<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><SPAN class=734535314-23052006><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">My
question for you is why didn't you just tune it at +10. A new piano is always
going to go south so why help it? <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If a piano is between 440 and 444 I just
tune it where it is (after informing the customer). It'll be closer to 440 the
next time I see it and it will be more stable the less the pitch is altered.
Also, it seems to me that a pitch correction downward is harder to do and the
result less stable than bringing a piano up to 440. But that may be just me.
;-)</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
piannaman@aol.com [mailto:piannaman@aol.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> May 23, 2006
7:10 AM<BR><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> What would you do?
Ethical questions.<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana'">
<DIV>
<DIV> Hi All,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yesterday I got a call from a lady whose piano I tuned 2 months
ago. That appointment was the store-paid-for tuning on a nice
new small upright piano. Prior to that appointment, I'd misplaced her on
my schedule and was a no-show...embarassing, something I never do, and we all
hate it when it happens to us.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>She said that the piano was already out of tune after two months--not
surprising given the recent weather changes and the fact that it's a new piano
that was 10c # at the first appointment. We set up an appointment, then
she asked if this was paid for by the dealer. I said no, tunings are not
a warranty problem, pianos go out of tune, yada, yada, yada. She asked
how much. I quoted her my normal price.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>She didn't exactly blow, but she was not a happy camper. I
explained to her that I am an independent tech, and that I couldn't be
responsible for factors beyond my control, such as the newness of the piano
and the change of weather (from cold and wet to warm and dry). In the
end she said, "I'll find someone else!" End of conversation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I thought about it, and tried to see it from her perspective. I
called her back and offered her a discounted rate--trying to placate her and
smooth things over. NO go. She still intended to call someone
else. End of conversation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So I'm tuning along on the morning's piano when the fact that I'd missed
our first appointment slapped me in the face. While not responsible for
the aforementioned factors, I WAS responsible for wasting a couple of hours of
her day on a prior occasion. I called back and left her a
message to the effect that I would be happy to come and make up the time that
I'd cost her that day. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't expect a call back from her--ever. The bridge is burned,
whatever trust there was is gone. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What would you have done when faced with a phone call like the first
one? Stuck to your guns for the full price, offered a discount, or come
back for free?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>IN the end, I'm somewhere between feeling better because I did everything
I could to remedy things, and feeling like I caved in a big way.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks in advance for any input</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Dave Stahl<BR><BR><BR>Dave Stahl Piano
Service<BR>650-224-3560<BR>dstahlpiano@sbcglobal.net<BR>http://dstahlpiano.net/<BR><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>