www.betterpianoservice.com
Calls answered live 8 am - 8 pm Mon - Sat
Business highlights
49 years of trusted experience
Services we offer
Full service, full time tuning, repairing, rebuilding business since 1976. Piano work is all we do - not a side vocation. Fast & courteous service All work guaranteed Certified & trained on all makes of pianos Estimates, Appraisals & Consultation
A friend recommended Steve and told me he charges $90 to tune her piano. When Steve arrived he checked my piano, then came into my office and told me that the tuning would be $90 but it also needed to be "raised to pitch" which is an additional $80. It had been about a year and a half since I last had the piano tuned. Pianos go flat and all have to be "raised to pitch" in tuning so I don't know what his criteria is for making that determination but no other tuner has ever told me that, even when it has been MANY YEARS between tunings. If I had been purchasing something in a store and they told me it was going to be DOUBLE THE PRICE, I would have walked away. He was here and I needed the piano tuned before a rehearsal next week so I had him proceed. I will definitely never use him again.
Description of Work: Tune piano
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
quality
5.0
value
1.0
professionalism
1.0
responsiveness
5.0
punctuality
5.0
$170
Response from BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING
A couple days ago someone called me to have their piano tuned. But then they caught themselves and said they called me by mistake from Angie's List when they were looking at local piano tuners. Then they said they would not use me because of a bad review that I had abused a customer. This greatly shocked me, so I looked at Angie's List and found that there was one such review by Kayla Puckett on 1-23-2015. I wasn't aware of it until this person mentioned it. My business has been off lately and now I wonder if this bad review could be a contributing factor... at least of those people who are picking a piano tuner by Angie's List recommendations. First of all I am disappointed that Angie's List would put up something that would be detrimental to my reputation and business without contacting me and telling me about the bad review. That is not fair; it is not right; it is not professional. I have been in business since 1976 as a piano tuner and you can't run a business that long without a bad reputation catching up with you. I have been honest, fair, professional, and treat people right. However, a bad review that is not warranted on Angie's List does not help. Second, I want to give my side of this. When Kayla Puckett called me, I asked her when she tuned her piano last (as I do with every person who calls me), and because it was longer than 6 months, I mentioned the possibility that it may need pitch raising at more expense but I couldn't tell for sure until I actually measured it. At that point the typical customer will ask any questions they might have. She then made an appointment. When I came, I checked out the piano and measured the pitch level with electronic diagnostic equipment. This is the standard check up I do on all pianos I see. She said to Angie's List, "I don't know what his criteria is for making that determination". She had to know what my criteria for making that determination was because I set the diagnostic machine up right before her eyes, measured the pitch level across the piano keyboard and told her the results! She wasn't blind or deaf! The pitch level was very flat due to her not tuning it regularly. See my "How often should I tune my piano?" at http://www.betterpianoservice.com/how_often.html to understand better why pitch raising could be needed. Please take a brief look at what she or anyone could read before they have me come out. But in case they haven't read it, I always tell them what I find after my diagnostic evaluation, if pitch raising is needed and why, making sure they understand why. At this point they can still say, "I don't want have any of that done." She did not do that. Rather she said do it. I was very up front with her and told her that her piano was very flat in pitch and I could not bring it to pitch without pitch raising it first. As my tuning page explains, ALL pianos that go much beyond six months since the last tune usually need pitch raising because the high string tension causes the strings to continually stretch flat and we can bring them up only so far until the interaction between strings starts destroying the tuning. Every time we bring up a string too far, it cause the strings around it to go flat, thereby wrecking the tuning. The only remedy for this situation is to first tighten up all the strings a greater distance than we can in a tuning. Then when this has been done, we do the tuning with smaller adjustments that are stable. The pitch raising and tuning are two different operations and both have their fees. I explained all this to her and she said, "Do it". She did not tell me to forget it. Tuning a piano every 6 months wasn't my invention. Take a look at "Piano Manufacturer's & Music Professional's Statements on When to Tune" at http://www.betterpianoservice.com/others_how_often.html and see that they all recommend tuning at 6 months. Every tuner knows this because they have to deal with it on a regular basis. I assure you that NO tuner is going to guarantee getting a piano that hasn't been tuned regularly up to Standard Pitch in just a basic tuning without pitch raising it FIRST, and he sure isn't going to do it free because it is basically tuning the piano more than once, the first time a coarse major shift in pitch and then again a smaller amount in the actual tuning, because piano tuners are not non-profit businesses. Then she says to Angie's List, "no other tuner has ever told me that, even when it has been MANY YEARS between tunings." Again, I'm not responsible for what other tuners tell her. And it could be that they just tuned the piano to itself (not raising the pitch) with just the tuning charge and walked out the door. Doing this leaves the piano sounding in tune with itself but at a much lower level that would not match other instruments tuned at Standard Pitch. Some times tuners will do that because of some customers not wanting to put much money into their piano and not needing it at Standard Pitch. Maybe Mrs. Puckett fit in that category in times past. I don't know. All I knew is that she told me that she sings in a community choir and it is important for piano to be at Standard Pitch convention for training her voice. So if the piano is too flat, the choices are: 1) don't tune it, 2) do the necessary pitch raising and pay for it, or 3) tune it to itself flat and leave it at that She choose to have the work done - pitch raising and tuning. She says to Angie's List, " If I had been purchasing something in a store and they told me it was going to be DOUBLE THE PRICE, I would have walked away." Well she wasn't in a store and she wasn't been charged DOUBLE THE PRICE; she was being charged standard rate for TWO DIFFERENT NEEDED SERVICES. She had a choice; she could have said NO. She didn't. Then she tells Angie's List, "He was here and I needed the piano tuned before a rehearsal next week so I had him proceed." Well, no one forced her to make the decision to tune it. She had plenty of time to get another tuner. This is a lame excuse. Well this is my side of the appointment. I believe I was very professional and explained everything very well to her. She should have called me and complained instead of doing this review behind my back. If a customer complains to me, I bend over backward to please them or explain things to their satisfaction. I believe her review is very unfair to me and my business. I would like Angie's List to re-evaluate her claims and remove her review so that my business is not hurt by her less than honest representation of what really happened.
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Service Categories
Piano Tuning,
Music Instruction
FAQ
BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING is currently rated 3 overall out of 5.
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday: Closed
BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING accepts the following forms of payment: Check
No, BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING does not offer free project estimates.
No, BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING does not offer a senior discount.
No, BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING does not offer emergency services.
Yes, BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING offers warranties.
BETTER PIANO TUNING & REPAIRING offers the following services: Full service, full time tuning, repairing, rebuilding business since 1976. Piano work is all we do - not a side vocation. Fast & courteous service All work guaranteed Certified & trained on all makes of pianos Estimates, Appraisals & Consultation
