31/01/2024
*Edit: adding photos of the unsatisfactory report in question just to underline the effort we go to for all clients!*
This may be a long post - apologies in advance!
Our pride in our reputation for high standards at W Y Piano Tuning & Restoration is shared by the ever-growing list of homes, concert venues, educational establishments and recording studios who rely on us for advice and maintenance. Importantly, the vast majority of our clients are lovely and we very much appreciate you all! ❤️
Thankfully people like today's absolute gem are incredibly rare...
A little story for you: we visited back in September 2023 to report on a grand piano for this client. They were made aware that there is a charge for this service and chose to book a visit, followed by a written report. (The fee, incidentally, is refundable against any work we do in the workshop on that piano!) We were asked for a report on potential restoration work needed, NOT for advice on selling, so the report focused on work that was required, as it needed a lot doing. The report was duly sent, in writing, and was as detailed as possible. (We couldn't ascertain every detail because the inside was particularly dirty - see photo of the exact piano!) If anyone's interested to see the kind of report we provided, I will post an anonymised version in the comments tomorrow.
Before Christmas, we noticed that our report had been copied and pasted in a FB ad to try to sell this piano. (Of course, if someone is paying for a written report it's their information to use, so this was no issue, but we were asked for information on restoration so gave exactly that.)
Fast forward to today: after several attempts at contact over the past few months, this lady still hadn't actually paid her invoice. I finally managed to get her on the phone this afternoon and was informed that she didn't want to pay. Why? Apparently our chap "didn't bother pulling it all apart" and therefore "didn't give the best advice". Did she tell us this at any stage and let us know that our comprehensive written report was unsatisfactory? No. We gave full information on what needed to be done on this piano and made no recommendation on sale prices as we weren't asked for that.
It seems that when the piano failed to sell for £2000 (no surprise given how much needed doing), that was considered the fault of our report! She then called a tuner out who did not charge to visit, "pulled it all apart" and "took a real interest" - and allegedly gave her lots of information that we didn't - but, crucially, didn't want to buy it either! The summary was that the piano was eventually left behind when they moved house, and she had no intention of paying.
Obviously by this point this person had used quite a few hours of our time, from the initial visit to writing the report and then chasing the invoice. She agreed to a chargeable service when she booked and if she was unhappy for any reason with our report, she could have got in touch at any time in the past 6 months, told us that actually she wanted different information as she wanted to just sell it, and we would gladly have clarified anything she felt was missing. We can only advise on what we are asked for - there is no benefit to writing thousands of words of unrequested specialist knowledge if that isn't what is asked for.
The final straw was when she said that perhaps it would have sold if our exceptionally dedicated and knowledgeable colleague had given "better information". I have since cancelled the invoice and hope that she enjoyed defrauding a small family business. Incidentally, we have our suspicions as to who she might have got to come round free and "show a real interest" in a piano that was in a shocking state in a room full of black mould, despite not actually wanting the piano themselves. If it's the person we believe, they are no longer around.
Our experts cover a huge area and we have almost 1000 individual customers now on our tuning round, the vast majority of whom are repeat clients. We are more than happy not to provide any further services to this person! Please, if you feel that your piano is *that* special, maybe 1) don't let it get that filthy in those conditions, 2) don't try to get £2000 for a piano that needs thousands spending on it, and 3) don't leave it behind for your poor buyers to deal with! 😉
