I had a problem with my Husqvarna battery charger. It was up to me to prove the unit was the one I bought within the warranty period. No where to send it for repair just buy a new one at $139 said:
Husqvarna warrantees going down the toilet
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Willing to bet his dealer waited to order parts to reach his minimum for no shipping charge.
THIS, Right Here is my only real Complaint with Husqvarna.
I bought my First Husky, my "Old Reliable" 266XP in '91 and my 23 Compact. Top Handle a couple years later, still have and use them both. Back then, there were a couple Husqvarna Dealers near me, Thanks to Husky selling at Lowe's, the shop I bought them from is now a convenience store, the other is now a Stihl dealer, a Great Shop, that I give what business I can too, but I still prefer Husqvarna saws, so Tim grimaces when he hears I bought a New Saw. I Wish they were Stihl a Husky dealer, but they have outright told me that the sales at Lowe's was THE reason they dropped Husqvarna for Stihl.
It really SUCKS BALLS, because Lowe's can't even Order the Pro Level saws, never mind service anything. The Best Husky Lowe's carries is the 460 Rancher, and the only Pro saw that Coastal Ranch and Home carried was the 372XP, Great saw, but it has been probably over a year,since I have seen one on the shelf, and I don't believe they offer service, and I wouldn't trust any of my saws to them for service if they do.
It's Sad, there aren't any Husky dealers within a reasonable drive of me.
Madsen's in Centralia, WA is AWESOME, and I can often work them into my lunch break being a truck driver, but Washington just dropped the out of state sales tax exemption YESTERDAY, so now something like the 395XP I want will cost an extra $90+, I Hope the Backlash from that changes that decision in a Hurry, it is really going to Hurt a Lot of Washington businesses, especially in Clark County, just across the bridge from Portland.
Doug
Lowe's carries SOME of the Husky 4xx series saws, NO Pro level saws, can't even Order them.
I believe that Coastal Ranch and Home, is just a PNW chain, but not Positive, they Have Had the 372XP in the past, but I haven't seen one near me in probably over a year.
I don't know of Any Big Box stores that carry Husky Pro saws with any selection, or stock on hand, don't even know of any that can even special order any
Doug
If you have a Good dealer that close, I'm Jealous, Husqvarna's BIG Weakness is their Dealer Support, the Big Box stores don't offer service, or sell the Pro level saws.
I n My Opinion, Husqvarna builds Damn Good saws, counting the Wife's saw, there are 7 Huskies in my Garage, in almost 30 years, I have NEVER needed to use Husqvarna's warranty, I also have the 125BVX leaf blower for an eighth Husky, Great tool as well.
One big thing is, DON'T use "Pump Gas" in your saws, Especially if they sit unused for extended periods, use the "Clear" Non Ethanol gas in them. Having some of the canned premix on hand is a good idea to top off with, if your saws are going to sit awhile, be sure to run it enough to get that into the fuel line and carb before shutting it down and storing it.
My 23 Compact, WAS a Finnicky, Stubborn little Basstard, until I learned about the Non Ethanol gas, it didn't Like even 92 octane pump gas at all, it ran fine on it, but if it sat much at all with pump gas, it was a Major PITA AFTERWARDS. Now that I run Non Ethanol in it, we have come to an understanding, if I treat and feed her right, she will treat me right, it's been a Good solution.
I wouldn't Hesitate to buy another Husky, matter of fact, there are at least 3 more that I want, a 395XP, a 372XP preferably a Pre X Torq if I can find one, and a 346XP, again if I can find one .
Hi, I'm Doug, and I have a Problem
(There are Huskies I want, and don't Have Yet
)Doug
Huskybill
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My old family run husky dealer is 45 minutes away. I have a new husky dealer that’s in the next town but I figure being new what does he know. I have to support my older dealer he’s always been there for me.
I used my 240se, 266se, 2101 and 2100cd for decades never a problem.
I think the big box stores don’t sell the pro saws due to not stepping on the local dealers toes. That’s ok with me. How can I take a big box saw to my husky dealer if I have a problem? That’s egg on my face because I didn’t buy it from them. The last new husky saws I purchased from him were a 353, 575xp, 395xp which I still have. Three saws purchased one shot. We cut 20 cords right away the saws paid for themselves. At $300 per cord at the time. I thought I was done cutting firewood.
I used my 240se, 266se, 2101 and 2100cd for decades never a problem.
I think the big box stores don’t sell the pro saws due to not stepping on the local dealers toes. That’s ok with me. How can I take a big box saw to my husky dealer if I have a problem? That’s egg on my face because I didn’t buy it from them. The last new husky saws I purchased from him were a 353, 575xp, 395xp which I still have. Three saws purchased one shot. We cut 20 cords right away the saws paid for themselves. At $300 per cord at the time. I thought I was done cutting firewood.
sjp
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Huskybill
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Dumb question?
What if you purchased from a big box store a Husqvarna and it broke down does the big box store have a mechanic to repair it?
My husky dealer was repairing husky saws that other dealers couldn’t fix. The husky rep would take the saws to him.
When your in the tree business how do you handle the down time.? Buy more saws? Time is money. I stocked extra rims, drums, bars, rolls of chain, chain loops. Cutting on a weekend when the dealer was closed if I needed something I had it in stock.
What if you purchased from a big box store a Husqvarna and it broke down does the big box store have a mechanic to repair it?
My husky dealer was repairing husky saws that other dealers couldn’t fix. The husky rep would take the saws to him.
When your in the tree business how do you handle the down time.? Buy more saws? Time is money. I stocked extra rims, drums, bars, rolls of chain, chain loops. Cutting on a weekend when the dealer was closed if I needed something I had it in stock.
Nope, Not a Dumb Question.
The simple answer is..........."It Depends"
, on a couple things.How recent was the Purchase?
What was the Failure?
How much use did the saw appear to have on it?
Often a Big Box store will Exchange a Failed tool, in the name of Customer Relations, but the above questions could be taken into consideration.
With many consumer products, from Chainsaws to Cars and many more, the dealer doesn't get much reimbursement for warranty work, no where near what they would get for a Retail Service charge for the same repair, is what I have been told, so Naturally dealers don't like to get a bunch of Cut Rate repair work on saws(Cars, Appliances, etc.) that THEY didn't sell. My understanding is that a warranty repair, well after the sale, will be directed to the nearest dealer, if the BBS, decides against an exchange.
In saw sales, the Home Owner class saws are the Bread and Butter of chainsaw sales, so when Lowe's moves in a mile down the road, like they did to My original dealer, it can really hurt those types of sales. Lowe's may or may not beat a Dealer on Price alone, but they have longer hours, and are open on Sundays, so shopping is easier, and a home owner is often going to a BBS for other things, adding to the convenience of buying a saw there.
Pro level saws don't have the sales Volume, but a Pro level buyer is more likely to buy saws a bit more frequently, and will be much more likely to buy.more related items such as PPE, More Chains, Oil and such, and Peavies felling wedges Etc. With the Pro level customers, the side sales can add up, and be a more steady income source.
Sure, Shops LOVE to sell saws, but the secondary sales can really help the bottom line.
Doug
The Coastal Farm and Ranch store in Eugene only stocks Husqvarna "Rancher" saws, but the larger store in Albany carries Stihl Pro saws including the MS661. Not sure if they have a functional service depart at the Albany store, but even if they did I don't see myself using it. For that I want experience, rather than someone paging through a service manual.
"did he/she/it turn in it's warranty paperwork? or did he/she/it's say F' it and not bother? Tell him/her/ it to send in his/her/it's paper work with the required backup data and enjoy their warranty... too many lazy sacks of **** that do not and then they whine."
Ken Morgan post #21 are you accusing me of whining? You seem to have problems with the quote feature. I related an encounter I had recently. Somewhat along the lines of the thread. Surely what I typed could have been more accurate. I generally do not have warranty issues and like I stated my help quite likely dropped it hard enough to damage. The receipt is a yellow carbon copy type of thing and surely lost on my end. I did not know what to expect. The electric pole saw should have gone back for warranty work for leaking bar oil but I "glued it". I bought battery stuff there top handle, pole saw and a top of the line string trimmer and two batteries and two chargers kind was thinking a good chance he would send it in and get a new one but not so. If it was a gasoline saw things would have been different I expect. The guy and I have both gotten older over the years. I really think it could be repaired but just spent $100 on a new one delivered off ebay. Just a high cost of using Husqvarna as opposed to Makita that you can buy kits and have excess chargers after a while. Zero electric motorcycles seem to have more problems with the chargers than the actual bikes for some owners.
Ken Morgan post #21 are you accusing me of whining? You seem to have problems with the quote feature. I related an encounter I had recently. Somewhat along the lines of the thread. Surely what I typed could have been more accurate. I generally do not have warranty issues and like I stated my help quite likely dropped it hard enough to damage. The receipt is a yellow carbon copy type of thing and surely lost on my end. I did not know what to expect. The electric pole saw should have gone back for warranty work for leaking bar oil but I "glued it". I bought battery stuff there top handle, pole saw and a top of the line string trimmer and two batteries and two chargers kind was thinking a good chance he would send it in and get a new one but not so. If it was a gasoline saw things would have been different I expect. The guy and I have both gotten older over the years. I really think it could be repaired but just spent $100 on a new one delivered off ebay. Just a high cost of using Husqvarna as opposed to Makita that you can buy kits and have excess chargers after a while. Zero electric motorcycles seem to have more problems with the chargers than the actual bikes for some owners.
"The independently owned dealerships are a roll of the dice for all brands."
Precisely.
I don't think one should generalize about Husqy and Stihl based on experience with just one dealer.
I bought a $1400 saw from my local Stihl dealer. It eventually became apparent that it was the first "pro" model item from Stihl they had ever sold, and the first M-Tronic item they had ever serviced, some four years from its introduction - they did not even have the software kit on their end. The saw 'surged' constantly on the first tank of gas and when I told them that they told me I just "wasn't used to how that kind of saw works." (A clearing saw). I told them, ummm, no, this is the 3rd saw I have purchased just that year, and the 12th I have purchased in my life, including being the 5th clearing saw - which was clearly 5 more clearing saws than these guys had ever handled. And I write "these" because the distributor rep was equally clueless. They refused to do anything despite multiple requests and letting them have it back a day or two at a time, until on the 3rd tank of gas the saw was fouling each plug put in it within 5 to 10 minutes. I left the saw with them over a winter and told them to fix it or I would personally walk it in the door of the big HQ in Virginia Beach. They eventually told me they just "pushed the factory reset" via the M-Tronic software. I suspect they refused to acknowledge any other problem and actually replaced the carb that may have had a jet manufactured with a port a touch bigger than M-Tronic thought it was, but that is just a guess. Or the ever mysterious "solenoid" was replaced.
Saw runs fine now. Does this mean Stihl is junk, or their total warranty system is worthless and I should have never given up allegiance to Husqvarna? Of course not. It just means I should not have purchased a professional grade saw from a Kubota dealer.
I do hope some of the various legal actions against proprietary software in 21st century equipment in various countries and states and manufacturers eventually bear a fruit that I can have my own copy of the diagnostic software or at least the ability to plug my own saw into my own laptop and at least push the "reset" button all by myself. I know with John Deere, there is quite a hacker underground across several continents and farmers, who tend to have the ear of legislators everywhere, are pushing back against no-owner-maintenance products.
Precisely.
I don't think one should generalize about Husqy and Stihl based on experience with just one dealer.
I bought a $1400 saw from my local Stihl dealer. It eventually became apparent that it was the first "pro" model item from Stihl they had ever sold, and the first M-Tronic item they had ever serviced, some four years from its introduction - they did not even have the software kit on their end. The saw 'surged' constantly on the first tank of gas and when I told them that they told me I just "wasn't used to how that kind of saw works." (A clearing saw). I told them, ummm, no, this is the 3rd saw I have purchased just that year, and the 12th I have purchased in my life, including being the 5th clearing saw - which was clearly 5 more clearing saws than these guys had ever handled. And I write "these" because the distributor rep was equally clueless. They refused to do anything despite multiple requests and letting them have it back a day or two at a time, until on the 3rd tank of gas the saw was fouling each plug put in it within 5 to 10 minutes. I left the saw with them over a winter and told them to fix it or I would personally walk it in the door of the big HQ in Virginia Beach. They eventually told me they just "pushed the factory reset" via the M-Tronic software. I suspect they refused to acknowledge any other problem and actually replaced the carb that may have had a jet manufactured with a port a touch bigger than M-Tronic thought it was, but that is just a guess. Or the ever mysterious "solenoid" was replaced.
Saw runs fine now. Does this mean Stihl is junk, or their total warranty system is worthless and I should have never given up allegiance to Husqvarna? Of course not. It just means I should not have purchased a professional grade saw from a Kubota dealer.
I do hope some of the various legal actions against proprietary software in 21st century equipment in various countries and states and manufacturers eventually bear a fruit that I can have my own copy of the diagnostic software or at least the ability to plug my own saw into my own laptop and at least push the "reset" button all by myself. I know with John Deere, there is quite a hacker underground across several continents and farmers, who tend to have the ear of legislators everywhere, are pushing back against no-owner-maintenance products.
I have thought about starting a thread for the following, but I will just borrow this one...
Signs You Went to the Wrong Saw Shop
They hand you a new fuel filter from a bag of them, and resent your request for a small bag to put it in.
They don't sell mix oil in the bottle size one would mix with 5 gallons of gas.
They don't sell any synthetic mix oil. "That's a rip-off, you don't need it."
They don't have any "Pro" models of saws on hand, at all, and don't plan to ever offer one. "Nobody buys those."
Signs You Went to the Wrong Saw Shop
They hand you a new fuel filter from a bag of them, and resent your request for a small bag to put it in.
They don't sell mix oil in the bottle size one would mix with 5 gallons of gas.
They don't sell any synthetic mix oil. "That's a rip-off, you don't need it."
They don't have any "Pro" models of saws on hand, at all, and don't plan to ever offer one. "Nobody buys those."
How many of the 10 stihl dealers are any better.
Luck lol.
Yesterday I drove 35 min to a stihl dealer for a fuel line. I called dealers between here and there and multiple dealers asked me which fuel line, the one that the fuel flows through
. I didn't bother calling the stihl/husky dealer that's 5 min from my house, the last time I was in there they told me that all husky saws were made in china , really . If it was a husky saw I could have looked it up online and then ordered it no problem. The dealer I went to I do everything I can to send business to, they stock a lot of parts and know their stuff. The first time I went there I had a 441 that wasn't oiling, he had the oil pump in stock and was $30 cheaper than the other dealers in Grand Rapids that had to order it. I drove up there and planned on buying the pump and the drive since I wasn't 100% which one it was, he suggested that the pump may be fine and then let me tear my saw apart on his sales counter(this was not in the back room), he also services saws so I was quite surprised by that. I ended up buying the drive only since my pump was fine, I also bough a bunch of files, not cause I needed them right then, but because I wanted to support the dealer however I could 
.Moral of the story, as has been said already, all dealers are not the same, and take care of the dealers that take care of you(and hope they don't dry up).
Bummer about your experience, you're not the only one and it shouldn't be that way.
Dang I didn’t know Wa. dropped out of state sales tax exemption. Every new saw I have purchased for past 20 yrs with the exception of two from Co have come from Centralia, Olympia. Leave it to politicians to screw up a good thing. I bet they were D’s not R’s!
I'm partially to Huskys because of my early motocross days.
That said,have a Stihl dealer 15 miles from my house.
He gives me sh1t,but NEVER left me hanging because I'm not running HIS brand.
Bought a pro model weed eater from him,had problems after the first year.
He told me at the time of purchase I should go with the echo brand.
My mistake.
Bearing went out on my Walker mower,couldn't find one,went to him,two days later he called and said it was in his shop.
Like people mentioned,the DEALER makes the difference.
The bad,he's the only small engine repair shop within 45 miles,so he is BUSY.
That said,have a Stihl dealer 15 miles from my house.
He gives me sh1t,but NEVER left me hanging because I'm not running HIS brand.
Bought a pro model weed eater from him,had problems after the first year.
He told me at the time of purchase I should go with the echo brand.
My mistake.
Bearing went out on my Walker mower,couldn't find one,went to him,two days later he called and said it was in his shop.
Like people mentioned,the DEALER makes the difference.
The bad,he's the only small engine repair shop within 45 miles,so he is BUSY.
It was ABSOLUTELY the Dumbocrats on that one.
I don't know if out of state online and mail/phone orders are still tax exempt or not, could be, it would be worth calling and asking.
Over the counter, walk out the door with it, the exemption was supposed to end July 1st
Madsen's along with a lot of other Businesses understand how this is likely to Hurt them, but a lot of Dumbocrats have proven, life is possible, with no detectable Brain Activity.
Doug
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Did you also stock muffler bolts and choke levers ? lol Just teasing as I am a huge 372 & 395 fan, much more than the Stihls in those sizes. Most dealers around here that are worth anything, will repair almost any brand, not just one.
