I bought my saw from an actual mom and pop shop. The garage they have looks like a cave inside and is quite run down. They have great service and really know what they are doing. I'd rather give them the money than some fancy shop.
Good shops are hard to find around my area. Plus I know its good to support local shops but one time I took a saw of my father-in-laws over to a husky shop for a warranty issue and they refused to work on it as it was not bought there. I call Husqvarna and they said not much they can do about it. Then lately I was calling around to find another shop in the area and on the phone of this other shop the mechanic happened to answer the phone and while talking to him he tells me the gal that owns the shop will not do warranty work on a saw if you didnt buy it there. Now the way i look at it is places of buisness are always looking for ways to get people into their places of business so you can see how nice a place and how good of people they are. Now if a person needs help on a saw they didnt buy from that shop well you might just have a new customer if you treat them right its an opportunity. Plus husky gonna pay for the warranty work so its extra income. As you can see when my Father-in-law got ditched on his saw I was calling around a couple years later for someone else to help me I didn't go back there so they lost two customers in the deal. I drove 25 miles away just to stay away from that shop.
I have three dealers nearby that I like. One sells Echo and Jonsereds, one sells Stihl, and the third sells Dolmar and a whole bunch of other stuff. The Echo guy is elderly and runs his business out of a packed-full 2-car garage, he's been there for decades. Greets me by name, good prices, cheap repairs, decent selection and he has used stuff for sale occasionally. The Stihl guy is less personable but does good repairs. The Dolmar dealer is a lot further away from me (25 miles) but worth the trip, this is a family-owned business that is a full-service dealer for both home and commercial products. Dolmar, Ventrac, Timberwolf, Tanaka, etc. The showroom is packed full of saws and accessories, as well as other power equipment, pretty much anything you need is there. Prices are reasonable. They greet you by name and remember what you own and will help you with any parts or service you need. Plus, once a year they host a GTG at their shop, they belong to several chainsaw-related forums and get upwards of 50-60 guys to show up in late April for a day of cutting, food and BS'ing. I probably wouldn't have as much enthusiasm for chainsaws and woodcutting if it wasn't for this dealer.
Warranty work is a double edged sword for a dealer- because of the shenatigans of the MFG's in the first place. About equal to dealing with VA or Medicare.
Our Stihl dealer we've known for many, many moons and he and his brother started a tire shop in an old garage. I wasn't sure they could make the business go as the location was not good but they did good. Later he went into a John Deere dealership and had one part as his own. This is when he added Stihl to his tire business. Later he got his own shop. Still in the tire business plus auto repair and the Stihl business. He has always done us good. We also have a Husky dealer but he is about twice the miles but probably overall might be a bit better. I just hate if I would have to make a special trip as we don't go that way often but the Stihl dealer is close and we usually have to go to town weekly anyway. So, right now we'll stick with Stihl.
I agree that sometimes the best repair shop is the guy working out of his own garage at his house. We have a couple those types in my area. They both do great work.
My closest dealer is a Husqvarna dealer. The help is not personable. The Stihl dealer is next. Great guy, small shop, good service and pretty busy with just him and his wife there. He doesn't usually have time to talk, so most of the transactions are pretty quick. I was in last week and he showed me how to use the new fool proof sharpener on a saw he had in the back and how to change the files in it. Quick and thorough. We have another small dealer that has some other lesser known brands but are good guys. The Echo dealer is an Ace Hardware, so I don't know if they have a service depth. Next dealer is a huge Kubota and Stihl dealer and they are always friendly and helpful. Have yet to find a Dolmar dealer near me. So I buy where I get the best help and where I'm treated like a friend, so, Stihl for me please. And for the record, I'm not particularly brand loyal. I do have my dad's old Husqvarna 65, (it's just too heavy for me). My 029 is too heavy for a firewood saw. I love my 241. I'd like to try a Dolmar also. So for me it's about the dealer
Im not ultra brand loyal either. Dealer thats here now is pretty much stihl, old dealer sold husqvarna, stihl, and echo. At the new dealer the owner seems to know alot about saws, and i beleive he does most of the repair work himself. His employees dont seem to have alot of saw knowledge and dont seem interested in the whole subject. If i was to buy another saw its gona be a dolmar, theres a dealer 40 miles away.
Thats for sure as there are hardly any appliance repair guys in our area as the MFG's are like the medical insurance type companies , the beat down the guys doing the work to get off cheap. So there are hardly any people who will do warranty on appliances arounnd here. The first thing the ask is if your calling about warranty work as they wont do it as it doesnt pay enough to pay for their gas . Plus if they do some warranty work they wont drive far , if you live out on the edge of the county forget it most times they stick to in town work. Same way with medical the doctors charge then insurance tells them how much they are gonna actually pay. Some doctors around here cant do buisness in the local hospital as there is some kind of pyramid scheme going on as the local docs have to sign on to the hospital and pay the hospital some type of commisions or something. So alot of doctors are building their own labs with their own equipment and can do about anything in their offices now.
I want to buy a saw that will last me a lifetime. That means I want professional grade. And pro grade saws only come from dealers. But, There has to be a balance. Manufacturers have to make profit and compete at the same time. So they try to reduce costs. Costs of manufacturing, costs of shipping, costs of warranty repair. Dealers have to make profit also. (I think they are stuck in the middle) If you go into a dealership thinking the dealer should cut his margin to just a couple bucks...or less...don't expect to see your dealer there the next time you need him. What do you get when everyone wants their stuff cheaper? Walmart, Amazon, big box stores, internet dealers. And you mostly get what you pay for. If you want your dealer to be there for you, expect to pay a little extra for it. If you're buying cheap chinese junk, expect it to last like ...well... cheap chinese junk.
You can buy "pro grade saws" all over the Internet Amazon included. If dealers want my business they better be competitive and know more than I do with @ss kissing service. If they are I will repeat my business to them. I've also bought China stuff that is better than American made stuff. I got my 461 for cheap. He(dealer) like he should have knew alot more than I and my research. Between his knowledge and price I will continue to do business with him even though he is twice as far as other dealers.(40 minuets) I'm not going to do business with a guy who thinks he sh$ts gold and is worth x amount of dollars just because... The hardware store that is a husky dealer told me I can't run their chain on my Stihl. They had loops on sale so I thought what the heck I could try some....Oh well...Won't ever bother with them anything chainsaw related again.
I've got a few stihl dealers around me. The big boys are not friendly, very expensive, and would rather sell you a saw than fix one. They specialize in big green tractors and making $. I've got a small dealer who is friendly, fairly priced, but the service side is hit and miss. It took them 3 tries to fix an oil leak on my Exmark ZTR. They made it right $ wise after I gave them some grief, but the hassle of return trips was a major PIMA. If I ever needed major saw repair, I'd ship it someone on here before I'd keep it local.
I dont mind paying a little more so the dealer can make a profit. They have to eat too. The stihl saws seem very high priced here, the other brands are more in line with msrp. I just enjoy it more when they know my name, and can meebe throw in a little freebie when you buy a saw from them.
I walked into ACE Hardware (which is actually in the back of a local grocery store) for a thermocouple today, only to stumble across a spiffy new Stihl display...I about dropped a load when I seen the full display of saws on the wall...looked like they had one of everything...and not just saws either, they have the whole line, I couldn't believe it! I'm sure there will be no service there (unless they take it to some other shop for you) and probably very limited knowledge about, well, anything! Now its probably gonna take me a lil longer when the Mrs sends me to the store for milk and bread... milk, check bread, check files, check bar oil, check
That's funny. Our small local grocery bought an Ace franchise a while back, and it's in their old "bulk" area in the back of the building too. I'll have to mosey back there and see if they've done the same.
I'm just about there with Menards. I know you guys don't have Menards over there...you missin out man! Well, maybe Menards and Rural king...just about everything a guys needs right there!
FIL took his Stihl 011 to dealer for tune up, $100.00 got saw home and it wouldn't start. I took a look and the dealer never replaced the sparkplug or cleaned the air filter. I replaced the plug and cleaned the filter and adjusted the carb it started right up. Won't go back to that dealer.
There was a time when that was true- proprietary size drive links real odd spacing but that was many moons ago. Don't run in to much of that any more but 20 years ago it was still a pia.
