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Thomson Lawrie Piano Technician - Complete Piano Service since 1979 905-536-0565 1-800-387-7215
(Please - only calls about pianos in the 905 area!)
Pre Purchase Piano Inspections
A pre purchase inspection can prevent a customer:
- from paying too much for a piano
- buying a piano that is not good enough for their needs
- wasting money on buying & moving expense for a worthless piano
- falling victim to fraud
Potential Problems
As a piano technician, the worst situation that I run into is arriving to tune someone’s recently purchased piano only to tell them that their piano can’t be tuned. Some pianos get to the point were there is nothing more that can be done with them. Often it is because the required repairs to put the piano back into playable condition are far more costly than the piano would be worth.
The piano owner’s problem goes beyond the cost of what they paid for the piano and the cost of moving it to their home. Now they have a 600 hundred pound problem on their hands.
How do you get rid of a piano that is of no value to anyone? Do you just pass the problem along to someone else and pretend you don’t know the piano is worthless? ( I’ve seen this happen. ) Do you pay the piano mover again to haul it away to the local landfill?
Piano Inspection
Often it is better to avoid this sort of problem by having the piano inspected before committing to purchasing it. Even if the piano is a gift from a friend, it will still cost money to get it home and will still be a problem if it turns out to be too costly to repair. A pre purchase inspection will also prevent the purchaser from paying too much for their piano or buying a piano that is not good enough for their needs or even falling victim to fraud.
Piano Fraud?
People are often shocked to hear that there are people who prey on the unsuspecting public, passing scrap pianos off as their home pianos. The average piano shopper knows very little about what they are looking at. Should it be surprising that someone might take advantage of that?
There is a family in the area that I work that sell dozens of grand pianos every year, one at a time, as their home piano. They buy from piano wholesalers at rock bottom prices, picking up pianos that reputable piano dealers won’t touch. They advertise them in the local classified papers, offering a baby grand piano at a low price. The customer pays cash. When the piano tuner comes and tells them their piano is worthless they blame themselves for not having it inspected.
What they don’t know is that if they had suggested sending a piano technician, they would be informed that someone else was looking at the piano and wanted it. If they wanted the piano they would have to make up their minds because they couldn’t hold it for them. That is when they should have walked away.
The average vendor who has nothing to hide usually won’t mind having a piano inspected. The same is true for reputable piano dealers.
Fees
My fee for a pre purchase inspection ranges from $65 to $75 plus GST depending on the location and urgency of the appointment.
Serving - Burlington, Oakville, Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby,
St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Fort Erie, Beamsville, Jordan, Vineland & Smithville.
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