<HTML>List, I've been self-employed nigh on 4 years now.  I have reached a poin= t where I have enough customers where I could get by without doing free tuni= ngs for the couple of stores I still contract for, but I like to keep an inf= lux of new customers and new pianos.   One thing I've learned in doing these free tunings is that no matter how= much "extra" stuff I do, there is absolutely no guarantee that the customer= won't find a "tuner that his friend recommends," or "teacher that tunes on = the side," or other form of tooner whose work I often eventually follow-up. =   And no matter how much we as technicians feel that new pianos should be = prepped at the store, they usually are not.  In trying to be ethical an= d make the piano right for the customer, I have often given extra service--i= .e. key easing, lubrication of knuckles and keypins, some regulation--in add= ition to tuning the thing for the first time. Yesterday I called a customer whose piano had had numerous sticky note p= roblems back in January, at which time I made a special call just to ease ke= ys, lube, and regulate.  I got paid by the store, but I put in far more= work than I was actually paid for in the hopes that the customer would reco= gnize this and keep me as his tuner.   I went back a couple of months later to give him his "free" tuning, but = nobody was home.  The Mrs. called me a couple of weeks later, apologize= d for missing the appointment, and begged me to come and tune the piano, whi= ch I eventually did--though I got nothing for the missed appointment--once a= gain hoping that the extra service would create a client/tuner bond.   Obviously, I had too much faith in first-time client loyalty.  Yest= erday I was told that this customer had found another tuner recommended by a= friend.  It was a bit of a slap in the face, but rejection is part of = the game.  And that rejection drove home a valuable lesson: DON'T GIVE = AWAY ANYTHING on these first appointments.   My vow:  from now on when I do "free tunings," I will give only the= requested service, and I will charge for it accordingly.   End of Whine, Dave Stahl</HTML>