Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Disappointing post-sales customer service from Bechstein

I understand...but don't we all wish this was not "above and beyond" and just basic customer service - especially from "premium" vendors?

Jonathan

The OP could have asked for dating here and would have already had the request fulfilled.

Why is every one of your posts in this thread a sarcastic dig at the original poster? This is unseemly at best.

I don't see anything wrong with posting his experience. I know businesses hate this sort of thing, sometimes it's a bit unfair to the business, but overall it keeps them honest and helps them improve if they decide to.

Remember the days before the web/Yelp/TripAdvisor, etc...? All the bad meals, bad hotel stays, the occasional ripoff from a local retailer...

And 26 euros to search a database seems a little silly. They should have a $0 for an email response and 26 euros if you want it framed.

From their website, it sounds like they have lots of random people who come across old Bechstein models email them to date their piano and the fee could be reasonable there. Their website says they only do this for pianos 10 years or older. I presume the dealer could tell you the information about new pianos.

In defence of Bechstein, my experience has been entirely the opposite to the OP's.

My 1888 model V grand has an unusual schwander action with an additional padded lever on top of the repetition lever instead of a roller. My enquiry re regulation was answered by the Associate Technical Director/Klavierbaumeister. He also supplied a table linking case numbers to serial numbers which enabled me to date the piano, as a bonus.

There was no charge.

... and this is inaccurate!

No doubt it was much less than satisfying to get the response that came from the mother ship.

However, creating a thread here with the purpose of "warning potential buyers of poor customer service they will receive" as a result of one unfulfilled request about dating a piano, is nothing short of a poorly disguised attempt to retaliate and to discredit a company's reputation. Low stuff.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine, Dara, was musing about another member here. The thread got into a bit of bashing the absent member and the mod team locked it up.
Seems a bit inconsistent to have member bashing locked up but piano manufacturing company bashing allowed.

Ian,
I didn’t see any reason to debate that particular point.

If I had spent tens of thousands of dollars on a piano, I too would have been offended to be nickled and dimed in such a way by the manufacturer. When purchasing a premium product at a premium price point, we expect a level of service that goes beyond what you get when buying a $40 tank of gas and a lotto ticket at Chevron.

--Phil

If I were in the market for a new piano, I doubt that the knowledge that I'd have to pay $ 25 to $ 40 to get precise information about the date and place a model of a particular brand was built would be a major factor in my decision.

That said, I think high-end piano makers could learn from the art world. My wife and I recently purchased a serigraph by an artist which came with a certificate of authenticity, detailing the procedure used and the dates of printing, the number of prints in the edition, and the disposition of the materials used upon completion. While it would be impractical to attach this to a piano, it would be easy to create a computer file of a certificate for each serial no. of piano that could be accessed by the dealer, printed on good quality paper, and given to the customer upon delivery.

Should I contact Matinna Blees with this suggestion?

Wow, lots of thoughts crossed my mind while reading this posting...

Someone above mentioned that German correspondence is direct and to the point and so can seem standoffish. Definitely some cultural differences. I lived in Germany as a kid, and also worked in Switzerland as an adult. When I lived there, there was no such thing as a "free" refill. Americans take them for granted. When you ask for ketchup in the U.S. they hand you a wad of too many packets. In Germany they asked how many you want and charge per packet. What's normal in one place is not always normal in another.

I agree with the point made once or twice above that it takes time to research these queries. I chuckled at the idea that you should then call your technician--doesn't it also take up the technician's time? But that does get close to the gist of the matter: who's responsibility is it? The "head office" in Berlin is doing what it does best (as was also pointed out above): planning the production and sale of their product. And their product isn't a generic widget sold by the millions at Target by kids who don't "know" anything about the merchandise (which then might necessitate a call to some central service desk). It's a high-value, low-volume product, with a specialized distribution network. They have contractual relationships with dealers whose job it is to sell and service them.

Even though your individual purchase may be significant to you, it has almost no impact on the producer. They don't sell to you--they sell in large quantities to entities like the "BechsteinUSA" mentioned above. BechsteinUSA in turn has a distribution network. The producer and distribution centers are not set up for customer service. They're set up to produce and distribute.

This is no different than with automobiles. If you buy a BMW, are you going to write to BMW's corporate headquarters in Germany to ask a question about it? No; you go back to the dealership.

People also establish fees for nuisance work that they don't want to be overwhelmed with. Each time a Bechstein hits Craigslist, does the home office want to get dozens of queries as to what year it was "really" produced? Charge a nominal fee for the answer and problem solved! Also, with the cost of labor in Germany, 26 euros probably only covers about 15 minutes, so it's not like it's a profit center for them.

Retsacnal's post comes closest to explaining the cultural differences; it is the most useful and informative.

It has been interesting reading the posts here. It seems there is a group of "jaded" dealers or professionals who cannot help but jump all over the OP. Then there is a group of consumers who are hoping for "better" service from a "premium piano maker".

What is clearly lacking is a bridge that educates the OP until Retsacnal's post.

For the dealers and pros posting here, what you deal with everyday, 12 hours a day, 356 days a year, is NOT what a consumer deals with once or twice in a lifetime. It takes two to "tango" and if you treat us with some courtesy and respect and explain where we did wrong, most of us will accept and learn. If you simply bash us around because you are the "experts" and we are the "dummies", then it does not help consumer's views of dealers of any product, including fancy expensive piano dealers.

My own personal experience is that 99% of "premium" companies charging "premium" pricing are out to make a buck just like Walmart. All the glitz and marketing are just that, marketing. For us to expect certain "special" treatment is unrealistic. Once the cash changes hands, we are often on our own regardless of what the marketing material claims.

Buyers beware.

+1. That makes complete sense to me too.

From my own perspective:

Outside perhaps Steinway, none of the German dealers are too big to answer questions from the public.

Any.

If companies like Miele, Volkswagen and Bosch have published customer service lines, so should they.

I know that in case of Sauter, Ulrich himself handles things - Grotrian, August Foerster and Steingraeber is also very good.

The last a company should come across is being ABOVE their customers - to me this is plain poor business.

Other may beg to differ and see things differently.

Norbert

Well, Norbert, we've found something on which to agree …

Not a problem.

The other issues just taking more time...

Norbert

Just for the record, I emailed a German company (schaller-electronic.com) about some guitar hardware a couple years ago, and the owner himself replied to my questions. Probably also depends on the company's corporate culture too. My experience is that people in modern and/or smaller companies, tend to be very responsive, especially if the founder is still around and passionate about the business. In other words, it's not just a job. Bigger and older companies tend to be more "old fashioned," and in that context the cultural differences will also be more pronounced.

Assuming Bechstein's non-service in this case is real, and not a groundless figment of the original poster's vindictive imagination, the many examples of great customer service from German companies suggests something to me. One should be very wary of broad cultural generalizations about Germans, or about any other people.

Thanks to everyone who has made interesting and informed comments on this thread.

I emailed the thread to Ms Blees of Bechstein HQ Berlin who then replied, without charging 26 Euros, informing me my piano was built in 2011 and the country of origin is Germany.

This is a good example of the power of the Piano Forum.

@ Ando: The piano is A175.