The Baldwin Repair Saga Continues

For those who have been following my saga of the botched keyboard repair which began last fall, here is the latest installment.

Baldwin agreed to replace the entire action (at their factory) on November 17. It took an additional 30 days for the local dealer to get around to picking up my 1997 Model L grand. Today, when I was fixing to call and check on their progress, I got an e-mail from Baldwin apologizing for the fact that they hadn't even received the instrument! The rep blamed it on the trucking company. It turns out my piano has been sitting in a Mira Loma, California warehouse for the past month.

Well, I replied with a gently poisoned pen but there's not much for me to do at this point. I have learned my lesson: I will need to micro- manage Baldwin through this entire process. So much for customer service.

my 1997 Model L grand. <snip> It turns out my piano has been sitting in a Mira Loma, California warehouse for the past month.

John,

On the surface, I would fault the dealer for taking a month to pick it up. But you were dealing with the worst possible time of the year for this sort of thing, both from the dealer's standpoint as well as the shipping company. So I don't fault the dealer quite as much here. He also may have been forced to wait that long because of scheduling the pickup by the freight handler. And as for the freight company, which I am sure is Keyboard Carriage, that sort of timing is normal unfortunately, especially during the Christmas season.

And you must also remember that once the freight carrier get their hands on the piano it is totally out of either the dealer's hands or Baldwin's hands as to when they redeliver it. So I won't fault Baldwin too much either.

In all fairness, while I know this is frustrating to you, the only area I can see where fault lies is in the lack of communication with you, both by the dealer and by Baldwin. But I won't be too hard on them here either, as it happens to the best of us, especially during the Christmas season. Nevertheless, this is the only point of real fault.

I would suspect that what you will now experience is that once Baldwin gets the piano the work will proceed quickly, the freight company will then take 2 or 3 weeks to getting around to picking it up, and then sit on it for another 3 or 4 weeks. Once again, the delays all relate to the freight company.

And you must remember that here you aren't dealing with a dealer or management type, but some guy who says things like 'HEY! I'm peddlin' this rig just as hard as I can, had a flat in Tupelo, blew by the scales goin' 90 at one point and had to hide on the back roads for a while if you know what I mean, so I'll probably get there sometime next week - or maybe later' . (just a little humor to take your mind off things)

To sum it up, I know you're frustrated, but cut them just a 'tad' of slack and then stay on top of them politely until you get the piano back. The key to speeding up the return process is to get them to nail down pickup and redelivery dates by the freight carrier. But make it clear to Baldwin that you want them to double check it before it gets shipped back, because you won't go through this again, but will expect a new piano if it isn't right.

(whew.....didn't mean to write a novel)

Larry Fletcher Pianos Inc Atlanta GA Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe Http://www.pianosinc.net

Larry, I know there are *reasons* for everything. But I'm not the expert here, nor should I be. If Christmas is a lousy time to ship, I expect my vendor to tell me so, not wait six weeks to drop the bomb. Don't forget, my piano is part of my emotional life, not just a commodity being shuttled around the country. This is the first time in 29 years that my house has gone through the holidays without the music of a piano.

I agree. In reading back through my post I see that I dealt too much with the 'why's' of what happened, and didn't really look at it from the standpoint of what 'should' have happened. That's why I said the fault lies in the dealer not staying on top of the communication with you. I wasn't trying to make excuses for them so much as to point out the behind the scenes stuff. In the situation they chose to satisfy your service claim, the dealer should have been in touch with you no less than twice a week. He should also have been in touch with the factory as well, and then he would have known the piano hadn't arrived.

I would have brought you a new piano, and let the war be between me and the manufacturer. You should not have been inconvenienced more than the time it would have taken to switch out the pianos. If they insisted on the factory repair, the least they should have done (imho) is to have provided you with the loan of another piano until yours was returned to you.

Larry Fletcher Pianos Inc Atlanta GA Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe Http://www.pianosinc.net

Too bad you aren't my dealer. Too bad I don't have any dealer at all. The business which sold me the piano is no longer affiliated with Baldwin. The dealer who made the pickup is part of a discount chain which is the only remaining Baldwin outlet in the S.F. Bay area. They stood me up on the first scheduled pickup date.

The reason the piano has to go back to Baldwin is that they authorized a local tech to attempt the first repair, and it was very badly done. When Baldwin agreed to do it over, they estimated a six-week turnaround time.

Now do you see why I'm burned? And do you want to sell me my next piano after I dump my Baldwin?

John, I feel for you.

You probably are right with the micromanaging idea. I think in the previous round of posts on this subject I mentioned my own resolve to never deal with Baldwin service again. Personally, I couldn't even get past their answering machines or have a call returned just to get some parts. However, my friend, a store owner, is forced to deal with them at the moment, and micromanaging is exactly what he has had to resort to. He feels they just won't do anything unless you keep prodding and prodding. Myself, I wish them to just take a flying * * * * at a rolling donut. I don't know if it's even accurate to call them a piano company anymore. They don't seem to care much about it.

Rick Clark

Baldwin AND Steinway have both folded their tents in my region recently, which is highly populous and loads of expendable income.

rick Clark

I want everyone who is only shopping for the best price, who wants a great discount on their piano to go back, print John's saga and paste it one your

Very good observation, Dave.

Larry Fletcher Pianos Inc Atlanta GA Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe Http://www.pianosinc.net

My recent experiences with the substitute dealer are a good object lesson. However, I didn't just shop for price when I bought my piano three years ago. That dealer was reputable, knowledgable, accommodating and lived up to his promises. But of course he never volunteered that he was going to drop the line within a year.

Regardless on dropping the line or not, any dealer worth his salt and actually concerned about customer service would have a piano sitting in your living room gratis while yours is in shipping limbo. They may have been 'reputable, knowledgable, accommodating' but to me accomodating would include making sure you have a piano to play rather than a hole in your room and in your musical journey. As to reputable, well the reputation being earned now is to leave their customers out in the cold on a defective piano because they dropped the line.

It's partially on Baldwin, but it's up to the dealer to make sure your investment in a musical instrument is maximized.