It been a bad week here...

[KE4AVB]

Well it been a bad week here with taking Hydro Gear dealership.

Gardner has been a real pain to deal with lately. Hidden charges and lies are among the problems.

Well first it was like pulling teeth to get info so I make the decision to try for the dealership and I still yet find everything involved like what is the warranty policy is. Then I needed a complete hydro unit. My salesman said they had one in stock so got my customer approval to order it. Then they hit me with a $150 LTL shipping charge. Heck the thing UPSable weight wise. And just last night I find out they had put it on a one month b/o with ever slipping delivery date. When I looked at the invoice what parts that got ship there was a screaming at the top of lungs messages about the order.



If I knew they didn't actually have the transaxle in stock as the salesman said they did I would had order it from some else. Now I can't trust my salesman to tell me the truth. Very hard to even trust Gardner now.

It seems everybody wants to lie about what things now just to get the orders. Well they are not getting the rest of the order for parts as I just placed them back another six month no purchase from ban because of the lies.

I did learn one thing and that is not trust them anymore so if Hyrdo Gear warranty comes in the customer get billed upfront and then they reimbursed when I get reimbursed. Hydro Gear and Gardner may not like this but is the way has to be.

[hanz63]

It's waste really. I have one distributor that I watch close too. Emails get exchanged w/ my rep on items that I even think are oversized. That way I have something to go back on. They used to even say extra $$ for smaller, but heavier items like PTO clutches. I've had orders that they shipped LTL that were definitely UPS shippable. Like a 4th box or a 42" deck shell should make it qualify for LTL freight charges. Did they never look in the back of a UPS truck? That's one thing that is good about PD. If the ticket printed freight free, where ever it comes from or when ever it ship, it's not extra. Freight terms are clear when you need them too.

[KE4AVB]

Its that they think we are that stupid.

I use to buy from PD until they dropped me because the Briggs parts I needed dropped too low for them. Now I do a lot more Briggs aftermarket parts because of this. Vendors don't seem to understand that there will be years to I don't have a particular need for certain parts due how things break down. Like this year. It been mainly Kawasaki engines for some reason and barely any Briggs engine.

I did just finish up on a 30hp Briggs Saturday where I had to order after market coils and make up a kill harness from scratch. Two after market coils were $24.20, compared to the $44 each for OEM coils.It looked as good as the OEM harness; although, it got install using bullet terminals as that what the last installed converted the harness to. The only thing is I didn't use two clear heat shrink tubes. Just couldn't see paying $28 plus shipping for a harness that cost less than $5 to make. I just keep that extra profit for myself.

Now of I had to source the terminal splices, .187 female terminal, diodes, and wire but I need those anyway. I just adding to my list of electrical parts for the mowers to repair harnesses. Even my electronics supplier didn't even know they had terminal splices but I found them listed anyway. I had been looking for those for years for use with thermal fuses used in household appliances. Now I just got to get those Pack Con III terminals for the non weather proof fuse holders. I mistakenly order Pack Con I terminals.

Then of course when a vendor screw up they like to blame the customer for the lack of sales. This what happen to A&I sales the last two years. They keep sending defective and wrong size parts. I had to quit buying their belts because they coming in one to two inches short every time. They cause me to stop buying last year because they would not return my emails. Finally the sales rep call and started lying right off the bat. He said he had been calling every day for the last three weeks; he forgot I have caller ID and knew better. I just stop buying for six months and restart in January but to get together orders of $200 to avoid massive shipping charges. During that time I got in with Stens so it was taking time to switch back. Then they started demanding $2000 a year in purchase or they would drop me. Well after the third threatening email I beat them to it. I closed the account.

Now I have signed as a Rotary dealer too and they only have a $500 minimum yearly purchase requirement which I can easily meet.

[KE4AVB]

Well an update...After a few emails showing the sales rep where he said they had one in stock he got one on the way. They actually had one in Florida warehouse, they were just trying to con me on the shipping. It is on its way UPS and not on a LTL shipment. The sales rep even tried putting words in my mouth with him saying he will try to cancel the order which I never said anything about doing. I wrote back that if he did that I would not pay the cancellation charges as it was done on Gardner's part.

It did cost them for awhile the $262 in HG parts for the rebuild of the current unit. The rest of the HG parts (a brake and cog) were ordered from RBI at a slightly higher price but I was pissed. Besides I was needing some Zama and Walbro primers which offset the increased cost. Gardner was higher on those anyway.

I did learn a few things and one was not to trust my sales rep fully anyone. I did learn to be more carefully ordering from Gardner as they will try things to increase the cost for me and reduce their costs. Can't really blame them as long they are upfront with me. Don't try hiding things until after the fact.

I will do better at procurement of HG parts too. IF they don't list the parts or whole unit in stock from now on just see if someone else does especially if I need them right away. But I normally combine orders for the best overall total cost pricing.

Some companies just don't understand that they are not the only source for parts. And I am fairly good at finding the best prices for the same parts.

[KE4AVB]

And now this I am finding out the IRS has screwed me out the $3200 they owed me as of today the funds expired. It is impossible to talk to real person at the IRS. I can't even get the Taxpayer Advocate Service to even respond to my letters. Let's see if they like it when I don't pay what is owed but not really owed because I have an outstanding credit. They can just keep sending those letters to a non existent person. Sorry it is a $10,000 fine for opening those letters and/or signing any checks included. Its thief of mail and forgery.

Then on top of that I find our none functioning Congress will be just as bad for the next two years at least. When in the heck are they going to do actual work that the voters sent them there to do.

Heck I will just retire in 1yr and 6 months; therefore, just go on a long vacation. I am getting very of all the BS lately.

[bertsmobilerepairs]

Heard the story about the person who moaned about not having any shoes till he came across the person with no feet to put them on .
HydroGear is franchised excluseivly to B & S Australia
So less than zero chance of getting any Hydro Gear part other than complete transmissions
If I need any Hydro Gear parts I order them from Mulligans in the USA
Perfect example is a pair of fans for an EZT box
Two month backorder wait through B & S
despatched the same day from Mulligans and arrived 12 days latter .
Better still it was 20% cheaper ( including freight ) than buying from B & S
ToughTorque have one only independent franchised warehouse in OZ that to be fair does keep a good inventory of parts so urgent breakdowns can be repaired but at near twice the price of buying retail from Mulligans despite getting a "trade discount"
As for Eatons, Parker or Peerless , urinating into the wind is the phrase that comes to mind

Now this will come as a shock to the good citizens of the USA
I can buy genuine B & S parts through John Deere dealers cheaper than getting them from a B & S dealer
On top of that JD just about always have them in stock where as B & S rarely have anything in stock other than filters .

[KE4AVB]

Different distributors...Here JD is always higher on nearly everything including Briggs, Kohler, and Kawasaki parts.

[KE4AVB]

Well it is Christmas and things are quieting down here. I now doing the annual physical inventory finding a lot errors but less than I expected. I also have upgraded to a bar code scanner which is making things go a little faster.

One problem with the scanner use is the prices came in numeric form in the bar code data field which deletes the leading zero. I also found that Stens is using some the Kohler bar codes for their parts which is causing a problem. As long as the Kohler SKUs have a bar code my system finds them first but not always so I am having to the Stens ones as I come across them.

My accounting currently only supports doing invoices via bar code in the Parts Counter which is a pain as I need it operational in the Work Order section. Using it in the inventory is hap hazard too. I got the software vendor working on that problem. I don't know why he has already made the use across the board but I suggest he do it. He said no one ever requested it to done that way. Seven years and no one; strange.

Anyway hope everyone is having a Christmas and staying warm. Those that always wanted a White Christmas got more than they asked for this time around. Rolling black outs are not fun. Yesterday I ran down the scanner and had to wait for power to come on several times to recharge it. Kinda gave up for a while as the computer keep shutting down.

[KE4AVB]

Never a good thing goes right for me.

The bar code scanner works fine. It is the way the prices are being sent that is the problem. Two of the distributors are sending them with the bar code field formatted as numeric when it needs to be formatted as text. Being formatted numeric bar codes with leading zeros are being imported without the leading zeros. The Stens price file is formatted properly for my use but they are reusing some of Kohler's bar codes which is creating its own problems. Rotary price file doesn't even include their bar codes.

I have written to Gardner, RBI, Rotary, and Stens about their induced problems.

Other than those problems I done gotten through the first half my inventory rather quickly using the scanner. It just later half that will be a pain as most of the pulleys, bearings, and spindles don't have bar codes. I will add them when I find some labels that will stick long term to the metals and paint.

Now the software I am using is also going need some upgrading as there only two areas the scanner works. Apparently the programmer never expanded the use nor had anyone ever requested it. I was hoping it was more like POS systems but the programmer say that he should be able to do that. With me having a nearly a million SKUs (PNs) on file the bar code scanner will definitely help on look-ups by pulling in all the related info instead of me typing it all in.

BTW I have been stuck in for the last week due to weather temps and the last three with ice and snow, Supposed to get to 40F today. I sure hope so. Later this week I am to have a heat wave of 60's.