiano@attbi.com</A></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 24, 2002 4:26 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Tuning Gone Bad</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I received a call from a church where I have tuned =
their 1960s
K&C spinet three times since 1999. I just<BR>tuned it three weeks =
ago on
May 2 (most of it was up to pitch, the treble got a second pass). The =
pastor
called me the other day and asked if I could stop by and touch up the =
tuning
because the pianist said the center of the piano went out of =
tune.<BR><BR>I'm
going to go out there Saturday. It is a 40 minute drive from my place. =
I
suspect, unless I see evidence that someone was trying to tune it =
themselves,
that the thing to do is touch it up, smile, and go on my =
way.<BR><BR>This is
the first time I have ever had a call like this. I'm sure others have. =
What is
your normal course of action/policy. Do you tell the customer while on =
the
phone that you will be charging them for the trip, etc.? =
Thanks.<BR><BR>Terry
Farrell<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>