<HTML>In a message dated 4/15/0= 3 9:05:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time, tune4u@earthlink.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px so= lid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">My point: I don= 't get much dealer work and almost no warranty repairs out here, but what li= ttle I've seen and stories I've heard suggest that neither is really worth m= uch to my business. How does that notion fit in with the experience of others? H= ow about you city-slickers? Is it better in a bigger new-piano market?</FONT= > </BLOCKQUOTE> Alan, Dealer "prep" is sorely lacking in the greater SF Bay Area, too.  I= do a fair amount of dealer work, and warranty work once in a while.  H= aving only been self-employed for a little over a year, it will take awhile = until I don't have to do dealer work anymore.  When that time arrives, = I will celebrate.   The thing that gets me is when certain dealers have a floor piano that i= s 20-30% flat/sharp.  "Just tune it," they might say, not understanding= the concept of a pitch raise no matter how many times I explain it or how m= any copies of the PTG Technical Bulletin I give them.  Most of them see= m to be only concerned with getting the pianos out the door, and not with ho= w the pianos function once they are in the home.  And despite efforts b= y the better techs to educate them, they  choose to remain ignorant. &n= bsp; On the other side of the coin, the customers around here price shop to t= he point where the dealers often make a very small profit on many new instru= ments, which leaves few $ for floor prep.  The guy who does the free fo= llow-up in-home-tuning struggles with getting a very flat or sharp piano to = pitch and in tune.  And customers are told by the dealer that the piano= needs to be tuned "maybe once a year," so they don't understand why their n= ew 5,000 dollar upright goes out of tune 3 months after the tuner was there.=  The conflict lies in the tech trying to explain to the customer that = new pianos need frequent service without stepping on sales-peoples' toes. &n= bsp; Like I said, when the time comes that I don't need to work for dealers, = I will celebrate... I've done warranty work for Kawai, and they have been quite timely in th= eir reimbursements.  The customers that I've done the work for have bee= n impressed with how promptly the work has been done.  I've gotten many= recommendations from these customer to their friends, and gotten far more w= ork than the original warranty job out of them.   Dave Stahl </HTML>