Dealers should be required to take a test........

[benp]

Based on something as simple as the difference between chisel and semi chisel chain.....

Last April I was at my folks in KY and I went and visited a Stihl "Elite" dealer.

I was beyond stoked, never been to an "Elite Dealer."

I was envisioning a ball bounce, Stihl cheerleaders, every saw they made to fondle, and chains made while you wait.

I was hoping for the chains made while you wait.

I was wanting some RMC in 3/8, .050, 84dl. That cant be too hard, right?

Well, my dad and I got in there, (no ball bounce or cheerleaders), and I inquired about the RM semi chisel chain.

This was my response.....no kidding.

"You dont want that safety chain, this is what most people get." and a box of corresponding size RSC was flopped on the counter.

Me - "I wasn't asking about full chisel, i wanted semi."

Elite Dealer - "Yep, the safety chain. Most everybody gets this."

Me - "Ok...Thanks for your time. I guess I will keep on the look out for the safety chain."


Fast forward to today and 1100 miles north.

I was ferreting out a 441CM for my buddy at the local dealers. Primarily for the after sale support and as I expected....non existent. They can order you the saw but dont have A one clue as to what an M Tronic is.

I was at the better Stihl dealer in town and asked about the semi chisel again.

And guess what.........

Same...dang...thing.

A box of RSC was flopped on the counter because they didn't have the "safety chain" that big and that's what everybody gets, the RSC.

I don't get it.

Sorry for the rant, but gee whiz.

 

[stihl023/5]

Sometimes a little mom and pop hole in the wall is the best. But those are going out too.:msp_mad:

 

[husqvarnaguy]

Hate it when they dont listen. Maybe I am not like everybody else, so just give me what I asked for.

 

[tree monkey]

Based on something as simple as the difference between chisel and semi chisel chain.....

Last April I was at my folks in KY and I went and visited a Stihl "Elite" dealer.

I was beyond stoked, never been to an "Elite Dealer."

I was envisioning a ball bounce, Stihl cheerleaders, every saw they made to fondle, and chains made while you wait.

I was hoping for the chains made while you wait.

I was wanting some RMC in 3/8, .050, 84dl. That cant be too hard, right?

Well, my dad and I got in there, (no ball bounce or cheerleaders), and I inquired about the RM semi chisel chain.

This was my response.....no kidding.

"You dont want that safety chain, this is what most people get." and a box of corresponding size RSC was flopped on the counter.

Me - "I wasn't asking about full chisel, i wanted semi."

Elite Dealer - "Yep, the safety chain. Most everybody gets this."

Me - "Ok...Thanks for your time. I guess I will keep on the look out for the safety chain."


Fast forward to today and 1100 miles north.

I was ferreting out a 441CM for my buddy at the local dealers. Primarily for the after sale support and as I expected....non existent. They can order you the saw but dont have A one clue as to what an M Tronic is.

I was at the better Stihl dealer in town and asked about the semi chisel again.

And guess what.........

Same...dang...thing.

A box of RSC was flopped on the counter because they didn't have the "safety chain" that big and that's what everybody gets, the RSC.

I don't get it.

Sorry for the rant, but gee whiz.

if your going to andy's gtg, i can bring what you need/want

 

[justtools]

My stihl dealer is a nice guy. But he had the same response when I asked about rm chain. I believe he feels Stihl only makes 2 types of chain. Thats safety and non safety according to him. He did order what I wanted after I gave him the part number.

 

[Quacker152]

Walked into "The Stihl dealer" in town, asked the counter parts specialist for a 1/4" chain file. He says they make 1/4" chain, I walked around to the file shelf, picked up a 1/4" file and said,, I'll take this one!!!
'

 

[computeruser]

Been to a couple shops like that. Luckily our local one actually knows what's up with the current and future product line-up. Want square ground skip? They have that. Want semi-chisel? Yup, got that, too. It's nice to deal with that kind of shop - no BS, no selling you #### you don't really want, no making #### up when they don't know the right answer, etc.

 

[NPKenny]

Sometimes a little mom and pop hole in the wall is the best. But those are going out too.:msp_mad:

My favorite dealer is a one man operation in NE Arizona that stocks all the pro saws, stocks every Stihl chain, and builds loops on site. He'll also sell you used parts to fix saws!!! These features are ALL non-existent at my local dealers.

He also won't over or under-sell you on what you want (unlike the "dealer" trying to sell me a 290 while I was inquiring about a 441).

A good dealer is absolutely an asset, while the bad ones make you appreciate the internet.

 

[Philbert]

The folks at my local STIHL dealer in Saint Paul know their stuff. It is a saw store.

Not saying that they have a photographic memory of every part for every saw, but they know how to look things up when they are not at the tips of their fingers. And most of their reference manuals are well dog-eared and annotated - something that is hard to do, they note, on the electronic versions.

That said, I did some 'window shopping' recently at a larger format tool dealer I passed by 'up north'. I asked the sales guy what the 'C' stood for on the MS441C. He said that it must have the 'easy-start' feature . . . .

Philbert

 

[kevin j]

phil
is that Twin City Saw?
bought 1/2 inch chain there years ago. great place. but I thought they moved,just haven't looked further as I don't have Husqv. They were the closest real H dealer, about the only actual
'saw 'shop I know of.

 

[young]

i live in ky and yellow semi-chisel doesnt exist here. noone stock rmc, only the green stuff. stupid kentucky.

i have to special order it if i want it myself.

 

[D.Marsh]

I wonder if the "Elite" status is just dependent on how much in sales they make, not how good of service they provide. My local "Elite" dealer took me for a good run not long ago. (I won't go into too much detail as I already ranted about it in another thread :bang Went to buy a bar for my 050, requested a bar made for the 066, as my saw has larger 'pins' for the bar to mount on. Argued for 15 minutes before they finally, reluctantly, ordered my bar. When I got it it didn't fit and upon questioning the store, they said 'Well, you were ordering the wrong bar so we changed the order, why should we have to replace it?' Really?! Changed my order without notifying me? After that fiasco was cleared up and the proper bar delivered (I hoped was just a rookie at the counter) I took it in for engine problems. Hard to start, etc. They CLAIMED to have looked thru the entire saw and said just a carb. Month and a half and 280 bucks later I got my saw back, STILL didn't work. Its now in the hands of a trusted friend/mechanic, with bad crank seals and worn rings. There's no WAY they had checked it over, just threw a carb on and called it good. Hell the compression was only 60lbs! I'll not be going back to them for any service in the future. Seemed a general lack of knowledge unless they had their books in front of them, and poor customer support. Shame really. Wish Stihl would drop the hammer on them for their business practices under their name. Rant over, sorry folks, lol

 

[tree monkey]

elite means thay only sell stihl
thay won't give me elite status because i sell jred and husky

 

[D.Marsh]

They must have found a loophole then. These guys sell John Deere as well. In fact, I think JD is their primary stock. Well either way, the "Elite" title doesn't always mean better shop. :msp_tongue:

 

[Roll Tide]

elite means thay only sell stihl
thay won't give me elite status because i sell jred and husky

That's not true there are many elite dealers that carry other brands to become an elite dealer you have to carry atleast 50 % of there products . I should know we just upgraded to elite status

 

[tree monkey]

They must have found a loophole then. These guys sell John Deere as well. In fact, I think JD is their primary stock. Well either way, the "Elite" title doesn't always mean better shop. :msp_tongue:

it's that way here to:bang:

 

[mattaggie]

Elite just means that they sell only Stihl in any product line that Stihl makes. So only Stihl chainsaws, trimmers, blowers, etc and accessories for these items. So they can sell John Deere products because they dont compete with Stihl.

The store I work at, Ace, is a Stihl dealer. We are not an elite dealer because we carry a few cheap poulan, craftsman, toro, and black and decker items. But we sell 20 times more Stihl than these other brands put together. We cater to home owners, and farm and ranch customers. Only pro model we carry is a 362 and sell it maybe 3 times a year. We've had Stihl since 2000. Here is my insight on being a knowledgable Stihl Dealer.

I'd rate us as an average dealer. I took over managing the Stihl equipment (but not parts, another person is in charge there) a few years ago and I was blown away at how clueless our salesman are. We dont really have anyone dedicated to knowing about Stihl, just the same guys who sell the plumbing, electrical, hardware, etc. Now understand these are lifetime hardware store salesman guys who have a tremedous amount of knowledge about hardware store type items. But the hard part is, they spend their lives inside a hardware store, not out in the feild with a chainsaw. It takes alot of study and effort to learn about the Stihl products, which these old, lazy guys are not going to do. I am 100% positive non of them would know the full-chisel vs semi-chisel difference. The only way I know is because ive been haunting these bulletin boards for a few months now to learn as much as I can. It was a huge revelation for everyone when I figured out what the numbers of Stihl chains mean. No one ever knew what 36RMC74 meant, only that if the chart said thats what the saw took, then you pick that chain. But now we know what the 3 and the 6 mean.

The irony is, for the vast majority of our customers, we are Stihl geniuses. They dont know that we dont know cause they dont know either haha. Another big challenge, is the turnover in small engine mechanics. We finally have a great one, but for many years is what a new sorry guy ever six months. "You're taking child support out of my paycheck, so I quit." One got arrested for cutting down trees on federal property.

Things we do well: Well stocked, rarely ever out of an item. Also, we are one UPS day away from Blue Mountain (stihl supplier in Dallas area) so we can get any part pretty quick. I think we are pretty good at admitting when we dont know the answer and take actions to look it up. So if someone asked for a particular semi-chisel chain that we dont stock, we'd look it up and offer to order it.

I guess my point is, never assume a dealer of anything is an expert on that item. We carry many thousands of items and some customers expect us to be an expert on all of them! However, when it comes to an expensive line of power equipment, we really should be very well-versed. But its also sad that Stihl doesnt do a better job of making sure its dealers are more educated. Our rep comes by every now and then, but if I dont ask him questions, he wont teach me anything. He is really knowledgable, but comfortable in his job and just goes through the motions.

As bad as I think we are sometimes, we dont really get any complaints. The John Deere store that got Stihl a few years ago has alot of complaints. People are always telling us they dont know that they are doing. They send customers to us to get chains that they should never be out of stock. Just realize that the kind of person who is on this website is not the average customer. You are a chainsaw junky and probably know alot more than the standard home improvement store sales-person.

 

[dolmarfan]

I am a little off topic but the same thing is hapening in Romania with the Makita dealer in my area: Bought a dolmar 5000 and after a week went to dealer and said to him the chainsaw is over reving and is going lean, the muffler is like new!Dealer said the factory settings are ok because the chainsaw have limiter caps!The chainsaw seized the next morning , went to them they said I am not good with the ratio oil gas but and after talking with Dolmar Germany the chainsaw war repaired in warranty!
Went home the same junk carb setting , and after I lot off reading here pull off the limiter caps and I am adjusting the H screw!The chainsaw is now working for to months with no problem.
Question: the inside off the air filter is a little wet - too rich?

 

[StihlyinEly]

My favorite dealer is a one man operation in NE Arizona that stocks all the pro saws, stocks every Stihl chain, and builds loops on site. He'll also sell you used parts to fix saws!!! These features are ALL non-existent at my local dealers. He also won't over or under-sell you on what you want (unlike the "dealer" trying to sell me a 290 while I was inquiring about a 441).

Sigh.

 

[rmh3481]

I am a little off topic but the same thing is hapening in Romania with the Makita dealer in my area: Bought a dolmar 5000 and after a week went to dealer and said to him the chainsaw is over reving and is going lean, the muffler is like new!Dealer said the factory settings are ok because the chainsaw have limiter caps!The chainsaw seized the next morning , went to them they said I am not good with the ratio oil gas but and after talking with Dolmar Germany the chainsaw war repaired in warranty!
Went home the same junk carb setting , and after I lot off reading here pull off the limiter caps and I am adjusting the H screw!The chainsaw is now working for to months with no problem.
Question: the inside off the air filter is a little wet - too rich?

The fuel soaked air filter will go away as the new piston rings seat.