Wendell's Piano Tuning

We called John Wendell up to tune a 60's era Spinet that we recently moved into our home. We have not had any piano tuned previously, so I can not offer any comparisons. I was told that the cost of tuning would be about $75 - a fair and competitive cost. John came on time and was professional while he was here. I explained that the piano was new to us and we didn't experience any overt difficulty playing, but it was decidedly out of tune. He opened the unit and tested several keys and noted the lagged responsiveness of the hammers and said that they needed lubricating and asked if I wanted that done now. I said yes. He went back to his truck for a bottle of oil(?) and took perhaps 10-15 minutes lubricating the hammers. He quickly assessed that the piano was too far out of tune to bring it up to standard A=440 pitch in one go with satisfactory results, so he tuned it to itself. No attempt was made to raise the overall pitch of the instrument that I could tell. I assume that will be left for another time in about 10 months when we will have it tuned again. He quickly moved through the register, first tuning one string by ear and then going back through and tuning each of the 'sister' strings of a note and also kept double checking to lower octaves as well as if other octaves were still in tune. Once done, the piano sounded great and I was very happy. In total, everything took a bit less than 1.5 hours. Once everything was in tune, he asked that I pay on the spot via cash or check (no credit, fortunately I had a checkbook with me). He then asked for $150 to cover the tuning (quoted at $75) and the lubrication (apparently another $75). This additional cost seemed excessive considering the limited time/materials involved. I would fully understand if this was a service call to fix sluggish hammers the total cost would be $75 to lubricate due to his time to travel, investigate the problem and then make the repairs. However, as an add on to tuning, I was caught by surprise by the total bill. In my opinion, $20-30 would have been fair. If an add on service like this was going to increase the cost so dramatically, I would have expected a professional like John to notify me in advance (These are sluggish and need lubricated - it'll be about $70 if you want me to take care of that for you). John is the most well respected tuner in town and if he doesn't have time to see you on your schedule, he will refer you to other tuners he recommends. However, if he asks if you want any extra service done, be sure to ask how much it will cost!

He does an excellent job. He was working for another company but he does that for me on the side. I started with him before he started working there. He's very friendly; he comes in, does the job and does it well. Sometimes he's hard to reach but he tries to work around with me. He does excellent work but sometimes it's hard to connect with him.