<HTML>This has been= my experience as well.  But customers see other people lining up to bu= y something, and it's like a feeding frenzy.  Most of the pianos sold a= t this type of sale are freshly uncrated, never even tuned once.  The c= ustomer often pay full pop for services. Dave s. In a message dated 9/20/04 5:23:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time, pianoman@ac= cessus.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">This is common. I tell my clients that by the time you pay for the discounted service yo= u would have been better off to buy form the store , not the university sa= le. James Grebe Piano-Forte Tuning & Repair Artisan of Wood WWW.JamesGrebe.com 1526 Raspberry Lane Arnold, MO 63010 BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE! pianoman@accessus.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "David M. Porritt" <dporritt@mail.smu.edu> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2004 4:16 PM Subject: RE: Customer ethics--no more extras! > A local dealer here just had one of those mega-sales and a friend b= ought a piano there (new).  Rather than get a free tuning, he got a coupon = good for a 50% discount on a ($100) tuning from a particular tuner.  I'm sur= e the tuner is doing it for the 50% so the dealer is paying nothing for the fi= rst tuning.  Is this common?  I'd certainly never heard of this be= fore. > > dave > > > __________________________________________ > David M. Porritt, RPT > Meadows School of the Arts > Southern Methodist University > Dallas, TX 75275 > dporritt@mail.smu.edu > > > ----- Original message ----------------------------------------> > From: CChristus <chchristus@earthlink.net> > To: 'Pianotech' <pianotech@ptg.org> > Received: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 16:58:15 -0400 > Subject: RE: Customer ethics--no more extras! > > >One dealer I know uncrates new pianos upon delivery to purchase= rs, obviously > >not the same piano sold at the store.  This particular bra= nd of piano has > >always been known for its consistency/uniformity in manufacture= , but still > >the piano has seen no "prep" in the field yet.  My guess i= s that, that way > >he can keep the already tuned pianos at the store and just incu= r one > >discounted warranty tuning for that sale. (?) > > >Chuck C. </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>