<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2769" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: = Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol= e_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>Carl,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You stole the words right out of my mouth.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave, no way I'd go back for another freebie.  You showed a gestur= e of good faith in offering to retune the piano gratis.  She should be happy= to have you do it for the minimum service charge.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However it resolves, she is definitely someone I'd put a red mark next = to in my database.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave Stahl</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 10/24/2005 8:14:47 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, cmpiano@comcast.net writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><= FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size= =2> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Better yet,  suggest she have her br= other tune it.  He obviously knows what is wrong.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Carl Meyer PTG assoc<BR>Santa Clara, Ca.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-L= EFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>Fr= om:</B> <A title=mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">John Ross</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mailto:pianotech@p= tg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 24, 2005 2:= 41 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: No show</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Hi Dave,</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>That is a hard one.</FONT></STRONG></DIV= > <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Obviously, losing her as a customer woul= d be no big deal, since you said her piano had been neglected. So she might n= ot have had you back for a while anyway.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>The hard part is, that word of mouth is = the best advertisement, and if she spreads the word, it could hurt business.= Especially, if it is a rural area. But that would depend on the goodwill= you have built up in the area, already.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I think you are correct in making a char= ge, as she had already used up the free one, by being a no show.  </FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Maybe call her again, and explain to her= again, that you have already been there, and doesn't she realize that sh= e is to blame for her being a no show, when the job would have been free.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>How about getting her Brother's phone nu= mber, and getting specifics from him, as to what the alleged problem is/was. I= t might not even be a real problem, just his perception.</FONT></STRONG></= DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Don't you just hate those people, with a= little bit of knowledge, just enough to make them dangerous.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV>John M. Ross<BR>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><A title=mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca</A></DIV= > <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER= -LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>= From:</B> <A title=mailto:pdtek@mchsi.com href="mailto:pdtek@mchsi.com">Dave= Bunch</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mailto:pianotech= @ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 24, 2005 = 6:16 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> No show</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>Hello- </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Well, I've seen some venting about difficult customers lately so = I will submit a story here just to double check my policies. I do want t= o be fair.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I tuned a Kimball console last week that had been neglected a few= years. A bit flat, but not much. I finished up, collected the fee and left. The next day she calls me saying that her brother came by and di= dn't like the sound of it. He apparently used to tune a bit, and told her t= hat she should get me back out again. Fortunately over twenty years, these= calls are rare, so I said I would come back and there would be no char= ge, even if it needed retuning.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I schedule a time, drive forty miles round trip, and she stands m= e up. I waited a half hour and left. I could have tuned another piano du= ring that time. When I get home later there is a message on the phone apologizing for missing the appointment. I called her and she said a couple of her day care kids were lost in a corn maze for an hour and a= half, when at this point a kid chimes up in the background "We weren't= lost!" The story sounded fishy but either way, I took a loss on it. I = told her at that point I was still willing to check out her piano and work = on it if needed at no charge, but that I can only make one free trip out there. If she wanted to make another appointment, there would be a min= imum service charge. She went ballistic and said that was a lot of money wh= en the job wasn't done right the first time!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Am I being unreasonable? Lets even assume that whatever is wrong = with the piano is my fault. How many times should I block out a time and ab= sorb the mileage to go there for free?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>OK, I'm done now.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dave Bunch</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></D= IV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>