Trans Cross brace broke. Anyone else?

[Mr. Mower]

I have seen Hustler mowers come into our shop ( we were a Hustler Dealer at that time, we have since, let them go ) that needed warranty work, that was bought from a box store, these box stores don't do any repair, only sell them ( Home Depot, Lowes etc.). Once we ran it through Hustlers system before any repair is made, we found out the box store did not register it, thus NO WARRANTY on these mowers until they are registered, if they can be registered. This has happened more then once, It is a lot of trouble for the owners and a headache for us. The moral of this story is, buy a mower from a reputable dealership and not a box store or online....it will pay off in the long run!

Well for starters the "big box stores" only sell mowers not service them (don't know of any big box store that would provide servicing mowers?) also it's not the big box stores (nor a dealerships) responsibility to register your mower.

Yes it is definitely true that if the mower is not registered with the manufacturer then there is no warranty. That's just a no brain'er there.

It is up to the customer to register their mower once a purchase has been made, whether from a dealership or big box store. Read the paperwork that your mower came with once purchased brand new. It's all there (or should be).

If your mower needs servicing then the customer would need to locate a Hustler Sales and Servicing dealership specifically for that purpose.

A customer should never take anything for granted once they have purchased their mower from any place, for that matter, whether big box store or dealership. Always register your product yourself and make sure that you receive a reply directly from the manufacturer concerning warranty.

Once you know for a fact that your mower is registered then warranty issues would not be a problem.

I know this for a fact.

 

[Mr. Mower]

I agree Mr. Mower. I didn't say all dealers if you read your quote of mine. I said "incompetent dealers". And there are many more of those today than the competent dealers whether mowers, motorcycles, cars, trucks, etc.

Damned shame that folks in a position to make a profit puts the profit entirely ahead of returning customers or better said, earning word of mouth good graces. No matter how good a competent dealer can be, there are going to be mitigating circumstances outside their control and thus will get bad mouthed. If this happens and the word gets back to the dealer. Best to get in touch with the 'victim' and see if there is any kind of resolution. How often does this happen in this day and time. Not so much.

I am just a Dinosaur apparently.

Max

I totally agree with you sir!

 

[mhavanti]

Mr. Mower,

Have to state one more thing. My reputable dealership does not allow the owners register their mowers. But then too, he is now gone. The replacement dealership is worse. lol.

Now to the point, I contacted the factory to register my mower. The factory contacted the dealer to ask why I was registering the mower and why it had not been registered already. Reason I registered it was the dealership claimed it was registered and the recall was already taken care of before I purchased the mower that, by the way the recall was after I purchased my mower from him. So, once the recall was brought to my attention, I checked the mower for the very visible repair if it was 'already taken care of before I purchased the mower'.

The factory stated it would be taken care of immediately. The dealer called me, cussed me for at least 30 seconds before taking a breath. Once he stopped long enough to breath. I asked him why he hadn't registered or taken care of the recall. He stated I got everything I paid for and don't bother bringing the mower back to him unless I apologized for making him look bad.

By the way, the registration has no place to make comments in order to make a dealer 'look bad'. The dealer takes care of that all by himself. He never once kept any business contract or promise.

So, incompetent dealers are out there and makes the manufacturer look bad, not the customers making the manufacturer look bad. Box stores are dealers bottom line. Whatever we deal is makes us a dealer.

So, dealers with service departments are different than dealers without. This particular dealer and his replacement will not service any box store sales. That is true for the entire state almost. I don't get it, factory is going to pay me to repair your unit and most likely my doing so will earn your business. Butt hurt dealers usually are the worst for the manufacturers.

Sorry for the long reply. Just needed to be said so folks reading your and my banter understands you and I are actually on the same page.

Max

 

[clubairth]

Thanks for the information and part numbers for the 2 different braces!

Just a heads up I ordered Clutch Cover-#120838 as the dealer had already replaced the big cross brace after a plastic fender cracked at the mounting ear.
This smaller brace is on factory back order right now. No estimate of when they will be back in stock.

Yes some local dealers are pure garbage! Like mine.
DO NOT buy or deal with:

Max Lawn and Garden
1431 North Westgreen Blvd
Katy, Tx 77449

I drank the Kool Aid on this forum about using a local dealer. What a crock of ****!!! Paid full price to get a Mexican run around every time I called!
I should have purchased it from Lowes. At least I do not expect any service from them!
People buy wherever you get the best deal!
.
.
.

 

[Mr. Mower]

Mr. Mower,

Have to state one more thing. My reputable dealership does not allow the owners register their mowers. But then too, he is now gone. The replacement dealership is worse. lol.

Now to the point, I contacted the factory to register my mower. The factory contacted the dealer to ask why I was registering the mower and why it had not been registered already. Reason I registered it was the dealership claimed it was registered and the recall was already taken care of before I purchased the mower that, by the way the recall was after I purchased my mower from him. So, once the recall was brought to my attention, I checked the mower for the very visible repair if it was 'already taken care of before I purchased the mower'.

The factory stated it would be taken care of immediately. The dealer called me, cussed me for at least 30 seconds before taking a breath. Once he stopped long enough to breath. I asked him why he hadn't registered or taken care of the recall. He stated I got everything I paid for and don't bother bringing the mower back to him unless I apologized for making him look bad.

By the way, the registration has no place to make comments in order to make a dealer 'look bad'. The dealer takes care of that all by himself. He never once kept any business contract or promise.

So, incompetent dealers are out there and makes the manufacturer look bad, not the customers making the manufacturer look bad. Box stores are dealers bottom line. Whatever we deal is makes us a dealer.

So, dealers with service departments are different than dealers without. This particular dealer and his replacement will not service any box store sales. That is true for the entire state almost. I don't get it, factory is going to pay me to repair your unit and most likely my doing so will earn your business. Butt hurt dealers usually are the worst for the manufacturers.

Sorry for the long reply. Just needed to be said so folks reading your and my banter understands you and I are actually on the same page.

Max

No apology necessary Max and yes we are definitely on the same page.

Your points and views on this are well stated and thanks for posting and sharing.

 

[Mr. Mower]

Yes some local dealers are pure garbage! Like mine.
DO NOT buy or deal with:

Max Lawn and Garden
1431 North Westgreen Blvd
Katy, Tx 77449

I drank the Kool Aid on this forum about using a local dealer. What a crock of ****!!! Paid full price to get a Mexican run around every time I called!
I should have purchased it from Lowes. At least I do not expect any service from them!
People buy wherever you get the best deal!.

Very well stated.

I remember after purchasing my Hustler Raptor Flip Up from Lowes, I then called several local Hustler Sales & Service dealerships, speaking with managers, supervisors, techs and asking questions, etc. before I finally felt comfortable with one that I was willing to do business with and they have since treated me, as a customer, very well and I always highly recommend them to other customers.

As long as they keep conducting business in an honest professional manner they will always have my business, even if I have to drive a few extra miles to get there.

 

[Mower King]

The Dealership I work at, registers all New Mowers we sell (we sell 4 major brands of mowers) for the customer, so the customer knows it goes into the manufactures system for Warranty, and our system as well. Just good business practice!

 

[mhavanti]

Mr. Mower,

In our businesses, we had to carry very large insurance policies that hurt when paying the premiums. However, there isn't any insurance to pay out when we as dealers, manufacturers or repair shops hurts our customer's feelings or simply do not do our due diligence toward deserving their business.

We also had (E&O) Errors and Omissions in the event one of our sales staff or tech staff made an error or went out of their way to omit information a customer should have in order to best operate and maintain their purchases from our stores, machine shops, etc. Yes, folks CAN sue you for errors and omissions. If you don't believe that, just stay in business long enough, it WILL happen to you eventually. In our Southern Family Homes and Fashion Homes division, before sitting at the closing table, the manager of each of my two house firms had to walk each house, read each form for everything from Formaldehyde to government mandated fresh air ventilation in the HVAC. 66 forms each of our customers had to read, state they read, the manager of the home sales discussed and made sure the customer understands each feature and how they work before sitting in front of a closing company. This was for our customers as much and more than for my companies.

Remember, in housing, there are commissions that have teeth that not only bites, can and will rip you a knew one. So, the better we did our job in making our customers understand their features and hand them a document we both signed and they got the 'wet ink'. They know they can also rip us a knew one if we did not give them the customer service promised in writing. Plus, when you're the builder with brick and mortar offices, service buildings and warehouses. You can't run.

Damned shame mower industry doesn't care enough across the board to take care of their customers above and beyond the sale. That statement is not pointed at the servicing dealer that stands behind his word.

I'm out,

Max

 

[EDL]

Well for starters the "big box stores" only sell mowers not service them (don't know of any big box store that would provide servicing mowers?) also it's not the big box stores (nor a dealerships) responsibility to register your mower.

Yes it is definitely true that if the mower is not registered with the manufacturer then there is no warranty. That's just a no brain'er there.

It is up to the customer to register their mower once a purchase has been made, whether from a dealership or big box store. Read the paperwork that your mower came with once purchased brand new. It's all there (or should be).

If your mower needs servicing then the customer would need to locate a Hustler Sales and Servicing dealership specifically for that purpose.

A customer should never take anything for granted once they have purchased their mower from any place, for that matter, whether big box store or dealership. Always register your product yourself and make sure that you receive a reply directly from the manufacturer concerning warranty.

Once you know for a fact that your mower is registered then warranty issues would not be a problem.

I know this for a fact.

That's not what I was told, by both Hustler and my local dealer. According to them, Lowes should have sent in some kind of registration when the mower was purchased. So, I dunno. Water under the bridge for me at this point anyway. It's not a warranty issue, since mine is out of warranty by about 5 months, it's a major design issue I felt should have been a recall. Hustler didn't have to replace the part, but they are, so long I pay the dealer to do it (which I am). I'm just not happy with how Hustler has handled the situation and the unfriendly treatment by their staff. Whatever, it's getting replaced for less than it would have cost me to buy the part, so be it.

As for purchasing the mower from Lowes vs a dealer, the dealer that I took my mower to hit the nail on the head. He asked me if I was military. Yep, not only was my Raptor on sale at Lowes, but I got a 10% military discount on top of it. Hard to pass up getting a $3600 mower out the door for a tad over $3000. He said he's lost a few sales to Lowes because of that military discount.

 

[Mr. Mower]

That's not what I was told, by both Hustler and my local dealer. According to them, Lowes should have sent in some kind of registration when the mower was purchased. So, I dunno. Water under the bridge for me at this point anyway. It's not a warranty issue, since mine is out of warranty by about 5 months, it's a major design issue I felt should have been a recall. Hustler didn't have to replace the part, but they are, so long I pay the dealer to do it (which I am). I'm just not happy with how Hustler has handled the situation and the unfriendly treatment by their staff. Whatever, it's getting replaced for less than it would have cost me to buy the part, so be it.

As for purchasing the mower from Lowes vs a dealer, the dealer that I took my mower to hit the nail on the head. He asked me if I was military. Yep, not only was my Raptor on sale at Lowes, but I got a 10% military discount on top of it. Hard to pass up getting a $3600 mower out the door for a tad over $3000. He said he's lost a few sales to Lowes because of that military discount.

Sorry to hear about your particular situation dealing with Hustler manufacture and all. But like in all things it happens because I’ve been down that road before, myself.

I just know that the times that I have called Hustler, I never really had a problem speaking with either their engineers, customer service rep (exclusively for those customers that purchased from big box stores) etc. They always either answered my calls or called back and even replied to my emails.

As for the Military Discount offered by Lowes, well that was definitely one of the deciding factors on purchasing my Hustler Raptor Flip Up along with “FREE DELIVERY “ straight to my home!

Yes those two factors made a huge impact on my decision to buy from Lowes, brought the price down significantly.