Anyone in Cornwall have dealings with FR Jones?

[Jonesie]

what happened to the good old days when a dealer was happy to sell a saw and look after you afterwards, they wanted the cash as much as you wanted that nice new saw & if you cut your leg off everyone accepted it as a calculated risk and was careful. all this H&S lark is just making jobs for the boys

:-)

 

Yeah tell me about it, we have to go through a 10 min discussion with everyone over it, so they understand it's not down to us. No ones paying us for the time I recon I'm losing at least an hour a day. But its Stihls and Huskys rules and we have to follow them.

[Taupotreeman]

Is it just the nanny state UK that this applies to guys? No such rule here, just go out and arm yourself with whatever size saw you deem fit.

[GardenKit]

what happened to the good old days when a dealer was happy to sell a saw and look after you afterwards, they wanted the cash as much as you wanted that nice new saw & if you cut your leg off everyone accepted it as a calculated risk and was careful. all this H&S lark is just making jobs for the boys

:-)

The good old days are still here if you want to support your local dealer. He will be happy to supply you a saw and show you the necessary safety features. he will judge the amount of information he needs to give as the one to one sale unfolds and he gets to to know you, and your capabilities. He will only need to see your certificate if you buy a top handle.

He will be on hand to handle any warranty or service issues you may have without the need for you to pack a saw up for return to distance seller.

He wont be quite as cheap as Jonesie as he will need to make a little money in order to give his personal service.

Come on guys, support your local dealer or you may lose him.

[luftwaffe]

Is it just the nanny state UK that this applies to guys? No such rule here, just go out and arm yourself with whatever size saw you deem fit.

 

Taupotreeman, I'm coming over, its getting too closterophobic here, can't even buy a power tool without showing your papers, what if i want to buy a grinder? will i be refused?

The government are taking an unhealthy involvement in how we are running our lives. The fun has almost gone out of doing anything now.....

[agg221]

The good old days are still here if you want to support your local dealer. He will be happy to supply you a saw.

 

On this we agree.

 

He will be on hand to handle any warranty or service issues you may have without the need for you to pack a saw up for return to distance seller.

 

On this we disagree. Dealers are people, and people are different, but my local dealer's objectives are to firstly prove why anything that went wrong is my fault to avoid any liabilities, and secondly to sell me a new saw. I have had this several times, at three different local dealers, one of whom was responsible for mis-fitting the lip on the bearing seal on my 066, costing me a new pot and piston kit. The last time I went in I said something to the effect of I wasn't sure what had gone wrong, and could they make an assessment as to the failure to work out whether I was doing something wrong. They said, oh that's an old saw (1994), we wouldn't want to repair that, you should buy a new one. I said, if I buy a new one and the same thing goes wrong, will it be under warranty? They said no, not if it's your fault. I said, so how does that help me? They didn't have an answer.

 

Come on guys, support your local dealer or you may lose him.

 

To be honest, I'd rather see a separation between the sale of saws and parts, which works perfectly well remotely in these days of internet sales (and you can legitimately buy any saw you like secondhand with no safety talk etc. so the legal argument won't wash) and the service/repair aspect. Yes, some people could be good at both, but not many I suspect. If the local dealers go under in the process, I for one won't miss them.

 

Alec

[GardenKit]

I sort of agree as I hear lots of negatives about other dealers, especially the larger ones who possibly employ staff who may not have the companies interest at heart.

I am a one man band (well, me and my wife) and try to give a very personal and fair service.

We do need to identify any problems and decide wether they are warranty or down to the customer. It is often difficult to put it across to a customer that the problem is due to his own actions, but sadly it too often is.

It is also essential that if either I or the manufacturer is at fault, I accept it and deal with it. My customers have paid me for a warranty against faulty parts or workmanship and I see that they are treated fairly.

 

As regards seperation of machines and spares, I guess you mean that you would like to buy via distance selling, but have service and spares support locally.

This wont happen unless spare part retail prices rise significantly so that the dealer margin can support the business and replace the lost margin on the initial sale. The time spent identifying and sourcing spares far outways the profit. We happily accept the need to support machines we have sold but are less happy to support machines sold at low margin by distance sellers who then dont have the support hastle.