May or May Not Be A Hustler Owner

cpurvis said:

'If ever?' Unless you can work on it yourself, it's not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of 'when.'

What would you do if you were the dealer? Take care of your own customers who bought a mower from you or some guy who saved a nickel elsewhere and now needs his broken mower fixed? You've only got X-number of people you can assign to do repairs. Just how would you prioritize their work?

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If I were a dealer I'd treat everyone the same regardless if it was a returning customer or new customer. It should not matter. An authorized sales & service place should give the best attention and attitude towards servicing or sales to a customer.

As for who or what gets fixed first goes with what parts are on hand, what parts need to get ordered, the type of job, etc. because you've got to be realistic not "Oh wait your not a regular customer....or....oh no this customer goes first because they are a regular...etc."...what bad business attitude to have.

But over all your now just assuming any type of scenario to this discussion. OK, what if the world is ending tomorrow!...then what?!

I've repaired and worked on vehicles, trucks, mower's, appliances, plumbing, electrical, masonry, carpentry. etc. so I'm pretty handy and knowledgeable when it comes down to it.

I can read and comprehend service manuals, technical manuals, etc. no problems.

Now with that being stated. Yes if and when problems arise with my Hustler mower, well it's still under warranty so I would not even attempt to work on it due to the fact that if I did then the warranty would then become null and void because I am not an authorized service tech for Hustler.

Basic maintenance like oil changing, spark plug changing, fuel and engine filter changes, blade(s) changing, belts changing, hydraulic fluid changing, tires, etc. again all basic maintenance things like that I take care of because I can handle it.

And even after the warranty expires, anything major that come's up or needs fixing, well I'll do it. If the job is too big then it gets sent off to the dealership and have them repair it.

Reality is that any dealer is going to take care of their regular customers better than someone walking in off the street who bought their unit elsewhere and some have a deep-seated disdain for those who buy from big box stores to save a buck and then bring the unit to them for service.

When John Deere began retailing some models at Lowes, I think they made the dealers a little happier by "pushing" the customers to the dealers for parts and service. When I bought a rider several years ago all the mowers in stock already had a decal with the local dealer info.

Mr. Mower said:

If I were a dealer I'd treat everyone the same regardless if it was a returning customer or new customer. It should not matter. An authorized sales & service place should give the best attention and attitude towards servicing or sales to a customer.

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That's what the dealer did when he told you 'no' to your demand for a military discount--he treated you the same as anybody else. But you didn't seem to like it then. With regard to the 'it shouldn't matter' comment, I'm sure that's how you HOPE it works.

As for who or what gets fixed first goes with what parts are on hand, what parts need to get ordered, the type of job, etc. because you've got to be realistic not "Oh wait your not a regular customer....or....oh no this customer goes first because they are a regular...etc."...what bad business attitude to have.

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You've got it partly right but don't think for a minute that just because your parts came in that they'll jump right on your mower. In season, the line is usually long. When things slow down a bit, they'll get to you once the good customers are taken care of.

Welcome to capitalism, where everybody pursues their own financial best interest. You did yours; now the dealer can do likewise.

Dunrollin said:

When John Deere began retailing some models at Lowes, I think they made the dealers a little happier by "pushing" the customers to the dealers for parts and service. When I bought a rider several years ago all the mowers in stock already had a decal with the local dealer info.

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If JD charge the same sorts of prices over there as they do down here I can see where that comes from.
Safety check on a JD ride on ( tractor style ) at the local dealer is $ 147 and for that all you get is a list of what needs to be done
Service is $ 320 + parts & this is for a mower that is in proper working condition when booked in.
I charge $ 120 + parts

Darryl G said:

Reality is that any dealer is going to take care of their regular customers better than someone walking in off the street who bought their unit elsewhere and some have a deep-seated disdain for those who buy from big box stores to save a buck and then bring the unit to them for service.

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Exactly right.
If I made $ 500 to $ 1000 profit from you then you get VIP service cause I want to sell you your next mower and perhaps some other tools when you are here.

As a Lowes customer there is next to zero chance of you buying so much as a bottle of oil cause you only care about your own hip pocket.
And as the warranty service will most likely loose the dealer money, you go to the back of the que, where you become a loss limiter to be done when there is nothing else for the technicians to do. Don't like it then go somewhere else, the dealer dose not care and quite frankly would preffer you went elsewhere because no matter what he does you will not be happy with the result cause you think the dealer is a rip off.

Down here, dealers will not look at an external big box job for a month if at all.
I have customers come into my workshop almost daily complaining that the gear had been at the dealer for months with nothing happening.
Then they expect me to do warranty work no labour charge or even worse come in with parts they have bought off the internet and expect me to fit them for free because I will get the replacement parts from the company as payment.

They usually leave in a huff, go up the hill and find he charges 50% more and requires an up front payment.
I try not to do big box repairs because no matter what the customer will always come back with "but a new one is only $xxxx"
Just finished doing a Ross Chainsaw.
New price $ 120 assemble it yourself.
Repair bill 18 months further on $ 160
So total price for a saw that actually works $ 280.

Done this many many times

bertsmobile1 said:

Exactly right.
If I made $ 500 to $ 1000 profit from you then you get VIP service cause I want to sell you your next mower and perhaps some other tools when you are here.

As a Lowes customer there is next to zero chance of you buying so much as a bottle of oil cause you only care about your own hip pocket.
And as the warranty service will most likely loose the dealer money, you go to the back of the que, where you become a loss limiter to be done when there is nothing else for the technicians to do. Don't like it then go somewhere else, the dealer dose not care and quite frankly would preffer you went elsewhere because no matter what he does you will not be happy with the result cause you think the dealer is a rip off.

Down here, dealers will not look at an external big box job for a month if at all.
I have customers come into my workshop almost daily complaining that the gear had been at the dealer for months with nothing happening.
Then they expect me to do warranty work no labour charge or even worse come in with parts they have bought off the internet and expect me to fit them for free because I will get the replacement parts from the company as payment.

They usually leave in a huff, go up the hill and find he charges 50% more and requires an up front payment.
I try not to do big box repairs because no matter what the customer will always come back with "but a new one is only $xxxx"
Just finished doing a Ross Chainsaw.
New price $ 120 assemble it yourself.
Repair bill 18 months further on $ 160
So total price for a saw that actually works $ 280.

Done this many many times

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Then they call someone like me to try to get me to mow their lawn while their mower is for repair, or more likely 6 people like me to try to get the best price. Unfortunately for them, I'm in the same situation as the dealers. I'm already busy as hell taking care of my regular customers. I have no interest in working for someone who has no intention of forming a long-term relationship with me and only cares about hiring whoever is cheapest until they get their mower back. Of course, they'll also try to bait me with all of this other work they need done in their yard, but only to take my ideas, buy the materials at the Big Box store and do it themselves...

cpurvis said:

That's what the dealer did when he told you 'no' to your demand for a military discount--he treated you the same as anybody else. But you didn't seem to like it then. With regard to the 'it shouldn't matter' comment, I'm sure that's how you HOPE it works.

You've got it partly right but don't think for a minute that just because your parts came in that they'll jump right on your mower. In season, the line is usually long. When things slow down a bit, they'll get to you once the good customers are taken care of.

Welcome to capitalism, where everybody pursues their own financial best interest. You did yours; now the dealer can do likewise.

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:laughing::laughing::laughing:.........yea alright, sure..... whatever!

Mr. Mower said:

:laughing::laughing::laughing:.........yea alright, sure..... whatever!

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Laugh all you want but cpurvis has it right, as you will likely discover in due time.

Take unit to dealer, have dealer contact hustler, there is\was a small number of units with an incorrect nut the would bind up and torque to proper torque, but in all reality it was not close to being torqued properly.