<HTML xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-= 1"> <META content="IncrediMail 1.0" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0px 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 5px= 10px 10px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bgColor=#ffffff background="" scroll== yes ORGYPOS="0"> <TABLE id=INCREDIMAINTABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100= %" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD id=INCREDITEXTREGION style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; CURSOR: auto; FONT-F= AMILY: Arial" width="100%"> <DIV>Dear Mickey<</DIV> <DIV>I am sorry to hear about your situation with your bassoon. I am a ba= nd director as well as as piano technician. I have also taken two in= strument repair courses from the president of the instrument repair = technicians guild at Villinova University during the course of two summer= s.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In short, I find it hard to believe that any repair technician would=  treat any client like that. I  realize that bassoons require a= specialized instrument repair technician. I would look for someone = either through another bassoonist or one who does work for a symphon= y orchestra. did this technician have any such credentials.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I would not hesitate to at least threathen to take him to small clai= m court. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sincerely,</DIV> <DIV>Wayne Williams</DIV> <DIV>Schroon Lake, NY 12870</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV id=IncrediOriginalMessage>-------Original Message-------</D= IV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV id=receivestrings> <DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" From: <A href="m= ailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" Date: 08/11/05 12:= 18:55</DIV> <DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" To: <A href="mai= lto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" Subject: Business = Ethics Question - Very Long Post (sorry)</DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> I have a somewhat lengthy somewhat off-topic question; = I only ask it to this group because everybody here is some way or other i= n the music business. I am an Associate Member who doesn’t do much pian= o work anymore (got a full time gig teaching college), but I know that th= e Guild expects a certain level of professionalism from its members. I’= ve just run into a situation with another sort of musical instrument repa= ir professional, and I’d like t= o know if I’m in the wrong. <o:p> </o:p> I’ll try to convey the facts as objectively as I can.= <o:p> </o:p> After a layoff of over 30 years, I took up the bassoon = again last year, playing in an amateur orchestra. When our season was ove= r I decided to have my bassoon overhauled by a professional – it had be= en in a closet for decades; it seemed to play okay, but I felt it was due= for some TLC. I scouted around on the internet, got a few quotes, and ma= de a decision based on nothing much more than instinct. The gentleman I c= hose for the job submitted  </SPAN= >in fact the highest quote I got – maybe I was thinking that that mean<= SPAN class=421060816-11082005>t quality; I don’t know.<= /P> <o:p> </o:p> After some phone tag we finally made contact. I asked h= im how long of a waiting list he had, </= SPAN>and he assured me he could get to it right away. No problem. A week = or so later I shipped him my bassoon. <o:p> </o:p> Three weeks or so went by and I heard nothing from him.= I sent him a couple of emails, which went unanswered, and left a couple = of phone messages. I don’t recall the exact sequence of events – mayb= e he answered one of my emails and told he was just getting to it, or som= ething like that. At the time I wasn’t worried, just missing all that p= ractice. <o:p> </o:p> In any case, we finally spoke, and he was very pleasant= , said he was working on it, that it was “just fine, just fine” and t= hat he’d have it in transit to me within about a week. <o:p> </o:p> After about ten days I tried again to contact him. He d= idn’t return my phone calls.   Finally I got an email from him in which he asked for m= y address; he said he’d lost it. I was by this time (nearly two months = had gone by) getting a bit anxious, but I was glad to hear that the instr= ument was going to be on its way back to me soon. <o:p> </o:p> About a week later I came home from work and found a Fe= dEx notice on my door. I was so excited about getting my bassoon back tha= t I blew off a rather important meeting that night and went instead to th= e local FedEx depot, where I picked up the package. When I got it home an= d opened it up it turned out to be the wrong bassoon. He had sent me some= body else’s. <o:p> </o:p> I contacted him right away by phone and email, and the = next day got back an email saying he’d probably put the wrong shipping = label on the wrong package and that I should deduct the cost of shipping = it back from my bill. The next day I shipped it back to him. Remember that by this time, roughly two = months had gone by since I originally shipped him my bassoon. When I didn= ’t hear anything further from him, I sent him an email (and I think a p= hone message, too), advising him that for the summer, I would be in and o= ut of town sporadically, so it was imperative that he let me know when th= e package (with my bassoon, this time) be shipped so I can be sure to be = in town to receive it. <o:p> </o:p> About a week or so later I came home to find anther Fed= Ex notice. Again, I drove out to the FedEx depot and picked up the packag= e. When I took it home and opened it, it was in fact my horn. <o:p> </o:p> The first thing I noticed was that the luggage tag I’= d put on the case with my name and address was still there. Then I notice= d that the four or five business cards I’d strewn around inside the case were still there. I couldn= ’t figure out how he could </SPAN= >have misplaced my address. <o:p> </o:p> Then I tried to assemble the instrument. He had replace= d the corks on the tenons, so I had to use a good bit of cork grease, but= even then it was so hard to assemble I was afraid I was going to break a= key. I finally got it put together. When I played it, I found that it wa= s okay – nothing extraordinary, but maybe it wasn’t in such bad shape= to begin with, so maybe the changes wouldn’t be so startling- except t= hat I couldn’t get the low b flat, the lowest note on the instrument, t= o speak. I tried whittling my reeds, dropping my embouchure, the few tric= ks I knew, and I could get it to speak sometimes. I could play a chromati= c scale down to low b, but when I hit the b flat lever, it would just sei= ze up. <o:p> </o:p> When I tried to disassemble the instrument, I found in = nearly impossible. This time I was really sure I was going to break somet= hing. Finally I got it apart (at one point I thought I would have to use = a strap wrench, but brute strength got me through). <o:p> </o:p> Because of time commitments it was another day or so be= fore I could try it again. I put on more cork grease, had nearly the same= trouble, and, using several different reeds, still could not get the low= b flat to speak with any kind of reliability. Did I mention that before = sending it to him the note worked fine? <o:p> </o:p> So I emailed him. I told him about the problem note. I = figured I would have to cope with the tight fit myself; maybe, I thought,= the cork needed to be worked in or something. <o:p> </o:p> His response was that when I hit the low b flat key, th= e low b key probably eased up just enough to leak slightly. His advice wa= s to glue a tiny sliver of cork onto the key’s spatula. <o:p> </o:p> I wrote him back telling him that I found that unaccept= able. I compared it to getting your car back from a mechanic, finding tha= t it stalled at every red light, and being told to just take a screwdrive= r and turn a screw on the fuel injectors half a turn to the right. </FONT= > <o:p> </o:p> In the same email I told him of my problems assembling = and disassembling the instrument, and I said I had to question whether or= not he’d actually tested the thing after doing the work. I also told h= im, as politely as I could, that his quote was the highest I had received= but that I’d gone with him anyway, more or less on faith, and that I f= elt that we needed to work something out. <o:p> </o:p> Please understand, I was firm in my email, but I = wasn’t trying to insult him. I pointed out the problems and asked for a= resolution of some kind.  = I expected that he would respond with anything from further advice on how= to fix the problems, a statement to just give it time and it would work = itself out, maybe an offer to discount the bill at least somewhat, maybe = something that implied it was my fault – anything but what I got.  <o:p> </o:p> What I got was an email stating the he “disagreed wit= h everything!” I said, and if I felt that way I should just keep my mon= ey. His wording was stronger, though not obscene. He was clearly furious = – with me. <o:p> </o:p> About an hour later he sent another email saying that o= n second thought he wanted the cost of one part that he had  installed at my request ($36). Again, hi= s anger - at me - came through quite clearly. <o:p> </o:p> I thought about it over the weekend and decided that I = should at least pay him a reasonable fee for parts and labor. A full set = of pads and corks for a bassoon costs about $50 retail, and I know that a= skilled craftsperson can do a complete repad job in a couple of hours, a= nd I also knew that he had done some other work, so I sent him a check fo= r $300 – half what he was going to charge me originally. I figured he’= d either take it and that would be the end of the story, or he would get = back to me, say that he’d written in haste and reconsidered and wanted = the whole amount, or he would counter-offer in some way. Just to protect = myself, I wrote on the bill (not on the check) that this was payment in f= ull: full price less shipping of wrong bassoon and estimated bill to fix = low b flat and adjust tenon corks. I suppose that work wouldn’t really = cost $300, but again, I figured that if he wanted,  he could respond in some way that would leave ro= om to work things out. <o:p> </o:p> Instead, a week later, I got an envelope in the mail. I= t contained my check, torn to shreds, and a piece of his stationary with = the words “F**k you!” scrawled across it. <o:p> </o:p> Did I deserve that? Am I in the wrong? Would there have= been a better way for me to handle the situation? <o:p> </o:p> The more I think about it, the more I’ve convinced my= self that I did nothing wrong, and nothing to deserve that kind of respon= se. I’ve been in business; I know that customers frequently have compla= ints, some reasonable, some not, but that as a business person I have to = deal with them and try to come to a win-win solution. Again I ask: am I wrong? <o:p> </o:p> Should I just chalk it up to one guy’s lack of anger = management? Would the stand-up thing be to send him a check for the full = amount of his bill? (I mean, he did do work on the instrument.)  I feel pretty bad about the whole a= ffair, and at this point it’s like a sort of bad karma that takes a who= le lot of fun out of playing has invaded my instrument. <o:p> </o:p> Sorry for the length of this, but I’ve tried to give = all pertinent details. You are all professionals I respect. I’d sure ap= preciate some thoughts from this group. <o:p> </o:p> Mickey Kessler</DIV> <DIV> </DIV></TD></TR> <TR> <TD id=INCREDIFOOTER width="100%"> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width="100%"></TD> <TD id=INCREDISOUND vAlign=bottom align=middle></TD> <TD id=INCREDIANIM vAlign=bottom align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></T= ABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><A= href="http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=54475"><IMG alt="Add= FUN to your email - CLICK HERE!" hspace=0 src="http://www2.incredima= il.com/contents/stamps/imstp_emo_en.gif" align=baseline border=0></A>= </BODY></HTML>