I purchased a grand piano at the end of December from The Piano Store of Sonoma County. It was a vintage grand piano from Germany, however the seller, Michael McQuilkin represented himself as a "master technician" and a piano rebuilder with 30 years experience. He charged me $5,500 for the piano and promised a "lifetime warranty" both verbally and in emails. He claimed to have thoroughly examined the piano and that it was in excellent condition, had a great deal of work done, and that if any problems arose, he would fix them. My piano teacher from Santa Rosa Junior College was giving a recital with her students in the store at the time, and when I showed her the piano, she told me it was excellent, and that if I didn't buy it she would. The piano keys were stiff, but the seller told me that he would fix that problem and any other problems.
Within a week, problems started to arise and several defects became apparent. A piano teacher and concert pianist told me that the piano had uneven action and that my inability to play certain pieces was due to defects in the piano. He recommended a different piano technician. However, first Mr. McQuilkin came twice to tune and work on the piano. He also took the action to his shop for severral days. When it came back, there was no improvement in the stiffness. He told me then, despite his previous promises, that it would cost "time and money" to fix the piano. I had an independent evaluator look at the action, and I was told it required $2,000 worth of work to correct the problem.
I hired a 2nd independent evaluator, because it turned out the first evaluator did not look at all aspects of the piano. The 2nd evaluation revealed between $5,000 and $12,500 or more worth of needed repairs. The piano has 3 cracks in the soundboard, the soundboard has been repainted to make it look better, but it was done improperly and there is paint on the strings, which are rusty and have apparently never been replaced, or if so, more than 50 years ago. The pin block is covered with many cracks. The hammers were installed incorrectly so that many keys do not hit all the strings. The action is very poor. The pedals are defective. There is much more.
I have requested a refund and the seller refused.instead, he wants me to sell the piano on consignment in his store, which would be unethical in my view. He has offered to reimburse $1,000 of repairs on a piano where an evaluator stated that none of the work done has been done to industry standards.
I have filed in small claims court and am hoping to be awarded my money, so I can be made whole.
I would urge anyone to have any piano at this store inspected by a technician out of the area. The technicians in the area have a tendency to stick together, or at least to want to protect each other and to avoid conflict. I had to hire someone from 2 hours away to drive up and do the evaluation.
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