The editors of Lawn & Landscape and Commercial Dealer magazines believe
ongoing dialogue between contractors and commercial dealers is essential. Each month, one contractor and one commercial dealer will address a question or issue posed by the editors.
The question that appeared in the September issue: “Does warranty work cause friction between contractors and commercial dealers?”
THE DEALER: Phil Babcock, Owner, EG Babcock, Fresno, Calif.
“If you don’t pay your doctor for diagnostic work, do you want them to start cutting? Dealers are paid a flat rate for warranty work, regardless of how long it takes to diagnose a problem. Warranty work is a sore spot for most dealers. The first thing you do when you get a piece of equipment is figure out what’s wrong with it. If you don’t get paid for diagnostic work, how are you sure it’s going to get done? This is a lot different than in the automotive industry, where the dealer is reimbursed for the cost of figuring out the problem.
“It has the potential to put me in a bad spot. If a customer comes into the dealership having talked to the manufacturer, and believing the repair is covered under warranty, then I get put in the middle. If it’s truly not covered by warranty, then I look like the bad guy by having to break the news to them.
“Do you think you could walk into a restaurant with some eggs and bacon and ask the employees to cook them up for you? Anymore, dealers are getting pretty black and white about it. We ask customers, ‘Did you buy it from us?’ The inference is, if you don’t buy it from us, don’t expect us to repair it.”
THE CONTRACTOR: Paul Rauch, Vice President, Wildrose Lawncare, Lutz, Fla.
“From the perspective of a commercial customer, how warranty work is handled is very important. I will bypass a ‘super sale’ at one dealership to buy from another dealer where I know I’ll get good service. I’m in the business of selling service. The people we serve on our end will continue to come to us if we warranty our work.
“We base our reputation on saying ‘no questions asked’ when the customer has a problem and we take care of it. When I get a dealer who treats me in this same manner, I’m loyal to them. I’m more bound to go to that dealer and buy everything than to shop at a several dealerships for the best deal. So, when I have a piece of equipment that needs warranty work, I don’t need for it to be complicated.
“The first question we ask is, ‘How much time does it take to fix it in-house?’ If we find it takes too long, then we take it to a dealer who we’ve worked with before. As a company, when my equipment’s not working, I’m not working. I need transactions like warranty work to go smoothly. If I spend my time trying to battle someone at a dealership or the manufacturer over it, it’s time that I could be spending outside making money. The dealerships I do business with understand this and take care of me. If I need to have warranty work done, my dealer has loaner equipment to keep my business up and running.”
Say What's On Your Mind
If you’d like to share your thoughts for future issues, please call or e-mail Mark Phillips at 216-925-5008 or mphillips@gie.net.