Norm.
I can sympathise with you regards warranty on manufactured goods.
That is something to take up with your local consumer advocate. We fortunately do not have a government that is captive of billionaire industrialists so we have something that the USA does not.
Mandated minimum government 12 month warranty period from the date of purchase and because Australians are a little less brain washed and have a better education system than the USA ( rapidly deteriorating ) and we are far less greedy lowest price is not the absolute determinant.
Down here average warranty on USA made cars is 3 years , Korean & Japanese cars 5 years and European cars 7 years from delivery date.
We also have a lot fairer & freer market than you do so in warranty services can be done by any qualified person without affecting warranty.
The difference is we pay a higher price for cars down here, in fact when the Pontiacs were made down here, we paid more for the local version that you did in the USA.
Leaving market structures alone, your mower could actually be defective requiring some restorative work or you may be totally correct it just might not be designed as well as it could be.
If it is not fit for the stated purpose, even under the very weak USA consumer protection laws you have a case for a full refund.
Even if that is the case the dealer is still the correct way to take up your claim as he knows what paperwork to generate & where to send it so the right people get it and actions can be taken to rectify the problems.
It is not in the dealers interest to fob you off and sell defective products because very soon the dealer will not be selling anything.
And just so you can see where I am coming from, I am an independent 1 man mobile repair workshop who has been shafted by all the brand names because I do not have a retail showroom
Not all that long ago manufacturers made different decks for different purposes.
Thus dealers had to carry 3 or 4 deck variations in all sizes for each machine.
This meant that the customer could not walk in slam a wad of cash on the counter then ride out on their nice new mower.
Dealers also ended up with a lot of decks sitting on the floor as no one ever bought multiple decks for their mower.
So in response to MARKET DEMAND just about all mower companies designed UNIVERSAL decks.
And true to their name they bag poorly, throw poorly & mulch poorly.
Comes back to the first point about the market being uneducated , poorly informed thus incapable of making a reasoned decision.
The market refused to believe that one deck could not do everything so they got one deck that did everything-badly.
Your comments are very interesting and it is good to talk to try to deal with issues.
When the economy was bottoming out here dealers and manufacturers were bending over to attract business. Not so many of them anymore. Thank goodness we have a lemon law here for vehicles. But I learned it is not easy to get them to accept responsibility. Basically the dealer gets three attempts at fixing problem but learned GM has sneaky ways to attempt getting out of it.
I did talk to dealer today. They would be more than happy to sell me a much more expensive model. That is different tractor that comes with inner tubes but I suspect it might even be same deck. Or I could move way up in money for a unit with a heavier gauge steel on deck. I told them several of the problems including with the bagger and of course they have a model with a pull behind catcher that I can dump.
Not a single word about "fixing" the issues I have.
Surprise! After much surreptitious hunting I found a number that might get me to speak to someone at Deere that cares. It worked! After starting my list of issues she questioned whether the dealer had reported. News to me! They apparently have a special access they are supposed to use to communicate issues to the company.
At least she said she noted all my complaints but have no idea which file that will go to.
My list was considerably longer than what I reported earlier. I had changed the blades for the second time. Even though I was using the deck wash feature it had fine dirt packed hard in several locations both times. I'm guessing that it was picking of the earth worm castings which is much darker than the rest of my soil which has sand content. Scraping that dirt loose with a hard plastic device and then washing I noticed a lot of pitting in the deck and a number of places where the rust was scaling big chunks. Cheap metal! I know a bit about metal because as electric furnace operator I had to mix the proper amounts of other elements in the batch to meet requirements necessary before pouring.
I appreciate your candor.
The lady I spoke with could reveal nothing to me about the paint or if I could even get touch-up because of the large chunks peeling off the top of the deck and rust starting. I suggested to her in was very inferior to that used on farm equipment which is often exposed to harsh conditions such as fertilizer and manure. If the paint came off in that manner those old putt-putt Deere's would be nothing but a pile of rust. My dad had a model 50 until 5 years ago.
Deere needs to get with the customer and not the dealer who is afraid to push uphill if they truly care.
I got a call from Lincoln dealership wanting to know if I was happy with service. Yes. OK, would you please fill out a survey we send you. The dealer is pre-screening responses to look good for the company.
