John Deere/Stihl Dealers

[VINIFIREWOOD]

How many of you guys have to go to these John Deere/Stihl dealers.
First off I am not a Stihl lover or hater, I own a couple of their products and they do me well.
I have two of these dealers near me and they are owned by the same people so they share inventory. Neither are very large dealerships IMO. One has a fairly large inventory of Stihl equipment while the 441 and 362 are on hand the rest of the inventory is more land owner and homeowner models. The other only has maybe half a dozen saws on the shelf.
Also went into one in southern Minnesota recently, a rather large dealership for John Deere, but what I would call an absolute joke as far as Stihl is concerned. They had only three saws on the shelf, a 170, 291, and a 391. They had all kinds of blowers and hedge trimmers and weed trimmers and such but only three saws.
I am in no way bashing on Stihl, god forbid, just wondering what your experience with these dealers has been.

 

[Stihl Livin]

There are a few by me all the same name and don't stock much quality pro saws and are priced through the roof. I now travel about 45 minutes to a great deal that carries jred husky and stihl. They stock a good quality and quantity of saws and parts and accessories.

 

[xtremez]

Ive had good luck with mine. Ive got 3 dealers within 5 miles and another within 15. Two of them always have a 440 or 460 on the shelf along with the homeowner saws up to 390. The other have the homeowner saws on the shelf. They s**t a loaf when I take my 880 or 070 in there because there's not much demand for these bigguns around here any more but they've always been real helpful when it comes to ordering parts and what not. Gotta play it by feel. I specifically use 1 dealer now cause I like the staff and they treat me good. Plus since they see me in there all the time buying parts for my saws or saws im fixing up for others they cut me a deal on the price.

Yes 2 are jd dealers another dabbles in husqvarna, snapper and toro

 

[nmurph]

Are they JD dealers (what this thread is about)?

I've been to a JD/Stihl dealer. They are a big JD dealer. They had the only 200T within a couple hundred miles. They also had 460/441C/and the homeowner/landowner saws. I was surprised by their inventory. Their prices were right in line with what you expect from the Kingdom of Stihl. I have no idea of their level of service or technician training.

 

[Franny K]

Since I have John Deere tractor in the 50 hp range I go into those places. It appears they use the same printed prices on tags all the other dealers have access to for the saws. The ultra oil is less it seems at the hardware store/deere dealers. And I can find single little bottles. I noticed a made in Germany top handle 201 last time I was there for $609 which I am pretty sure is suggested retail. One place I was in had the two stroke stihl pole saw for what I thought was very reasonable less than $400. It has exactly the same part that holds the oil and chain reduction gear as the four mix ones. When the place I got my tractor from got the stihl stuff in initially they asked me how can we help you today or something like that and I asked for a new Husky. They didn't think it was funny. I think I only have got brush cutter blades and yellow trimmer line at those places. They may well have accounts that get a bit of a discount for big dollar farms/municipalities etc. Buying a tractor got me an account with credit of $1000 but no discount.

I might add the ag Deere places are very good about ordering parts (ag John deere) and getting them in a timely manner. I couldn't comment on the excavation or the skidder deere dealers and there may well be more divisions.

fran

 

[Undy]

I've got a John Deere dealer nearby (13 m.) that recently started handling Stihl too. They rarely had the parts for my JD equipment on hand, so I ended up driving a ways to get parts. Frankly, because of that I prefer to not buy Stihl stuff from them either.

Instead, I drive about 25 mi. to a small one-man operation where he's nearly always got whatever I need. (No N.O.S. filters for my old 041 Farm Boss, but...) Prior to this, there was another older guy about the same distance in a different direction. In both cases, best service I've ever had.

Sounds to me like it depends on the JD dealer. If you don't get treated well at any shop, find another one to patronize, even if you have to drive a little way.

 

[Fish]

If you go into one of these dealers looking at saws, you will wait until the parts guy is free to talk to anyone!

 

[VTWoodchuck]

We have a couple of those around here. They actually have a really good selection of saws and great prices on chains. I just got a 18" .325 chain for my 261 today for $17.00. They know what they are talking about and stock alot of skidder parts as well as the mower/tractor stuff.

There are 2 saw shops close by that do only stihl and husqvarna, I always thought that was odd. They have the husky mowers and snow blowers too.
Those shops are where I would go for repairs though. One of them is owned by a logging family.

 

[EricConley]

Hi. My first post. I've been a lurker here for some time now. Learned a ton, got some CAD. I live in Plainwell MI where I'm lucky enough to have a Stihl, Dolmar and Husqvarna dealer all with in 10 minutes of my house. I've dealt with each of them (a 192T-CE and a 460 from the Stihl, 5105 from the Dolmar and a 550XP from the husq) and I must say, I've been the happiest dealing with the Stihl dealer which happens to be a John Deere dealer as well. I can't say that I've had a bad experience with any of them, but the Stihl dealer is the only one that never says no. They are the only one that would budge on price and throw in a free chain. The Stihl and Husq dealer were fine putting what ever size bar I wanted on the saws regardless of what theirs were set up with. The Dolmar only 18", no exceptions. The Stihl dealer was fine with me taking the saw home and prep it myself. Neither of the other two would let me. Any questions I have the Stihl dealer will get an answer. I've gotten many "I don't know" answers from the others. So, although I really like both the 5105 and the 550XP, my future purchases will be from the Stihl/John Deere dealer.

 

[timberland ts]

The deere dealer i go to has husky and sthil he has every model of both and multipuls in back. Most of the time he has the parts i need or will have them within a day or two. Parts guys and salesmen know there stuff to. This dealer is about 10 miles away. Have two other stihl dealers around but no where near the inventory or parts. I do busness with both of them very good service.

 

[struggle]

I have bought several saws from my local John Deere/Stihl dealer. Maybe I'm just lucky but the parts/saw guy has been absolutley great to me. I'm able to just order parts over the phone and they call me when they are in. They are far more cheaper on chains than anywhere else. I can't say on ebad thing about them. Maybe I just got lucky.

My full blown Stihl dealers are less than receptive in that way and seem rather stuck on them selves while the implement dealer is far more easy going people.

The have to deal with equipment in the 100K range all the way down to $300. They are getting all my business now as far as Stihl stuff goes:msp_thumbsup:

I have seen on the floor everything from MS880 down to the little guys. I think they have a 441 660 there and various other saws currently and 201s. I never made a count, but they have enough on the wall that if you needed a saw that day you could leave with one in your hand in a few minutes.

 

[Guido Salvage]

I wonder if the Deere/Stihl dealers are any better than the Radio Shack/Stihl dealers in SE Kentucky and SW Virginia?

 

[VINIFIREWOOD]

One member stated he wasn't sure what this thread was about.

I guess what I was getting at is the fact that Stihl has such a big name and good reputation and seems to have a large number of dealers out there, in most areas, my experience with some of their dealers especially these JD dealerships is not what I would expect to go along with the Stihl name.

I'm a bow hunter and shoot Bow Tech bows. You can only by a true Bow Tech at a "Pro Shop" meaning bows are this mans business and he does it well. The manufacturer is certain that their product is going out the door with the customer properly set up and the dealer knows their products inside and out.

Not sure about you guys but this is what I like to see when I go into a saw dealership. Whether it be Stihl, Husky, Dolmar, ect.
Going into some of these places around here selling Stihl feels like walking into Wal Mart and I despise that place.

 

[struggle]

I don't get that feeling in my dealer, but their primary sales would be in combines not saws. What makes this dealer I'm working with now so great is they have a very good guy for me to work with on parts. I haven't had warranty issues as most of my stuff after a weeks worth of ownership would not qualify after mods have been made:hmm3grin2orange:

In my area there is absolutely no one that sells one brand of saw exclusively like you might find in heavily timbered areas. They support farmers primarily in the implement dealers and I doubt few tree services go to the one I deal with. In the bigger town those dealers support the tree service guys and homeowners and they seem to be more arrogant about how they run things in both price and on repairs.

I like my Joihl dealer:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Venomvpr900]

I have been unimpressed with my JD/stihl dealer they lack knowledge on the stihl and their follow though is less than expected. I was surprised because they have always been great when I need part, service, etc on my John Deere.

 

[rdtreewalker]

We don't have any jd/stihl dealers in the area that I know of. There is 3 within 30 miles, one sells agco and Kubota and they cary mostly homeoner saws, one sells case/newholland and bobcat and they have several homeoner saws and usually a 261, 441 and a 660. Once they had an 880. And the best dealer is a privately owned farm store that carys the full line-up and generally has any part you need.

 

[struggle]

I will say the dealer I'm talking about doesn't really carry any large amount of spare parts though that I'm aware of. If a part is needed quickly you will get it but have to pay shipping. If not a big hurry they will attach it to a bigger order and you are good to go. I guess for me that is way it is always good to have back up overlapping saws which I have by choice anyway not from lack of dealer support.

 

[ROWDY]

I believe Xtremz and I both go to the same dealership but a different location. The one I'm near by has a 30' wall of Stihl products. About a dozen of saws, all the trimmers, accessories, safety equipment and other nick nacks. However, their are two other Stihl dealerships 5 and 10 minutes from their. I'm not so sure how talented they are about troubleshooting and repairing saws but product availably on the shelf they have right. Service parts, I'm also not so sure about.

 

[Warped5]

I have about 4 of these dealers within about :45 of me. Not one of them is anything more than a 'parts replacer' and when any of them hears you're running a B&C combination that isn't 'factory' they say "you can't do that."

Whenever I NEED anything Stihl, I got to a family-run place (no JD) that really focuses on service and they never let me down.

 

[nmurph]

One member stated he wasn't sure what this thread was about.

Me? No, I got it, but these threads (as nearly every thread) goes sideways quickly, often with the first reply.