New Stihl online policy

[Ian C]

Fair enough Tom D. As long as you realise that your warranty claim goes to the very back of the queue. You look after those that look after you.

 

Any warranty work I send back to my dealer no drama. Rather do that than send it to a tractor dealer down the road !!!!

 

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[Ian C]

If my local dealer was as good as jones, honey bro, clarks etc etc I would use them but there not by a long way.

 

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[Jonathan O'Leary]

Fair enough Tom D. As long as you realise that your warranty claim goes to the very back of the queue. You look after those that look after you.

 

So does this explain why it took Stihl 12 weeks to sort my brand new MS880 out bought in shop from dealer? Failed oiler straight out of box. Hate to think how long it would have taken if I'd bought online.

 

As a small businessman, how if I'm up a tree all day, or on a chipper can I get to the dealers to pick spares. We all work long hours, as I'm sure you do, so why add more hours to an already packed day where my wife, daughter and son have to be greeted at near 6-7 each night by a tired husband and dad.

 

If you can buy online in all over countries why not here? Is there more of a risk using Stihl then Husky?

[Stihl dealer in Scotland]

"you are obviously a very poor businessman"

 

No, I'm a bloody good one. There is an online policy in place to protect me and my profit margin and I use it to my full advantage. I am grateful for every customer whether they spend £1.00 or £100.00, but I will not treat users kindly.

[waz77]

In the past I've always bought stihl, in the future I'll always buy husqy

[Jonathan O'Leary]

In the past I've always bought stihl, in the future I'll always buy husqy

 

Thinking the same, shame as I've been Stihl from the start

[Stihl dealer in Scotland]

Why did it take that long? Jonathan?. Was there a back order problem from Stihl or do you have an inadequate dealer?. In both cases I would report it to Stihl. It will be taken seriously!

[Jonathan O'Leary]

It went back to Stihl in Camberley, complete joke, then it came back, then it had to go back again. Stihl refused to accept the oiler failed out of the box. First time uprated oil pump was fitted, second time they said they'd fitted another uprated oil pump again. Stihl it seems isn't worried about their customers in any way, the new and the old. Can't help but think of how comfy Nokia were at the top of the mobile market a few years ago, and how tough have they had it lately

[Ian Leach]

So how do we not know that discrunted dealers are not just phoning stihl and making it all up to get online dealers loose there stihl dealership.

Can't understand the warranty issues , go to back of queue, not doing it as you didn't buy it with me.... Money is money at the end of the day.

 

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[GardenKit]

Any business that fails to adapt to changes in the market only has itself to blame when things go wrong. The internet has been around for years, if you aren't prepared to sell on line you can hardly complain when others do. Loads of small shops have closed down, loads of small farms have packed in, and loads of tree surgeons have given up too, its natural selection, you need to adapt and survive or die. Its that simple.

 

You can look at the past through rose tinted spectacles if you like, but you need to face facts Arkwright, the days of the likes of me wasting half a day driving to your little shop to pay £100 over the odds for a saw are gone.

 

 

G g g g ger ger ger ger get with the program ger ger ger granville.

Sorry Tom, that philosophy may well work for you and some others, but it will be the demise of the dealer network as we know it.

Which is fine for some of you.

But others will miss the local dealer.

 

This fairy tale puts it in perspective.

 

In the good old days local people bought from local suppliers and were very happy to do so. The customer was loyal to the dealer and the dealer was loyal to the customer. Everyone was happy.

 

The manufacturer gave the dealer a discount from the RRP he had set and intended the dealer to retain as much profit as possible to fund his business, support the product with spares and to adequately train his staff.

 

But then the internet came along and a handful of greedy dealers started to tempt the local mans loyal customers away with offers of greater and greater discounts, and started to sell saws further and further away. These greedy dealers were so greedy they began to fight amongst themselves and stole business not only from the local man but also from each other. They were giving away so much discount that they were retaining very little profit, so they gave even more discount in order to steal even more business to make up the shortfall.

 

The customers who bought from the greedy dealer were happy with the price they had paid, but still wanted the benefit of their local dealer for service and parts, but by this time his volume of sales had dropped so much that it was no longer viable to commit money to that brand so his stock levels fell. Being a clever businessman this small dealer knew better than to try to compete on price. All he had ever wanted to do was serve his loyal customers, but to do his old volume of business at reduced profit would have been stupid, and he had no wish to increase his volume and dilute his service by joining the clan of greedy dealers. After all, he wanted nothing more than to serve his local, loyal customers, a large percentage of whom had now become disloyal.

The local dealer was not allowed to complain about lack of support from his local customers, but it seems that it was now common practice for the disloyal customers to slag the dealer off. So the dealer adapted his business as he had been advised by the disloyal customers, but instead of selling the original product at ridiculously low margins he started to sell other products on which he could make a reasonable profit (they do exist).

 

This left the manufacturer with a dilemma. he had to something to support the local dealers before they all moved to more profitable lines so he introduced policies to restrict the distance selling, but these policies were heavily criticised by the disloyal customers who by now had not only turned against he local dealer but also against the manufacturer and moaned publicly about how unfairly they were being treated.

 

Meanwhile however, the many customers who had remained loyal to the local dealer, and to the product, were the ones who really suffered. They had always known that the best deal was not the cheapest one.