Pianos for Humanity — Local services in Lyons

Absolutely DO NOT hire "Pianos for Humanity" or anyone associated with "Jay" for any piano-related services. This was, without a doubt, the worst experience I’ve ever had with any service provider, and it resulted in significant damage to both my home and a beautiful vintage instrument.

I acquired a 64-year-old Yamaha piano from FB and foolishly contacted Pianos for Humanity for moving, cleaning, and tuning, based on a $600 quote. What I got was a complete and utter disaster. “Professional” is the last word I would use to describe this operation. It was essentially one mover plus Jay, who is not a mover, with a truck, and zero expertise.

The first red flag should have been when they asked me to help move the piano. Then, Jay had the audacity to ask me to call my friends to find another person to assist! This was during a workday, so obviously, I couldn't find anyone. Despite sending photos of my narrow staircase in advance, upon arrival, Jay put on an act and suggested I just give him the Yamaha and take one of his smaller spinets instead! This should have been my cue to cancel everything, but I unfortunately I didn't.

The "move" itself was a horrifying display of incompetence. I nearly got crushed between the piano and the wall due to their complete lack of technique. The result? A hole punched in my wall, gouges all over my stairwell walls, and the once pristine Yamaha now bears numerous scratches and chips. They also scratched my hardwood floors from dragging the metal piano wheels, stained my white baseboards beige after dropping a wood stain bottle, and then, to add insult to injury, slicked up my floor with WD-40 leaking from his bag!

And for this carnage, they still had the nerve to charge me the full $600!

"Jay" calls himself "the piano man," but he demonstrated zero respect for this beautiful piece of history. He is hostile, unprofessional, and utterly clueless about proper piano handling.

Please, please, PLEASE avoid "Pianos for Humanity" and "Jay" at all costs. Even if you're considering buying a piano from him, I implore you to hire a reputable, professional moving company. I doubt he would show any regards for the instruments once a sale is made. This experience was a nightmare from start to finish, and I wouldn't wish...

The most fun you could ever have moving a piano! We found a great piano but no way to get it, so I called all around to find general movers, piano movers, anything but it was all outrageous and all they did was haul it for us at some point in the next few weeks. So I stumbled across Jay's company, Pianos for Humanity. He sells pianos so I called to ask if we could pay him to move one. Well, yes, how about tomorrow? Jay is so much more than a piano mover or seller though! He coordinated and picked up the piano from the previous owner without any trouble to us then brought it to us when we were home and then the real fun began!

For less than the other quotes I got from just movers Jay took apart and dusted the back and inside of the piano, then cleaned and polished up and reassembled the piano flawlessly, explaining the different parts. Once that was done he rolled it easily into the house and he tuned it for us! I guess I expected piano tuning to be repetitive and uninteresting but it was surprisingly fun, and then he played several really fun tunes for the kids and now little sister wants to play the piano too! So he moved, cleaned, spruced up, tuned, and then played the piano for us all for a lot less than the movers and especially the piano movers would charge.

When we decided to get a piano I expected it would be like pulling teeth, hard and painful and always taking longer than you can stand. Instead we all had a blast and got a beautiful antique upright piano tuned, played, and placed right in our home where we wanted it within about a day of finding the piano we wanted. He handled everything and was so much more flexible and personable than the alternatives. Jay truly is...

Not sure if it was Jay ('The Piano Man'?) I spoke with, but that had to have been one of the rudest interactions I've ever encountered with a rep at any piano store. I had a question about one of the models they have (literally just asked what year it was made), and there was immediate hostility. The dude may not care what it is or when it was made, but if I'm investing money into an kind of instrument, I want to know everything I can about it. I told him that I'm relocating to CO in about a month and asked if he could post a recording of it if it wouldn't be too much trouble (originally found on Facebook)--he just said to come in person and hung up. I was fully intending to purchase the piano over the phone and have it taken care of within the week like any regular transaction, but I wasn't able to get that far into the conversation. No clue why he acted like it was such an imposition to be...