Nice to see Ariens taking ownership of the issue. This go's a long way to restoring my faith and trust with the Ariens brand.

 

Excellent!!!
Makes me feel much better about Ariens.
Sorry you had to go through so much, but thanks a lot for keeping everyone informed about the bad, and the good responses. Very helpful and informative.

 

I am happy to hear that you found the right person, jenebo. I was with you all the way (this last 30 minutes, anyway) it took me to read through the thread.

While I understand completely where most previous posters are coming from, one idea in particular stood out to me, and made me feel the need to comment.

I'm curious where one would get the idea that an unhappy customer or two could not affect change in corporate policy? If you believe this, it's because you have never been anywhere near the top of a big corporation. I've never been in a high-level position, but I spent a lot of time in the Army, working with everyone from the lowest Private to the 1- or 2-star Generals. When a Captain, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, or General get a complaint in their box from ANYONE, you can bet your bottom dollar it is addressed. If it matters, and can make a leader or an institution look bad, something WILL be changed. Why does this matter in the context of this issue? Because, since the advent of open journalism in the US Military, they've become a corporation with public relations concerns. Being an all-volunteer force, they need to maintain a certain image with the public.

This is the same with OEM companies/corporations. If you get to the right person/people, you WILL affect change if there is any merit to your concern. It's one of two things for this not to happen: Either you're rich enough, and you don't want additional customers, or you're going to drive your name into the dirt, because sure as heck if it happened to one customer, it will happen to another. And another.

I worked for Boss Snowplow many years ago, helping out with the R&D department. Everything we were concerned with was customer-driven. Yes, there were advancements we were testing, but they were things customers had suggested/inquired about/complained were not good enough. There's a reason Boss is still considered one of the best snowplow makers in the business, and it's not because they ignore their customers. Yes, as with all companies, I'm sure you can find some people with bad experiences that weren't resolved to their satisfaction, but I will venture a guess that they either 1. Didn't follow up the way jenebo did, or I would, or 2. They had a self-inflicted issue or a true non-issue.

Please, know that I mean no offense to anyone, but I really do not like to see people advised to let it go because they can't change anything. If your business will not allow one customer to change a faulty policy, you may do good business, but you will never do great business. Again, faulty policy. I would fully expect what jenebo received at the end of his quest with Ariens, or I would not do business with them again; I see many here as well as most people I know are the same.

 

I agree, great job jenebo. I'm glad that you took it up the cooperate ladder until you were satisfied. You were in the right, you knew it, and most of us knew it too.

Think of it this way, we would all still have an English accent if we took the advice of some and just sit by and not fight for what we believe is right. It's what makes us American.

 

If it were me I would have brought the darn thing back to HD and gotten my money back (Though I would not have bought it there in the first place), let them deal with it.

You see I learned a long time ago that I can't have something brake down in the work that we do. I need my tools and equipment to work when I need them. It is too much of a hassle to deal with equipment to buy from a place that does not service it. We buy our power equipment from the same dealer. Whether its a circular saw, chainsaw, leaf blower or snow blower. They know we buy there, they treat us right, they fix our stuff (sometimes on the spot) and sometimes we get a super deal.

It is a good feeling to know when something needs to be fixed that you can bring it to "your guy" and he will take care of you. It is all about relationships. You can save your $50-100 dollars on a piece of equipment, if it does not work and you can't get good service how much grief and aggravation has it cost you!!! Crazy to buy stuff like that at Home Depot, it will come back to haunt you, maybe not this time but for sure down the road with something else if you get in the habit of bottom dollar buying.

 

If it were me I would have brought the darn thing back to HD and gotten my money back (Though I would not have bought it there in the first place), let them deal with it.

You see I learned a long time ago that I can't have something brake down in the work that we do. I need my tools and equipment to work when I need them. It is too much of a hassle to deal with equipment to buy from a place that does not service it. We buy our power equipment from the same dealer. Whether its a circular saw, chainsaw, leaf blower or snow blower. They know we buy there, they treat us right, they fix our stuff (sometimes on the spot) and sometimes we get a super deal.

It is a good feeling to know when something needs to be fixed that you can bring it to "your guy" and he will take care of you. It is all about relationships. You can save your $50-100 dollars on a piece of equipment, if it does not work and you can't get good service how much grief and aggravation has it cost you!!! Crazy to buy stuff like that at Home Depot, it will come back to haunt you, maybe not this time but for sure down the road with something else if you get in the habit of bottom dollar buying.

I buy from dealers whenever possible for the reasons you stated.
But there are times when you need something and only HD has it, or dealers are over charging due to high demand and lack of supply. Or dealers are too far away from where you live. When that happens you should still be able to have any warranty work performed by an authorized dealer per your warranty contract without being charged extra for the work, or given any sort of hassle. That will help the customer, and help to establish a good relationship that is likely to bring that customer back to the dealer. Both benefit from that sort of relationship.
JMO.

 

I'm glad to see that Ariens stepped up to the plate and agreed to make this right. I kind of figured they would all along. I wonder how successful Jenebo's quest would have been, if his blower had been built on the other side of the world. Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?

 

I received a check the other day for the reimbursement of the fee I incurred. Along with the check, I received a letter that thought I would like to pass along an excerpt:

"I appreciate you bringing this to our attention and assure you we will look to rectify this type of dealer behavior in the future. This type of fee by a dealer does not any way represent the culture or Core Values of the Ariens Company."

If anyone else runs into a fee like I ran into, please PM me and I will pass along the representative's contact information that took care of my situation.

Jay

 

Resurrecting this thread with an update as I heard more about the local dealer that I dealt with this last winter. My buddies neighbor was looking at an Ariens and he told his neighbor of my story. He went to this local dealer looked and asked about their service on machines not from them. Now the local dealer WILL NOT even work on machines not purchased from them even with a "registration" fee. It's too bad as this dealer sells some nice brand lawn and garden equipment that I would choose to buy. Not giving them my business though.

 

That's sad, that they have taken this position.

 

If they have so much work that they can't handle, I'd think servicing the machines they sold as a priority would be reasonable. If they've got service guys cleaning windows in the store because the don't have enough work, that's a different story.

 

Moral of the story, dont buy a blower from Home Depot.

I just bought a new Ariens blower from the local small engine shop, also bought a Ariens mower from them 5 years ago, buy replacement parts from them and have had my old Craftsman blower serviced there. I paid the same $ for my blower as HD charges, and HD could give a Rats Behind about servicing it, so why buy from a big box store???

What sucks is they have so many people using their repair service, they are always backlogged, currently at 3 weeks.

So I can see some of these shops giving customers who actually bought equipment from them priority.

 

Sorry for your troubles but I get your logic especially if you don't own a truck to lug the beast around. But, I have a further warning...My Ariens has a simple flat tire and finding 15" common size replacement tires is nearly a no-go. You can get close but in the end you'll end up buying an expensive OEM tire rim assembly. I am a product developer and I know a marketing strategy when I see it. Ariens obviously spent deep thought into forcing its customers have buy OEM parts and service from Ariens. As a common piece simple of yard equipment, naughty naughty. I've been very frustrated for a couple days now and now taking a risk by using a 13" tiller tire assembly instead of the OEM 15" tire. They should have designed it with common studded hubs as tractor or car to allow customer upgrades.