GardenKit

Thanks for the vote of confidence Rich, but unfortunately the Viking mower is a rarity in these here parts. I have only seen one in the last 12 years, so I am no help at all! Sorry.

You will have a job to tune it Jay, its an Autotune model. It sorts itself out.

I know what you mean, but I guess its just the stubborn part of me. The fact is that for the last 10 years or so we have been stacked out with workshop work and really do not need any more. I reckon 90% of this is service work from customers who have bought from me. I always look at like this. The customer who buys from me not only buys a machine, but buys a little bit of me too. So when he has a problem, or even only a service, he gets the best I can give. He deserves it, he has bought it. So however busy we are, he will get his service. But the guy who shuns me on a deal and buys elsewhere has bought none of me, so unless I am desperate for work, which I never have been, then I do not need his business. No loyalty from him, none from me. And, the awkward, arrogant part of me wants him to suffer a little by having to take the machine 30 miles to where he decided to buy it. Maybe after a couple of years he will realise the best deal was, after all, the one on the doorstep. Or maybe he won't.

Yes, of course. In retrospect it is a bit strong. But sometimes its not far from the truth. This happened a few weeks ago. I get a call . "Do you stock the such and such mower" to which I answer yes. So he comes out and looks at it, but does not like it. It had seemed suitable for his needs when he researched on the net, but he realised it was too small when he saw it. We discussed his needs, 'visited' his garden via Google Earth and measured his grass area. We then offered various machines until he settled on a particular model. He goes away to think. Half an hour of my time and advice, stuff he could not get online. He phones a few days later and spends another 20 minutes on the phone asking for more advice for the same size machine but going up market with a greater spend. He settles on a paricular model and thanks me for my time and expertise. Says he will be back. Next day he is on the phone. " I have done some research and can get the same model elsewhere at £65 less, if you match it you can have the business" Now, my price is fair anyway, that machine was already £100 off retail, and TBH another £65 would have made it barely above cost. What the other dealer, 30 miles away was playing at I have no idea. So I declined to offer any further discount. He then started on that he really wanted to buy from me so what was my lowest price? I have always said that my first price is my best price, so once again I declined to shift and suggested that, as the other firm had been decent enough to offer a better price first time, the decent thing for him to do was buy it there, but thank you for giving us a chance. So he says, OK if you do not want the business I will buy it elsewhere. Fair enough. But then he says " you will get the service work as the other place is too far away", to which I replied, " The firm you buy it from deserves your loyalty and it should go back to them for service, especially whilst in warranty, so count me out" So they got the business, based on my advice and time spent with the guy. He milked me for that advice and then used that info to go to others with a specific machine request. I know I could have had the deal at his price, but I am a stubborn git and will not bow to what I see as a mild form of blackmail. I would sooner lose the deal. As I did!

Mark is spot on. I know many of you will not want to hear this, but the constant heavy discounting of Stihl and Huskie machines by the larger distributors in the UK is totally crazy. The 'trade discount' given to dealers by the manufacturers was originally intended to be the profit that the dealer needed to keep in order to fully support his business. The dealer would make sufficient to invest in specialist tools and staff training,also to ensure adequate stocks of machines and spares to support the product. He could then offer the 'good old fashioned service' that you all want. But times change and the handfull of large dealers who are intent on nationwide domination have used this discount to compete with each other and have driven prices ever downwards, until customers can buy at little more than cost. These dealers are only making money by shifting volume, its just plain crazy and very poor business sense. But it means that the thousands of other small dealers throughout the land are being wrongly branded as greedy for wanting (and needing) to maintain a sensible profit margin. Their sales are dropping because of the 'discount' merchants, to the point where it is not viable to continue supporting the product. The result is that the dealer network is shrinking and local service will soon be a thing of the past. To shop around for the cheapest price and then blackmail the local dealer is ethically wrong. It is also wrong to buy at the cheapest price and then expect the local man to provide spares and service for that product. It is even more wrong to slate the local dealer for his service when he has not been supported in the first place. Now for the flack!

I put a new brake band in a Huskie 3120 in January, and it came back this week. "only used it a couple of times, and its gone again. The last one lasted for years" he said. It had indeed gone again, but this time due to the clutch exploding. Has taken out the band, the drum, the clutch and the side cover. Expensive.

They do make tuning easier though, as they stay on the screw without bouncing off at revs like slot heads do on some saws.

Not saying that thats the answer guys, but how much would you like to make if you were stocking a £600 saw? (remember, its metal on the shelf, rather than money in the bank until its sold) Then assembling and PDI costs, handover, and retaining some reserve for when it goes wrong on something you cannot claim under warranty, but have to give the customer anyway. As well as some clear profit? How far do you think £30 would go to cover this? Or would you want to make more on that commitment?

I honestly have no idea what they are, but last year they left the tree at dusk and plastered themselves all over our lit windows. We had to keep the windows shut all the time. I had sort of forgotten about them until I saw this thread. Will have to do something about it before the summer, assuming they are still lurking in there somewhere.

These things cause me a problem when I brush against the trees when cutting the grass. They get in my hair and up my nose, and down my shirt, and in my ears. Then I cut around the weeping willow and get a dose of green aphids. The prospect of getting the saw out is becoming more appealing.

Why not just get the Husqvarna special screwdriver Steve? They are only around a tenner after all.

These are slower growing types, just the two of them each side of the front gate. They are over 25 years old and about 15ft high. There have always been midges around them, but last summer one was literally heaving with them. If I bashed it with a big stick they would fall onto the ground in a heaving mass. No sign of browning on the outside, but pretty dry and dead looking inside. Only ever trimmed each side of the path. Spray with insecticide? or petrol, followed by a match?

As a matter of interest, how much profit do you guys think dealers in the UK are making on the sale of a 550XP?

Ahha. I have a couple of leylandii type things outside my house which seem to attract millions of midges, to the point that I am considering felling them. Are these midges then actually Cyprus Aphids, and is there something I can do to get rid of them?

To be honest I doubt you will ever see Mitox enter the Pro market.

A great idea Skyhuck, but where would the required volume of secondhand pro saws come from to fulfill the domestic market?

Let us be fair here. The Mitox brand was never intended for use by professional users. It is not an alternative to the main Pro user machines and should never be sold as such. Pro users need Pro saws. Mitox is however, an excellent alternative to the many domestic brands that are available to domestic users. It is even a viable alternative to the 'domestic' models produced by the major brands. Do not forget that the many domestic models from major brands are also not suited to pro use. If a so called "Pro user" decides to opt for a domestic machine then that is his decision, but he should never be "sold" such as saw as being an alternative. It is not. Horses for courses.

Maybe the strop could be fitted here? The primer is prone to being caught by the recoil, and pulled out of the body. Its very easy to replace, but thats not the point. But with a little attention being paid to starting technique it is easy to pull the recoil at such an angle that it misses the primer.

I made the decision earlier this week to stop stocking both Stihl and Huskie. Its not that we sell many saws anyway, most are to domestic users, so we used to keep a MS181 and a huskie 140, as well as a few Mitox. The Pro users know what they want and I get them to order, whether Stihl or Huskie. But Huskie change their models so fast I can't keep up and domestic customers can never start a Stihl, so i was looking for something better. I believe I have found it in Echo, the first two arrived for stock today so we will see how they go. Mitox remains on the shelves as the cheaper alternative.

I would say it is far better:thumbup1:

And that day is here:001_smile: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIjgZchlxFY]Stihl brake spring fitting - YouTube[/ame]

I have had these for a while Neil, and agree that it is a fine little saw and very underestimated. It is worth every penny of its £169 price tag. But, its not a Stihl, or a Huskie. I have showed it, with great enthusiasm, to all my Pro tree customers, all of whom have smiled and lost interest within 30 seconds. I have sold but one, and that was to a gardener, who is well pleased. But, whilst not illegal to sell to a non qualified user, it is against the industry code of practice, and so also against my code of practice. So for this reason I have refused to sell one to several interested gardeners, which is where the market lies. Its a bit of a bitch doing things by the book! The one that I did sell, was actually purchased by the guys mate who had his tickets. They exchanged ownership outside my shop. Like I said though, its a good little saw and has a place with Pro users as their backup saw for when their 'reliable' Stihl goes wrong.

Then I think you will need to bite the bullet and pay the price. Several manufacturers use the same BBC unit, and most only supply as a complete assembly. It is usually just the bottom bit that needs replacement due to worn, or broken friction material, or broken drive flanges. John Deere supply just the bottom bit separately. It fits other makes and saves a good deal of money. I usually keep a couple around.

Yesterdays influx of tractors for service, as well as 14 pedestrians and a skip loader. Only just got them inside for the night. It is bound to get quieter soon.

True, if you have the bar. But the inexperienced can easily end up putting a too narrow a guage chain on, then wonder why they cut a curve.