<HTML>In a message dated 9/9/01 12:31:38 PM Central Daylight Time, baldyam@sk.sympatico.ca writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Your customer is putting bread on your table,  you have a moral responsibility to them.   To have a CTE tell you to keep your mouth shut, came as a complete suprise to me.  I strongly disagree with this kind of ethic.   Is this is where PTG proffessional standards are heading?   I hope not.</BLOCKQUOTE> Roger, This has nothing to do with being a CTE. Please don't use that in your arguments. I said what I did as a piano tech (RPT) with 25 years experience, not as a CTE with 15 years giving exams. It is fine that you disagree with me. I don't mind at all. That is what makes this forum interesting. But don't bring other subjects into the arguments. The comment of PTG Ethics is interesting. Our ethics state that we should keep the best interest of the customer in mind. The question is, are we keeping the best interest of the customer in mind when we mention possible problems with their newly purchased instrument, or are we keeping our own best interest in mind, by dazzling our customer with knowledge, knowledge that perhaps the customer doesn't want to know? I think one problem less experienced techs have is trying to impress customers with the amount of knowledge they have. My opinion is that we should keep our knowledge to ourselves until it is asked for. In the case of the possible soundboard problem, or the wild string problem, if the customer hasn't noticed it, then it is not a problem, and we should keep that information to ourselves. Perhaps we can share it with the dealer, or even the manufacturer, that we noticed a problem with wild strings, or a lack of power in the killer octave. But then let it go. It is not our problem.   I<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">t's how you handle the problem that is important.  Not should you handle the problem.  This not a used piano, and it does have a warranty.  The warranty is there to safe guard the customer so initiate the claim.</BLOCKQUOTE> Before we tell the customer of the "possible" warrantee problem, shouldn't we first talk to the dealer and/or manufacturer, before we mention the "possible" problem to the customer who isn't even aware of the problem? The lack of power and wild string issue we are debating is not a hidden problem that could become a major defect later on. The customer has played the instrument and apparently is satisfied with the sound he is getting. So why bring up something he hasn't had a problem with? Now if you discovered a crack in the plate, or loose hammer flange screws, or another problem that could become a bigger problem down the road, that I think we should bring to the customer's attention. But only to the point that the customer should be told to go the dealer. I don't think this is something we as technicians should be doing. We can help, when asked, and we can even offer the dealer to fix the problem. But again, we should not be acting as the customer's agent, and especially not to initiate action. Wim</HTML>