346XP Saga NOT OVER, Husvarna says NO NEW SAW FOR YOU!!!!!!!

[zeek]

346XP Saga NOT OVER, Husqvarna says NO NEW SAW FOR YOU!!!!!!!

Ok . . . here the last post for those who have followed this twisted, insane story, http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/178309.htm

Looooooooooooooooooooong story short:
August 11, 2011 Melody tells me she has approved the new saw to be sent and that she sent the request to the factory, should be at my house in 7-10 days.

12 days go by no saw

14 days go by no saw and I call Melody, leave message no call back for two days.

16 days no saw, call again get another lady, says Melody has the shipping information, and that Melody is out today, but she will talk to her and call me the next day.

18 days no saw NO CALL

Finally talked to Melody's boss and she promised to get back to me and finally did on Friday 9-2-11to inform me that my request was denied by Husqvarna factory techs.

Why you ask? Because they do not replace professional saws they fix them! All this time they thought I had a residential saw, even though I gave them my serial number and told them many times it was a PROFESSIONAL SAW!!!

I forcefully told her I needed to talk to somebody who could fix the problem and then Rick came on the phone. Rick is from the dealer/tech side, nice guy and not happy about this situation, seems genuinely concerned about the problem. He even said we created the problem and we will fix it. He is calling Weirton Rental Center to see what is going on. Said he will call me Tuesday and I hope he does.

Funny thing is while on the phone with Rick I was at my friend's house borrowing his Stihl 026, hmmmm, so I hope that they fix my saw, I DO NOT TRUST WEIRTON RENTAL, to fix my saw they have proven incompetent on many levels, at least the hack that worked on my saw. My warranty is up in February and no doubt this saw will die after the warranty so stay tuned for a good deal on a used, hacked, maimed 346XP. Yeah, pretty bitter right now.

My wife urged me to buy another saw, honey you need a back up saw (she is great) so unless Husqvarna gives me a HUGELY INSANE discount on a new saw I am never buying their products again and will sell all my Husqvarna stuff, even the ear muffs . . . will this hurt them? NO, but they have a Facebook page and I am sure they will be happy when I share my true, factually accurate, non-slanderous, non-libelous story.

One more thing . . . had to use my 17 year old Craftsman to free the pinched Stihl because my "Professional" saw was . . . . . . . .

 

[16:1mix]

Warranty pergatory?
:bang:

 

[JimmyT]

Zeek, you might do better if you contact Husqvarna in Charlotte North Carolina Phone # 1-800-487-5951. They will work with the distributor, and the distributor will work with the dealer. There is a chain of command and sometimes it is better to start at the top.

 

[zeek]

My next step

Zeek, you might do better if you contact Husqvarna in Charlotte North Carolina Phone # 1-800-487-5951. They will work with the distributor, and the distributor will work with the dealer. There is a chain of command and sometimes it is better to start at the top.

Great advice and if I do not have my saw and an extended warranty I will call and get the ball moving again. I work in public education and I have been known to go right to the top if needed and it always proves fruitful. Who do I even ask to talk to when I call? Seems like the pro side is different than the consumer, non-pro side.
Thanks
Zeek

 

[JimmyT]

Zeek, last summer I had a Dolmar PS-5100S that was running a little hot. I sent a letter to the Dolmar Factory in Hamburg Germany. They contacted Dolmar U.S.A. in Georgia, they had the distributor ship a brand new model a PS-5105 to my dealer all at no charge. My 5100 was 3 months out of warranty and Dolmar stood behind it.

 

[Isna]

How are the Stihls holding up? Any problems with the saws or the warranty?

The Huskys did "feel" better to me but the stihls are just stronger. No problems so far...

 

[Isna]

What do you mean nobody could figure out why?. What kind of failure are you talking about . Lean siezures, bearing failures , carb failures etc. Iam sure if three saws died from the same reason Husqvarna would want to know the reasons why So please explain why nobody couldnt solve the reasons for failure.

The saws would just stop working in the middle of the day. No major failure, just stopped and would not start again. Would sometimes start again several days later, but ended up stopping again. In the end, they just wouldn't start anymore, no matter how long we waited. We could not spot the problem. The dealer either. The saws were then shipped around from one tech to another (at least according to the dealer). We never got to know what the problem was. We also got unexplained seizures on previous 372s.
Note: never had any problems with the 346. Love that saw!

 

[zeek]

Will do

Zeek, last summer I had a Dolmar PS-5100S that was running a little hot. I sent a letter to the Dolmar Factory in Hamburg Germany. They contacted Dolmar U.S.A. in Georgia, they had the distributor ship a brand new model a PS-5105 to my dealer all at no charge. My 5100 was 3 months out of warranty and Dolmar stood behind it.

I started a letter a while back that was going to Husqvarna in N.C, but since I was told I was getting a new saw I never finished it. I really do not want my saw back, I want a new one because I simply do not trust that it will be fixed. I am really hoping they send a new saw with a new warranty.
Thanks
Zeek

 

[JimmyT]

I started a letter a while back that was going to Husqvarna in N.C, but since I was told I was getting a new saw I never finished it. I really do not want my saw back, I want a new one because I simply do not trust that it will be fixed. I am really hoping they send a new saw with a new warranty.
Thanks
Zeek

Zeek, it's the distributor that doesn't want to play ball. That's why sometimes you have to go over his head.

 

[BloodOnTheIce]

Hell I get warranties approved by VA Beach within 2 days of submitting them, and my account is credited within 4 days.

But in 5 years of doing warranty work, they have only replaced 2 complete units, usually it's more cost
effective to have the dealer repair it.

 

[JimmyT]

Hell I get warranties approved by VA Beach within 2 days of submitting them, and my account is credited within 4 days.

Sounds like Stihl has got a pretty good warranty program.

 

[JimmyT]

One thing that has always impressed me with Stihl, I can e-mail them with a question and they will have me an answer within 24 hours.

 

[rob066]

One problem I had with Stihl was with an ms390. It shredded the pto side bearing within 25 hours. It was out of warranty. But I was pissed that that saw lasted that long. I call to Shelton CT. The rep there told me it was my problem. And then proceeded to ask me if I had an hour meter on my saw. I did buy 3 other Stihl products after that. I wasnt going to base the whole Stihl product line on that pos 390. But I wished I had that rep in my hands for his bs answer.

 

[MacLaren]

Based upon what youve written, thats terrible customer service to say the least. makes it easy to see why Husqvarna is having trouble. Also makes Stihl that much more tempting to a Husqvarna man I would assume.

 

[komatsuvarna]

Damn brother, your luck sounds like mine lol. I hope they get it straightened out for you.

 

[zogger]

fuel spark timing compression

The saws would just stop working in the middle of the day. No major failure, just stopped and would not start again. Would sometimes start again several days later, but ended up stopping again. In the end, they just wouldn't start anymore, no matter how long we waited. We could not spot the problem. The dealer either. The saws were then shipped around from one tech to another (at least according to the dealer). We never got to know what the problem was. We also got unexplained seizures on previous 372s.
Note: never had any problems with the 346. Love that saw!

Got to be one of them things was going wrong, and it becomes a process of elimination to find out.

I never owned one but just from reading here the 372 is one of the most reliable saws ever built. So you apparently got a sequential serial number bad batch right from the assembly line. Would have been interesting to know what the real problem was.

Now to me, in my pure amateur wrench opinion, intermittent failure like that after some good running is heat related. You are losing spark as the coil gets hot, or something happens with the fuel delivery (a LOT of options there), or the rings start sticking and you lose compression.

Did you ever pull the muffler to take a peek after one of those times they just quit and wouldn't restart? And what did the plugs look like? Was a pressure test or vacuum test ever performed after they would not start at all? Heat related warpage causing an air leak perhaps (bad cylinder casting maybe...), which in turn starts to lead to lean running heat seizing?

Just would have been nice to really find out, just for future reference.

Any brand of anything can have some lemons, even lemons mixed in with jewels.

Ha! Back in ye aulde daze in Detroit the line workers would always say "you don't want a car assembled on Monday morning or Friday afternoon".

And it was the truth, Monday mornings are "hang over assembled" cars, Friday afternoon are "who cares let's just get outta here" cars.

Might be the same with saws, who knoweth...

 

[STIHLTHEDEERE]

ok . . . Here the last post for those who have followed this twisted, insane story, http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/178309.htm

looooooooooooooooooooong story short:
August 11, 2011 melody tells me she has approved the new saw to be sent and that she sent the request to the factory, should be at my house in 7-10 days.

12 days go by no saw

14 days go by no saw and i call melody, leave message no call back for two days.

16 days no saw, call again get another lady, says melody has the shipping information, and that melody is out today, but she will talk to her and call me the next day.

18 days no saw no call

finally talked to melody's boss and she promised to get back to me and finally did on friday 9-2-11to inform me that my request was denied by husqvarna factory techs.

Why you ask? Because they do not replace professional saws they fix them! All this time they thought i had a residential saw, even though i gave them my serial number and told them many times it was a professional saw!!!

I forcefully told her i needed to talk to somebody who could fix the problem and then rick came on the phone. Rick is from the dealer/tech side, nice guy and not happy about this situation, seems genuinely concerned about the problem. He even said we created the problem and we will fix it. He is calling weirton rental center to see what is going on. Said he will call me tuesday and i hope he does.

Funny thing is while on the phone with rick i was at my friend's house borrowing his stihl 026, hmmmm, so i hope that they fix my saw, i do not trust weirton rental, to fix my saw they have proven incompetent on many levels, at least the hack that worked on my saw. My warranty is up in february and no doubt this saw will die after the warranty so stay tuned for a good deal on a used, hacked, maimed 346xp. Yeah, pretty bitter right now.

My wife urged me to buy another saw, honey you need a back up saw (she is great) so unless husqvarna gives me a hugely insane discount on a new saw i am never buying their products again and will sell all my husqvarna stuff, even the ear muffs . . . Will this hurt them? No, but they have a facebook page and i am sure they will be happy when i share my true, factually accurate, non-slanderous, non-libelous story.

One more thing . . . Had to use my 17 year old craftsman to free the pinched stihl because my "professional" saw was . . . . . . . .

lesson learned for you, next time call 1 800 4 a stihl, all your problems will be solved!

 

[rob066]

lesson learned for you, next time call 1 800 4 a stihl, all your problems will be solved!

ATLEAST that is what you are hoping for

 

[TreePointer]

Hell I get warranties approved by VA Beach within 2 days of submitting them, and my account is credited within 4 days.

But in 5 years of doing warranty work, they have only replaced 2 complete units, usually it's more cost
effective to have the dealer repair it.

I also noticed that from the customer end. Our new (2009) Husqvarna lawn tractor blew a rod on its B&S Vanguard 23 within a few months of ownership (<70 hours). Briggs would only authorize an new top end, even though the full service Husqvarna dealer and I tried to get them to send a new engine. Almost 200 more hours on it since, and no troubles--fingers crossed.

 

[rob066]

I also noticed that from the customer end. Our new (2009) Husqvarna lawn tractor blew a rod on its B&S Vanguard 23 within a few months of ownership (<70 hours). Briggs would only authorize an new top end, even though the full service Husqvarna dealer and I tried to get them to send a new engine. Almost 200 more hours on it since, and no troubles--fingers crossed.

Off subject. I Saw flagstone with a Corecut concrete saw. It has a 23 hp vanguard engine. It has been extremely used and abused and no problems. You most definetilay got a fluke engine. Out of all saw engines the Briggs hold up about the best. Honda 24 hp engines dont last for crap. Kohler in the middle .