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I placed an order last week for parts which the showed were in stock. They still have not shipped anything. They took my money but never shipped the parts. You cannot get through by phone . Call three times and waited so long that my phone battery went dead. Tried their online chat but the wait was so long that it kept ending my chat!! How the hell do you contact these people about your order if you cannot get in contact with them?? Sent numerous emails and no one replies! Anyone have any ideas? Dave.

A lot of places are slow on shipping due to the Coronavirus, and some may even be working only a few employees., You can probably order the parts elsewhere, parts Tree is shipping out fast, and then dispute the charge to MTD via credit card co.I've done that a few times in similar situations

And a lot of web sites show parts that are normally stocked as being "in Stock"
Others show parts that are out of stock as NLA.
Just had a heart attack when the 5 kawasaki con rods I ordered came up NLA.
The web allows lots of people to lie through their teeth.
Any site that says ships in "X" days means they have no stock & need to order it in from somewhere else before they ship to you .
Right now demand for spare parts is the highest it has been for decades because of the thousands of bored people suddenly discovering all those blown up engines sitting in the back of the garage.
Paper shufflers can work from home but not parts makers.

Scrubcadet10 said:

A lot of places are slow on shipping due to the Coronavirus, and some may even be working only a few employees., You can probably order the parts elsewhere, parts Tree is shipping out fast, and then dispute the charge to MTD via credit card co.I've done that a few times in similar situations

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I have already cancelled the order from jacks small engine because the could not get the parts. Went to mtd because their website says the parts were in stock. Now I am stuck and I am unable to contact anyone at mtd. They do not answer the phones or emails.

Dave9354 said:

I have already cancelled the order from jacks small engine because the could not get the parts. Went to mtd because their website says the parts were in stock. Now I am stuck and I am unable to contact anyone at mtd. They do not answer the phones or emails.

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What parts do you need?

Do a chargeback on the credit card. That will get their attention. Many online parts sellers have little stock on hand and order almost everything from a distributor then ship to you. I have been caught in that a few times. As Bert said lots of stock is low or none at all across the board. A couple dipstick vendors i have dealt with have websites that always say "in stock". Got into a pissing contest with a vendor who said a part was in stock and didn't ship for 2 weeks. They said i couldn't cancel the order. I did a credid card chargeback and told them if they shipped the part thanks for the free part. A supervisor finally admitted that their vendor had the part on backorder. I asked why the website showed in stock. Crickets!

If Jacks don't have it and can't get it then obviously MTD have no stock.
The story will be the same for most of the high volume on line retailers.
So now you are left to wait till MTD get new stock or try the local MTD dealers to see if they are doing the right thing by their customers and the wrong thing for their finances by holding stock.
Check the aftermarket suppliers as there might be an after market replacement for your mystery part.

Scrubcadet10 said:

What parts do you need?

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Transmission for a self propelled lawnmower. And dust cover for the wheel.

Part number would be nice as I could see if my distributor has them in stock.

As a business many of my distributors keep accurate reported stock levels so I know when I order if the parts are showing up a couple days. Even I try to keep an accurate in stock inventory so I depend it for my own repairs and sales but it is just the common items I use here.

Not all items are stocked and must be ordered from OEM warehouse. And yes the OEM are slow at times as they are awaiting on a slow boat from China sometimes. I just got an Husqvarna order that had to come from the Husqvarna warehouse that I ordered 05/17/2020, it took over three weeks. And I am awaiting another order from June the 2nd for v-belt, a $6 item on a $220 order. At the 5/17 had the same belt so I good to go on major rebuild of the rear tine tiller.

With this Covid-19 messing things there will be slow shipping problems. Sometimes the distributor have them in stock but not always.

StarTech said:

Part number would be nice as I could see if my distributor has them in stock.

As a business many of my distributors keep accurate reported stock levels so I know when I order if the parts are showing up a couple days. Even I try to keep an accurate in stock inventory so I depend it for my own repairs and sales but it is just the common items I use here.

Not all items are stocked and must be ordered from OEM warehouse. And yes the OEM are slow at times as they are awaiting on a slow boat from China sometimes. I just got an Husqvarna order that had to come from the Husqvarna warehouse that I ordered 05/17/2020, it took over three weeks. And I am awaiting another order from June the 2nd for v-belt, a $6 item on a $220 order. At the 5/17 had the same belt so I good to go on major rebuild of the rear tine tiller.

With this Covid-19 messing things there will be slow shipping problems. Sometimes the distributor have them in stock but not always.

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Well it is very misleading when a company like MTD says the parts are “ in stock” before you order them. They should be honest about the parts they have in stock. It would save a lot of problems with their customers. I mean “ who can you trust anymore”? Are they going to lie just to get the order then make you wait till hell freezes over before you get the parts!

StarTech said:

Part number would be nice as I could see if my distributor has them in stock.

As a business many of my distributors keep accurate reported stock levels so I know when I order if the parts are showing up a couple days. Even I try to keep an accurate in stock inventory so I depend it for my own repairs and sales but it is just the common items I use here.

Not all items are stocked and must be ordered from OEM warehouse. And yes the OEM are slow at times as they are awaiting on a slow boat from China sometimes. I just got an Husqvarna order that had to come from the Husqvarna warehouse that I ordered 05/17/2020, it took over three weeks. And I am awaiting another order from June the 2nd for v-belt, a $6 item on a $220 order. At the 5/17 had the same belt so I good to go on major rebuild of the rear tine tiller.

With this Covid-19 messing things there will be slow shipping problems. Sometimes the distributor have them in stock but not always.

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FWIW
I ordered 3 kawasaki con rods 13251-0719 which fits current models FS / FR / FX 651-730
They came up NLA in March this year & I was told they were being made but just out of stock
This morning I got an email telling me they had landed & would be shipped on Wed or Thurs depending upon how quick the container is broken down.
Down side is they are being allocated on a pro rata basis so I will only be getting one, the balance should be here in August.
Kohler have no con rods either and they can not even give me an estimate as to when they expect to be getting more stock.

This is all due to world wide outsourcing in order to get the cheapest price.
In a time when global supply chain is broken your tranny could take a very long time as it could have parts from China, Mexico, Brazil , Korea & the Phillipines in there

What is the part number(s)?

Dave9354 said:

Well it is very misleading when a company like MTD says the parts are “ in stock” before you order them. They should be honest about the parts they have in stock. It would save a lot of problems with their customers. I mean “ who can you trust anymore”? Are they going to lie just to get the order then make you wait till hell freezes over before you get the parts!

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That could be the difference between fully computerised warehouses with computerised picking and manual warehouses .
According to the computer, there is parts there but when the picker gets to the bin, it is "Old Mother Hubbard - Nothing In the Cupboard "
When I order on line from retail sources I always check the estimated delivery time.
If it says "ships is x number of days. I do not proceed or cancel the order because that indicates the parts are not in house and have to come in from some where else.
\
An ex house mate ran a world wide electronics warehouse dealing with microfische printers
The support / repair staff would think nothing of grabbing a 1/2 dozen boards before going to a repair to save having to come back or getting the boards sent by courier.
Naturally they could not put through a pick order because there was no actual sales to link it to.
That SHOULD have been done when they got back & replaced the boards they did not use.
Thus the margins looked very good because customers got billed & paid for boards that the computer still was crediting as being in stock in the warehouse.
Some of these boards had a 2 year lead time. and cost better than $ 100,000.00

It happesn

An independent dealer i know quit stocking almost any engine parts. They stocks engines. They won't fix a blown head gasket. They sell you an engine.

I tried ordering a new drive cable and other parts for my TB mower. They sent me the wrong cable. Their Chat doesn't do returns and couldn't get a hold of anyone with the phone. Ordered the cable from a local dealer. Had it in a few days and the correct one I might add. Shop local when you can!

I've noticed that a lot of suppliers inventory is inaccurate when checking online, definitely not unique to this industry during stay-at-home orders. Supply chains are disrupted, no one is physically verifying inventory, buying patterns are unusual, etc. I understand all that, but I do wish that the suppliers would have better communication. If I send an email inquiry, it would be nice to get some kind of acknowledgement. Then it would be easier for me to have more patience.

Honda Tech said:

I tried ordering a new drive cable and other parts for my TB mower. They sent me the wrong cable. Their Chat doesn't do returns and couldn't get a hold of anyone with the phone. Ordered the cable from a local dealer. Had it in a few days and the correct one I might add. Shop local when you can!

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Because you only want to pay $ 2.50 for the cable & not $ 10.50 the warehouse employs pickers who have no idea what the stuff is they are picking.
All they know is to put 1 item from bin AX104sa into the basket.
Same story at the despatch desk .

Hopefully you local friendly TB retailer parts salesperson would have looked at it and gone "humm that does not look right ?" and if it was wrong then he would chase it up to gtet you the right one.
That is the extra service you pay for from a shop with a real person standing in front of you.

stanman13 said:

I've noticed that a lot of suppliers inventory is inaccurate when checking online, definitely not unique to this industry during stay-at-home orders. Supply chains are disrupted, no one is physically verifying inventory, buying patterns are unusual, etc. I understand all that, but I do wish that the suppliers would have better communication. If I send an email inquiry, it would be nice to get some kind of acknowledgement. Then it would be easier for me to have more patience.

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Exactly my thoughts. Why are you not answering any emails? This is what pisses people off! We have no idea what is going on with our orders if you do not reply!

You get a couple emails about parts you have ordered. You give the customer a timeline for completion to only have to call back with a new timeline.

Example:

First update 6/16/2020 03:08 AM

then you get this update


6/17/2020 03:04AM


Boy isn't fun. The master cylinder that I need that was to tomorrow is now two months out.

Not mower parts but i have 2 $2000 PTZ cameras plus other equipment backordered for my other business. All total i have about $7k cash laid out waiting on backordered equipment. Will probably be another month before the boat arrives from asia. Business is good but the supply chain is hurting everyone. I have organizations wanting to do business but i don't want to hang more cash out for backordered equipment.

Hammermechanicman said:

Not mower parts but i have 2 $2000 PTZ cameras plus other equipment backordered for my other business. All total i have about $7k cash laid out waiting on backordered equipment. Will probably be another month before the boat arrives from asia. Business is good but the supply chain is hurting everyone. I have organizations wanting to do business but i don't want to hang more cash out for backordered equipment.

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I know exactly how you feel the getting of things is a real problem currently. At least I was fairly well stock at the beginning of the year so I was able to make it through the Spring rush with only a hand full of problems. I do have several restock orders with back orders.

One problem with back orders is the customer may just give up and go some where else leaving us stuck the items when they do come in. I kinda afraid I am going to get stuck with the repair cost on this Yamaha ATV due it taking so long to complete the repairs. Done got everything repaired when the master cylinder failed and I can't return it with no brakes.

StarTech said:

I know exactly how you feel the getting of things is a real problem currently. At least I was fairly well stock at the beginning of the year so I was able to make it through the Spring rush with only a hand full of problems. I do have several restock orders with back orders.

One problem with back orders is the customer may just give up and go some where else leaving us stuck the items when they do come in. I kinda afraid I am going to get stuck with the repair cost on this Yamaha ATV due it taking so long to complete the repairs. Done got everything repaired when the master cylinder failed and I can't return it with no brakes.

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I am 3 weeks into a 6 week backorder on a part for a Arctic Cat ATV right now.

Doing a project at church. Had to go to Lowes, home depot and menards to get all the lumber i needed. Guy at home depot said the lumber mills are just now coming off lockdown and are operating at 20% output.

The most commonly used warehouse & sales softwear programme used world wide is NAVS .
Navs is a product of Microsloth and it is the most popular because it is the only one that the average tech who is an MCE at some level knows will work with Windoze
Windoze will not work with most other warehousing , inventory & sales soft wear properly and will crash , freeze or simply not properly control the inventory numbers forcing regular manual stock checks& updates.

One of the add on packages alerts sales managers when each & every item that is running out has a picking order placed against it .
Thus when there are only 4 FS651V's in stock, and Bert who buys 5 engines a year puts in an order, it will go through to the picking stages when the regional sales manager gets an alert that the stock level is now 2 , par is 35, weekly sales are 15 and when new stock arrives they will have 60 on backorder . It will also bring up the weekly sales of FS651V's by customer order volume.
Now because the Mower Mansion buys 1.2 FS651V's / week, my sale will then get a despatch hold on it because Mower mansion orders have priority over mine.
Thus when I ordered , the computer checks & there was sufficient stock to fill the order, so the sale goes through it get put on hold between picking and despatch .
Thus suddenly I get a message telling me the engine will now be 4 weeks away

Navs is a poorly coded system, full of bugs , & holes so the MCE's get lots of money doing emergency fixes and of course the "right" people can snoop .
I did try, without any success to get the last mob who I ran a warehouse for to upgrade to a substantially better , and cheaper system but the board & top management know nothing about computing, despite the computer controling everything and of course when they asked their contract IT people ( All MCE's ) naturally they advised against it.

So if MTD is running NAVS then the results are not surprising .
One of the almost good things about Amazon is they have their own package that they try to get high volume vendors to use