Posted by JD Seller on October 21, 2015 at 18:09:48 from (208.126.198.123):
Well LAA and RRLund pretty much it the nail on the head, dealer apathy not malfeasance. I called the fellow I dealt with at the store and just got him talking. Basically sounding interested in any other stuff he might want to whole sale an just how and why they where doing things in general. Basically the dealership owner does not like lawn and garden sales/repairs. I have heard him say things like he would drop lawn and garden if JD would let him. So since he bought this dealership 7-8 years ago they have went from selling around 100 new mowers to maybe 50-60 now. Also the long time small equipment repair fellow retired earlier this year. The other mechanics feel that L&G is beneath them to work on. The service manager feels much the same so he always estimates L&G repairs high to try to avoid doing the repairs. They charge $95 per hour for large equipment and $75 for small equipment. So the shop manager feels his bottom line is getting hit by repairing L&G stuff.
I think that there are several factors involved at the store:
1) The owner's attitude is trickling down to the employees there, at least the sales and service guys.
2) The "HOT" AG Sales market has encouraged this attitude as well.
3) The store has had three managers in the last 7-8 years. So just about when a "new" guy would really be able to see what is going on he leaves for whatever reason. So you have a lot of the inmates running the asylum syndrome going on here as well.
So basically this store does not really want L&G business unless it is pretty painless to do. Like sell new L&G equipment for about list price, while not really caring if you sell it or not. So they ramped up the estimate to keep from having to do a repair and sold a "new" mower. Makes their life easier.
Now for the lady in question. First off time flies. It has been four years since her husband died. It really does not feel that long. She also sold the land off the farm last fall to the fellow that has been farming it. So since she was living in the same place and the same fellow was cropping the farm I thought she still owned it. I talked to my youngest brother. He actually is just a few years older than the widow and her husband. He also lives closer 5 miles verse my 20. My brother says she was able to sell the machinery over time and got pretty good money with the up market we have had. She also did well on the land. So he was pretty sure she is in good shape now not like a few years ago.
So here is what I am going to do. I feel talking to her would not be in her best interests. I do not know for sure why she traded the mower. I do know she was not given much for it but the dealer did not sell it for much either. So the dealer really did not do anything wrong other than not really making a market based deal. If she was taken advantage of what good would it do her to have ME point that out to her??? It would kind of be like rubbing salt into a wound. For all I know she may have been just tired of the old mower and with the sale of the farm finally had the money to splurge on a new mower.
I mowed all afternoon with the mower on my steep hilly yard. The mower is in fine shape. It is a JD 345. They are pretty bullet proof. Good motors and transmissions. In fact I never have heard of one that went bad from anything other than abuse.
As for my feeling on this?? I really just don't know what is the totally right thing to do. Stirring up things for the widow is pretty much out of the question. The dealer is not really guilty of anything other than poor business practices. So I think I will just keep track of what I actually make on this deal. Then I will watch and see if I can donate it to things she or her kids are involved in. My brother's kids are in the same grades as two of hers. So he will kind of let me know what they are involved in.
This is about all I think I can do. The widow would not know me very well at all. I dealt with her husband an Father-in-law and just a few times with them. They where mainly RED. So I really would not be a good person for her to "trust" about this type of thing. A major point for me was that I really thought that a dealership/salesman/mechanic took advantage of a POOR widow. It now appears that none of that was the case or at least not blatantly so. So contrary to what I usually like, a passive approach to this just feels "better" than direct action. Especially since there is no direct action that would seem to benefit her right now.
So I guess I was just an old man jumping to a conclusion without all the facts. Well it does make for some interesting posts/discussions. LOL I will have to look for another windmill to charge!!! LOL
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