spottedpony
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Points: 301
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Another Craftsman Riding Mower Problem
Original Message Jul 7, 2006 11:33 am |
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Prompted by the multitude of posts about the craftsman hydrostat mowers, but more of a Rant & in some cases maybe alternate solution for others.
Early last week the pto (electric blade clutch) on my 10 year old craftsman rider went south. no big deal, parts wear out or break after years of usage. I call up the local sears parts center, check availability (its in stock) and order a new pto with projected delivery date of july 5th.
July 7 now & no parts, phone call to the parts center & i'm told it wasnt in stock and on back order & with luck i'll have it july 22. so i ask why i was told it was in stock & i get the standard reply "i dont know"
to make a long story short i got all the parts information off the old pto clutch, did an online search for the manufacturer, got on the phone and called them, got refered to a distributor in mich. ordered and confirmed the part was in stock and it'll be here in 3 or 4 days at less than half sears cost.
total cost from sears $238 and change (which has been canceled to say the least) cost $107 and with shipping from the distributor $125.
Now assuming both suppliers pay close to the same wholesale cost and another company can make a fair profit what does this say about sears percentage of markup?
The moral of this, if your lucky enough to find manufacturing information and part numbers do an online search and contact mfgrs. In this case Warner Electric gave me the 800 number for a distributer and saved me close to half without the bull$#%* everyone seems to get from sears anymore.
In the last year ive had some real warrantee issues with sears, in particular a 60 gallon upright air compressor that has continuing problems now out of warrantee. needless to say because of these problems as well as some poor customer service issues, sears has lost a customer for purchases items of this nature.
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