Feeling RIPPED OFF Cracked cam gear

[robert]

I believe that Donna is correct in taking the issue to Walker first, while it is true that Kohler makes the engine Walker made the decision to use this brand engine and thus should be required to make things right-the mower maker should be required to go back and forth with engine warranty claims NOT the customer.

Now as a brand new Kohler Command owner I will be very interested in learning how this all works out.

 

[Duffer72]

Do as you like, but I am telling you from a mfg point of view, I'm not really going to worry too much about that type of issue if the customer has not gone thru the engine mfg first, she should not have to do that either as it should have been put in as a "disputed warranty" thru Kohler by the shop that did the initial teardown inspection. The engine should have been retained by the dealer for submittal to kohler if requested, I blame most of her problems on a dealer that wasn't really concerned about taking care of his customer. If they were they would have done all of the above for her and she would not have to do anything until such time as the claim was denied. She can still ask for this to be done, if it is approved the dealer should refund her $ when they rcv it from Kohler. They don't want to do it as they are not paid anything close to what thier normal charges are on a customer paid repair and no profit on the parts or very little at most. Been there done that.

 

[robert]

Duffer, a responsible company will assist their customers in getting ANY issue resolved and if Walker does not do this then its important for everyone considering this brand to know that they will bail when problems arise.

 

[Duffer72]

I'm just giving my advise after being in the business for many years, I have gotten many machines and engines repaired under warranty even though they were past the time period, Maybe that is why we were always busier than other shops as we took care of our customers by knowing how to. Yes I agree go to Walker if Kohler turns them down but not from the get go.

 

[robert]

For the sake of discussion; for a brand new machine that you have sold wouldn't it be nonsense if-for a tire failure the customer FIRST was required to go to the tire manufacturer, for a drive failure the customer had to go to the hydro fluid manufacturer/the drive manufacturer/the filter manufacturer, for an electrical system failure the customer had to go to the wire maker, the fuse maker, the component maker? Kohler probably did not make ALL the parts in their great engine-would you support the customer first having to contact each part maker(carb, spark plug, piston, ignition- etc) for a failure that involved specific components-this is no different from the topic at hand really? for chasis problems it would be the customers responsibility to track down the steel maker, the welding rod maker, the maker of the welding machine??

Walker, Exmark, Scag,- you pick the maker-, the equipment manufacturer selects their components-the equipment maker should be required to take care of issues for the customer without the customer having to argue with individual parts makers.

AND if Walker behaves like Exmark I for one want to know about it.

 

[Duffer72]

I understand what you are saying but at the same time you are asking a company to cover a warranty that is specifically spelled out by another company, All machines come with a minimum of 2 warranties, 1 for the unit and 1 for the engine, tractors and such usually also come with a warranty for the transmission or hydo drive systems if not built or directly supplied thru themselves with no indicatioon of another manufacturers name.

As an example Sears units only carry a warranty from sears, unless this has changed recently, thier engines are not covered by the engine mfg as they pay less for the engines and cover thier own warranties, the problem with this is 1. you are limited in who you take it to for the work and 2. if you are happy with there evaluation too bad there is no where else to go for help.

By asking Walker to cover a Kohler warranty would be like a customer of mine asking Briggs to cover a warranty I provided for my repair because I am a Briggs dealer,

Just FYI over the years I have dealt with walker they have always been a very customer service oriented mfg, the fact that they gave her any money towards the repair in the first place proves that, many mfg would not even consider it. Not sure of what you meant by your comment regarding Exmark.

We can agree to disagree on this, but as I have said previously if she is unhappy with anybody it should be with the dealer she was dealing with for the repair, they should handle all of the paperwork and contact for her with Kohler up to a point of her being turned down by them and from what I can tell they dropped the ball big time on this one, did they even offer to submit a disputed or policy adjustment warranty claim?

 

[robert]

Duffy, this is what I don't understand; why should the customer and the selling dealer for that matter have to get his/her blood pressure up by arguing with the maker of one of the components on a piece of equipment.
Mr/Ms Walker needs to call Ms/Mr Kohler saying that there is an issue that needs to get resolved immediately and if it isn't a new engine is being sent to the dealer for installation and if a credit isn't given for the new engine and the labor another engine manufacturer will be contacted.

Quick, clean and simple-in an ideal world.

However what I am certain happens in the power equipment industry is this; Walker contacts every engine maker asking for bids on a certain number of units, they then contact the lowest bidder and procede to beat the poo out of the poor person who is in charge of oem sales, the deal is made and the engines are shipped with fingers crossed that no warranty claims arise as the margin is unsustainable.

In the end Walker is the only winner and everyone else loses the difference is that the customer is the only one that paid to lose.

I got rid of a new Exmark Quest because of performance issues with both the mower and engine, Briggs 20hp ELS that develped at 1/2 hour and it spent alot more time in the shop than it did mowing my lawn. What I learned is that Exmark, like Walker, doesn't want to know a thing.

 

[Duffer72]

As you stated"In a ideal world", A dealers responsibility is to represent the mfg, wether it be the engine or unit mfg, he accepts this responsibility when signing up as a dealer, that is life for a dealer, either accept it or not be a dealer it is just part of doing business in the industry. We can go on with this forever but as someone that was at a dealership and at the manufacturer level there are procedures to handle these things and if the dealer is slack in carrying out thier responsibility and the customer not making them carry it out, then in my opinion the customer has to be blamed more for the problem than the the mfg. It is very simple, tell the dealer to put in a policy adjustment or disputed warranty claim to Kohler and go from there. I would not have covered anything for the mower myself as a minimum until Kohler had turned it down first. Walker was very generous with what they did in the first place. I have processed claims for people that did not apply to the unit but rather should have been thru the other mfg but they were very few and far between usually as favor to a large dealer more so than the customer.

 

[robert]

As you mention this could go on for a while but I think you really have made my point for me when you type that the dealer represents the maker (of the complete machine) and as such-should-have the authority to resolve ALL issues in a very, very timely fashion.

 

[Duffer72]

Briggs used to allow thier master service dealers do it , not sure if they still do or not, the master service tech had to take abouta four hour test to get the certification and approved to do it. they were he only ones that ever let dealers do it as far as I know.