A little miffed

[skramer360]

I don't understand why everyone always says dealers don't like doing warranty work or lose money on warranty work. I worked at a small engine shop for over 20 years. We were a dealer for Gravely, Briggs, Kawasaki engines, Kohler engines, and Echo power equipment. All of those manufacturers paid us our shop labor rate for all warranty repairs. We liked warranty work.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

I don't understand why everyone always says dealers don't like doing warranty work or lose money on warranty work. I worked at a small engine shop for over 20 years. We were a dealer for Gravely, Briggs, Kawasaki engines, Kohler engines, and Echo power equipment. All of those manufacturers paid us our shop labor rate for all warranty repairs. We liked warranty work.

I worked at a car dealership back in the 80's, and hated most warantee work. They didn't pay for diagnostic time, which was big for me when I was chasing electrical gremlins. Most of the payout time was pretty hard to reach too. We were paid flat rate, so there was no pay for standing at the parts counter waiting for the parts...

 

[arrow]

I don't understand why everyone always says dealers don't like doing warranty work or lose money on warranty work. I worked at a small engine shop for over 20 years. We were a dealer for Gravely, Briggs, Kawasaki engines, Kohler engines, and Echo power equipment. All of those manufacturers paid us our shop labor rate for all warranty repairs. We liked warranty work.

It's about people basically not knowing what they're talking about the current industry as it applies to outdoor equipment and tractor sales or uttering something they knew from many years ago.
We jump at warranty work as well...

 

[DaBear3428]

Unless the lawn is a small in size, I can't see why anyone would buy a rider lawn mower from Low's/Home depot. They are the lowest quality mowers IMO..

huh? my 525E came from lowes for a great price, was assembled good enough and has served me well for 2 years of hard use including my wife running over a 50 pound block of pavement that turned a blade into a boomerang. i have not had to take it in for warranty service but was directed by a sticker on the side of the mower to take it to a local dealer for warranty work.

bottom line if you are looking for a JD ZTM lowes offers good prices on them and mine has served me well.

 

[DaBear3428]

The Deere’s sold at Lowe’s and HD are not good quality and you will end up trying g to get any repairs done at Deere. Spend more on a different brand or buy from a dealer that repairs what they sell. This is still poor service for that dealer

not true in my experience same equipment and has worked well for me.

 

[rocco611]

Most all non commercial riding mowers regardless of brand are made from similar low price components , wheels , tires, engines, transaxles, steering , spindles etc. My john Deere D170 is not much different than any riding mower made by MTD and probably the reason a lot of people come to think MTD makes the John Deere mowers as well. There are three John Deere dealers in my area. I have never heard anything bad about any of them other than their prices are high. Sure their large commercial accounts likely get the most attention, but they didn't refuse or balk at honoring the warranty on the riding mower I bought at Lowes.

 

[Grumpycat]

Most all non commercial riding mowers regardless of brand are made from similar low price components , wheels , tires, engines, transaxles, steering , spindles etc.

That is not true. Country Clipper uses high quality parts and real metal in fabrication. The bottom end uses the common Hydro-Gear EZT but moving up the line CC uses 1 grade up transmission in comparison to the competition. The bottom end Country Clipper Avenue comes with a Kawasaki FR600V engine. Exmark uses an Exmark branded Chinese engine. Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton.

I'd say Bad Boy is almost Country Clipper quality. And Exmark after that.

 

[hodge]

The ones at Lowes are assembled by a contracted dealer as well, not by Lowes employees.

In my area, the local Deere dealership (James River) assembles them for Lowes and Home Depot.

 

[hodge]

That is not true. Country Clipper uses high quality parts and real metal in fabrication. The bottom end uses the common Hydro-Gear EZT but moving up the line CC uses 1 grade up transmission in comparison to the competition. The bottom end Country Clipper Avenue comes with a Kawasaki FR600V engine. Exmark uses an Exmark branded Chinese engine. Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton.

I'd say Bad Boy is almost Country Clipper quality. And Exmark after that.

Bad Boy uses Briggs, Kohler, and Kawasaki.

 

[Grumpycat]

Bad Boy uses Briggs, Kohler, and Kawasaki.

Read it again. The low end Country Clipper uses Kawasaki, the low end Exmark uses a Chinese engine, and the low end Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton.

Country Clipper also uses Kohler engines. Exmark also uses Kawasaki and Kohler on their higher end models.

When Briggs & Stratton purchased Snapper and most of the box store mower manufacturers the quality mower manufacturers dropped B&S. Bad Boy is a pretty good mower competing with box store prices so for the low end they can not afford not to use the inexpensive B&S engine.

In 2014 I trusted Snapper to put a quality engine on my $700+ 21" self-propelled Ninja (the mulching version). Quite a disappointment. Could not mow my 0.3 acres on one tank of gas (about 70 minutes). The gas cap was in the wake of grass clippings blowing out from under the mower and designed in such a way as to let grass clippings accumulate under the gas cap around the ridge so when the cap was removed the clippings were lifted and dropped into the gas tank. Furthermore it had an "automatic choke" which prevented a hot engine from restarting if left 10 minutes. Had to wait 30 minutes to start, or restart very soon after turning the engine off.

My Country Clipper 18 HP Kawasaki zero-turn mows the lawn in 25 minutes for the same amount of fuel as the Snapper.

 

[hodge]

Read it again. The low end Country Clipper uses Kawasaki, the low end Exmark uses a Chinese engine, and the low end Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton.

Country Clipper also uses Kohler engines. Exmark also uses Kawasaki and Kohler on their higher end models.

When Briggs & Stratton purchased Snapper and most of the box store mower manufacturers the quality mower manufacturers dropped B&S. Bad Boy is a pretty good mower competing with box store prices so for the low end they can not afford not to use the inexpensive B&S engine.

In 2014 I trusted Snapper to put a quality engine on my $700+ 21" self-propelled Ninja (the mulching version). Quite a disappointment. Could not mow my 0.3 acres on one tank of gas (about 70 minutes). The gas cap was in the wake of grass clippings blowing out from under the mower and designed in such a way as to let grass clippings accumulate under the gas cap around the ridge so when the cap was removed the clippings were lifted and dropped into the gas tank. Furthermore it had an "automatic choke" which prevented a hot engine from restarting if left 10 minutes. Had to wait 30 minutes to start, or restart very soon after turning the engine off.

My Country Clipper 18 HP Kawasaki zero-turn mows the lawn in 25 minutes for the same amount of fuel as the Snapper.

I did. You said, "Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton". Your words, you didn't specify in that sentence.

 

[mikester]

It's a double edged sword. On the flip side when you are selling stuff you run into a LOT of time wasters and tire kickers. Between irrational buyers wanting the moon and free delivery and top and low conversion numbers I can see sales guys getting discouraged trying to flip low volume and low profit items.

Big box stores like The Borg fill that niche market people are looking for...low dollar value, low quality, no service.

 

[Grumpycat]

I did. You said, "Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton". Your words, you didn't specify in that sentence.

Read it yet again. We have paragraphs for a reason:

"The bottom end Country Clipper Avenue comes with a Kawasaki FR600V engine. Exmark uses an Exmark branded Chinese engine. Bad Boy uses Briggs & Stratton."

 

[rScotty]

It's about people basically not knowing what they're talking about the current industry as it applies to outdoor equipment and tractor sales or uttering something they knew from many years ago.
We jump at warranty work as well...

I'm glad to hear that some dealers still like warranty work. I'm from "many years ago" and always liked warranty work. It didn't pay the hourly that other work did, but at least it did pay.
Warranty work was more likely to be newer and clean and lubed with parts available, instead of old, dirty, abused, and parts a hassle.
That all made warranty work more interesting than dealing with worn out stuff.

USA motors were pretty good, Japanese rarely needed warranty work, British almost always.