Pianotech

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

That's pretty darn sorry!

He probably knows it's not worth your time to file a lawsuit against him. Grrrrr…  Deflate all his tires when he's at work?

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

that's a very unpleasant situation Phil.  I don't think anything can be done about it though and if there might be something you can do, it will probably cost you time and aggravation;  too much negative energy.  Sharing his name and address with colleagues is probably the best option.

I had something similar happen some 8 years ago:  This person owned a construction company and had found an old home which he bought in order to gut it and rebuild it.  In it was this very old Hobart M Cable piano (serial no 7043, so very early), and he thought he had struck gold with this antique.  He asked me to inspect the piano on site.  Upon arrival he wasn't there, only some construction workers.  I called him, he told me to contact his wife who was working nearby at a bank.  She then said she would be there in 30 minutes;  could I just start with the inspection? 45 minutes later I was done and still nobody showed up. They said they would send the check but of course never did, most likely because the piano was not worth all the money they thought it would be.

This happened the second year of being in business and it bothered me a lot and I remember spending way too much time on this negative issue.  It will happen to many of us and that's just part of the business.   Out of the roughly 3,500 appointments I have made, it only happened twice.

Peter

I have only had one similar case in my entire career. 

Customer had Steinway grand, never tuned in 30 years. He was used RV salesmen and some sort of "Faith Healer". Proudly proclaimed he played by ear only and only he could play ragtime rhythm correct. He also stopped payment on my check claiming, "You ruined the tone!" 

The first piano store I worked in was Gene Armstrong Pianos. Gene didn't tune but he was very knowledgable about pianos and piano service. He told me I would run into someone sometime who would only like the tone of an out of tune piano. He said you can tell them by how they usually describe their tone preferences as, "I will know it when I find the piano I like but I don't know how to define it". Gene said, "they will reject nicely tuned pianos and only begin to smile when they hear one with lots of wavers in the sound".

So the distribution amongst "pianists" who require an out of tune piano by the evidence here is very low in the general population.

I have only had one similar case in my entire career. 

Customer had Steinway grand, never tuned in 30 years. He was used RV salesmen and some sort of "Faith Healer". Proudly proclaimed he played by ear only and only he could play ragtime rhythm correct. He also stopped payment on my check claiming, "You ruined the tone!" 

The first piano store I worked in was Gene Armstrong Pianos. Gene didn't tune but he was very knowledgable about pianos and piano service. He told me I would run into someone sometime who would only like the tone of an out of tune piano. He said you can tell them by how they usually describe their tone preferences as, "I will know it when I find the piano I like but I don't know how to define it". Gene said, "they will reject nicely tuned pianos and only begin to smile when they hear one with lots of wavers in the sound".

So the distribution amongst "pianists" who require an out of tune piano by the evidence here is very low in the general population.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi Phil

ive run into some doozies myself, and often think about listing them so my fellow technicians and rebuilders can save a lot of heartburn. 

I'm wondering if there would be legal implications to such a list. 

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

After I tuned the piano, the rich lady said she would mail me a check. Two weeks later, she told me the check was in the mail. Two weeks after that, her maid answered the phone and said that the mistress was in Europe. It was obvious that the lady lied and had no intentions of paying this bill. 

I went back to the house. The maid was carrying groceries from her car to the house and I even helped her. I told the maid that I would like to finish off the tuning. She led me right to the piano.

SO . . . I finished off the tuning, alright. I un-tuned the piano, rendering it unplayable. I said goodbye to the maid and she thanked me for coming. 

A week later, the woman called in a rage, screaming, "What did you do to the piano?"

In a quiet tone of voice, I said, "You failed to pay me, so I simply took my tuning back."  

What could she say? She knew what she did.

Fortunately, this was an isolated case. People have been great to me over the years.

Lucille,

This strikes me as dangerous behavior for your reputation, and perhaps for your PTG chapter, if your got-you-back response to a mean customer became associated with the organization.

As businesses go, we have it easy, and most of us have very few bad customer experiences to report. Eye-for-an-eye behavior tends to dig us in deeper, when our best option is to omit ourselves from the situation as quickly and simply as possible.

I hope you never have such a situation again, and that your customers all love your work and pay you well!

Lucille,

except that you went into her home, not invited to do so, so it would be considered trespassing (unlawful entry of her home).

Peter

After I tuned the piano, the rich lady said she would mail me a check. Two weeks later, she told me the check was in the mail. Two weeks after that, her maid answered the phone and said that the mistress was in Europe. It was obvious that the lady lied and had no intentions of paying this bill. 

I went back to the house. The maid was carrying groceries from her car to the house and I even helped her. I told the maid that I would like to finish off the tuning. She led me right to the piano.

SO . . . I finished off the tuning, alright. I un-tuned the piano, rendering it unplayable. I said goodbye to the maid and she thanked me for coming. 

A week later, the woman called in a rage, screaming, "What did you do to the piano?"

In a quiet tone of voice, I said, "You failed to pay me, so I simply took my tuning back."  

What could she say? She knew what she did.

Fortunately, this was an isolated case. People have been great to me over the years.

"In a quiet tone of voice, I said, "You failed to pay me, so I simply took my tuning back."

I know Ed is the voice of reason but I have to admit, I LOVE it Lucille. 

After I tuned the piano, the rich lady said she would mail me a check. Two weeks later, she told me the check was in the mail. Two weeks after that, her maid answered the phone and said that the mistress was in Europe. It was obvious that the lady lied and had no intentions of paying this bill. 

I went back to the house. The maid was carrying groceries from her car to the house and I even helped her. I told the maid that I would like to finish off the tuning. She led me right to the piano.

SO . . . I finished off the tuning, alright. I un-tuned the piano, rendering it unplayable. I said goodbye to the maid and she thanked me for coming. 

A week later, the woman called in a rage, screaming, "What did you do to the piano?"

In a quiet tone of voice, I said, "You failed to pay me, so I simply took my tuning back."  

What could she say? She knew what she did.

Fortunately, this was an isolated case. People have been great to me over the years.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Relax everyone. 

Lucielle did no harm to our chapter. 

She may have done what some of us would not do, but she is her own person. 

We all deal with circumstances in our own way.

Example:

customer: (husband of the woman I set the tuning with, after I did the tuning) "I'm not paying you X. I'm paying you Y and you will accept it" 

Me: "if you are going to steal from me, then do it right. Steal the whole thing. don't be a half assed thief  Be a real thief" 

and I walked out, deleting them from my database. 

We all deal differently  

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Ron,

Thank you for this beautiful story.

Ed

Paul McCloud, not only is the client's hearing a factor, but their mental state, also. My client was musical director of a well-known music group that won awards over the years. One day the group gave her a party and retired her. I didn't question it, but she was very disturbed over it. She bought a new grand, complained to the music store, so they replaced it with a Baldwin Grand, and she complained again. They then replaced it with a Yamaha Grand. When the dealer wouldn't replaced it again, I tried to help her out and spent 4 hours trying to correct what she was hearing. She still wasn't happy so I called Yamaha. They sent a top-notch guy who also spent 4 hrs trying everything he could think of. I went by after that, and saw that while she played an octave, she'd say, "See, the octave sounds like a Major Seventh. Hear it? It was a perfect octave.Then I realized it wasn't the piano, it was her mind, her perception. It was confirmed when she went to call her son and she couldn't remember his name. I gasped. It was never the piano or her physical hearing . Not one of us suspected the real cause of this lady's problem, not the dealer, not the Yamaha Technician, and not me. She was in the early stages of dementia and did not perceive things correctly. THAT's why the music group retired her. They were the first to recognize it.  Today, this very sweet lady doesn't even know who I am.

Paul McCloud, not only is the client's hearing a factor, but their mental state, also. My client was musical director of a well-known music group that won awards over the years. One day the group gave her a party and retired her. I didn't question it, but she was very disturbed over it. She bought a new grand, complained to the music store, so they replaced it with a Baldwin Grand, and she complained again. They then replaced it with a Yamaha Grand. When the dealer wouldn't replaced it again, I tried to help her out and spent 4 hours trying to correct what she was hearing. She still wasn't happy so I called Yamaha. They sent a top-notch guy who also spent 4 hrs trying everything he could think of. I went by after that, and saw that while she played an octave, she'd say, "See, the octave sounds like a Major Seventh. Hear it? It was a perfect octave.Then I realized it wasn't the piano, it was her mind, her perception. It was confirmed when she went to call her son and she couldn't remember his name. I gasped. It was never the piano or her physical hearing . Not one of us suspected the real cause of this lady's problem, not the dealer, not the Yamaha Technician, and not me. She was in the early stages of dementia and did not perceive things correctly. THAT's why the music group retired her. They were the first to recognize it.  Today, this very sweet lady doesn't even know who I am.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

Hi everyone. I hope this never happens to you.

Gentleman called me to tune his Kawai console that hasn't been tuned in many years..his words. Set up the appointment..

I arrive at the home..he's not there, but the wife is. He's working and will not make it to the home before I'm done. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

The next day i get an email from this gentleman telling me the piano sounds worse now than before it was tuned...and he tells me he has a good ear for these things, AND he is putting a stop payment on the check. I respond back saying I'm sorry you're not happy with my work..I want to make it better. Stop payment is not necessary..let's make an appointment SOON to come over and make it right. No reply.

I called his home 2 days later stating the above..let me have a chance to make it right. No reply

2 days later I call his office..something I never do(call a client's business) unless asked to. State the same thing..let's make it right. No reply.

He cancelled the check. So, for whatever his bank charges for a cancelled check, he got a tuning. I called 2 guys locally to find out if they received a call from this gentleman..no they had not heard anything, but will be on the lookout for him.

A first for me in 20 years in the business. Not a pleasant experience. I hope it manages to avoid you.

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-Phil Bondi
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