Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

okay folks i just got this crazy idea to start a thread about strange things we have found with our snowblowers.

you know ..the ladder you werent really missing but it was under the snow .

or the door mat or the stick or two of firewood.

i have found the ladder and also an extension cord.

later chris

My kids 3 foot long rubber lizard!

I have an MTD.
So the strangest thing I found is my driveway.

robmints wrote:

Oh man ROFL.....

C

Christmas lights, dog toys, (one actually stalled the machine, scarey) extension cord two weeks ago, a hat, gloves, a plastic sled, the cord attached to the sled, a plastic tarp, flower pots, firewood.  Thats it for now, I know there is more but that's all I can remember now.

C

robmints wrote:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

robmints wrote:

Foud it once, great...

Find it twice, we have a miracle in the works.  

Sure its not a repainted Ariens

The strangest thing that I found with a snowblower is they work when it snows, and then breaks half way through the job.  This causes an unslaught of calls to the repair shop for weeks.  "Is my snowblower done?, Did my part come in?,  What do you mean you don't have any left?"

This makes my job a little interesting - I have to remember each guy, by voice and part.  They don't think that their name is that important.  If it goes on back order - like many of our parts are doing now - I have to remember that part and where to find the guys phone number when it comes in.  Then I have to keep Chris and Dad happy by having the parts they need to fix things.  Chris is the hard one, Dad he's not so bad...just send him on 100's of pick ups and deliveries.  Keeps him happy.

But why does it seems that snowblowers work in the summer but break when they are needed.  Is it a conspiracy?????

  That's the looks I get behind the counter!!!!

Sherri

MissSnowshoveler wrote: You sure brought back some memories.

I used to work supporting a computer system that was used internationally, about the only place we didn't have users was Africa. The number of calls of "Its not working, I'm going to a meeting, call me at 10:00" I got were amazing. Minor little items like who are you, where in the world are you, whats your time zone ( essentially 10:00 where) and whats your phone number were regularly missed. Getting people to describe the problm was also interesting. I once asked a person if there was a big read square on the screen  with the words "Invalid Input" and they said no. Guess what was on their screen. Essentially they had been so psyched out by the error message they didn't "see" it.

As far as the snowblower breaking, that's easy. They aren't put under stress until they are used. Hence anything that is going to break won't break until you use it. Most people don't start the blower up and run it around in the fall, they wait until they REALLY need it. At which point  its too late. Even testing in the fall doesn't do much to stress the mechanism.

As far as the Back Orders are concerned why don't you just put their name and number on it? When the part comes in you match it with the order and voila, name and number to call. You could even keep a register of BOs with the customer name and number.

nibbler wrote:

I've tried everything possible to keep B/O's straight.  My father and mother are not computer people - know absolutely nada.  That means a simple list in the computer won't work.  The paper versions seems to get lost regularly.  So I'm stuck...  I just leave it in the order book highlighted with phone numbers.  It's the best thing I could do - nobody seems able to misplace the order books yet!

Sherri

You wont believe me but someone left a full bag of apples at the end of the drioveway to give  maybe to feed some kind of animal but this day a snowfall came and at least 14 inches so I took my snowblower to do the job and tell me I got a single stage so when i hit that bag it was a fest out there i was laughing so much i was rolling on the ground i should tape this situation it was so incredible