I Lost My Husky Dealer

[Lakeside53]

Why do you care? I'll tell you one thing, a dealer that refused to do business with me would never have to refuse it, because I wouldn't use him. That's a very poor business plan.

lololol careful where you buy your stuff then.. it's more common that you may think.

 

[Dapper Dan]

I think it's rediculous that Husky expects their private dealers to work on all the products they sell else where. They want their cake and eat it too.

Me too...
In the auto industry the manufacturer will pay about half of flat rate for repairs.
I know this because I do warranty work (auto body) for both the local Ford & Chrysler Dealerships. Only way I can make it work is the labor rate for their warranty work is $60.00 per hour when my rate is $48.00. I'm guessing Chain saw warranty issues are similar. Tell your techs (commission) it's a warranty job and they don't show much enthusiasm!

To keep this in perspective: on the automobile side you are dealing with 30 to 50 K cars.... on the chainsaw side you're talking 300 hundred to what 1500?

You can't have it both ways!
A box store with no service asking (or husky expecting) a B&M store to warranty for them ???
If Husky thinks this will work they are dumber than a box of rocks.

To my notion there are only two ways to work this, successfully.

Number 1. Is a widespread dealer network with no Internet or box store sales such as Sthil. (Already done, of course)

Number 2. Is for a an up & coming company, with a good product (such as Dolmar) to implement a plan that would include.
A: Allow internet sales with a minimum retail price plan. (to protect B&M stores)
B: Setup a nationwide, company owned, service center, to service customers with warranty work....outside of the reach of local dealers. For instance... you pay to ship to the service center...they pay return shipping. Wouldn't cost you any more than gas to and back from your dealer (twice).
C: Offer a FAIR labour rate to the B&M stores for warranty work so there would be no advantage to shipping your product off, if you had a local dealer. That way no matter where you bought the saw the buyer would know they were covered (one way or the other). The advantage to the B&M store would be to get the customer into their store so as to establish a relationship with them for future sales and service.

I'm no marketing genius but...doesn't seem that complicated to me!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

The customer wanted a new bar, chain and the motor repaired! Did he even deserve warr. for those things... Remember he didn't put oil in the gas, or bar lube in the bar oil tank!

Rob

 

[PES+]

Not covered

All of the damage was abuse

 

[stihl025]

Then a guy walked in mad as he!! and yelling, with a burnt up saw for warr... Dealer said the bar was blue, and after a quick inspection, they could see the cyl was scored, the fuel showed no oil in it + the bar oil tank never had oil put in it. (guy said he didn't know he had to put oil in the fuel)

Turns out the saw was bought down the road, but TSC doesn't do warr., and that's why he showed up on their door. He asked the guy if he got a manual witrh the saw, "yes" was the answer, he then asked if he could read, and the guy said "what do you think, i'm a dumb @$$??? Dealer said, "yes"... and basically ran him off... as the guy was already cussing and in a rage...

I am not a dealer or in sales for all that matter, but I think that I would have handled that situation a little bit differently.
I don't know what Husqvarna's policies are when it comes to warranty service work from one store to the next, but I think I would have tried to sell "customer service" in hopes of return business. I can only imagine what that guy had to say to his beer drinking buddies about the Husky dealer who would not help him. As far as box stores (or any other businesses) are concerned, if you don't like the service from one, you just kep going to others until you find one you like. When it comes to the small specialty dealer, there is a very large potential for lost business just on negative word of mouth. I know from my own experience, that if one of my close buddies (a non-BS'er) tells me that someone or somewhere treated him badly or weren't helpful, we all stay away from there. Word of mouth is very powerful. Everyone loves to tell the "horror" stories when it comes to something like that, but at the same time, we also like to tell the "good" as well. As a kind of "Get this, you'll never believe this".
In the case of the Husky dealer running that guy off, it's just bad business. That guy definitely needed some educating, and what better time to teach someone and create a professional relationship with a customer than to come to his rescue, if possible.

 

[HUSKYMAN]

A box store with no service asking (or husky expecting) a B&M store to warranty for them ???
If Husky thinks this will work they are dumber than a box of rocks.
!

It does work, and has for what, 5-6 years since they implemented box store sales? I dont have any numbers to back myself up but I am quite sure Husqvarna has sold a lot more saws then they did before they started selling in box stores. Sure there are fewer local dealers, but if dealers were Husqvarna's main concern, they would not have went to box stores in the first place. The old way with dealers was not moving enough saws in Husqvarna's opinion. If they get to the point where there are not enough dealers left, they could go to your plan, with a service center and online sales. IMO they just implemented their NO online sales policy to try to keep what dealers they have

 

[redprospector]

Yes it could have been handled differently. But being in business myself (not retail saw sales), I won't take a but chewing or cussing off of anyone, especially for something I didn't have anything to do with.
Bad business? Maybe, but a dollar is only worth so much. All of my customer's know that if they have a problem they can talk to me and it will be made right, and the new customer's learn real fast.

Andy

 

[2000ssm6]

Right on!!

Tell your techs (commission) it's a warranty job and they don't show much enthusiasm!

Customer pay gets in and out first, then after a few hours we might look at it. If you are a pita, better get a rental.

 

[stihl025]

Yes it could have been handled differently. But being in business myself (not retail saw sales), I won't take a but chewing or cussing off of anyone, especially for something I didn't have anything to do with.
Bad business? Maybe, but a dollar is only worth so much. All of my customer's know that if they have a problem they can talk to me and it will be made right, and the new customer's learn real fast.

Andy

I agree with you. No one should take a cussing for something that wasn't their fault. I am not saying that the customer was correct either, just that the whole exchange from both sides started bad, and ended bad. The guy left with a broken saw and no solution, and the dealer was left without a customer. We can all armchair quartrback, but, nonetheless, we weren't there to witness it. But it sounds as if everyone lost.

 

[bowtechmadman]

My husky dealer told me much the same as Hydro's when i asked him about TSC and Lowe's (we have both) carrying Husky saws. He said he's taken a little of a hit on homeowner models but has more than made up for it in warranty repairs...and is starting to see a gain in new saw sales that he attributes to warranty repair customers.
I'm curious any dealers have an idea of what warranty labor rate is for chainsaws? I know what Dapper is talking about did some service writing at a Ford dealer once and he's right on the money...talk about dirty looks from tech's when you handed them a warranty job.

 

[redprospector]

I agree with you. No one should take a cussing for something that wasn't their fault. I am not saying that the customer was correct either, just that the whole exchange from both sides started bad, and ended bad. The guy left with a broken saw and no solution, and the dealer was left without a customer. We can all armchair quartrback, but, nonetheless, we weren't there to witness it. But it sounds as if everyone lost.

You're right, we wern't there. But from the sound's of it if the customer had come in like the rest of a human being, instead of just the a$$ hole the outcome may have been different.
Sometime's loosing is the best thing that can happen.
I lost a wart once, I've never missed it.

Andy

 

[PES+]

Don't know if it has changed but

My husky dealer told me much the same as Hydro's when i asked him about TSC and Lowe's (we have both) carrying Husky saws. He said he's taken a little of a hit on homeowner models but has more than made up for it in warranty repairs...and is starting to see a gain in new saw sales that he attributes to warranty repair customers.
I'm curious any dealers have an idea of what warranty labor rate is for chainsaws? I know what Dapper is talking about did some service writing at a Ford dealer once and he's right on the money...talk about dirty looks from tech's when you handed them a warranty job.

Husky used to pay a LOT better than Stihl did on warranty work

There are a lot of other factors that forced dealers to go out.

(As the original post said "The last straw". There are other headaches and business impossibilities involved)

 

[oldsaw]

Husky used to pay a LOT better than Stihl did on warranty work

There are a lot of other factors that forced dealers to go out.

(As the original post said "The last straw". There are other headaches and business impossibilities involved)

One of the killers is that they tried to force every dealer to be a full line dealer, whether they needed lawn equipment or not. My newest dealer refused to stock more than a couple of mowers and became a dealer. Now I think we have 3 in town. We have three Stihl dealers between my small town and the one next to us. Because the new guy isn't carrying mowers and crap, he actually stocks a few pro saws, including a 390 with a 30" bar. Kind of nice, actually. Decent parts inventory too.

With the Husky model, the business will come in through the back door rather than out the front. The upside is that the big box store will not have sold them most of the stuff they need, nor will they show them how to take care of anything, which gets more people in the door. My new guy seems to be doing okay with the line. Not too keen on his techs, but they have only been dealers for about 6 months.

Mark

 

[Gologit]

Why do you care? I'll tell you one thing, a dealer that refused to do business with me would never have to refuse it, because I wouldn't use him. That's a very poor business plan.

LOL...Poor business plan or not...it's called the freedom to choose. It takes a certain amount of balls to look a guy in the eye and tell him to take his box-store saw back where he got it. Gotta give him props for that.

 

[PES+]

It is more fun to chase the salesman out of your shop with a running brush cutter with the large string head that you just bought without wanting to on the old "Crown Commitment" plan

 

[belgian]

Thats dumb for the dealer, warranty work all pays the same, at least if he does the work he still gets a piece of the action. He is not hurting Lowes or TSC or Husqvarna, he is hurting his business

good post. That dealer also lost an opportunity to make a new customer too. I would repair the saw making sure my interests are covered as well of course(customers or husky gots to pay...), but at least I would help him out. A decent customer never will forget that..

 

[HUSKYMAN]

One of the killers is that they tried to force every dealer to be a full line dealer, whether they needed lawn equipment or not. My newest dealer refused to stock more than a couple of mowers and became a dealer. Now I think we have 3 in town. We have three Stihl dealers between my small town and the one next to us. Because the new guy isn't carrying mowers and crap, he actually stocks a few pro saws, including a 390 with a 30" bar. Kind of nice, actually. Decent parts inventory too.

Mark

Yup, my dealer had to do the same thing, buy a bunch of junk riding lawnmowers he didnt want to stock. He still stocks them, so maybe he is selling enough to make it worthwhile. I would say he had $10000 worth of lawnmowers sitting around

 

[THALL10326]

Then a guy walked in mad as he!! and yelling, with a burnt up saw for warr... Dealer said the bar was blue, and after a quick inspection, they could see the cyl was scored, the fuel showed no oil in it + the bar oil tank never had oil put in it. (guy said he didn't know he had to put oil in the fuel)

Turns out the saw was bought down the road, but TSC doesn't do warr., and that's why he showed up on their door. He asked the guy if he got a manual witrh the saw, "yes" was the answer, he then asked if he could read, and the guy said "what do you think, i'm a dumb @$$??? Dealer said, "yes"... and basically ran him off... as the guy was already cussing and in a rage...

Anyway, you know how disgruntled news travels, so dealer says, "that was the straw that broke the camels back!!" And they quit ordering from Husky, untill all the saws were gone...

Rob

High five to that dealer, I would have sent that dumb azz packing too. He had no warranty anyway and apparently he was a dumb azz. As for the TSC thing providing no warranty service who's fault is that, the dealer or Husqvarna, case closed.

 

[HUSKYMAN]

High five to that dealer, I would have sent that dumb azz packing too. He had no warranty anyway and apparently he was a dumb azz. As for the TSC thing providing no warranty service who's fault is that, the dealer or Husqvarna, case closed.

Thats right, and even if the dealer had fixed it, he would not even get a thanks from a clown like that, or any future business

 

[chrispy6822]

99.9% of the time.:greenchainsaw:

Huh?

Where is the other .1% then?