Vanguard carb backorder saga continues.

[ILENGINE]

ILENGINE, I do not know if you overlooked my post regarding OEM carburetor being in stock on page 4 for $117 or you just decided to go with aftermarket carburetor. thanks, Mark

Mark I saw the post with the link that you listed. It says ships within 1 business day "if in stock" And since nobody else is showing it in stock especially the only authorized Briggs distributor in the entire USA, and hasn't had any in over 8 months I doubt anybody else will have OEM carbs in stock.

 

[mechanic mark]

Thanks ILENGINE & StarTech for information, have a good week.
For curiosity's sake I did call the B&S parts store & talked to someone from India I believe about availability of carburetor. You men were correct, not in stock even though website says so, had to order from vendor & then 15 days later so & so & so.
As for back pain I have been seeing my Chiropractor for over 20 years. I see the Dr. once a month for preventive maintenance, pops my lower back & neck & keeps me lined up.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Correct Startech, 67 full retirement age. In my case the degenerative disc disease is causing mild sciatic and moderate low back pain, but mostly front of thigh numbness followed by flaming ice picks if I stand too long.. And on some occasions will have muscle spasms that will drop me on my knees and if I am lucky sometimes I will see stars.

I feel for you. I had a herniated disc that on many occasions would drop me to the floor. I was getting by on oxy and vicodin. Finally saw a good chiropractor who treated me 3 times a week for almost a year. Cost me a small fortune because of crap insurance but it was worth it. Alternative was surgery and maybe disability. I still have sciatica and if i over do it i wind up flat on my back for a day or two.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I feel for you. I had a herniated disc that on many occasions would drop me to the floor. I was getting by on oxy and vicodin. Finally saw a good chiropractor who treated me 3 times a week for almost a year. Cost me a small fortune because of crap insurance but it was worth it. Alternative was surgery and maybe disability. I still have sciatica and if i over do it i wind up flat on my back for a day or two.

I do feel your pain & thank the heavens that down here we have free health care ( if you don't die waiting ) .
This last 2 years has been a big wake up for me, having to drag ones self along the floor in agony to the bathroom was not fun and needing to use a hose to clean the bum was not fun either, but as I can now wipe the backside & pick the nose, I will not complain.
Still only good for about 1/2 days work even if I spend 18 hours trying to do it.

And Mark as for buying "in stock" parts on line
Currently I have $ 1800 worth of parts ordered before chrissie , all shown as "in stock" that were in fact not in sock.
I have just this second finished with a supplier who lied to me when I ordered, then failed to get back to me by email 3 times so I got the credit card company to reverse the purchase and what do you know, the vendor ran me in less than 2 minutes to have a bitch .

As for the stuff that supposedly shipped
The Stens order shipped on the 22nd according to their web page, but apparently sat on the warehouse floor till the 5;10 pm on the 4th before the couriers picked it up.
They were running very late so they sent the Tardis to pick it up because it arrived at the local distribution center 10 hours before it was picked up 6:05 am on the 4th
And people wonder why I consider all of this track & trace a total waste of time & money.
The couriers 3 times said they would call back, they didn't but they did sent emails to Stens to say it would be delivered that day , twice but on both occasions the web page did not indicate the driver had scanned the item in and funny enough it did not materialize on either day .

So it is off now on a 4hr round trip to get the parts from another suppler who was not used in the first place because they alerted us in the first week of December they would be closed till the 10th as I promised the custome come hell or high water his mower would be back to his team today without fail.

Another supplier bombarded me with all sorts of discount deals ( which I stupidly took up ) on orders placed in the last 2 weeks before the closure .
All were supposed to be ready for pick up on the 23rd, no mention that on the 23rd they would be closed till the 10th as well.
And now they tell me the parts that were "in stock" on Dec 17 are expected to arrive on the 26th which would be a miracle as that is a public holiday .

So that is 2 less local suppliers I will be dealing with, and then they wonder why I "waste my time" sourcing parts directly from factories in China .

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I needed a spindle assy for a RER Snapper. Showed in stock. Got it a month and a half later. I called and the lady who answered confessed everything always shows in stock. I won't be a tool and name names but everybody would recognize the name of the company. I needed some parts for a tractor. Called Steiner and the fellow i talked to was helpful and told me one of the parts was out stock and suggested an alternative. "In stock" may just be wishful thinking.

 

[StarTech]

I needed a spindle assy for a RER Snapper. Showed in stock. Got it a month and a half later. I called and the lady who answered confessed everything always shows in stock. I won't be a tool and name names but everybody would recognize the name of the company. I needed some parts for a tractor. Called Steiner and the fellow i talked to was helpful and told me one of the parts was out stock and suggested an alternative. "In stock" may just be wishful thinking.

I think I may dealt with a company like that. I only dealt with Steiner a few times so cant comment on their service other than no problems with what I ordered. Just a heads some the new Snappers are using Husqvarna parts. The Snapper rider I repaired I save nearly 50% on the parts instead ordering them through Briggs but I got lucky as I work on a lot Husqvarna riders.

In the last I had a lot problems getting parts like Bert. But I think he got his vendor's attention. That is huge order for me to place with just one vendor. Engines are about the only thing I order in that price range. Most of my orders are in the $200-$500 range.

As my business was growing every year my overall volume was increasing. But this last it stood at a stand still with me just ordering replacement parts for restock with a few new items. Briggs has given so much grief lately that I was sitting on a $1000 order. Luckily Stens started carrying some that gaskets and blades at good prices so the pending order has dropped to $220.

Gardner has been on suspension since the first of August because of their credit card policy. They started charging a convenience fee but is offering ACH payments. They simply refuse to switch me over and I am simply refusing to buy anything until they do. So it only cost them a couple thousand last year and the year before of the four thousand I normally buy through them and RBI had pickup most of that business. I admit last couple of years I need more Kawasaki parts than I normally do and Gardner don't carry them. But back August RBI was only at $1,900 with Gardner at $2,420. A lot of Husqvarna and MTD did switched over to RBI because the CC problems. It only $150 on $10K but it the principle of it. I rather use that for hardware purchases.


Boy I just notice that ABP has block a lot ads on this site whew. Glad I am running it.

 

[bertsmobile1]

See the problem is companies are run by accountants with MBA's who believe their own spin & refuse to accept they can make a dud decision.
last year the biggest Telco down here that is 1/2 owned by the government ( bad idea ) decided that they would save $ 300,000 a year if they stopped taking payment by cheque through the post offices in a combination of the 75¢ the Post office charged them for taking the payment and the interest on the overdraft saved because direct debit would have the money i their bak account 4 days earlier .
A month latter they recindered that plan then 3 months latter reintroduced it .
That means I would have to drive 15 miles to pay my phone bill by cheque .
The "help desk" person told me that no one uses cheques any more and in any case shortly they would not accept cash either so I had to pay them on line.
So I changed telcos to one that resells the same product for $360 less per annum via Paypal because PP is the only secure third party payment system &
I control the payments not the receiver . So they now get $ 40 ( their cut ) a year in place of $ 45 a month to provide me with the same service.
Only an accountant could call that a good business plan.

The long & short of it no one who wears a shinny suit cares what any customer does and how many sales they loose.
All they care about is pretending they are running the business properly so the share price goes up.
This year was the second year that Telstra made a higher profit from reduced sales .

OTOH if it makes you feel good no buying from a particular supplier then go ahead & do it but the supplier really does not give a wrinkled rats rectum about you & how much you do or do not spend . The area rep who gets a cut of your spend might, but no one else in the management will .

 

[Hammermechanicman]

About a half century ago there was a Certified Auto Parts store that gave me the mechanics discount because the old guy who ran it was a good friend of my father's. He had to list my sales under another mechanics account as i would not qualify for the discount as i didn't move enough $$$ a year. He said corporate didn't want to bother tracking small accounts. He still made money off me so he was happy. The mechanics discount was sometimes almost half of the retail price.

 

[StarTech]

I agree they just don't care but I do as it hits my bottom line too. And it was us small businesses that built these companies but they don't care. Enough of us quits it might get their attention.

It sorta like A&I demanding me to spend at $2K with per year when I could easily done that last year if their products were up to par and the sales rep actually did his job when I ask for sales support. They are threatening to cut me off but said they are willing for me to buy from another A&I dealer which is not going to happen as I know the amount of mark-up involved. Most likely I will just dump them first and switch over to Oregon and Stens more; so much for a 12yrs business relationship. The killer is high shipping rates for smaller than $200 orders which would ship for free if order $200.01 or more. But on a $192 order they had hit me for $45 in shipping charges. Ouch.

And yes I have ran into several places that simply refuses cash payments locally. I have not used physical checks in several years here but it is because of the untimely mail times.

The situation with your telcom is sorta like it was with me and Power Distributors. I tried to get them to give me the same discount price on parts as I got through A&I but they simply decided to close my account instead.

And yes I do realize I like poppy seed in an ocean of whales so I don't even matter to them.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I have pretty happy with stens. Shipping is reasonable and customer service is decent.