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<DIV><FONT size=2>In this case, whether the piano needed tuning wasn't =
that
subjective. Using a Verituner, the dial didn't move, and the piano =
had a
history of being very stable. If the note is locked with a test =
blow, I
don't see the need to move the pin and put the string out of tune and =
then tune
it again. Some people do. I thought I was being nice. =
Clearly
it was a mistake, as it turned out, though the mistake was in part =
in her
critical thinking and apparent paranoia about being ripped off. =
Since I
reduced my fee for the service call to pretty much only cover the time I =
was
there, the motivation was hardly to get paid for doing nothing, and, =
like
I said, there were a couple of unisons to clean up. Had =
she
thought about it, she might have realized that I would have served my =
own
needs better by sticking around for another 20 minutes and =
gathering up my
full fee. Next time I will. This type of situation is rare =
and the
odds of encountering a similar situation are low so I'm not really =
worried about
it. But I am reminded that trying to do customers favors in =
this
business does seem to have a way of backfiring often. =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>David Love</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=SidewaysWell1713@aol.com
href="mailto:SidewaysWell1713@aol.com">SidewaysWell1713@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> December 27, 2002 7:04 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Complaints (was =
Aural versus
ETD tuning training)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 =
face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF">In a message dated 12/26/02 3:18:40 PM Central =
Standard
Time, <A
=
href="mailto:davidlovepianos@earthlink.net">davidlovepianos@earthlink.n=
et</A>
writes:<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px =
solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
TYPE="CITE">Gee, I wonder what he told her? Go figure. =
No good
deed goes<BR>unpunished. I think next time I'll just find =
something
wrong whether it's<BR>there or =
not.<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>You'll never
know but obviously, whatever you said was not the right thing. I =
run
into this a lot. I do contract tunings for a local dealer. =
His
staff makes calls to customers and schedules tunings. Many of =
these have
humidity control systems and after I've tuned them a few times, they =
get to be
quite stable. I still tune them all through twice completely, =
sometimes
thinking that it will take enough time to make the time I have been =
there seem
reasonable. It ends up meaning better unisons if nothing
more.<BR><BR>Finding a few extra things to improve, servicing the =
humidity
control system fills out the 45 minutes. But one thing I've =
learned
never to say is that the piano didn't really need tuning or that it =
wasn't
very much out of tune. That is always a subjective opinion
anyway.<BR><BR>I often feel the same way when I go to the Dentist =
twice a
year, particularly when they force me to have X-Rays taken. In =
25 years,
not a single X-Ray ever revealed the need for any additional =
work. I
often feel that the Dentist (who is a Steinway owner and also my =
customer of
25 years), doesn't really like to see me because he has never yet done =
a
single thing but look and tell me that everything looks fine. =
Only the
hygienist does a little work and periodically, they take those =
uncomfortable
X-Rays! Do I feel cheated? No. Would I go somewhere =
else
just to find someone who would actually *do* something?
No.<BR><BR>Instead, I enjoy the satisfaction of telling the stable =
piano
customers that, yes, the piano was "due" for tuning but it has done =
very well
under my care. If you let them think they have paid for =
unnecessary
service, they'll dump you!<BR><BR>By the way, your last comment which =
I quoted
is quite important in custmer relations as well, (see President Nolan
Zeringue's recent Journal message) You get called about =
something being
"wrong", you find "nothing", what you do is say, "Well, let me see if =
I can
find the trouble..." and go ahead and find something. There is =
no such
thing as a *perfect* piano. If you say there is nothing wrong =
and leave,
it's the last time you'll ever see that customer or piano.<BR><BR>You =
all know
me and you all know I haven't tuned in ET since mid 1989. Of all =
the
"complaints" I ever get, it's never about *temperament* except way =
back in the
beginning of my use of HT's when I talked too much about them and used =
temperaments which were too strong for general use. When there =
is a
complaint about a piano going out of tune, it is almost always =
legitimate, the
piano has really gone out of tune and I find, explain and do something =
about
the reason for it which generally improves the relationship with the
customer.<BR><BR>Bill Bremmer RPT<BR>Madison, Wisconsin<BR><A
href="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b =
r e m m e r
. c o m =-</A></FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>