We care about our community and our families

We are vaccinated and boosted for the safety of our families, and the safety of the families and communities we work with.
We are still maintaining a reasonable personal space parameter to respect the more vulnerable communities around us, some of whom are family members of our own. We are coming into your personal space, and are happy to wear a mask if it makes you comfortable with us working in your home!

We are doing everything we can to minimize the spread of germs and protect the homes and families we work with before and after you!

As for the protocols, please know that whether you view any illness as serious or not, for us we must be cautious not only for the reasons listed above, but because we are self-employed.
We don’t get paid sick time. If we miss work, we don’t earn any income.

We are aware of and care about the health, safety, and continued well-being of our clients, our families, and our community. Thank you for your continued cooperation!

Other Policies:

In the interest of maintaining open and transparent dialogue, we have a few policies to keep things running smoothly. Most importantly, please know we are always open to discussing any concerns, questions, or dissatisfaction you have at any time. These policies are not put forth to discourage dialogue, but merely to be open about when we can and cannot come back out free of charge. If you are unhappy with an aspect of your service, we want to make it right!

1. If you have a specific tuning stretch or tuning style preference, we need to know about it before we tune your piano! Whether that’s a different pitch than the standard (A-440), or a different style (pure twelfths, minimal to no stretch, lots of stretch, etc.) This will prevent unhappiness and unnecessary work on both our behalves! If you want minor changes made (a certain octave a little sharper or flatter, for example) after playing the finished tuning, we usually have time to make those. However, if you want the entire piano re-tuned because of a preference you neglected to inform us of prior to tuning, we will not be able to re-tune the entire piano for free.

2. We require all our appointments to be confirmed, to prevent spending time driving to an appointment that has been forgotten! If you provided an email address to us, or booked online, you will receive a confirmation email that makes it easy to cancel or reschedule online if a conflict or sickness comes up. Your technician will send a confirmation text (or email/phone call if requested) the evening before your appointment (if you booked six months in advance, we reach out the weekend prior), asking you to confirm by 9:30 AM. If we haven’t received a text or any other communication from you within an hour of your planned appointment time, we will attempt to call you twice, and will make every reasonable effort to reach you. If we are unable to reach you, we will consider the appointment cancelled and reach out to reschedule.

3. Inclement weather: If we are under imminent and very likely threat from a hurricane, tornadoes, or snow/ice, we will reach out as soon as we are aware of the potential for bad weather. If it snows or ices, we will reschedule, as our technician is rurally located and the roads are not scraped or cleared. In regards to tornadoes and hurricanes, it is more likely we may reschedule due to hurricanes, as we often have a lot more warning that those are coming and a definite path. If inclement weather like tornadoes are a possibility, here are some options to consider. If we are working in your home and a tornado touches down, we may need to wait until imminent danger has passed before getting on the road. We want to get home in one piece, and are often commuting 45 minutes or more. If you are not comfortable with this, please reschedule!

4. We pride ourselves in standing behind our work! If we make a repair that is not satisfactory, and it isn’t due to worn out parts, extreme humidity environment changes, or a structural defect, we will return free of charge to re-do the repair.

   Regarding tunings: We cannot guarantee tunings on pianos in environments where there are humidity fluctuations that are regularly shifting more than 6% within the course of hours - unstable humidity environments or excessively high or low humidity levels (exceeding 55%, or less than 35%) de-stabilize pianos due to the majority of their makeup being wood, which is extremely susceptible to humidity fluctuations. The expansion and contraction of the wooden parts (the soundboard, rim, pinblock, etc.) pulling on the strings is what makes a piano go out of tune. Thus, the more rapid or extreme the humidity changes are, the less time your tunings will last. We also cannot return for free to pianos where there has been home renovation or any kind of work that resulted in open doors or windows for a period of time, which also destabilizes a tuning by allowing the outdoor humidity to seep indoors.

   Simply put: we cannot control your piano’s environment, nor how it affects your piano after we leave, and thus cannot take responsibility for the effects pertaining to such. That said, we are human and have bad days/make mistakes - if there is truly no external cause or structural issue that caused the shift in pitch, we will return to set things right and try to ascertain the cause of the instability.

   Rest assured, we take a humidity reading at each tuning, and observe the monitor’s fluctuations throughout the duration of you appointment. If we notice excessive movement in humidity levels, or a concerningly high or low humidity level, we will always discuss this with you and work alongside you to help get your piano’s environment more stable. In the long term, humidity is the greatest single factor in the lifespan of your piano. Our goal is to help you get the best out of your piano for as long as possible!

5. We cannot guarantee work on worn out parts that need replacement, or on structurally unsound instruments. Instruments in a building (or outdoors) where HV/AC is not used/sporadically used also cannot have their work guaranteed - simply because wood fluctuates with excessive humidity swings, and a lack of HV/AC consistency only worsens the likelihood of future issues.

   We CAN promise that our best work will be given at all times, and that we will be honest if we feel your piano will not respond well to any work requested or needed. We believe in an honest approach, and will work with you if repairs are needed, or refer you to an excellent rebuilder we can personally vouch for if you have a family heirloom you want to preserve! We believe in giving you all the information you need to make the best informed decision for you! If you opt to have this work done regardless of structural defect, we will continue onwards with the mutual understanding that the piano may only ever be capable of limited performance.

   We do a comprehensive evaluation of each piano’s condition at every new client appointment to ensure we can inform you of any pertinent information and provide the best work we can in every scenario!

6. Payment policies:

   For institutional clients: Payment is due within a month of the service date. Where possible, we do ask that a check be mailed within 7 days of services rendered, but we also understand the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly at times!

   If you can keep us updated, or give us an idea of the timeframe payment is normally completed, that is appreciated!

   For private clients: Payment is due the day services are rendered, unless specifically arranged and agreed upon otherwise prior to service . We do have a grace period of 7 days, but please be aware that a late fee of up to $50 may applied to balances exceeding 14 days past due.

   If a situation arose that prevented payment such as an emergency, etc. - please let us know!! These guidelines are set forth to prevent bad actors and those who would be chronically slow paying from negligently delaying payment. We certainly aim to be reasonable and as easy to work with as possible! Things do happen, and we understand that. Please don’t hesitate to call us about your specific situation if needed - these rules are in an earnest effort to be fair to our clients as well as our own families and financial obligations.