Dealer loses money on warranty work?

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mrbean1025

Member
Hearth Supporter
Mar 21, 2007
98
Southern New Hampshire
I am confused about the "Gold Warranty by Harmon." I will first say that I own a Harmon XXV that I am for the most part happy with. I also understand that dealers must make money but also understand that a consumer should get what they pay for including the warranty. I just read multiple threads that seemed to be saying that the dealer is expected to do warranty work for less than their regular rate and that the profit from their stove sales should make up the difference. I am willing to accept the price for the stove if I am going to receive the warranty work. Having said this, is it now fair that the dealer also charge a service charge for "Gold Warranty" work even after receiving the profit from the sale of their stoves?
I don't believe that I am a cheap person as I have spent approximately $3000.00 for a stove. I just don't feel that it is fair to pay that for a stove and then have to pay for warranty work on top of it. Is this a common practice for the service charge on warranty work (same dealer purchased from)? If the price of the stove is partially justified by the expected warranty work then how do you justify the additional service charge for the warranty work? Is this not double dipping?
This is not intended to upset anyone just something to think about. If I have misunderstood the previous threads about the warranty work then I apologize in advance.
 
normally, if your dealer goes out on a warrenty call, there is not a service fee. If he/she goes out for warrenty call and the stove is dirty or the like your getting charged. If the delear goes out on a stove that they didnt install, and its a install issue the call is on you. Your manual should point out what the warrenty covers as far as labor and parts. If the labor part is expired then your going to have to pay for it. If you bought the stove from a dealer out of your service area and you want the local dealerto service it, you have to pay for it.
 
I'll try to do my best and 'splain warrantee work, as best I can, to you. I think I understand it pretty well.
Harman reimburses the dealer for parts used in warrantee work, but they DONT reimburse the dealer for shipping to get those parts, OR the shipping to send the broken part back to Harman...that adds up. Harman also doesnt reimburse the dealer for travel time to and from the home in question. If you are 45 mins away, thats 1-1/2 hrs just in travel time. At this point, I'll show you the only copy of Harman's Gold Warrantee I know of on the 'net. Some brilliant individual made it accessible for just this reason....

http://www.squierandcompany.com/downloads/HarmanWarranty.pdf


Under the "HOW TO MAKE A CLAIM" section, you can clearly see that mileage and overtime arent included in the warrantee, so many dealers do charge for that. Where does overtime come in? After hours calls for one. Or how about someones having a problem with their insert, the technician gets there, and the owner hasnt shut the stove down? Gotta wait for the stove to go out and cool, right? This takes time as well.


Harman agrees that the dealer does have to put some "padding" into the profit of the unit to cover eventual warrantee issues in some stoves. Most dealers do this. Ourselves, we basically allow a month where we charge nothing for warrantee work, but after that, mileage charges are added. Most mechanical issues get worked out in a month.

As for dealers, only the dealer who sells the unit is required and beholden to provide warrantee work. Sometimes, the owner would rather another dealer do the work. This other dealer ISNT required to do the work, and can, and usually will, charge full price, parts and labor, for work done. I think this is acceptable, since the dealer doing the work didnt make a cent selling the unit.

Now into the area of customers. Im sure this isnt you, PDK9, but not everyone should own a stove. Some people refuse to do maintenance, refuse to clean, and then blame the stove or dealer when the stove breaks down. Since lack of maintenance invalidates the warrantee, the dealer should rightly expect to be paid in full for his time. Sadly, this isnt always the case. The owner refuses to pay, citing the warrantee, the dealer is out the parts and labor, and the owner has a working unit. the only nice thing here is that the dealer knows that the stoves gonna break again, and when they call again, its time to get paid, BEFORE work is done. Yep, we've done this. "Im sorry Sir, but by our records, we show you havent paid for your LAST service call, and until we get paid for that, we cant come out again". You either get paid, or hung up on. Oh well.....thats the business climate these days, right? Thats part of a "cost of doing business" that should be built into the profit on that stove, i guess.
 
Does the warranty cover labor, or mention service charges? It's a contract and they should honor it. Complain directly to the company if you have to.
 
I definitely agree that some people should not own stoves. I actually believe that some people in life should have another person assigned to hold their hand through life as we now live in a society where people are not capable of functioning on their own. I want to do as much maintenance as I can by myself but there are obviously times where I will need the dealer as I'm sure you understand.
The issue that I had was turned out to be rust on the auger itself and auger was replaced. At the time of the call the stove was brand new and had only been installed for about 1 1/2 months and only ran a few times since it was early fall so it wasn't a cleaning issue. We are about 30 minutes from the dealer in travel time. I don't believe that the fee is for freight charges as after 12 months of ownership the fee is going up from $40 to $80. Is this more expensive than the delivery fee for pellets?
I would like to try and find a manual that covers extensive service and cleaning for the Harmon XXV like the Chilton manuals for cars as I would rather do what I can myself which would save the dealer and me some headache. I can't stress enough that I understand you guys have to make money but I don't see how this is justified for fair warranty claims on issues not caused by the consumer. Any ideas on the manual let me know. Thanks.
 
I forgot to comment on the question of did the warranty mention labor or service charges. The yellow form that I have says nothing about these issues. Also, if I complain to Harmon who am I going to call for future warranty work as I will be complaining about the dealerthat I bought the stove from? Will other dealers cover the work?
 
the only person obligated to do warrenty work on your stove with no service fee is the dealer you bought it from.
The first call was for a rusty auger.. what is this call for?
Im not sure i would warrent any thing for a little surface rust. The insides of hoppers if not cleaned get a little rusty too. It would make sense to me if my hopper here gets spot rust, the auger must too. If the new auger continues to accumilate surface rust then they arent going to come out once a year and replace it. Parts in shipping from humid climates in the us and overseas come in with spot rust. Im not sure i would be too concerned. But thats not the topic at hand.
 
The sad fact is, as we can see from the above and the earlier posts, that a 3 or 4 thousand dollar pellet stove can cost the customer PLENTY during the warranty period. Perhaps the answer is as someone else suggested - that those who are not mechanically minded or else very close to a good dealer should not buy a pellet stove! Or, if money is not object, then the point is moot.

Also, people tend to compare hearth industry warranties to cars, appliances and other consumer products. There is no comparison. In the case of stoves you are dealing with smaller companies and dealers who (often) look very closely at every dollar that comes out of their pockets. I'm not saying this is good - just that it is a fact!

So I guess it's a good idea to read the warranty carefully, ask questions and weigh the options before committing.
 
PDK9 said:
I am confused about the "Gold Warranty by Harmon." I will first say that I own a Harmon XXV that I am for the most part happy with. I also understand that dealers must make money but also understand that a consumer should get what they pay for including the warranty. I just read multiple threads that seemed to be saying that the dealer is expected to do warranty work for less than their regular rate and that the profit from their stove sales should make up the difference. I am willing to accept the price for the stove if I am going to receive the warranty work. Having said this, is it now fair that the dealer also charge a service charge for "Gold Warranty" work even after receiving the profit from the sale of their stoves?
I don't believe that I am a cheap person as I have spent approximately $3000.00 for a stove. I just don't feel that it is fair to pay that for a stove and then have to pay for warranty work on top of it. Is this a common practice for the service charge on warranty work (same dealer purchased from)? If the price of the stove is partially justified by the expected warranty work then how do you justify the additional service charge for the warranty work? Is this not double dipping?
This is not intended to upset anyone just something to think about. If I have misunderstood the previous threads about the warranty work then I apologize in advance.

I can't seem to figure this warranty reimbursement out myself.
I bought a FB Grand from a Authorized Dealerthat is located approximately 35 miles from my home. When I was making the purchase I asked this dealer if this is too far from his shop for service work, (warranty or non warranty). NO Problem I was told. So the sale was made and I had neumorueos factory design problems with the unit,(cracked ceramic brick firebox, peeling paint on ceramic firebox, small explosion when apon ignition, (rattled windows in patio doors), etc..
After sending the dealertech. to look at the unit three times, the dealer said he could not send him no more cause he is loosing money each time the tech comes out. The technician could not figure out the problems out even after calling Heat & Glow.
It took three units later and the Chief of Research & Developement to fly out from Heat & Glow with a factory tested unit to solve the problem. He also brought with him, the Regional Sales Manager for my area. I asked the R&D Headman who is going to service this unit in the future,(warranty or non warranty) because the selling dealer, (S&T Coombs Inc., Blakeslee, Pa.) washed thier hands of me as a customer with all of these problems and they were again loosing money. The best is non of these problems were my fault but factory defects.
The R&D man said he would talk to the dealer,(S&T Coombs), and get things squared away. Well, guess what. The selling dealer must of told him to "go pack some sand", because the R&D man recomended if I need future service with this unit to try another recomended dealer.
I really believe that any of these stoves,fireplaces, inserts are not worth anywhere near the money they are being sold for. (This only my opinion, only). I have no idea of what the profit margin is, and I really don't care, but they are deffinitely overpriced. It's a matter of what the market will bear.
I truly feel that many of these tell you to shove off after the sale, but once again, like anything else there are good and bad ones out there.
I do know that they tell the manufacturer what they,the dealer, are going to do and not the other way around.
If they are loosing money, get out of the stove/fireplace buisness. No one stays in buisness to loose money.
If a customer is due warranty work and they are a authorized dealer by all means they should honor the warranty even if it takes 100 trips to the customers house to make it right.
If the dealer has a warranty reimbursement issue let them take it up with the manufacturer, not tell the customer to "hit the bricks" after they have your money.

John
 
The dealerthat is charging the service fee is also the dealerthat I bought the stove from, clearly it does not appear that he is obligated to do the work at no charge. The first and only call to the dealer was for the auger issue. Please note that I had no idea that the auger was rusty. It made such a loud noise that it woke my family from sleeping (no exageration). After multiple nights of this I could not take it any longer and needed it to be looked at. The dealer walked into my house, heard the noise and changed the auger which solved the problem. It was not a case of simple surface rust.

I must make it clear that I am very capable of doing the work if I have the knowledge on how to do it. I don't think that it is a fair practice to charge this fee nor should a person be told that they should reconsider the purchase of the stove and that the dealer has to watch each dollar coming out of his pocket. As far as not being able to compare this warranty to other consumer products I have to say that I definitely don't understand this statement. These stoves cost more that most consumer products and also a good number of used cars. The bottom line is a warranty is a warranty and if the dealer expects to go on so many service calls that they have to charge then maybe the dealer should reconsider selling the stove instead of me reconsidering the purchase.

In closing, the only time that I have called my dealer was the auger issue which I believe was a fair call. Any issues that I currently have are caused by what I believe to be a need to do a good cleaning on the stove. I will not call the dealer on this as I know that it wouldn't be fair to expect him to deal with this as I wouldn't call a car dealerto change my oil and not charge me (for the record I change my own oil). I am not trying to fight and will obviously pay the fee if I need the dealerto ever come out again as I know that this is the policy but I just needed to say how I fealt on the service charge for legitimate calls.
 
I just tried a fast reply and not sure if it worked but I wanted to add another quick note. If you are going to justify the service charge then explain how the dealer can use the Harmon "Gold Warranty" as a selling point for the stove. I also think that it must be a pretty funny concept to actually expect a person to truly stand behind what they have sold.
 
PDK9 said:
The dealerthat is charging the service fee is also the dealerthat I bought the stove from, clearly it does not appear that he is obligated to do the work at no charge. The first and only call to the dealer was for the auger issue. Please note that I had no idea that the auger was rusty. It made such a loud noise that it woke my family from sleeping (no exageration). After multiple nights of this I could not take it any longer and needed it to be looked at. The dealer walked into my house, heard the noise and changed the auger which solved the problem. It was not a case of simple surface rust.

I must make it clear that I am very capable of doing the work if I have the knowledge on how to do it. I don't think that it is a fair practice to charge this fee nor should a person be told that they should reconsider the purchase of the stove and that the dealer has to watch each dollar coming out of his pocket. As far as not being able to compare this warranty to other consumer products I have to say that I definitely don't understand this statement. These stoves cost more that most consumer products and also a good number of used cars. The bottom line is a warranty is a warranty and if the dealer expects to go on so many service calls that they have to charge then maybe the dealer should reconsider selling the stove instead of me reconsidering the purchase.

In closing, the only time that I have called my dealer was the auger issue which I believe was a fair call. Any issues that I currently have are caused by what I believe to be a need to do a good cleaning on the stove. I will not call the dealer on this as I know that it wouldn't be fair to expect him to deal with this as I wouldn't call a car dealerto change my oil and not charge me (for the record I change my own oil). I am not trying to fight and will obviously pay the fee if I need the dealerto ever come out again as I know that this is the policy but I just needed to say how I fealt on the service charge for legitimate calls.

I know exactly where your comming from and I have to agree with you. If its a warranty issue, let the dealer honor the warranty.
Also, if the dealer is not the original seller of the unit, I still feel that if they are an authorised dealerthay should honor the warranty and again if they got a problem with this let them take it up with the manufacturer of the unit. If they don't want to honor this, let the manufacturer yank their product franchise. But with this you must remember, the manufactures take a very serious look at a dealers sales figures every month, hence, I believe this is why many of these dealers get away with this warranty work issue .
It happens with automobiles, appliances, electronics,etc.

John
 
What I've read sounds very similar to what the big companies do to our little company. Here's a real life example...

Our company was informed that our big customer was eliminating its accounting department, they'd contracted with a web based accounting system instead. They required us, and all their vendors to have to join that web based accounting system for thousands $/year and any time we bill, or expect to be paid we have to pay $5 for handling every time we invoice. We were also informed that, if we don't pay to subscribe we don't get paid and we MUST absorb the cost, they will not accept increases. So, in short they cut their accounting department and all us little guys are paying that big companies accounting now with our annual fees and handling charges to their contracted web based accounting system as I'm sure they get to use that site for free, if not making a profit by getting a slice from all the little companies that they forced to sign up else lose them.

Sounds similar from what I read. From reading what Harry Back says the dealers get the shaft and bullied by Harmon as any warranty work they have to perform is money out of their pocket. If Harmon paid for shipping, travel expenses, the usual hourly rate I'm sure dealers would be happy to help and come back 100x until it's resolved. But, Harmon as it stands now, forces the dealerto pay out of their pocket and the dealer is lucky if they break even, sounds like almost all warranty work causes them to lose money. If the dealer comes back 100x to your house the dealer, not Harmon or the customer is the one that's absorbing almost the entire cost of the warranty work and complaints should be sent to Harmon. If they were serious about their warranty they wouldn't force so much of the warranty work to be absorbed by the dealers.
 
valid point but who's problem is that, not the consumer? I don't expect for this to change the business practice but would at least like to ask what happened to the customer being right. Notice I did not say always right as I know through my job that often times you deal with people who have apparently not been given license to think (I am a police chief) (hopefully this does not immediately ban me from the forum :) ).

In response to two statements made by Harry Back I say the following: First, as far as the dealer being expected to pad the price in expectation of warranty work does this mean that it wasn't padded enough since there are additional charges for warranty work? Also I certainly hope that every stove sold is not in need of warranty work which means that there is padding to that stoves price that is not being used for warranty work. Why not apply this to the stoves that do need work? Second, you while describing customers that don't pay you it is said that the good thing about this is that the "dealer knows that the stove is gonna break again." I bet that isn't said to your customers as they hand you the check for the stove. New Harmon advertisement: We know that our stove will break so here is your FREE "Gold Warranty" that you will have to PAY to use when your stove breaks down (doesn't sound good to me). Sounds like a problem between the dealer and Harmon that the consumer is being expected to pay for.

How about this as a thought. I am sure that you pay taxes in your town of residence that partially goes to your public safety. You call for an emergency (fire or police) and the dispatcher asks you for your credit card # before they dispatch the fire truck or police cruiser because there is an additional fee for the response on top of what you thought you already paid for through your taxes. CLEARLY THIS IS STATED IN HUMOR but based on your reasoning I think it could be done. What do you think. Again not trying to make anyone mad, just trying to get you to think about it.
 
PDK9 said:
I just tried a fast reply and not sure if it worked but I wanted to add another quick note. If you are going to justify the service charge then explain how the dealer can use the Harmon "Gold Warranty" as a selling point for the stove. I also think that it must be a pretty funny concept to actually expect a person to truly stand behind what they have sold.

I agree. A reputable dealer should inform the customer of the potential charges.....before purchase of the stove. This may not apply when warranty figures are extremely low (like less than 3%), but with products that need more than that (and I think most pellet stoves do), a customer should be informed....especially if the store is using the warranty to close the deal.

On the other hand, the biggest problem here is the transportation.....maybe an extended warranty should be offered by Harman or the dealerto cover 100%. Most people would rather spend the money up front (if reasonable)...and the offer of such a warranty indicates clearly to the customer that not ALL is covered.

Perhaps Harman should take the word Gold out of the warranty. Gold is usually used to describe the best. While that warranty might be as good or better than some, it clearly is not the best. The best is one that costs the customer nothing....or very little.

Another possible answer is a co-pay - where the customer only pays $35 per service call during the warranty period. There are a lot of ways to skin the cat. It takes someone good with numbers (like Harley) to sit down and look at the manufacturers actual warranty dollars and attempt to keep things in check while also keeping the dealer and customer happy.

Of course, the ultimate solution is better quality control on the stoves - AND, good troubleshooting resources so the customer and others can hopefully fix the simple problems.
 
Webmaster,
I can't argue with anything you have said. Maybe we can all agree that if Harmon did in fact have better quality control no one would have a problem. Dealers could get their profit and be able to keep it and the consumer could get what they pay for. The problem is that Harmon won't talk directly to us (consumer) so why not have the dealers get together and address this with Harmon.
I don't regret buying from my dealer because I bought from him based on his reputation and time in business even with this charge. I would like to be able to give him credit for his reputation but I don't think it would be fair to associate him with this post in a negative way. I made my decisions and will stand behind them but I just think that this practice should be looked at and cleared up with Harmon.
 
Fire Bug said:
But with this you must remember, the manufactures take a very serious look at a dealers sales figures every month, hence, I believe this is why many of these dealers get away with this warranty work issue .
It happens with automobiles, appliances, electronics,etc.

And, I might add, houses (modular homes). I did call my modular home manufacturer multiple times because my dealer was a (convicted) crook. But he sells a lot of houses for them to this day. They did reluctantly agree to pick up the slack, though, and you might try that route with Harmon as well. I have always found that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

All of this makes me glad that I bought my BIS for wholesale through a chimney guy. I expect little warrantee service up front, and I won't be disappointed.
 
PDK9 said:
valid point but who's problem is that, not the consumer? I don't expect for this to change the business practice but would at least like to ask what happened to the customer being right. Notice I did not say always right as I know through my job that often times you deal with people who have apparently not been given license to think (I am a police chief) (hopefully this does not immediately ban me from the forum :) ).

In response to two statements made by Harry Back I say the following: First, as far as the dealer being expected to pad the price in expectation of warranty work does this mean that it wasn't padded enough since there are additional charges for warranty work? Also I certainly hope that every stove sold is not in need of warranty work which means that there is padding to that stoves price that is not being used for warranty work. Why not apply this to the stoves that do need work? Second, you while describing customers that don't pay you it is said that the good thing about this is that the "dealer knows that the stove is gonna break again." I bet that isn't said to your customers as they hand you the check for the stove. New Harmon advertisement: We know that our stove will break so here is your FREE "Gold Warranty" that you will have to PAY to use when your stove breaks down (doesn't sound good to me). Sounds like a problem between the dealer and Harmon that the consumer is being expected to pay for.

How about this as a thought. I am sure that you pay taxes in your town of residence that partially goes to your public safety. You call for an emergency (fire or police) and the dispatcher asks you for your credit card # before they dispatch the fire truck or police cruiser because there is an additional fee for the response on top of what you thought you already paid for through your taxes. CLEARLY THIS IS STATED IN HUMOR but based on your reasoning I think it could be done. What do you think. Again not trying to make anyone mad, just trying to get you to think about it.

First, we learned quite a while ago that our customers do not like paying on warranty claims. So, we don't charge anything for valid warranty claims. As already acknowledged we figure a percentage across the board for yearly warranty costs.

Second, if we find a manufacturer having more than the average claims we complain and if they don't improve we drop them. This has allowed us to keep our warranty costs under control.

Third, there are a lot of dealers who are poor business people. I wish it were better, but it isn't. If you go to your dealer and complain that they are bad business people they will take offense and throw you out of their store. Hopefully, as time goes on these dealers will get better or quit or retire.

Fourth, All you had to do was buy your stove from a good dealer who understands the warranty issue in the same way you do. [grin] Obviously, there are a lot of good dealers too, and several in between. And sometimes it's in the eyes of the consumer. I would consider us a good dealer but I can point to a few of my customers who would swear we're incompetent and a bad dealerto be avoided. It's a crap shoot. Whatever the case, all warranty issues should be worked out BEFORE the sale. A good dealer will make sure this happens. What we understand is that we may lose "the sale" by disclosing the negative aspects of our products. But I would rather lose a sale than have an unhappy customer. As noted, some folks should not own our products. Our job is to sort them out.

Finally, there are some technical manuals for servicing your pellet stove. Typically, these are made available only to service technicians who make their living repairing these appliances. You may be able to acquire the manuals if your local dealer, and the manufacturer, agrees that you will be doing all the service. You should expect to pay a reasonable charge for the technical manuals. Actually, if I found a client like you in my service area I would talk to you about moonlighting as a service technician and share the costs of your training. Can always use a good competent referral.

Sean
 
Seaken,
I am saddened to say that I must now agree with a you the dealer:). You made some good points. I must again stress that even though it may sound like it, I don't think my dealer is a bad dealer. I just don't like the this particular issue. I will even concede that I put myself in this position and I can't blame the dealer for that. I just want dealers to reconsider this charge is all.

On the manual issue I only want to be able to completely clean my unit and do ONLY MY maintenance as this seems to be what causes the most headache for you dealers. See, I'm trying to help you!! So sell me the manual. I would do the technician work but I don't know if my dealer likes me anymore. As a police chief I will gladly trade Dunkin Donut vouchers to anyone for partial payment of the manual :). All in humor and thanks for the reply Seaken.
 
wow- too many good and valid points to quote, but I must caution you folks not to take snippets of posts and then quote the snippet, forcing out-of-context thoughts and opinions.

As to my point abt stoves breaking......I beleive that was originally referred to folks who dont do maintenance. And yea, if they continue not to do it, it'll break again...funny, isnt it? You neglect something, it breaks...imagine that?

As for warrantees....when you buy a product, dont you also buy the warrantee? The dealer sells a product supported by the warrantee provided by the manufacturer. Did you ask for a warrantee, or copy thereof, before you bought your stove? Im guessing you didnt, but I might be wrong. If the warrantee is so important as you state, then, really, you should be reading that thing prior to buying the unit, and any questions should be addressed before the sale, by the dealer. I dont really think anyone except Craig, who is no longer selling stoves, expects the dealerto do that, the maybe prior to every sale, the dealer should pull out the warrantee and read it over with the customer, making sure he understands it. If they did this, this would be the FIRST time Ive ever seen this done, and in ANY industry....automobiles, etc. I guess tho, in our its-never-my-fault society, it would have to be someone elses fault that the warrantee wasnt read until AFTERWARDS.

As for cleaning the unit, PDK9...thats great. The manual is only slightly helpful in cleaning, there are pretty good cleaning resources on Harmans site, but alas, none yet specifically for the XXV. Although if you read other cleaning directions, many of the parts are common to all of the line, especially the important ones such as the igniter. You didnt get a manual with the stove? Your dealer can get you a manual, and it should be for free, but he can also download and print one for you, right from Harman's site. in fact, even you can...a manual is available online! Here's the link:

http://harmanstoves.com/doc/xxvm.pdf


And Craig is right in that the dealer absolutely should tell the prospective buyer of the warrantee of the new stove, whats covered and whats NOT covered, also at this time, of potential charges, such as mileage charges, etc. I dont feel this happens much either, to be honest, though we at least do our best to inform the customer of those charges.

Craig mentions taking the "gold" out of Harman's warrantee. Craig, would you please educate me on which pellet stove has a better warrantee than Harman? Because if there is one, I dont know of it....maybe you do?

As for troubleshooting resources, agreed. I absolutely have no problem with customers working on their own units, the only misgiving there is folks who SHOULDNT be doing so. Kinda goes back to not everyone owning a pellet stove, or a stove, for that matter.

As for the dealer padding the retail on the unit to pay for these mileage issues and such? Yea, I think its obvious this can be done. The only time this can be an issue is when you are asked to service a unit sold by a rival dealer. If warranteework is a money-loosing proposition, why subsidize your competition? The harman warrantee states that pretty specifically that the selling dealer is required to warrrantee it. Problem is that most people best know the warrantees provided for automobiles. Unfortunately, car work isnt done on site....the mechanic doesnt come to you. Thats my biggest area of contention, personally, the travel time and costs associated with it that we, as dealers, arent reimbursed for.

As for paying taxes in my town, actually, if we do have a fire, or need to get transported in an ambulance, we actually DO have to pay the costs, in addition to our taxes....possible flaw in your argument there. But, thats a good thing to think about, isnt it? The way I see it, like it or not, I have to pay taxes to support police, fire, schools, etc....so you get your cash from me irregardless of whether I want to pay for it or not....no warrantees there, is there?.....no guartantees of performance from you, huh? No choice by me either, huh? I see it as not having the choice to purchase services I may or may not need. Lets say, give the option of having the service. I wonder how much of my tax dollars do actually go to the police and fire? How about the schools, the biggest money-drain for many municipalities? many people dont have kids, but the majority of their town tax goes toward that. Lol- NOW I see the smiley face on your comment, after you got me all roused up! :p
 
Admittedly, we do not go over the warranty word by word before every sale. However, if we are asked, or we feel it is an important issue with the customer we will thoroughly go over the details. In most cases, a simple one or two sentence summary is sufficient, and our contracts state our warranty policies. Nevertheless, If I have a customer who needs warranty and they get upset if I charge a travel fee, I will drop it. It's not worth the bad feelings. Call it a "tax" or hidden charges, or whatever. But it's a cost of doing business and we add a percentage across the board on ALL stoves even if the unit is picked up, self-installed, and self maintained. It's the same as insurance costs, or other overhead costs. In order to maintain a viable business and be available to the community we must be paid. Everyone who buys from us contributes.

I am more and more getting away from nickel and dime charges. I have set my rates and we negotiate ahead of time. If a customer does not want to pay my rates they don't get my labor. But if they do pay my rates they get killer service. I won't sweat the small stuff because they paid a good rate that covers all that miscellaneous stuff. The result is better service and happier customers. But it also makes it harder for some folks to afford my services. I pay attention to those with special needs and I will negotiate a lower rate if they really can't afford the regular rates. I suppose this means the folks who are wealthier are subsidizing my customers who don't have as much money. I think that's fair. But I'm sure most of my wealthier clients don't want to hear it. They will want to know why they can't get a lower rate. And round and round we go.

Sean
 
Harry Back, You got me on the tax comparison. I have to admit that after I posted that I remembered three years ago having to pay for my son to be transported by ambulance in another town from a car accident. Sorry, luckily my foot is small enough for me to remove on my own. Can't we all just get along:).

Seaken, as a consumer I appreciate that you work with people based on their personal situation.

There is not much more I can say from my point of view with this issue. If you guys still have more points I will be happy to respond especially since I am doing this while at work and my pay is generated directly from the bad TAX word that inflamed Harry Back:) I am just kidding, these are my off shifts. It seems like you can get better advice from this forum than you can from the manufacture. I won't say it is better than the dealer as I think alot of you guys are dealers and I appreciate you helping out with tech. stuff. Thanks.
 
Yeah, PDK9, I hate taxes......I know they are somewhat necessary, but, ugh! When I see the waste on the state and governmental levels, its maddening! I see even our town departments fighting over funding.....the schools seem to garner most of it. In fact, here in my town, the school department was the only department to get raises, since it was "in their contracts", while ALL of the other department heads, fire and police included, froze their pay in an effort to keep their employees....no such chivalry in the school department tho! Now, this year, 4 months before the close of the fiscal year, our illustrious school department has OVERSPENT to the tune of $462,000 so far, and are wanting a 2-1/2 override to pay for it. The other dapartments are going crazy with having their moneys CUT, and the school department gets increases and STILL cant operate within its confines (budget). I tend to wonder about fiscal responsibility and the intelligence of the people teaching the children.
 
PDK9 said:
Seaken,
I am saddened to say that I must now agree with a you the dealer:). You made some good points. I must again stress that even though it may sound like it, I don't think my dealer is a bad dealer. I just don't like the this particular issue. I will even concede that I put myself in this position and I can't blame the dealer for that. I just want dealers to reconsider this charge is all.

On the manual issue I only want to be able to completely clean my unit and do ONLY MY maintenance as this seems to be what causes the most headache for you dealers. See, I'm trying to help you!! So sell me the manual. I would do the technician work but I don't know if my dealer likes me anymore. As a police chief I will gladly trade Dunkin Donut vouchers to anyone for partial payment of the manual :). All in humor and thanks for the reply Seaken.

My apologies. I did not mean to give the impression that "your"dealer is a bad dealer and other dealers, like myself, who might see things more in line with your own take on this subject, are good dealers. I didn't mean that, although when I went back and re-read what I typed I can see how that came across.

I was trying to speak in the general arena and convey that customers tend to see us as either bad or good as we agree or disagree with them on how we interpret policy, such as warranty. In your case, you might have been better served if your own dealer had clearly explained how it works. You could then accept or decline as you see fit. But most of us dealers are just honest people trying to place decent products in the hands of our neighbors. We don't always see eye to eye but most of us are good guys, as I'm sure is the case with your own dealer.

Your post was really quite reasonable and you make a good point. Some who have come here to complain about how this business works are not so balanced. And yes, we should reconsider. But we, as dealers do not make the warranty policies of the manufacturers. We can, I hope, influence them if we try hard enough. But we basically have to learn how to work with them. Not all dealers handle these warranties the same way and that's what makes some of us look "bad" from the viewpoint of some of our customers. Thus my tongue in cheek comment about buying from a "good" dealer who agrees with you about how the warranty should be handled.

Anyway, Just trying to clarify that I am not picking on either you or your dealer. Just shedding light on the subject.

Sean
 
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