Stihl Dealers

[Steve@Advance]

I have always been under the impression that to be a Stihl dealer, you had to have a service department.

Today I was in Northern Tool. They had a section of Stihl products.

Certainly no service department there...

Has something changed?

 

[D beatty]

Not all Stihl dealers are servicing dealers. They have a list of dealers and what services they do. I think that almost all your companies are like that.

 

[Kansas4010]

There's an Ace Hardware near here that's been a Stihl dealer for a couple years now. They definitely don't have a service department.

 

[jm.]

Yes for years they said no box stores and no one without a service dept but all that went away about 3 years ago. They caved in and sold Rural King a big order and opened the door for ever other box store.

 

[Stephen Newell]

Might as well. There are two dealers near me with service that you can't get service. Neither has the mechanical ability to blow the dirt off.

 

[tractorguy2]

There is no incentive anymore to be a servicing dealer. The servicing dealer has to do the warrenty work for all the big box stores and discount stores that don't have a service dept. You don't make a dime doing warrenty work. What they charge to work on a weed trimmer or leaf blower you are better off just buying new. This spring I bought a Stihl trimmer from a serving dealer for $179.99. If they charge $50 an hr. Spend two hours and a $30 part. Your looking at $130 plus tax.

 

[D beatty]

If you bought a new one this spring you wouldn't pay a dime it would be under warranty.

 

[M-MAN]

Yes it has changed. If you still have a local dealer use them. Price is the same. Stihl is like Milwaukee, the company sets the price and dealers can't lower it.

 

[Russ from MN]

Our local L&M sells Stihl, Jonsered, and Husqvarna, and has a very good service department, and they do have sales!

 

[Oliver 500 Wa]

Certainly has changed.

Within 20 or so miles of my place are at least 15 Stihl dealers the nearest, just 2 miles away. Some have no service and little product knowledge. Some claim to have service, but based on what I see that is pretty much limited to sharpening chains and maybe swapping a plug or similar. Only one is a true sales and servicing dealer and sadly it is the one that is 20 miles away.

Go there and you usually have to ring the bell on the counter. Someone will come out from the shop out back wiping their hands on a rag and smelling of pre-mix. Tell them what you are looking for and 99.9% they will walk back to the shop area a come back a couple minutes later with whatever it was you asked for. No looking at a computer for a parts number, they know their stuff.

Needless to say, when ever I'm in need of anything for small gas powered tools, I'm making a drive.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

(quoted from post at 22:12:10 06/02/19) If you bought a new one this spring you wouldn't pay a dime it would be under warranty.

Stihl has no warranty for all gas-powered equipment if the problem is "fuel system related". I had to pay to get my $800 brush cutter fixed when it was less than a year old because the dealer thought it might be "bad gas" even though I was using non-ox and Stihl's own brand oil with fuel stabolizer. Of coruse they also replaced hoses and filters so we'll never know if that was really the problem. Stihl's warranty is basically toilet paper.

Replaced a Stihl carb last year on a leaf blower. Original carb was stamped "Made in China" on the bottom. Pretty much says it all. Stihl is Chinese parts in a German costume hiding behind an "assembled in USA" label.

A Stihl isn't worth a dime move than any of the other power equipment brands out there.

Grouse

 

[Oliver 500 Wa]

Stihl has no warranty for all gas-powered equipment if the problem is "fuel system related". I had to pay to get my $800 brush cutter fixed when it was less than a year old because the dealer thought it might be "bad gas" even though I was using non-ox and Stihl's own brand oil with fuel stabolizer. .......

You just need a better dealer.

The place I use would not question the fuel you describe for a moment. Now if you brought in with a bunch of obviously old "stale" gas then I can see them saying no coverage.

 

[T.R.K.]

The local Ace Hardware has Stihl, but no repair department as well.

There was Echo equipment at Home depot for a while, too.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Surprised your Northern Tool has no service department. The one near me has a service department for small engines with several mechanics working. In some areas Northern Tool even has mobile service trucks which will come to you.

 

[The Famous Grouse]

You just need a better dealer.

The place I use would not question the fuel you describe for a moment. Now if you brought in with a bunch of obviously old "stale" gas then I can see them saying no coverage.

As I told the dealer, I was running a whole bunch of saws and cutters off of the same can of gas, so why didn't the Husky saws break down when fed this "bad fuel"?

Unsurprisingly, when I asked what test they used to determine the fuel was "bad" they said it "smelled bad". Uh huh. The ol sniff test.

Legendary Stihl quality my buttski. Stihl = Chinese junk coasting on reputation. Dealers don't want to fix anything because it's not worth fixing, they just want to sell new.

I have always thought since it was new that my Stihl blower ran poorly and was hard to start. The dealer has "fixed" it under warranty back when Stihl had a warranty, but it was only a marginal improvement.

Last year I gave up and bought a $9.99 Chinese replacement carb off of eBay.

Installed the carb and the blower runs better than it EVER did. Of course in the process I discovered the "original" carb was also stamped "Made in China" on the bottom.

Grouse

 

[BAnNC]

Northern Tool near us has a great service department but you would never hear about it unless you ask. Had a reoccurring issue with a motor/clutch that had to be taken back twice. Second time they just ordered a new clutch. Got it back within a week or two. Never had a problem with that the rest of the time we had the tool.

 

[Russ from MN]

We bought a new Stihl blower 2 years ago, one reason was the expected life on the sticker was more than twice the competitors. When reading the owners manual I noticed there were instructions how to adjust the carb. Today I was using it and it seemed a little rich so I got out my jackknife with the screwdriver and leaned out the high speed just a little, sounded a lot better! Just like I adjusted carburetors 50 years ago! Why the switch from the tamper proof adjusters back to easy owner adjustments?

 

[D beatty]

You must have some bad dealers because I have 4 stihl saws and weed eater and have
had fuel system problems and dealer repaired and no charge to me.

 

[D beatty]

Depends on how much business the store does. We have a number of ACE hardware stores that service Stihl.The ACE stores around here sell Stihl, Toro, Craftsman ,and other brands making them big enough to make it worth their time to have a service department.

 

[Winchester1]

Stihl made a big box store, Rural King a dealer a couple of years ago. They have a very limited service dept. Less than 2 miles away we have a long time Stihl dealer that treats everybody right. The issue seems to be the long time dealer is only open 8-5 and Sat. A.M.
Most customers only buy from the big box store once.