Ford Piano Rebuilding

BEWARE: THE WORST KIND OF CROOK!
John Ford is a smooth and practiced liar who will tell you anything to get you to commit your piano to restoration at his «facility» (note that none of his promises will be ever found on paper, which allows him to change his story later to whatever will serve his purpose)
I had a rare antique Bluthner grand piano, which I wanted to sell in order to finance restoring another piano I own — a 1920’s Steinway Model O (I am a retired professional pianist). Ford offered to sell the Bluthner for me on consignment at his «showroom», and allow me to use the proceeds to do the work on the Steinway, which sounded like a great idea. He promised to draft a written agreement to be signed by both of us and offered to pick up the Bluthner right away. Stupidly, I took him at his word and let his movers pick up the piano prior to getting the agreement.(I should have sensed what was in store for me when his «professional» movers didn’t even offer me a receipt for the delivery) From there things went downhill fast. Despite my repeated phone calls and emails, Ford wouldn’t give me any written documentation to verify our verbal agreement. When I came to his «showroom» about a month later, I found my piano on display grossly out of tune, filthy, with scratches on the cabinet and broken key tops. When I confronted Ford about this abuse, he apologized profusely and promised to fix everything right away. Needless to say, nothing was ever done, the promised agreement never materialized, and when finally, after listening to his bullshit excuses for about a year I came to take the piano back, he presented me with a bill for almost $ 1,200 for «piano maintenance» (which included such items as charges for «showing the piano to potential customers» and «uploading photos» to his website).
Eventually it took a court hearing and a judge’s order to get my piano back from him. Despite this great waste of time and money, I console myself with the fact that at least he didn’t get his greedy paws on my beloved Steinway — I can only imagine what a nightmare it would have been to have allowed him to do the restoration work.

I arranged a piano relocation from my parents’ home to my apartment, and they were beyond accommodating of the request. They arrived at the appointed time for pickup, the transit was smooth, and the team (three guys) gave excellent tips about where to place the piano. I’m beyond grateful!

I disagree with both of those hysterical and self-​serving reviews. A Steinway is one of the few pianos with resale value. But almost every piano requires some refurbishment. The neighbor did not have to agree to have them pick up the piano and bring it back to their shop, but if the felts needed to be replaced it would have to be done in some shop. It is expensive to move a piano and then re-​deliver it.
I have always found John Ford Piano to be top quality and fair. Calling them a huckster because you didn’t agree with their appraisal is poor form. Your piano wasn’t new ($ 30,000) and you purchased it for $ 12,000. You didn’t have to sell it for $ 4,000 but you can’t expect retail price (which is what you are quoting). Most second hand pianos do not get exalted prices unless they are rare and in perfect shape, as well as being one of the top three brands.

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED!!! John Ford, presumably the owner, called to arrange a piano pickup. He scheduled Friday afternoon and promised a call Friday morning to give me specific times promising they wouldn’t ‘do like the phone company and make me wait all day’. Morning came and went. At noon he called to say they’d be there between 2 and 4. At 4:20, not having seen anyone, I called to ask as I had to get to a store before 6, when they closed. They apologized and said they were a little late and would be there shortly. At 5:15, not having seen anyone, I called again reminding them I had to be somewhere by 6. They claimed to be down the block and would only need 20 minutes. They showed up at 5:30, took 25 minutes and then expected me to get out of my driveway with their truck blocking most of the driveway.
Their promise of to not ‘do like the phone company and make me wait all day’ was total BS as that’s exactly what they did. They didn’t have the honesty to tell me when they were late and reset expectations but instead just kept dragging it out. The driver’s disregard for reasonable ability to get out of my driveway was the icing on the cake. If you don’t mind being lied to and being treated like a second class citizen, deal with these guys, otherwise find someone that respects you and understands you have a life and deserve customer service.
***UPDATE*** When they left, they left one of the piano legs in the house. Since the piano pickup was as the result of divorce and on behalf of my ex-​wife, I was further infuriated when I was told in court that «I had not given the piano mover all the legs» and had the court provide a court order for me to provide the leg to the mover! WTF? He breaks his commitment, does a sloppy job, tells the ex that I didn’t give him the leg AND THEN he doesn’t show up on the newly agreed upon date for him to collect the leg!!! I had to call them, read them the riot act and demand they show up as promised to make sure I could get rid of it.