My Frustrations with Small Shops

[dad7432]

At the risk of being contrary, I have to share my frustrating experiences with smaller shops in my area over the last couple of years.

This month the shop closest to my house went out of business. I had been using this shop for years. I bought my Ariens snow blower there in 2003, so I tried them for my mower (which was purchased used from another small dealer/shop after my local guy stopped selling small riders). But instead of calling me to release my Yardbug while they were still in business, they held onto it for 6 months. I had taken it in for only a simple routine annual service and to check the operation of the reverse gear. And I wasn't the only one whose equipment had been held hostage, there were over 100 others!

But this is only the latest in a series of bad service nightmares I've received from several small shops in Northern VA:
1. Shop 1: (where I bought the Yardbug) At the end of the 2013 season I tried to take my Yardbug to the shop I bought it from. But he was so backed up that I had to wait 4+ weeks for him to prep it for winter storage, replace belts and do annual 50 hour service. He didn't want it and it would have been snowing by the time he could have seen it.
2. Shop 2: So I tried another shop who was also an MTD authorized shop. I had to wait only a week, but he screwed up the belt installation. Unfortunately the mower was prepped for storage, so I didn't know about the bad install until I started it in the spring of 2014, when the blade belt melted by rubbing against the improperly installed "belt keeper". I learned how to replace the belts on my mower.
3. Shop 3: The guy who went bankrupt & the place I bought my Ariens. I take the mower there in November, 2014. I am told they will prep the mower for storage and change the oil, and fix the irregularly operating reverse gear when they can get to it, after they repair all the snow blowers that are waiting for repairs. No it hadn't snowed yet. I didn't think to ask why the place was full of broken snow blowers (in November), and no they didn't call me back with either a bill or estimate. 6 weeks later they were out of business and not answering the phone. It turned out that most of the snow blowers had been brought in during the previous winter! When I got my mower back (thru an attorney) a week ago, they had done nothing to it. The gas I had put into it was still in it. No oil change. No tune up. Nothing. But I was lucky. I used no-ethanol gas treated with Sta-bil for the last mow of the season. It started and it ran. I was able to drive it onto my trailer. Most others were DOA.

So, I've tried to buy thru small dealers/shops in the theory that I'd like to be able to get service on what I buy in a reasonable time. But that's not been working for me. I haven't gotten any better service from places that I've bought from. Here is what I see in these places: The repair areas are a mess. The retail stores are small, dim and poorly stocked. Everybody here says these places stock higher quality equipment than the big box. They don't. These guys have some of what the BBS have, but mostly they don't have much of anything. You have to special order higher quality machines. Then there is the fact that staff don't seem to care much for making a sale. It's like they don't care. Mostly they seem overwhelmed by the repair business, which doesn't seem to be very well run either. Then there are the hours they are open. Hours like 8-5 pm Monday thru Friday and 9am to 2:00pm on Saturdays. Seriously. None are open Sunday. Not even for just sales. It's no wonder residential customers go to HD, Lowes, Sears, Walmart, etc. The small shops don't seem to want us anymore.

I have to ask:
Why do shops insist that I drop off my machine and keep it for weeks, while they work thru their repair backlog?
Do these shops have that much room for storing equipment?
If my machine just needs normal service, why can't I just make an appointment, like I do my car?
I'd even be willing to pay a non-refundable reservation deposit, if I could get someone to agree to an appointment system.
Why can't shops check operations before they release equipment?
Why did I end up with a mower last year with improperly installed brand new belts?
Why aren't there chain "repair shops" like there are for everything else?
What is it about this business that makes it hard to find professionally run repair shops with decently sized shops with a large selection of new and used equipment, like what I find in the motorcycle and recreational product industries?
Are there these kinds of shops outside of Northern Virginia?

 

[reynoldston]

My shop is small. I keep it that way for a reason. I only take one job at a time and some times I will end up with a couple of jobs if I am waiting for parts to be shipped to me. My shop size is only 10X20 and I refuse to store anything outside. This way if I am busy working on a job and someone needs a fast repair they can take it else where. Its also just a part time job for a little extra money in my retirement years.

 

[Maxrevs]

Phew - a devastating critique of a certain segment of our industry from dad7432. I'll be very interested to read the replies from the more experienced members.

My situation is somewhat similar to renoldston in terms of trying to manage my workload and storing everything securely inside the workshop. I only started my business in earnest Jan 2015 so my workload is still building up. I can imagine the difficulty of turning work down though - I'd be worried that once a customer goes elsewhere you could kiss goodbye to them ever coming back.

But then again, keeping their equipment for weeks or months is just madness - you'd be peeing-off the customer big-time (and bad news travels fast), plus their equipment would be getting in the way all the time.

I really like the idea of an appointment system - it seems to work perfectly well for the auto trade (here in UK at least) so why not for mower shops?

 

[rbstern]

I think it's all symptomatic of a widespread retail economic squeeze. The combination of offshore manufacturing, big box store/Internet convenience and pricing, manufacturers putting very nice paint jobs on throw-away items, and the general move away from a service orientation in consumer culture. Makes it that much harder to run a traditional, small retail/repair shop. How do you hire and keep quality people in such an environment? And if you can't get good people to help you service customers, how can you expect to make customers happy?

It's part of business evolution, and the small shop isn't near the top of the food chain.

 

[Rivets]

You may not like my answers, but I will try to address your questions. First, you must see my side of the business. Comparing small engine shops to automotive shops is like comparing apples and pineapples, both are fruits. You have a Ford and go to the Ford shop, etc. Your MTD mower may have any of four different engines. You take your small engine in normally at the busiest time of the season. How many people in your area have multiple small engines? How many good dealers in your area? How many people in your area have multiple vehicles? How many good dealers, plus independent shops do you have in your area? Your Ford dealer has an inventory of Ford parts, if he works on other vehicles he gets his parts from other dealers. Your small engine dealer tries to keep an inventory of normal parts for 4-7 different engine manufacturers and 3-8 equipment manufacturers. As a mechanic you expect me to be an expert in each brand of engine and every brand of equipment that uses that engine. On top of that every person that wants a repair or service, expect me to put them on my list of customers who should be on my A list of who goes first, I should appreciate they chose me over the other guy. They are doing me a favor by coming to me.

The small shop I now work at has been in business for three generations and over 50 years. There are four service techs, two counter people, delivery driver. Everyone is in sales when needed. Right now the business is open 49 hours a week. Service people are working over 150 hours a week. I you bring your unit in today, there is a three week wait, we are that far behind, and have been since I came off layoff six weeks ago. Before that the service people were working 90 hours a week. It is a seasonal business if you cannot tell.

Now to your questions.

We don't insist you drop off your unit and let it sit for year weeks. If you wish we write up a service order and call you when your unit comes up. We only have outdoor storage and our customers know it in advance. Right now there are 50-75 units sitting there. Many customers think it will give them a heads up if it is sitting in our lot. It doesn't.

You want an appointment. Sorry, the nature of this business for the good shops does not work that way. We will move any customer to the head of the line for $50 up front.

Good shops make sure parts are installed properly and unit is operating the way it should when possible. Example, of our problem with the customer. Work order says: tune-up and sharpen blade. We do that, customer comes back a month later and says drive doesn't work. We find a worn belt, customer says we should have checked that when it came in, but won't pay for the extra time it would have taken.

Chain shops or pro shops, again apples and pineapples. Look around see how many young people are being trained in an industry that has to deal with everything I have written and customers who feel the way your questions portray you. In this business there are less than 1% of the top service techs who earn more than $20/hr. Remember in most parts of the country this is a seasonal business. The over 90% of the students who went through my small engines program did so as a stepping stone to the bigger engine industry.

As I said you may not like my answers, but any tech or business owner on this forum can see that you have very little knowledge of how this industry works and what it takes for us who are in this business to keep our heads above water. To everyone, if you find a good business and repair shop, please do you best to keep them around. The bad ones make us look bad, but like everything else, anything good is worth searching for.

Finally read my signature, it says what you can do with this rant. Rivet

 

[MRCo.]

Great points, Rivets. As a small business owner in my 30s, I see your situation and have o say you need to understand small engine shops like contractors, restaurants....any small business. It seems small engine shops get tarred with the same brush- you don't do that with your town's locally owned eateries. See? From being out in training, etc. I have found a huge range of personalities in this business, not all of them i would care to deal with. I try to have 1 week max turn around. Try. As Rivets says, we can't hold every part for every brand. We have to order thru the dealer for certain brands, adding another link in the supply chain. And maybe they know you are fixing the stuff people bought there and delay the parts to make you look bad so the customer comes to them next time. I've had parts take two months to come in. When I actually let people know what happens behind the scenes they are amazed we hold it together. My shop is open Monday thru Friday 7-5, Saturday 7-12. I work on average 12 hours a day. Last week I averaged 14 a day, worked 6 hours Sunday. Today I worked 15. I get paid no extra. There are those of us who genuinely try to serve people. Find one of us, have patience when we need it, and you will be well served.

 

[bertsmobile1]

The business name is Bert's Mobile Mower Repairs, so being mobile, I pick up.
I am sole operator so I can charge 75% of the current labour rate.
Not being a dealer agency I have to go through some very convuluted routes to get parts.
So having 5 or 6 mowers in the shop at one time is normal.
So far I have waited 22 weeks to get a rear discharge chute for a 32" MTD from the USA because MTD Australia told me NLA.
I have a Stiga estate Tornado looking for spindles for 16 weeks despite checking with the distributor the parts were in stock and pre paying for them through a dealer at full retail price.
There is Gransburg Shredder waiting for a discharge screen for 6 weeks ( also in distributor warehouse & prepaid )
There was no rain October to December so I did no and I mean NO work at all. Imagine paing wages & rent for 3 months with zero income.
Jan to March, it buckets down and my backlog is 2 weeks with a 3 week turn around. Add to that some 6 mowers with "non fatal" problems put off till around now so I have time to do the job properly.
Every parts order I have put on my suppliers has at least 2 items on back order.
Now I carry near $ 40,000 of new parts inventory but only manage to service 1/3 of the mowers without having to put an order for something.
And to get things into perspective the turnover is just under that amount and in ordeer to doo all services from stock I will need to carry near $ 100,000 of inventory.
No car repair shop has to do things like that
Every time a customer comes in with a mower I do not have parts for I order several so that I can service it next time from stock, but in most cases that will be in 2 to 3 years time.
I am fixing mowers as old as 60 years, no car yard ever has to do that .
There was 300 customers on the books when I took over and in that clientelle the largest number of the same machines I have come across is 6
I will take a punt that the receivers were responsible for the long wait but in fairness the shop was at fault by not having a job tag on your mower so the reciever considered it part of the inventory.
I lost $ 22,000 worth of vintage motorcycles exactly like this when a friend's girlfriend dumped him & pulled her funds from his restoration business.
When I came back to check how they were going , there was a new company in there.
Ditto for my great-grandfathers chest of drawers, if you can not prove you own it then it is available for liquidation.

Now like any enterprise there will always be some who should not be doing it, some will be good but underfunded, some will be inept and othere just criminal.
Back in the days before the greedy big box stores came to dominate new mower sales, the big profits dealers made on new mower sales subsidised the workshop so they could afford to carry a maximum load of apprentices and extra technicians to cover times of peak demand, but Lowes, Wallys and all the other greedy cream skimmers put an end to that.
Sorry that you seem to have found all the bad ones

 

[reynoldston]

The main reason I never store anything outside my small shop is because it would look like junk around my house. If for some reason I have to store something outside it go's back to the customer if its more then a day or so and at that I hide it in back of my house. I have been offered free mowers for parts but its a no thank you. I am in the repair business not the storage, salvage, or parts business. I have seen other small shops with mowers sitting all around them and to me it looks like a mower salvage yard. If I lose customers over it so be it not my problem. Now if this was a place of business and not my home I could well understand the outside storage.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Yes it gets that way.
the graveyard currently has around 300 catchers 90 walk behinds & 15 Ride ons.
I have around 100 line trimmers, 20 chain saws and a similar number of blowers.
These all live around the back.
I was going to get rid of them as the original owners was a car scrap yard man.
However over the 3 years these have become an invaluable resource .
I am currently building a 20 x 40 shed and a 6 x 25 carport to get them under cover.
The distributors down here regularly change hands & generally the new ones refuse to serice the previous owners imports.
So getting odd body parts is impossible then there is price MTD parts are 4 to 10 times your price in order to force owners to buy a new mower.