Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum [b]Is this too good to be true??!![/b]

Oops! Marty - my mistake! I just reviewed the above posts... I apologize for giving you the credit for the "goat" comment. It's late and I've been on this computer wayyyyy too long!

Nite All - I'll be back tomorrow to see who wins with a knock out.

Well, there's this from the BBB:
http://www.bbb.org/chattanooga/business-reviews/pianos/world-class-piano-company-in-rome-ga-17000963

The "goat humper" comment was mine.... ALL MINE! T'was humor.... I fear that some folks might not have chuckled, though. A little fiber could save the sanity of the world! (Probably NOT the expected speech of a piano dealer, huh???) Oh well... such is life! Nice to meet you, Nancy. Have a great night!

M.O.P.

It is from Mr. Wilson's first reply.



I am not sparring with Mr. Wilson, he is sparring with me.

Hi Dan, and welcome to the forum!

I live near Griffin Georgia and I check out the Atlanta Craigslist for piano ads every day, like reading the news paper. It is intriguing, and almost humorous to me, how the used piano dealers on Craigslist are continuously at each others throats flagging each others ads and so forth. You should be used to a little controversy and criticism by now; and, wading amongst the sharks must be a regular occurrence for you piano dealers. By the same token, I think it is for piano shoppers too, wouldn’t you agree.

This forum is actually a very good place once you receive your Baptism by fire. Sounds like you have already! I think it is a good place for both piano dealers and potential buyers. It sort of helps even out the playing field, to an extent.

Take care,

Rick

Nah, I'm not sparring with you, Marty. I'm doing just what you'd probably do if untruths were told about you. Nothing more. Nothing less. This business is how I support my family, and when erroneous info is out here about me, it can cause me to lose income, thus interfering with my ability to provide for them. If I lose just one sale from unwarranted negative comments, (and remember, a CUSTOMER told me about this) then I stand to lose at LEAST $1000 or more. (probably MORE) I have no idea what kind of profession you are in, or if you have a family or not. However, I am sure you can understand my point of view. If someone told a blatant LIE about you at your work, and your boss docked your pay $1000 bucks or MORE, I am absolutely certain that YOU would be angry. Furious, perhaps. So would your family. Especially if they knew that it wasn't true, and they had seen first hand how you had built your reputation, work ethic, etc etc. One thing I always try to do is put myself in the other person's position, and evaluate the situation from there. If you do this, and try to see it from my point of view, I am sure you might view this in a different way. As I said before, I will defend my reputation, whether it be here, or elsewhere. I've worked too hard for too many years to allow a slanderous comment, and blatant lie to go unanswered. I'm sure you understand.

Mr. Wilson,

Around April 15, 2009, the date of the response to which you are referring, I was preparing the literature for a recital. I didn't read the original thread when first posted.

It is only when you reactivated the thread on August 16, that I read it. Where were you in April? Why would I come to your defense in a dead thread?

Rick,

Greetings to a fellow Georgian! Yeah, the Atlanta CL is awful! I can't get an ad to stick there for over 30 minutes. Neither can anyone else. I've about given up on the largest market in this area. At least, I've about given up on using CL there. A person can go insane in that market, lol! And yes, I agree that this forum can be beneficial to everyone... especially buyers. One thing I try to NEVER do is slam someone else's product, reputation, or such in order to get a sale. Yep, it looks like I've gotten my baptism!

onestone posted,

Dan Wilson, OK, you're trying to support your family. That does not absolve you from following Craigslist's rules. You complain about being called a scammer, but you do not mention the spamming allegation. Terry Wilson used to do something similar: refuse to respond to direct questions and, instead, mock bricks and mortars sellers.

Suggestion: Refute onestone's post or clean up your act on Craigslist.

I use Craigslist. THOUSANDS of businesses do. Show me a piano dealer that doesn't use CL as a tool, and I'll show you a dealer that is missing out on lots of sales. I do not mock brick and mortar stores. Quite the contrary.... it appears that I am the one being mocked, insulted, and slandered. The woman asked a question in the post.... that question was "IS IT TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?" Well.... the answer is a resounding NO. In fact, I still had a little room to negotiate on that particular piano. Instead of researching, or advising her to use caution, the Onestone dude decided to insult my integrity as an honest businessman. Using Craigslist, Ebay, or any other marketing forum does NOT make one a cheat. It offers the consumer a CHOICE.... one that many dealers don't want the consumer to have. If I anger every piano dealer here, but have very happy customers that continue to refer friends to me and my salesmen, then I think I must be doing something RIGHT. 23 grand pianos sold last month. Believe it or don't. It's the truth. If you are angry because I am offering the consumer another option, then I can't help you. Craigslist is used by virtually every piano dealer that knows about it. I am one of those dealers. I don't do anything that another dealer could not do if they were willing to go to the lengths that I am to make a sale. SCAMMER refers to someone cheating someone else. SPAMMER is someone that sends out unwanted advertisements to people who do not want it. Obviously, people are seeing an ad I run, and needing the product I am offering. Obviously, they aren't being cheated, or they would not be buying from me. I am willing to bring a piano 500 to 600 miles to someone's home, set it up, tune it, and allow the customer to see, hear, and play it in their own home. We WELCOME technicians and teachers to look them over. If they don't like it, then we'll load it up and leave. No charge. Is that cheating someone? If anything, it's insane for me to offer that, but I do, and out of 23 grand sales last month, we had ONE that didn't buy. ONE. That is a 95.9% closing ratio. My customers can judge for themselves. Onestone has not been, and will never be a customer. If anyone was being dishonest about the whole situation, it was him. Running an ad on Craigslist does NOT make someone a crook. Anyone that thinks otherwise should lighten up and get out from in front of the keyboard for a while. He obviously had a vested interest in discouraging the sale. Enough said....

Dan, OK, suspicians confirmed. "Spammer" was used as a reference to people. So you're not really a spammer, because you don't send out unwanted e-mails, you just abuse Craigslist's rules about multiple postings. And you your actions by saying that dealers who are serious about selling would do that. Gosh, I didn't know until this moment that wanting to make a sale justifies misusing Craigslist.

On the bright side, the fact that you share a family name with the previous snake oil salesman makes this situation not entirely devoid of humor.

P$$ anyone?

I'm assuming you are comparing me to a snake oil salesman at this juncture? Craigslist does not prevent businesses from posting listings. Do your homework. As far as the comparison, I'll consider the source. Consider this humor, though.... if you would increase your fiber intake, you'd probably have a bowel movement eventually, and then..... THEN you might not come off as being quite so crotchety towards an honest person defending his name and reputation. Now, THAT was funny!!!!! Lighten up!

So, Mr. Wilson, if I may ask, are you also affiliated with the Spa and Nail Salon that PWF member Bear mentioned earlier?

Us Nails & Spa
859 Cartersville Hwy Se,
Rome, Georgia 30161
(706) 234-4404

This seems to be an extremely wise business decision as pianists like their nails short and neat otherwise we cannot play. And if you should have an affiliation with said business, do you offer free nail treatments for piano buyers? If so, I'd like my nails trimmed to 440Hz. I hope, though, you won't use old soundboard glue to paint my nails....

Mr. Wilson maybe 100% legit, but based on his responses here there is NO way I would do business with this guy. Why take the chance, there is a million sellers and pianos out in the world...

This thread vividly reminds me of the public scourging I received when I related my story of buying a piano sight unseen from Sonny's Piano via the web. Why do some of our posters feel the need to belittle alternative piano marketing methods? While I am aware there are scammers galore out there in the marketplace, there are also legitimate businesses and honest people selling pianos in non-traditional ways.

Judging from Dan's anger and heated responses, some of you are fortunate not to be in close proximity to him. If you were, I have a feeling Dan would ask you to step outside for a private tete a tete chat. I certainly would not want to face a north GA mountain man who moves pianos around all the time!

What is this telling us ??? The link to BBB.

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum. Maybe a little historical perspective will help you understand why you are attracting some skeptical responses. Some time ago we had a regular poster who, in an unfortunate coincidence, shared your last name and who also had an internet piano business. This person eventually filed for bankruptcy after taking some unknown number of people's payment in full upfront without delivering their pianos.

A sad consequence of the PSS saga is that it has left some (many?) of us scrutinizing very closely all claims of being able to sell pianos more cheaply without the middleman and the superiority of the internet model etc. etc., and I'm afraid you're catching a bit of this fallout.

I have always maintained that there is a place for internet sales in the piano business. I don't use Craigslist myself so am unfamiliar with its practices and regulations. I would hope that you are adhering to them in your marketing there.

SeilerFan, no... sorry, but I'm not affiliated with any nail salon. You'll have to get your nails tuned elsewhere, lol! But, that WAS funny!

Mark, I'm really not trying to drum up a sale here... just trying to correct a slanderous comment that was made. Feel free to buy wherever you'd like! I'm just curious though.... how would YOU respond? What would the proper response be? Someone has insulted my integrity a few months back, and a CUSTOMER tells me about it. I come here, and climb the water tower with a can of John Deere Green paint in order to defend my honor. (that's a humor thing... a REGIONAL humor thing... you might not get it...) I guess a "proper" piano dealer should just say nothing. I gotta ask.... WOULD YOU BUY A PIANO FROM ONESTONE???? Does HE seem to fit your idea of a reputable dealer? Thats funny, too!

Hi Monica, and thank you! I feel like family already in this forum! lol! Tell me about this person I've been compared to, please... I'm absolutely in the dark here! Or, at least, point me to a thread so I can read up on him.

I have no problem with an Internet sales model. But I do have a question.

The original ad quoted a 48" upright for $1995, including delivery, first tuning and 10-year warranty. In the quote above Dan explains that he has at LEAST $1000. Assuming that delivery costs only $125 (usually $150-$175) and tuning only $75 (usually $100 or so), that would calculate to a landed cost of $795 or less. Subtracting the cost of shipping the piano from the distributor to World Class Pianos, which is about $250 and you have a wholesale selling price of $545.

I am privvy to the wholesale costs of virtually every make on the market. None sell for anywhere close to that price.

What am I missing here?