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How would you service your clients if your driving license has been suspended? Has anybody had similar experience already?

My will be suspended for 3 months as from April 12. I plan to send letters to all my clients telling them to send their work to my factory and that I will attend outside repairs, only in very serious emergencies, provided they help me out with the transport. As for the rest of 3 months I am trying to learn how to commute and deal with tickets and public transport. Wish me strength.

I would have to take a hiatus.

I never read my horoscope. Haven't in nearly a year. I asked the waitress where I stopped for breakfast to read me my horoscope. "I'm a Virgo," I said. My horoscope on Tuesday said I would "have to plan on how to tell the people that depend on me, I wouldn't be able to take care of them, but, no hurry, that I had a couple of weeks." Sounds like I'm going to die or go to jail.
"First the good news, the doctor says they are going to name new disease after me..." Steve Martin
From that point of view, my broken car that Jerry hexed isn't going to cause me to miss any clients, just inconvenience me. My old ranger will get me around, I hope.

Mr G.,

Perhaps that customers with whom you have already a long term business relationship and that are living not all that far off, are willing to pick you up at home and drive you back for e.g. an 'urgent' tuning.

I certainly would be prepared to do so if you were my 'prefered tech'.

Good luck!

schwammerl.

Have you thought of hiring a driver for a few hours? A newer driver, teenager, could make a few dollars and you'd be able to continue seamlessly...RPD

A new driver will not have a commercial license, so neither you nor the driver will be insured. If there is an accident, you could be in serious trouble. Stick to walking, transit, getting rides, and cabs.

Decide what you want to do, and remember that about 10% of your tools will cover 90% of your jobs. This is a chance to organize yourself and decide what is important.

Presuming that your license was suspended as punishment, it is not meant to be easy.

If i may offer some input, i would have to say: DO NOT! tell them that you're licsence is suspended. You may feel as though you need to explain things to them, and to some extent you do owe some customers some sort of explaination if you cannot accomodate their needs. But, from personal experience i say to you, do not tell you're bread and butter of any of you're problems involving the law, some will see it as a shortcoming. You have to do what you have do, be it hire a car service, driver, or {not that i condone it} drive yourself. In any event, you need to handle you're biz. without advertising you're personal life. Good luck.

Hire an intern and pass some of your knowledge on to a willing student.
I would question why you couldn't come to my location as always but can work from yours.
If you told me it was from losing your license to a DUI or something I would probably find a new RPT.

dvs cycles wrote:
I would question why you couldn't come to my location as always but can work from yours.

This is because I am not a tuner/technician but a cabinet maker and piano polisher. In other words, I make piano presentable after tuner/technicians make them playable. I repair on sites, in customer’s homes and/or piano shops. I also own a factory where I repair/rebuild/respray piano parts and/or whole piano that cannot be repaired on site.

My business can be divided in three parts. First, representing 25% of the total workload, are repairs of small damages on site. Second, representing another 25% of the total workload, are repairs in the factory of any damaged removable part of a pianos, such as top lids, fallboards and hollows, top and bottom panes etc. The third, representing the remainder 50% of the total workload, are repairs and/or rebuilds of complete pianos that are delivered to my factory from vendors or private customers.

My factory is 30 min away by car from where I live. There is a railway in that direction but the station is 30 min way on foot to the factory. My wife can take me from home to the station in the mornings and then I have to walk the 30 min on the other end. I guess this is going to help me with my waist line. On the way back from work she will pick me up from the station and drive me home again. That part of the problem being solved leaves the top 25% of the workload – the repairs on site – without any solutions as yet.

This 25% part of the work comes to me from piano shops and their respective customers. The piano shops are the people that I am going to write to that my license has been suspended for only 3 months. I view it as a part of a PR exercise and a little notoriety/flamboyance is not going to damage my otherwise impeccable reputation in the field. On the contrary, it may increase it, as I already hear little verbal giggles on the phone from some dealers that I intimated the story to.

In fact on of the tuner/technicians for one of the local leading pianos vendor also had his license suspended a few months ago but he survived it relatively easily because the shop assistants were driving him around to his appointments. I don’t have the same luxury but just have to put up for the time being – pain or no pain.

Thanks for all of your considered replays so far.

1) BDB may be right. I would check with the local authorities to see what the laws are on hiring a non-professional driver. Additionally, they may have some suggestions on how to get around.
2) If you can't find a way to get to your customers, I wouldn't tell them the details. They don't need to know. If it were me, I would just say something like, "For a very personal reason, I won't be able to service your piano this month." I don't think they will ask for details. They'll get the message. In such a case, I would also suggest an alternate technician. The other tech may send some work your way in return some time. If he asks why you aren't doing the work, tell him the same thing. "It's very personal."
3) It would seem like a good time to do some piano repair work at a local shop that needs some help. You would only need transportation there once and back once each day. Turn it into a blessing.
3) I hexed Keith's car? I doubt it. Keith was probably trying to set the timing with a VeriTuner.

Later,

A visually impaired tuner friend of mine takes a cab, someone in his family drives, the client picks him up. I have had my wife drop me off at a tuning. Nobody seemed to notice. I call her on a cell, she picks me up, and nobody knows anything.

Mr.G,

As far as the giggles you hear over the phone,
Most likley, their not laughing with you, their laughing at you. I've spent dacades messing around with the law, and the one thing i can say for sure now that i'm older is: There is nothing flambouyant about losing you're drivers licsense.
People don't respect you for that, at least nobody over 17. As you act out the parts of what you did, and what the judge said, and how the officer responded, they laugh. But when the time comes to hand them a $6000 invoice, they don't want to take you serious. And why should they? by you're own admission you're a Buffoon. Trust me, save the drivers licsense story for the cocktail party. Tell you're customers you're to swamped to take on more work, or farm it out.

Tell your customers you have a temporary medical condition that prevents you from driving. A white lie, I know, but much better than telling them your suspended!

Hi Mr. G,

This is a good question and I admire your courage for posting it.

In Georgia (USA), if one’s drivers license is suspended for any reason (and you are over 21), you can apply for a termperary driving permit for work and school only. Maybe you can check into that.

I teach at a Technical Collage and have had students who were very bright with a lot of potential and natural talent who were not able to get jobs in the service industry due to their driving record. I always tell my entry level students that if they want to work in the service industry and drive a commercial vehicle/company vehicle, they need to protect their driving record.

Maybe you can talk to a lawyer about helping with the situation, if the cost/benefit is feasible.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Rickster

Hey! I can't agree with encouraging dishonesty here!!! Not even white lies. Lying is lying for whatever reason it matters NONE it is still lying so don't do it...

Honesty is always the best policy. You don't have to tell your customers anything at all but, remember, this, don't do it again!

Blind people are driven around so you can be too. That's all that needs saying. If they question it, so be it. Be truthful. I respect a truthful person regardless of what happened over a liar any day of the week over the same thing. Lie to me and I find out about it, I find another person to work on my products.

Jerry, Keith said I hexed his car too especially after posting my complains on the 514 thread. hehe, sorry Keith! But, it sure did make me feel better!

I guess I need ta make a distinktion between da Jerrys. Noy you don't, Yes you do...

It was JG not JV that sent some sort of Kawai hexed bushing back my way with some sort of slight of mouth. I had no idea which direction it was coming from...

Got it Keith, but I think most know who The Hexster is...hehe

heheheeeeeeeee

Thank you, Jerry! Very similar to what I was going to say.

I would add that under no circumstance should you even think about driving under a suspended license because you "have to do what you have to do." Imagine what happens if you get caught doing so, or worse yet, you cause an accident where someone else is injured, while driving on a suspended license. You can probably kiss your liability insurance goodbye, and at least in the states, might need to plan to spend a little time in the Gray-Bar Hotel.

interesting..

i admire your honesty and wish you luck in those 3 months.

i myself, would tell them i could not drive till such and such a month.. if they press for information, a 'i'd rather not say' should suffice. you are under no obligation to provide details.

FWIW, if I found out my tech (or anyone else who comes inside my house to do work on anything) had his drivers license suspended, it is very unlikely that person would ever be called to my house again. Not that I'm judgmental. I wouldn't hesitate to have other kinds of personal or professional relationships with him. And I would not get on a moral high horse in any way. But I don't risk my children and my family and my home by giving access to people who are not fully in control of their lives.

Not only that, but I would figure anyone dumb enough to actually tell me they lost their license is a bit "off" anyway, which would reinforce my feelings.

Nothing personal. I'm just trying to offer a helpful "outside" perspective here. I agree, there is absolutely nothing "flamboyant" or appealing about losing your license. Quite the contrary.

There are probably more people who lose their licenses for medical reasons than for any other cause.

If you've been given a lemon, why not make lemonade? (figuratively speaking)

These days its becoming popular to go 'green'. By not driving, you are likely reducing your carbon footprint.

If you are ready to stand behind that belief, then that could be what you tell your customers - it would be partly true.

I’m sorry to hear your plight: it happens to the best of us
I realize one or 2 are completely impractical but my ideas are
Get your wife to drive you round: ? may require re-arranging your respective working weeks (eg home visits at week-ends and evenings shop visits on a Saturday or when your wife can take you)
Ask other relatives /friends to help you out
Hire a driver : students on a gap year, retired people, put an ad in the local paper / job centre (?emphasising that you pay cash)
Get one of your colleagues at your factory to deliver and pick you up
Take on an apprentice who drives
Take a taxi
Take public transport
Cycle
Hitch
Tell your clients you are snowed under for the next 3 months and can’t do their work until then (it does sound as if it can wait in most cases)
Give the work to one of your competitors in the hope that they’ll do the same to you
If you’re of a deceitful nature:
tell them you’ll do it in 6 weeks then phone them in 5 weeks and put them off for another 6 weeks (not good for your repeat business).
Tell them you’ve going to Europe for 3 months or make up some other lame excuse
Drive yourself around and hope you don’t end up sewing mail bags for the next 6 months
Alternatively
If you’re not of a deceitful nature tell them that those hidden road side cameras caught you out once too often when you were running late or that you failed to hit point 05 when the booze bus appeared after an evening out (or what ever the truth is) and can’t drive and inform your clients they’ll either have to fetch you, wait 3 months (or less) or take the work elsewhere – my guess is that most people would be sympathetic (it’s not like you can’t do it because you’re in jail for child molestation)
If you cant face ‘fessing up just say you can’t drive (without offering any explanation - maybe you never could) and tell them they’ll have to pick you up if they want you to do the job in the near future.
Good luck

I gotta agree with the people that advise not to mention why you can't make it to on site jobs or lie about why you can't. I wouldn't be telling the suspended license story. I'm assuming it's for drinking and driving. It may not be but that's what people flock to at first and to be honest, if you called me and told me your license had been suspended I'd go ahead a find someone else because I wouldn't feel that I could depend on you in the future. Who knows when you're going to do this again?

As for the walk from the train to the office, get a bicycle.
MULLY

Well, I didn't know that, so thank you for that information. What kind of medical condition would cause one to lose one's license? Would it be a 3 month suspension?

Anyway, with all the silly talk about "flamboyance" etc, I don't think medical condition is the reason here. I'd be happy to be corrected.

Nocturnal epileptic fit, transient ischaemic attack (mini-stroke), heart attack, loss of vision in 1 eye eg retinal detachment surgery, retinal vascular occlusion etc etc transient neurological condition causing weakness of limbs (such as demyelination ie MS) the possabilities are endless, but anyone who refuses to let someone polish their piano because..horror of horrors... THEY HAVE BEEN CAUGHT SPEEDING, is most unlikely to allow some poor cripple wielding a paintbrush anywhere near their Steinway if they are not considered physically fit to safely control a motor car.

I don't think it has as much to do with letting that person around your piano as much as it does with being able to depend on them.
MULLY

Well, very much like Jerry, I just cannot possibly agree with people who advocate dishonesty with a client from a professional point of view. I would hate to hear the “truth” such professional portray to their prospective customers about second hand pianos and the services they provide on that basis.

There is nothing wrong, in my view, to admit that all professional do make mistakes. I am a professional truck driver as well and as such have driven truck in my early years in Australia. When business was tough I jumped in my van and drove as a part time courier to supplement my then emerging piano restoration business. I have many friends from within the taxi industry and know from them that many drive with one or two demerit points on their licenses. Often they get suspended for different length of time as well. For people in these industries the stigma of not having unblemished license has long gone.

For the rest of non-professional drivers local Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) has made life heck on the road by installing a myriad of speeding and red light cameras. These are usually installed near school zones that have their speed changed in different time zones twice a day. All this has increased manifold the revenue of RTA and the local belief is that this a form of recovering for the tens of millions of dollars RTA sustained 1-2 year ago in granting licenses to builder for the failed City Cross Tunnel and soon to fail Lane Cove Tunnel. This not an excuse for disobeying traffic regulations or a apologetics on my behalf but a representation of local reality.

The local driving licenses are granted on the basis of 12 demerit points. Many forms of mistakes can bring cancelation of a point, two, three or what ever. These cancelled points are then regained automatically after three years. I lost all points for not driving with 40km/h but with 50km/h between 8.00am and 9.00am in a school zone. There is no court or any other form of legal process except a letter sent by RTA notifying of future suspension of license.

Rickster was suggesting using what is locally known as Election of Good Behavior. However, there is a catch that because if any future mistake is done with one year then RTA will double the original period of suspension coupled with adding the new penalties. That is why I have elected not to have this form of lottery in my life. I except that I have broken some road regulations and will pay the penalty for it by not driving for three months. However, I am not going to break my personal code of conduct and start lying to my customers about the reasons for not driving. Our social perceptions of others do change and if some have stuck in a loop believing that lies and deception are better than honesty then I cannot help but feel sorry for them.

Since when is alcoholism not a medical condition? (assuming this is a DUI). If it was just speeding, the simple excuse is "got too many tickets and lost my license" (customer noddingly understands. No big deal. But a DUI is a big deal for most customers. Not much understanding there, I'm afraid. So you tell them it's a medical condition, which it is. I don't think I'd send out a letter - that's a good way to lose customers.

I agree that open advertising through letters to my clients may not the best way. After all I, like all of us, do not advertise all our private lives for the purposes of drumming up business. However, when asked why I could not attend an inspection, quotations and or repair job I don’t have to lie about it. Instead, I will openly say that I have been suspended off the road for 3 months.

Professional clients from within the industry must know that they are not individual private customers, but are there for the long run, often for decades in this business. Likewise, I am here for the long run and these 3 months will pass by in no time and whoever may have chosen to snub me off may discover that have made an error in judgment, in their professional practice.

It also seems to me that my views on being flamboyant about it have perplexed some commentators here. These same people, surely, must remember how tattoos were once frowned upon and yet today are on practically everyone’s body on full display. Also underwear were not to be seen as outerwear; trousers were to be well fitted and yet today men and women parade their respective boxer shorts and g-string on, dragging their pants 5 minutes behind them, because this style is not considered “pedestrian” anymore.

And so is with cars and their accessories – our kids, nephews and even nieces, get busted on the roads for loud music and racing the streets and the social stigma has been replaced by being seen by some as some kind of flamboyance.

But, as we say in the piano restoration business – someone’s flamboyance maybe be someone else’s annoyance.

Mr.G,

Good Luck.

In California it would be hard to survive without driving, but I know in the big cities like New York, it is usually preferable to use public transit or taxis. I don't know what your area is like.

I've known more than one blind person who continued to work, using a hired "assistant" who helped by driving, etc. I would think that this cost would be a legitimate business expense.

In Las Vegas, I recall that a technician commutes mostly by bicycle with a trailer!

Best wishes! I wouldn't tell my customers any more than the bare minimum, but even a white lie is a lie, so be truthful. My son had a brief medical condition that made driving impossible, but even that wasn't something he wanted to advertise.

The older I get, the faster time goes... 3 months will go by quickly.