harrythecat178

We are on Aviva mini fleet and include a 4.6 ton sprinter, fairly sensible and reasonable. NFU mutual may also be okay. Dont forget that Dad will require a driver CPC after September if he hasnt already done one

The recommended fix to try for premature bearing failure is change the rim sprocket supplied as standard for a spur sprocket. New MS260 saws that Stihl are now sending out have been changed before despatch

Interesting discussion, let me put in my piece. We are Stihl directly supplied dealers. We adhere to the Stihl policy, we only sell online used products. We try to offer a fair discount on new Stihl products with extra discount for regular customers who are professional users. We also offer priority service to those customers with minor repairs often done on the spot, and can sometimes offer a loan machine if the machine is under warranty and the owner is stuck. We stock a good selection of fast moving spares and a keep good range of saw models. No, we are not the cheapest but we are competitive compared to online prices. As long as we can make a fair profit on sales of new product to maintain our business, we think we can continue to increase sales by offering a good service. This is what Stihl wants, dealers that offer a quality service , they cannot dictate or even comment on the price a dealer sells at. To sum up, in my opinion if as a local supplier you offer a good deal with good service backup and items ex stock then your local customers will come to you, you don't have to worry about what is happening on the internet.

He seems to have moved over the water since last week. Perhaps he is looking for a better nightschool to resit his GCSE english grammar exam

Thats Ebay rules and its about to be reduced to 30 days, so a bit more sensible and they say they are doing something returns abuse, we shall wait and see. Outside of Ebay though, there is very little comeback on the dodgy private seller

The answer is "Buy with your eyes open" Buying of a registered business seller on Ebay gives right in law to return suspicious goods. Paypal or your credit card will protect your money. Buy from a "private" seller gives little or no right of return. If an advert states no returns then its time to look elsewhere. On the subject of a database, love them or hate them, Stihl policy has the right idea. We are encouraged to register all new machines at point of sale. This means that if the machine is ever stolen , and then resurfaces , the supplying dealer and original purchaser can be traced and its history followed through. I dont know if other brands, Husqvarna etc do the same but in my eyes it can only be a good thing.

Its our Husky 394XP 30 inch you are looking at and yes I agree that its plenty of money but firstly we have to give £72.50 to the vat man out of the selling price and secondly we have to ensure what we sell is fit for purpose and in good working order and that all adds to the costs. We purchase all our machinery from known reliable sources. Used big saws are getting very scarce so the used value of them is going up, and this may make the older ones look expensive; its just supply and demand.

We had a delivery from Stihl yesterday of MS261 C-M and these were the 1st saws this year dated 2014 despite already having had 80 or so delivered this year. It always takes until the end of February for saws to start to appear with 2014 dates and then its the most popular models first. I presume the sticker is changed in the factory on Jan 1 and then stock is sent out from Germany to this country in strict rotation first built, first sent. 2013 dated stock will continue to be supplied until it is exhausted . Date on sticker makes no difference if you get the model you want unless you want to sell it and have a really fussy buyer. You should always have a receipt to prove purchase date. As far as I am aware there have been no old model MS362 saws available ex Stihl since last autumn, they are all 362C-M, the model change was mid 2013 catalogue so in effect the 362C-M is a new model to this years catalogue

A couple of years ago, we had a spate of scored chainsaws arrive one after another for repair. We started to question the owners and they had all got their petrol from the same garage. As they went into pay, they also bought a bottle of 2 stroke oil that had a moped pictured on front. This was a mineral oil that was only suitable for use at 25:1 and certainly no good in chainsaws. The long term cure was to sell the garage a few boxes of Oregon semi synthetic 2 stroke oil, and no more scored saws appeared . The moral is that filling station 2 stroke oil is generally poor quality and not suitable for landscape equipment. Generally only semi synthetic or full synthetic 2 stroke oil is suitable for professional use at 50:1 and if it doesn't say synthetic on the bottle it wont be. On the subject of piston and barrels, I would certainly try cleaning up the barrel with light abrasive and then fit a new genuine piston and rings which shouldn't be too dear. Tecomec brand also gives good reults

As some will know we sell a lot of used chainsaws on Ebay near all of which we know where they have come from. Our policy is to tell the truth and stand by what we sell, the last thing we want are complaining customers. What needs to be remembered about buying on Ebay is that there are 2 types of seller, business and private. Business is defined as someone who sells items to earn a profit but the problem is that a lot of small traders hide under the mask of a private seller. If you buy off a business seller the law protects you from buying a dud in that you are covered by the Distance selling regulations. If for whatever reason you are unhappy with your purchase the you have 7 working days to advise the seller that you wish to return it and the worse loss you will have is the carriage charges. If you drove to see it then you can quite often rack that cost up in fuel and time. If you buy off a private seller you have very little comeback and will be a private legal matter. It is well known that Stihl and others have clamped down on online sales so us registered dealers will not distance mail order sell and hence any new Stihl saws that appear on Ebay could well have a nasty history apart from the odd genuine insurance replacement being sold by the private seller. As for buying used from a private seller, in my experience, apart from a few genuine cases, any small to medium user only cashes his saw in when its past its best. As seen in many adverts "only used a couple of times" on a Stihl saw, well we sell hundreds of new saws in a year and in my experience once a customer buys a new saw, he tries to hold onto it and generally only parts with when his shed is broken into or its life expired. To sum it up, there is the odd bargain about but ask yourself why its for sale and who is selling it. Best idea is stick to a trusted source, be it a new or used saw.