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[CHEESE2009]

So the price of equipment varies from place to place. My idea would be; If someone wants a piece of equipment - they can post the price that they can purchase it for right here on the forum. Other users can compare with the given price to see if they can get it for less! Unfortunately, trust comes into play - or a lot of travel time is expected. E.g Hi, I'm Benjamin. I want to buy this trimmer for $2000 - details details details -. ********************************************- Benjamin, I can purchase that trimmer in my town for $900.00 I can; Buy it for you > you buy it from me > deliver all for less of what you would originally pay! Steve's day job any suggestions?????

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[bruces]

Lawn care business tips

thats a good and a bad idea .As a comercial business,you should do your best to keep your equipment in good repair at all times,and unfortunately buying something from out of your area will not put you in the good books of your local service department,so you will be serviced only after every one of the customers who bought equipment from them has been taken care of .The good thing is that there are some awesome deals to be had at different dealerships,so you can save a bundle on a purchase .Another bad is shipping costs depending on the item can kill any savings in short time .

[MountainViewGreenskeeper]

Originally Posted by bruces

thats a good and a bad idea .As a comercial business,you should do your best to keep your equipment in good repair at all times,and unfortunately buying something from out of your area will not put you in the good books of your local service department,so you will be serviced only after every one of the customers who bought equipment from them has been taken care of .The good thing is that there are some awesome deals to be had at different dealerships,so you can save a bundle on a purchase .Another bad is shipping costs depending on the item can kill any savings in short time .

So are you saying I should pay more so I get better service??? I think not. If I take my equipment somewhere I better get done when My order was placed not when they feel like getting around to it after all their "inhouse" buys are done.

I use ebay all the time for checking any equipment or item purchases. If I cant get it cheaper I buy in state to keeps someones job. Other wise Im gunna save myself hundreds of dollars buy shopping on line. If you think other wise fine that the way you do things; and thats ok.

Other than that, as he said shipping cost could hamper things.

[bruces]

Originally Posted by MountainViewGreenskeeper

So are you saying I should pay more so I get better service??? I think not. If I take my equipment somewhere I better get done when My order was placed not when they feel like getting around to it after all their "inhouse" buys are done.

I use ebay all the time for checking any equipment or item purchases. If I cant get it cheaper I buy in state to keeps someones job. Other wise Im gunna save myself hundreds of dollars buy shopping on line. If you think other wise fine that the way you do things; and thats ok.

Other than that, as he said shipping cost could hamper things.

Having been a licenced mechanic since 1982,I can assure you buying equipment elsewhere will not get the best service in a dealerships service department ,and I have even worked at a place that regularily told people with equipment bought elsewhere ,to take their stuff back to the original dealer for warranty work [next closest dealership was 3 hours away]since we were too busy with our own customers[which we were ] .
Say you have 30 driveways to plow every snowfall ,which completely fills your schedule ,and you just got whacked with a foot of snow,and you get a frantic call from some guy who shovels his own driveway,but he just cant do it this time and needs it done right away to get to work,are you going to run over and help him out with a one time plow,or are you going to just keep looking after your regular customers who have been using and paying for your services all season ,and if you can find the time maybey swing over and do his driveway when your all done ?I always look after my usual customers first ,the shoveled tightwad can wait or go elsewhere .Why would you think a dealership would be different?

[shadrach]

Originally Posted by MountainViewGreenskeeper

So are you saying I should pay more so I get better service??? I think not.

Do you think other people should pay you more because you provide better service? I am not saying your approach is wrong but I think the service factor should be a consideration . I buy all my equipment from the same place. When I break something they are quick to fix it sometimes while I wait when I bring it in. They will bump stuff that people bought somewhere else to work on stuff for regular customers (not all the time but it does happen). I do occasionally find prices for equipment elsewhere cheaper and give my guys a chance to match them but for the most part I would rather work with people that I trust and are gonna take care of me than save a few bucks.

[MountainViewGreenskeeper]

Originally Posted by shadrach

Do you think other people should pay you more because you provide better service? I am not saying your approach is wrong but I think the service factor should be a consideration . I buy all my equipment from the same place. When I break something they are quick to fix it sometimes while I wait when I bring it in. They will bump stuff that people bought somewhere else to work on stuff for regular customers (not all the time but it does happen). I do occasionally find prices for equipment elsewhere cheaper and give my guys a chance to match them but for the most part I would rather work with people that I trust and are gonna take care of me than save a few bucks.

lol I think we are talking about to different things. Sure if you want to pay more for service I call it doing the job right.

If I buy my equipment at one place and service it somewhere else then I expect to be serviced when I place the service call. In the case of the snow witch we dont have(related would be monsoon damage) sure we take care of our customers but its on a first come first serve basis.

In the case of warranty sure I would say take it back to them as well why would you want to warranty someone elses product. But we are talking about service or did I miss understand the comments below.

Dont get me wrong I use the same place for all my stuff just about and give them the same option to try and match. But atleast they are honest when they cant get or do something.

Implying that just because you purchase everything at one dealer will some how change the service is a little rediculous to me. Sure the occational cut in line helps but with all service its usually first come first serve. If you run ur business any other way your going to have a real tight group of customers cause you offering a great quality to some and not others. Mr rich guy dollar isnt any shiner than poor guys. Is it worth sucking up sometime yes but I myself could not do business that way where Im kissing a$$ to some customers and offering just the plain crap to the rest.

Maybe I just dont have a grasp on how "real" business is done. But I know ive felt like im not getting the best before so I take my business else where. I think we forget that this is a "service" not a loyalty business. If you dont have the product at the quality and/or price I want Im going somewhere else.

I dont charge the most and I dont charge the least. This is what it cost me to perform X service. You want the cheap half a$$ work call the mexican down the street from me. You want me to do the job right the first time this is the price.

Sorry for the rant and reduntant talk.

[MountainViewGreenskeeper]

Originally Posted by bruces

Say you have 30 driveways to plow every snowfall ,which completely fills your schedule ,and you just got whacked with a foot of snow,and you get a frantic call from some guy who shovels his own driveway,but he just cant do it this time and needs it done right away to get to work,are you going to run over and help him out with a one time plow,or are you going to just keep looking after your regular customers who have been using and paying for your services all season ,and if you can find the time maybey swing over and do his driveway when your all done ?I always look after my usual customers first ,the shoveled tightwad can wait or go elsewhere .Why would you think a dealership would be different?

Having re-read this comment Im more confused at the correlation. If we are talking car dealership I wouldnt take it to them anyways. There always tryn to screw you one way or another.

As for the snow if my understanding is correct and as I stated in my other reply we dont get snow. You are under some contract or agreement or understanding something that says for you to do the work. So you do the work first that you said you would then go do the tightwad if you had time.

Its the same as mowing a yard if someone calls friday that they want their yard cleaned up for a party but I got a full route no Im not dropping what Im doing to go do him.

The only way in my eyes this relates if the dealer has a full scedual for vehicle services and someone walks in the door asking for an oil change they fit them in when they can. Because the people that called ahead and booked ahead of time cause they were smart get serviced when they were scedualed.

[Steve]

take their stuff back to the original dealer for warranty work [next closest dealership was 3 hours away]since we were too busy with our own customers[which we were ]

Doesn't the dealer make money on the warranty work or no? If you tell them to take it back to the original dealer, aren't you potentially losing out on profit? Or maybe even the chance to sell them more products in the future because of your service?