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<DIV><FONT size=2>I would just go back and check it at no charge when =
you have
an appointment in the area. It happens rarely enough that worrying =
about
how to justify a charge probably isn't worth it. The =
customer will
be glad that you did it and you're probably more likely to get referrals =
from
them. I would take the opportunity to suggest that they might want =
to
consider a more thorough servicing of the instrument at each tuning to =
touch up
the voicing and regulation, perhaps. Sometimes their embarrassment =
over
having you come back for nothing can be used as an opportunity to =
generate more
work by raising their awareness about the kind of servicing a piano =
needs
to be kept at a reasonably high level of performance. Over =
the years
I have had to return for a variety of reasons unrelated to my =
work. Most
recently a buzz that turned out to be a picture frame on the wall
nearby. Of course, if there is another problem that needs =
fixing I
do charge them. If it's a 10 second fix I probably won't, but if I =
have to
spend some time I will. I would probably charge for actual =
time
though and forget my one hour minimum. Often business =
building
requires walking that fine line between being taken advantage of and =
good public
relations work. When in doubt, I opt for good public =
relations. It
will serve you better in the long run than those couple of =
dollars.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>David Love</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </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=PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM
href="mailto:PNHISTIC1@AOL.COM">PNHISTIC1@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> May 25, 2002 5:56 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Return calls/was =
tuning
stability</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>Terry, =
list, <BR><BR>I
recently tuned a 1 year old Kawai RX-2 6' grand in a home that was a
half hour drive from my house. I spent a good amount of =
time on it
because it had gone at least 20-30 cents flat throughout in the year =
since it
had been purchased and tuned. When I was finished, I was quite =
pleased
with the way it sounded. Unfortunately, the gentleman who plays =
the
instrument was not there to check it out at the time. He called =
the
following week to point out that there was little sustain in the =
mid/lower
treble. <BR><BR>I know the dampers were adjusted, and I'd left =
nothing
on the strings to mute them. The hammers were not grooved at =
all.
My take on it is that the player had gotten used to a certain =
sound--
out of tune--so that when the unisons were tuned, the piano =
didn't sound
the same at all. <BR><BR>Anyway, I told him that I'd come out and look =
at the
piano no charge if he could wait until I had another call in his
neighborhood(likely very soon--it's in San Jose, CA, a huge =
metropolitan area
with many pianos). I'd come look at it and correct anything I'd =
caused
or missed for no charge, but if it turned out he'd left a shirt on the =
strings, or that there was no problem, I'd charge him half a tuning =
fee for
the hour in the car. <BR><BR>Sound fair? Any opinions on this?
<BR><BR>Dave Stahl</FONT> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>