Steinway piano buyers are claiming to have been convinced by salespeople into buying the well-known pianos as an investment. The salespeople allegedly told the customers the pianos would increase in value with time, making a “better investment than a Wall Street stock.” According to many customers, they were even shown charts demonstrating how the price of Steinway pianos had increased over the years. Many customers, however, bought Steinway pianos at prices between $70,000 and $150,000 and then saw the value of their pianos immediately drop by 50% or more.
Many customers kept their pianos in perfect condition and never even played them, but the value of the pianos still decreased by tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of months. A brochure created by Steinway, which was titled “Your Steinway Investment”, was used to convince customers into buying them. The brochure called Steinway pianos “an investment instrument unique in all the world” and said that “for more than a century and a half, every handmade Steinway has increased in value.”
If you or someone you know has bought a Steinway piano as an investment after salespeople helped convince you to do so, we would like to speak to you about a potential case with our affiliated law firm.