Be Honest, Am I Behind The Times of New Ways To Do Business?

[Rooster 191]

My father owns a auto shop. he has been very successful, partly because he is a very good mechanic, but mostly because he is honest and fair, he treats people well. Growing up in the shop my brother and I seemed to learn different things. My brother learned quite a bit more about working on cars than I did, but I learned about how to treat people. I have seen my father not just on occasion, but on a regular basis walk outside, lean over the hood of a car and fix something simple, maybe even put a $2 or $3 part on it, then wave at the customer when they asked "What do I owe you" and tell them "nothing, don't worry about it". He didn't do this for his good customers, he didn't do it for people with money and he didn't do it for people who maybe didn't have very much money, he did it for everyone! I have seen him hang parts on cars that did not fix the problem, then leave the new part on the car and not charge them for it.

I can go on for hours with examples. Point is, even in today's "New Normal" economy and way of doing business, the nice guy still finishes last! Of course he will finish last, because the lazy and the crooked will be out of business long before he is!

Van, as you said, you would have continued to do business and knowingly,even gladly paid higher prices if he had treated you right! A couple of things you can not buy on Ebay, C/L or anywhere on the web is personal customer service and experience! The "Mom and POP Shops" that we all claim to love do not have to be a thing of the past, they simply have to offer more for your money. Next time you need that emergency part today....will you go look on Ebay?

I would not suggest you get a new dealer right away, or lodge a complaint with anyone but the man who offended you. I would walk into the store the next time I needed a part and let him know up front; "I am going to give you a chance to redeem yourself, last time I needed something I had to do your job for you. "

OK..LOL..I am done!

[c161rat 185]

Well Said Rooster.......Anyone can sell you a part or a burger or a car.......Not everyone can GIVE you the attention you deserve while selling you something!!!!

[can whlvr 991]

im on a first name basis with my one and only toro dealer for many miles,i bought my 308 from him new,my stihl weed whacker when i got the 308,and probally between my dad and i,20 stihl chainsaws,and many many whellhorse parts,my sealer will look up parts if shes not busy,she knows i have all the numbers and even downloaded the partstree book onto paper,she does this because she knows i know more about wheel horses than she does,but if shes not busy she will gladly look up anything for me,and i can phone them anytime for ordering and not have to pay till it comes in,something going by the wat side today,they are slow at getting parts unless they need something to fix a customers machine then if the main depot has it it will be in the next day,thats very seldom and the main toro depot for eastern canada is only 25 miles from me,one time i NEEDED a drive belt,(i didnt have 8 tractors then)and my local dealer let me pay him and then called toro warehouse and said i was coming on their behalf,ys had to drive to get it but i needed that belt,so all and all im ok with my dealer,but getting kohler parts from them is slower than mollasses in january

[C-85 653]

When I was a Wheel Horse Dealer I was sooo happy when anyone called or came in to buy something from me. We were a small dealer and it was hard to have enough help around. In the small engine business (which is very seasonal) it's hard to hire enough help. You go from needing 10 people to not needing anyone, so it's hard to gauge that. That being said it was tough when I'd be talking to someone that came in to buy a tractor and then get a phone call for a low price part. When that happened I always would take the person's name down and called them back when I got free again. I was glad to look up anything for anyone, but I sure did appreciate it when they supplied model numbers or even better yet part numbers. And I knew a lot of the numbers by heart, so that always helped. It can be a problem though when someone takes the time and drives all the way in to your place of business to discuss buying a tractor or big ticket item and someone calls on the phone for a part or worse yet just for information. It's hard to leave that person to answer the phone, I think of it as someone that has cut in line, so again I was glad for any business, but had to set priorities. Some people didn't want to wait to have me call them back and that was their right and I understood this, but again - priorities.

We also sold other equipment like chain saws, basically most all small engine stuff.

Off this subject a little, but somewhat relevant. Picture me trying to sell a nice couple that's come into our store a beautiful Wheel Horse tractor and having a drunk lumber jack come in with a very foul mouth to get a new chain on his chainsaw. After a few cuss words from the lumber jack while he was waiting while I was talking to the other customers, the prospective tractor tractor people decided to leave and not come back. This type of thing happened more than once!

We often thought of getting out of the chain saw business as they sometimes didn't seem to mix well with most of our other equipment.

Now I vented from a former dealers perspective!

Thanks,

C-85

[sscotsman 132]

I have found when dealing with older equipment, its better to determine the numbers you need yourself..because the guys at the dealership often dont

know about machines more than 5-10 years old..and if they do look something up for you, it could easily be wrong..

quite often "you know more than the dealer does"..

below is my dealer experience, has to do with an Ariens snowblower, but the concept is the same:

(cut and pasted from my Ariens webpage)

Gear Box Lube for 10,000 series and other 1960's and 1970's models.

There are several different types of gearbox lube used for Ariens snowblowers over

the past 50 years! and knowing which type to use for your snowblower is very important.

The gearbox used on the "first series" and the 10,000 series (and some later machines as well) was a cast iron gearbox, very robust! and nearly all the classic machines I have seen

are still using their original gearbox today! its virtually bullet proof..but, like anything else, its only "that good" if you take proper care of it! After I bought my 1971 Ariens in 2009, I went looking for the gear lube to do my first "spring maintenance"..looking around the internet, I came across a fair amount of confusion and ambiguity..Some people seemed to think you use "L2" gear grease for these machines, but that is wrong! Here is the story..

My 1971 Owners Manual specifically says "MP-90 gear lubricant"..

So I searched around for that..I found the actual product, still made and sold by Ariens!

It is called: "Ariens Premium Gear Lube SAE 90 MP"

It is Ariens part number 00006000, an actual Ariens product, I ordered it from an Ariens dealer..it comes in a 16oz bottle..

This is the lube for the older cast-iron gearboxes..

L2 is the newer stuff, for newer machines..

you do NOT want the L2 for the 60's and 70's machines!

When I went to a local Ariens dealer, with that specific part number and description in hand, the guy behind the counter was a bit insistent that I wanted "L2"..I had to keep telling him, "no, I dont.." (I dont think anyone had ever asked him for the MP90 before!..the L2 is for much newer snowblowers, and I think that was all he had ever heard of.) finally he found what I wanted in the computer and could order it..but if I didnt know for a fact what I wanted, and listened to him, I would have used the wrong stuff! this is why we cant always rely on dealers to know about these old machines..they just dont have the experience with them anymore..

So that is the right stuff for most of the 1960's and 70's machines,

"Ariens Premium Gear Lube SAE 90 MP"

Many newer machines use "L2" gear lube, there is also a modern Ariens "No. 70 Liquid Grease", and there is also a "Synthetic L3"! check your owners manual to make sure you use the correct gear lube!

Scot

[KC9KAS 4,741]

I think that in todays world of www, a dealer would (and should) do what they can to get and keep customers.

I wouldn't expect them to bend over backwards for me, but I would expect them to take an interest in me and why I am there, and do their best to help me.

There was a grocery store chain in our area with the slogan: Rule # 1. The customer is always right. Rule # 2. If the customer is wrong, see rule # 1.

[C-85 653]

Sscotsman brings up some really good things. I agree that when dealing with the older stuff you would be a lot better off to do the homework ahead of time yourself, rather than relying on most dealers. For example, I'm still driving a '79 Jeep CJ-5 and it is very hard to find anyone these days that knows anything about carburetors! So I have to do most of the work on that myself.

Sscotsman mentions Ariens and some of his experiences finding a gear lube. Our family business also carried Ariens, in fact that was probably our biggest seller, until years later when we took on W/H . We started handling them back in the mid 60's, and off course their snowblowers were very popular, especially when they first came out and before the market got saturated with snowblowers. Before we had Ariens we carried Snowbird snowblowers and Earthbird rototillers, if anyone remembers them! On the Ariens oil thing, we carried Ariens oils, but to this day I've never known what was so special about their "L-2" oil. I've been out of the business for several years now and I've resorted to just using 90w in my own 10/28" snowblower that's supposed to use the L-2 oil. I’ve been using 90w for several years now and haven’t had any problems. No where have I ever seen a cross reference to show what else would equate to that oil, so if anyone knows exactly what that is I'd like to know what it is.

Sscotsman also mentions some kind of Ariens web thing, do they have a similar thing like Red Square, if they do I'd love to know what that is so I can join that too.

We didn't start selling W/H until the early 80's.

Oh, one thing I left out of my earlier post that I wish I had included. I took orders for parts very seriously when I was in the business, because at the end of the year when totaling up all the sales, all those little parts sales sure added up so I didn't mean to down play parts sales at all they were a BIG part of what we did.

Here's a picture of my Legendary '79 AMC CJ-5 !

C-85

[Trouty56 565]

Nice...super nice Jeep.....

[perry 82]

off brand, but about 3yrs ago i walked out of my local simplicity dealer telling them off on my way out. and they have been allmost 50yrs in business and only 3 miles from me.

pulled in there one day to pickup a oil pan gasket. guy wanted engine numbers. i told him a 10hp briggs model 24. he said he needed complete engine numbers. hmmmm i said they have been useing this same oil pan gasket on all 5-16hp horizontal briggs engines since the late 50's. asked if i could go grab it off the wall. nope he said. gave him a earfull and a F-off on the way out and came home and ordered from sandy lake implement in PA . two gaskets in my mail box 2 days later. never have went back to that dealer and have talked too local's who have had simuliar problems and have not been back. people who have met me know that i am a calm mellow guy but that day i just snapped. done dealing with freakin idoits. seems just poor service anywhere you go anymore.

[kpinnc 10,778]

I am all for supporting a local dealer, because without us they will go away, which is the moral of the story.

That said- Everything sold now to the average consumer is designed to be disposable. Dealers are geared mainly towards commercial customers, which is where most think the bulk of the profits are. They obviously don't understand that large numbers of consumers buying only a few parts really adds up. IF THEY HELP THE AVERAGE CONSUMER FIND A PART, THEY MAKE A PROFIT! I've never understood what the problem with that concept is.

My job requires me to dig for every thing I am assigned to fix, and it's substantially more complicated than the Toro MPV or any other parts list. I would be ashamed to tell my boss that I couldn't correct a problem or find a way to fix any issue, but that's just me. Unlike my WH hobby, I do my job much more than 8 hours and almost every day of the week. If a local dealership can't help a customer find what they need, then that dealer has no self respect and takes NO pride in his paycheck. If you go into a dealership looking for a part, you don't need to be chastised (no matter how politely) over proper part-finding etiquette. You need assistance, and that dealer NEEDS your business.

If the dealer doesn't need you, then you don't need him.

[sscotsman 132]

Sscotsman also mentions some kind of Ariens web thing, do they have a similar thing like Red Square, if they do I'd love to know what that is so I can join that too.

C-85

The web thing I was referring to was my own Ariens webpage:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/Ariens/

There arent any Ariens-specific groups (except for two yahoo groups that have very little traffic and arent worth joining)

but there are two excellent snowblower forums, if anyone is interested..I am a member of both, and a mod on one..both are great forums,

and by-far the best two forums on the internet for snowblower discussion..

http://www.opeonthenet.com/ (also deals with tractors..but its evolved into 90% snowblower discussion, not much for tractors..other forums have that topic wrapped up)

http://www.snowblowerforum.com/

the second one is an offshoot of http://www.mytractorforum.com/

thanks,

Scot

[clintonnut 126]

That's ridiculous. I work PT in a family owned auto parts store and customer is always first. They tell us the vehicle and what's wrong and we do the rest. Non of that BS. That's good business in my mind.

[can whlvr 991]

i was in to see my dealer friend today and they are so slow she(owners daughter and very good to deal with)was happy to look up parts for me,it wasnt a huge order but as kpinnc said every little bit helps,but her dad is another story,he expects me to have the numbers and one saturday he told me to call tuesday and they would take my numbers,WHATS WITH THAT,im not important enough to order just because its saturday,he knows its a hobby to me but that doesnt matter,but they do sell tractors and lawn mowers and chainsaws,so if they are selling a large ticket item i do see their point a little

[hm12460 53]

I got a local Toro dealer that has no concept of customer service or being friendly/helpful. I order all my Wheel Horse parts online now, and get them faster and cheaper than he can get them. There are numerous local John Deere dealers in my area and they are all pretty good. The Toro guy won't be around much longer.

[Trouty56 565]

So far I have had good luck with the place closest to me (still like15 miles or so). I email them the part numbers and they email me back the availability and prices. I get another email when the shipment comes in if I chose to complete the sale. No extra costs.

[Steve B. 30]

I've had similar issues with my local Toro dealer. The mechanic there has been at it for quite a while and is very helpful, the girl behind the counter is another story. Every time I go there (which is almost never now) I get the feeling that I am interupting her day by coming in to order something.

In contrast, my local Ariens/Stihl dealer is no end of help. The parts genie there has spent over a half hour with me trying to find a repacement part for an ancient MF snowblower. I had the part on the bench and we looked up probably 30 different blowers looking for something similar. In the end we found two likely candidates, she ordered both and said we could compare them when the parts came in. If one was suitable I could take it and she'd toss the other on the parts shelf. All that for a $15 part! Another visit I was looking for a part for my tractor and was told she would be ordering it from the Toro dealer up the road and I could save a couple bucks by getting it there myself as the shop had to add their mark-up. I told her to go ahead and order it.

There have been a number of encounters like this, needless to say I buy pretty much all my yard work tools and parts there now. I've never had a problem paying a little extra for good customer service and if I can source locally I generally do.