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Yes, and John Tuttle (at above link) is trying to purchase the contents of the building! I sure hope John is successful!! RPD

According to a few things I read a week or two ago, the new owner (not J. Tuttle) is planning to re-open PPCo.

Regarding tuning players - I almost always remove the air motor. Several linkages and hoses need to be disconnected as well. If you are not experienced and comfortable doing this, you could either be lucky, or not. If not, then you have stepped into a big pile of doggy doo that you have created.

I don't think it is fair to charge clients for a learning experience. I sure would not appreciate it myself as a consumer. It is definitely very unprofessional.

Speaking as a tech, and also as a consumer of all kinds of services, it is sometimes better for all parties involved to recommend someone else (who is perhaps better suited, qualified, specialized etc) to the client.

I agree. I'm not sure if you were referring to my post, but to clarify my comment about adding $20, I'm basically saying that its extra work, and can be worth more money. I actually charge more if the player is cumbersom...but sometimes its a breeze and we just charge our normal fee. Either way, its all about creating understanding with the customer..

Good luck with your player adventure! RPD

Well,I had nothing to worry about,because when I got there,the customer said she didn't need me.One of her relatives had tuned her piano since she had set up the appointment with me.She said she would call if anything had changed.I never received a call from her to cancel,and she had said she forgot to call me.

Now this being the first customer to respond to my ad,should I still hit her with a cancellation fee?I think I should.

What I do in instances like these (thankfully, rare!) is I send a note with a bill for my time. I don't pursue collection, but I inform the clients that this bill is on their account and that if they want me in the future they'll need to pay it first. I'm happy to go back, but last minute cancellations require a pow-wow with all parties so it doesn't become an ongoing problem. I've gotten about 1/2 of my bills for my time paid when I do this, and those clients are my treasured friends. The rest can call somebody else.

FWIW...RPD

It could be that the client reconsidered having someone without the required experience work on their piano. I could understand a cold feet syndrome here.



"Hit her with a fee"???
I don't think you should "hit" anybody with anything. This is an unfortunate choice of words for a public forum such as this. It sheds a bad light on all of us.

I think that you as a self professed piano tuning student can be glad that you didn't end up opening a potentially huge can of worms for yourself and the piano owner. Go out and earn some honest money for honest work.

It's probably a good thing in this case that you didn't tune the piano considering what you were getting into.

But, either way you look at this, it was very rude of the client to not call you allowing you to waste your time driving to her home only to tell you THEN that she didn't need you. If that were me, I would have at least explained to her that it was a very rude thing to do. It didn't cost her anything but, you lost an appointment and it cost you time, money and lost income to drive out there regardless of what she decided to do.

Seeing as how you are new, you should probably eat it. But, looking at it as a seasoned tech, I would have left her a bill.

Jurgen is correct too, she could have gotten cold feet. Regardless, a simple phone call from her to cancel was in order.

After she failed to cancel in a timely manner, she should have at least had the courtesy to offer to pay you for your time and gas expense.

I really respect RPD's approach and Jerry Groot's approach, though I choose to play it differently. I try to cut folks a little slack because the day may come when I need them to cut me a little slack. You never know what twists life can take. But, if someone stands me up repeatedly, I just won't go back. Ultimately, you must use your own best judgment.

This is a decision only you can make.

I am much more relaxed now since the last post,and there is a better choice of words to use."Hit" isn't one of them here.

Being new in the field,I'll likely eat it,and move on.But I won't forget it.I did not call a few days ahead of time,which probably would have saved me a trip.

It doesn't bother me at all that she didn't need me,but the fact that she didn't call to cancel is just discourteuos.

I am relieved that I didn't have to touch any player mechanism.

As a courtesy, I usually call the day before an appointment to confirm the time.