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The Music Trade Review
lection form letters, send Attorney Letters No.
5, No. 6 and No. 7 on the same days would
be sent Form Letters No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3,
respectively, only a month later. Attorney
REDEWILL MUSIC COMPANY
Phoenix, Arizona
Form letter No 4. To be mailed one
week after form letter No. 3 if pay-
ment is not made.
We have had no response from you in an-
swer to our statement and several letters, nor
have any of them been returned to us. We
are therefore under the impression that you
received same. To make sure that this matter
of your past due payment is brought to your
notice we are registering this letter, and your
signature on the return card will indicate that
you have received this, our final notice.
There is a provision in your note-contract
that any legal collection expense will be paid
by you. It would therefore be a saving to you
to let us hear from you promptly upon receipt
of this letter.
If we do not hear from you within the next
few days we will have no alternative in the
matter, but will be obliged to pass your account
over to our legal department for attention.
We sincerely hope this will not be necessary.
Yours very truly,
REDEWILL MUSIC COMPANY.
Letter No. 8 is explained in detail under the
head of repossessing pianos. Attorney letters
should always be personally typed, never
printed.
Do Not Change System
Never interfere with the complete operation
of the system on every customer. The billing
clerk should not be told to lay off certain
friends and those who are good for it. If
necessary the merchant can explain that his
WILL E. RYAN
Attorney
502-504 Luhrs Building
Phoenix, Arizona
Attorney Letter No. 7
(To be sent one week after attorney letter No. 6)
Dear Sir:
Having received no response to repeated de-
mands upon you for the payment of past due
instalments on your contract with Redewill
Music Company, and your silence being con-
strued to mean that you are indifferent to the
situation, this letter is a formal demand for
payment in full of the entire balance due on
the contract at once.
If you fail to comply with this demand, our
next step will be a suit to repossess the instru-
ment and collect from you such deficit as exists,
in accordance with the Conditional Sales Act.
This suit will be started without further
notice or demand to you.
Very truly yours,
W.
E. RYAN.
banker has agreed to take care of his financial
needs if he does not interfere with his collec-
tion department.
It is best to have the billing clerk handle
the whole matter of collection and everyone
in the house should have no connection with"
the collection department. The dealer himself
should know nothing about it apparently. The
letters will stir up the slow pays, and when
they call, phone or write, always refer them to
the collection department. The billing clerk
will soon know the collection department better
than the merchant can and will take an interest
in each account. A salesman or the head of
the house should take no messages or promises
—the debtor should be sent directly to the
collection department.
Handling Repossessions
Attorney Letter No. 8 is for the customer
who wants to give up his piano, who is good
for the amount, but whose "daughter who
clays has gone away," or who otherwise is tired
of the obligation. After suggesting that the
customer exchange his rolls for some used
ones that are on hand, if the instrument is a
player, or that he exchange his straight instru-
ment for a player, if no one plays, to no avail,
send him Attorney Letter No. 8 at any time.
Avoid letting him believe that you take pianos
back. Have at your tongue's end—"It hasn't
WILL E. RYAN
Attorney
502-504 Luhrs Building
Phoenix, Arizona
Attorney Letter No. 5
(To be sent one week after Form No. 4)
Dear Sir:
Redewill Music Company have handed me
your account for collection. They do this after
having exhausted the ordinary courtesies of
demands for payment, which demands have
been ignored by you.
The statement as placed with me shows $
now past due on your account to them. As
you know, when an account is placed with an
attorney for collection, the creditor means busi-
ness, and nothing short of the immediate set-
tlement of the amount now due will preclude
me from following my instructions in the mat-
ter. I, of course, dislike to make any additional
costs or expenses to you, but will be obliged
to do so, except in the event that upon receipt
of this letter you will make settlement of the
amount now due.
Your remittance may come to me or to
Redewill Music Company, but it must be forth-
coming.
Very truly yours,
W.
E. RYAN.
been done yet"—"When we sell on time it is
just the same as though we were selling for
cash, the instalment plan being just an accom-
modation for you."
If the customer is going away, wait until he
is actually gone before removing the instru-
ment. Never agree to take it back. Try an
exchange for another piano where the customer
is going. Do almost anything rather than' let
the customer tell his friends that he got you
to take the piano back.
Sometimes a little mechanical service on the
piano will change the customer's mind. Be
generous with service, but always charge for
WILL E. RYAN
Attorney
502-504 Luhrs Building
Phoenix, Arizona
•
Attorney Letter No. 8
(To be sent to a customer who tries to return his
piano)
Dear Sir:
I have before me your letter of the
th
instant to the Redewill Music Company in
which you intimate a right on your part to
return a
piano and incidental articles
purchased from that firm under a conditional
sales contract, as if expecting such a return
would relieve you from further liability under
your contract.
For your information, I wish to say that the
Redewill Music Company are at no time under
any obligation to accept a return of that prop-
erty and release you from your agreement to
pay for it in full. The conditional sales contract
as controlled by the Sales Act permits the
seller to retake the property, and, after follow-
ing certain lines of procedure, to sell it and
credit the amount realized from such sale upon
the agreed price, and then to recover judgment
tor the balance of that price. The Sales Act
also provides for expenses of such sale, includ-
tuning, for that is like buying gasoline for a
customer's car. The merchant can afford ac-
commodation that may cost him a little, rather
than to have it known that he takes pianos
back and rather than to lose his profit on a re-
JUNE 25, 1927
cent sale. Avoid calling on delinquent customers
—induce them to come to the warerooms. The
only time the merchant should call is with the
piano truck.
It is well to have this reputation of being
generous yet firm in collections. Live up to
every promise, but do not allow a salesman
at the time of closing a deal to impress the
customer with the idea that you are easy and
slack in collections. Salesmen can say: "We
always take care of our customers, and if you
WILL E. RYAN
Attorney
502-504 Luhrs Building
Phoenix, Arizona
Attorney Letter No. 6
(To be sent one week after attorney letter No. 5)
Dear Sir:
Redewill Music Company informs me that
you have not made satisfactory answer to my
letter of recent date, in which formal demand
was made on you for the past due payments
on your piano account with them.
In reading over your copy of the contract,
you will note that there are many things which
from a business standpoint you cannot afford
to let pass by unnoticed at this time. Accord-
ing to the terms of the agreement which you
signed, you are responsible for the full payment
of this instrument, and all of your possessions
become liable for such payment. In the event
of suit, you will be required to pay the costs
of the suit and attorney for both sides. Fur-
thermore, you will be obliged, at the option of
my clients, to pay the full balance of the ac-
count, whereas, if you would show disposition
to want to do the right thing, I am sure that
some reasonable extensions could be granted
you if your account warranted same.
I have positive instructions to prepare for
legal action, but before so doing will allow a
few days' time for your reconsideration. If no
attention is paid to this letter, it will be your
own fault if suit is started without any further
communications to you.
Very truly yours,
W. E. RYAN.
will tell us your needs we feel certain that
any reasonable extension will be granted."
Mail and Addresses
Do not get behind with your bills and letters.
ing expenses of retaking, of storage, etc., all
in addition to what would otherwise be col-
lected under the contract for sale.
You are undoubtedly aware of the fact that
articles new when sold are second-hand when
retaken; that every sale costs the seller a con-
siderable commission, and is accompanied by
other expenses. You also know that a sale
should be a sale, regardless of the manner in
which delayed payments may be secured, by
conditional sales contract or otherwise. Hence
it is that you should live up to your contract,
and not even attempt to force a loss upon the
company, as it would lose if it took back the
instrument in this case.
Insofar as calling the deal off and accepting
a return of the piano in full settlement, I must
advise you that Redewill Music Company will
not do this.
So you can treat this letter as a demand
upon you for the payment of past due instal-
ments on the contract, now unpaid. And as
notice that unless such instalment is paid, I
will be obliged to so proceed as to enforce the
contract to the full extent of the rights of the
seller under such contracts, and as provided for
in the Conditional Sales Law.
Very truly yours,
W. E. RYAN.
Have them in mail on time. It is not necessary
to bill just on the first and the fifteenth of
the month. The customer's payday is the best
day. There will be several heavy days for
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