Piano Inside

Overall, a satisfactory performance.

Inherited my parents Kawai baby grand piano: since it takes up so much room and I no longer play I intend to sell it, and decided that it's worth getting a tuning and a general report as to its condition.

Arranged an appointment with James from PianoInside. Get a call from him the day of the appt. requesting a reschedule: turns out his previous job took him four hours. That piano needed extensive repairs and he spent much of that time on his back and in awkward positions. As such, he was pretty burned out and requested we re-schedule. I agree - it's the nice thing to do, and besides, I want him alert for my tuning.

Arrives on site next day with a truck and a trailer for parts and piano transport - I guess these tuners at PianoInside come loaded for bear, as it were. Assisted him in parking his rig. As for the rest, not much to tell: he took approx. 1.5 hours to tune the piano (which is about right) and it sounded almost pitch perfect (the old piano wouldn't accept a concert tune, but he knew just how to pitch it down a notch).

I requested a verbal assessment of the piano's condition (free with a tuning, otherwise there's a charge, written evaluations available for a fee as well) and was pleased to hear the old piano is in great shape for its age. Was given a rough estimate as to its re-sale value.

The only quibble was regarding payment, which causes me to downrate the service from 5 to 4 stars. As we were about to part James said he only took cash, cheques or e-transfers, not credit cards. I told him I had none of those things ready, and noted that he really should have told me about this beforehand. James seemed a tiny bit suspicious, so I offered to have him photograph my driver's lic., and promised to pay via e-transfer within 24 hrs.

Would nevertheless highly recommend PianoInside, but save yourself hassles and arrange for payment ahead of time.