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<DIV><FONT size=3>After reading some of your responses, I thought I would play
devil's advocate for the dealers.. Yes, there are shady, disreputable dealers
out there. I have had the good fortune of working for good dealers that
genuinely want their customers to be happy. There have been times when these
dealers have sold bad used pianos that had problems that they really did not
know about. They are salesmen, not technicians. In every case, they have made
good on repairs after I have brought them to their attention. The key here is to
bring the problems to the attention of the dealers, NOT the customer. I have had
dealers send me 150 miles to service pianos sold at a remote sale because they
live in fear of tuners that just love to point out defects on their new
purchases and at the very least imply that the dealer was trying to cheat them
on the deal. If you KNOW your dealer is treating customers unfairly, then all
bets are off and it would be in your best interest to discontinue your
association with them in order to protect your own reputation. However, if it is
possible that the dealer was not aware of the severity of the piano's condition,
then give them the benefit of the doubt and let THEM know of the problems
first.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Dave Bunch</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=KeyKat88@aol.com href="mailto:KeyKat88@aol.com">KeyKat88@aol.com</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> Monday, April 10, 2006 1:08
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Acrosonic w/ bass bridge
(Ethics) question</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Greetings, </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> A Piano store
that I tune for, sold a guy a dirty, scratcjhed, Baldwin Acrosonic with
2 broken strings, its strings that are so rusty that even I broke
one doing the "free" tuning. Its bass bridge is actually
<EM>preforated</EM> by the bridge pins and its upper 'crust' ready to lay
over splitting. A bridge pin fell out in fact.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> I informed
the guy that there were 2 broken strings on the piano when he
purchased it and showed him the cracking bridge. The brigde is preforated and
cracking on its upper part (the part at the bridge pins) the lower part
is on the apron okay and the apron is on the sound board ok. In other
words no separating at the bottom of bridge or its apron. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The question is I
feel I am put in a rough spot. This guy was sold this pioano for "alittle less
than 1000.00" as he put it. and the store that I tune for sold it to
him! I am so appauled! I would have never let this piano go
out of my shop in this condition let alone ask 1000 for it! I am ready to
call the store and give them my 2 cents, but they get me tunings and this
creates a sticky situation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The guy, on
the other hand is not too, too upset over it. He said he felt that they
should have told him about the two broken strings, bu he was willing to over
look that and that he would <EM>expect</EM> that a 50 year old piano would
have some cracking wood pieces, and that he was willing to put 100 or so
dollars into keeping it going, till he finds out if the piano
will "stick" with the kids and lessons and all. He thought 100 or
so in repairs wasnt that bad in addition to what he paid. I see it
differently. I guess my value systme is different. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> How
bad is a cracked bridge problem? Is this bass bridge something
I can dump CA glue in and keep it going, say, 5-10 more years OR do
bass bridges just <EM><U><STRONG>snap</STRONG></U></EM> and the bass goes
out/kapooey dies? Or should I advise this guy to go back to the
store and get another piano from this dealer? This is a sticky
situation. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Juli</DIV>
<DIV>Reading, PA</DIV>
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