i think i've upset my local stihl dealer

[mendiplogs]

I am rather the opposite to Honey Bros, although i am talking machinery in general, not Stihl.

 

It is common these days to get customers in waving printouts around and asking if I will match internet prices.

 

In short, I will not. If I were to, then my profits would be insufficient to run my small business, and there would be one less sales/repair facility in the area.

 

My prices are very reasonable though and never far off the mark, but if a customer chooses to shun me and buy cheaper elsewhere then I will happily shun him if he brings the internet bought machine into me to fix under warranty, and will concentrate my efforts on giving my loyal customers excellent service.

 

 

I did once offer to match an internet price on a Ride-On mower by a pushy customer. The customer asked when it would be delivered as he wanted to be there for me to show him how to use it.

I said it would be sometime over the next week, but could not say when, so he had better stay in. I furthermore said it would be on a pallet and would be left on his drive, and, as I was only a driver on that day then I could answer no questions. He did not like that, but as I pointed out, if he wants internet prices, he gets internet service.

 

Or, I said, for an extra £100 he could have it at a time to suit him, and I would spend as much time as needed to commission it.

 

He jumped at the chance and ended up paying £20 more than my original price would have been.

HI GARDEN thats the way to do it:thumbup1: mate well done there:thumbup: jon

[Steve Bullman]

Hear what you are saying Steve. What do you think the answer is?

 

We can't turn back time and 'un-invent' the internet.

 

What makes a customer purchase from a particular dealer?

• location
  
• price
  
• attitude
  
• stock
  

 

I don't really think there needs to be an answer, as to be honest I don't think the problem exists.

People will buy cheaper on the internet, thats their call. Its also a dealers call if they choose not to drop everything and carry out a warranty job for a customer who didn't buy the saw from them. If I was in the position of a dealer, my regular loyal customers would get serviced first, the internet buyers would have to wait their turn.

Any reasonable person I believe would accept that they won't get priority servicing from someone they didn't purchase their machine from.

 

In short, buy from whoever you want...dont go starting threads whinging when you take it to another dealer and don't get the service you 'think' you deserve. This isn't aimed at the OP, as I have seen this same attitutude pop up time and time again throughout the life of this forum

[Steve Bullman]

I don't forgive bad attitude, the rest I can work around given time

 

Again....we hear a lot about the 'bad attitudes' of dealers, but what about the bad attitude of customers?

I've witnessed first hand the way some customers talk to shop staff, with an attitude that the staff are there to service their needs regardless of how they talk to them.

I've even had emails come through to me after dealers have read members posts slagging them off, and then filled me in with the facts that the posters had ommitted.

One particular time springs to mind when someone came on here slating a company over a pair of trousers...I forget the ins and outs....but a phone call came through about 20 minutes later from the dealer in question telling me that the guy had an overdue account of around £2000......and he had the audacity to whinge about them on a public forum

[Daniël Bos]

Surely the warranty is something you purchase when you buy the tool.

It's not an agreement with the vendor, but with the manufacturer. They then have agreements with their dealers to honour their end of the bargain and they get paid for doing so.

Where or who from you bought the saw should make no difference at all.

[Honey Bros]

At HB our workshop runs a numerical 'Job Log' and each machine is booked in as it comes in. Machines are put on the bench in the same order, no matter if they are warranty, from another dealer or a 'mates mate'.

 

Just wanted to make that clear.

[Steve Bullman]

At HB our workshop runs a numerical 'Job Log' and each machine is booked in as it comes in. Machines are put on the bench in the same order, no matter if they are warranty, from another dealer or a 'mates mate'.

 

Just wanted to make that clear.

 

Thats fair enough, and how it should work.....but I suspect if a good customer came in who had bought the saw from you and needed a quick fix there and then so he could get back to work you'd do your best to help him out if you could?

[Honey Bros]

Absolutely! We solve many problems on the shop counter, established customers and the 'Joe Public' who can't start the saw as they have flooded it or have put the chain on back to front etc.

 

If we can't solve it on the counter, which we do not charge labour for, then it's 'booked in' and establishes itself in the queue.

[mendiplogs]

Absolutely! We solve many problems on the shop counter, established customers and the 'Joe Public' who can't start the saw as they have flooded it or have put the chain on back to front etc.

 

If we can't solve it on the counter, which we do not charge labour for, then it's 'booked in' and establishes itself in the queue.

 

HI TOMMER well thats good mate:thumbup1: my mrs is a shop manger so i no how some customers can thanks jon

[NFG]

Hear what you are saying Steve. What do you think the answer is?

 

We can't turn back time and 'un-invent' the internet.

 

What makes a customer purchase from a particular dealer?

• location?
  
• price?
  
• attitude?
  
• stock?
  

 

There are 2 things that finalise a buying decision:

 

1. The price is right

2. It makes sense

 

Bourne out by the fact I bought my MacBook Pro from Dixons (they send a shudder down my spine as retailers go) because it was reduced by £175 & fantastic deal. Now that dosnt mean to say Im going to get told to Foxtrot Oscar when I take it into a different Apple dealer for service? (run like a dream for 3 years, so unlikely)

 

Yes, I appreciate the dealer loyalty, but sometimes you just want it sorted, fixed, replaced, repaired above all working & if you get good service then youre going to think Ill use them again.

 

All Mr Richard Cranium did was shoot a hole in the foot of his employer because he chose to stay the party line as opposed to allow his colleague to assist & potentially win a customer.

 

 

N

[GardenKit]

I am currently dealing with a recall campaign on Tanaka brush cutters, It involves fitting a new exhaust and cover.

 

I ensure that I leave whatever I may be doing when the customer brings the machine in (following our letter to him) and do the work whilst he waits. Its only a 10 minute job, but I do not want to inconvenience the customer any more than needed.

Being a small business i have the flexibility to do this and the customers love it.

 

I guess it would be more difficult for a larger firm to do this.