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Questionable Dealer Practices


paulfreda

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I visited the Simplicity dealer in Grand Rapids, MI this past weekend to purchase a deck drive belt, oil filter and hydro oil for my 716H. I brought along the part numbers to make it easy for all. To my surprise the oil filter offered me was a PH228 automotive filter with no packaging. I questioned as to it being a 25 micron element. At first he said yes then when I pressed further he said he didn't know but it was as good as the OEM filter, he said he bought them in bulk from Simplicity. His asking price was $9 & change. He said it was a savings from the OEM filter which sold for more than $17.00 Since I know the list price for a 1650954 filter is $10.20 I decided to chance asking about the 163011 belt... He quoted $31.00 & change. (mmmmmm. List is about $23.00) When I asked the price on the 2 quarts of hydraulic oil... his answer was $6.95 each. ( list is $2.50) I didn't buy anything and left. This leads me to a few questions for other A.C. & Simplicity owners: #1 Do any of you find "will fit" aftermarket parts and price gouging at Simplicity dealers? #2. Does Simplicity offer parts via mail order at list price plus shipping? #3. Should we as "customers" inform Simplicity Mfg. when a dealer conducts business as mentioned above? I'd be interested in hearing from you concerning these issues. Regards to all. PAUL.
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Paul,Where does one begin ? Barnum said it best "There's a sucker born every minute"...I have been out of the small engine business for about 8 years now I have worked for several different companies over the past 20 years and the price on parts is ludicrous.....when I worked for a Sim...dealer the price for a 4"od x 1"id "Drive" pulley was $42.00 ??? I bought one at the local bearing house for $8.00 dollars....for my Landlord....
All shops have expensive parts .....this is how they pay their help and so on.....You will need to shop around and find a dealer with better price quotes ....around here it's a given that most B&S dealers will charge you 40% above their cost, some go as high as 50% to 60% ......as for belts I have only just found this site (which is excellent I may add)and most people find that OEM belts work best for them ,I on the other hand have found that "Power Tranmission Belts"
work just fine on my Landlord ....but try to put an "Automotive belt" on the unit and it will eat it up in minutes....and remember an auto parts place will sell you any belt that is close to your belt ,after all thats what they do... sell parts and nobody "warranties" belts.....
As for oils ALL oil manufactures have to maintain certain specs to sell their product, motor oil is SAE certified to meet it's specific requirments ,I don't want to get to long winded here ,so you paying for the convience of QUART containers ,and packaging you could buy the oil in 5 gallon buckets ,but most home owners don't want a 5 gal. bucket hanging aound the house....
and while we are on oils I saw a guy buy a 6 pack of 2 cycle oil the other day ,he paid 8 bucks for 6 8oz bottles thats 48oz of oil /8 =$1.33 a can ...??? I can buy a quart of good quality oil for 2 bucks ....he's paying for the small can and ease of use .....
I,m sure that the people that are on this site can recommend good quality service centers in your area and a few might know some after market parts that will work in place of the OEM parts this site also list dealers near you....Sim .is not as big a name up here in Vt as it used to be JD is popular along with MTD MURRAY and Honda and so forth .....
Anyhow you are smart to shop around and get your best prices......good luck Jim L
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Jim, I highly recommend Jeff Nemes as a dealer who is honorable as well as knowledgable on all Sim. parts/prices!Also his site ,Used Mower Network is how I first stumbled upon this site.A must see![ok Jeff you can pay me now!!] dlc
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Jim L. thanks for the feedback. I've been in the H.D. truck parts business for many years. Selling to the end user as well as selling to the H.D. truck O.E.M.'s.If I tried to sell my end user customers parts as an "Authorized Distributor" that were priced more than the mfg.'s list price, and someone turned me in... I would be getting a call from the State Attorney Generals Office ie: "illegal price gouging" not to mention the great possibility of losing the "Authorized Distributor" status from the Mfg. What concerns me the most is the dealer offering a "will fit" filter for use on the hydrostatic unit. On newer machines entrusted to his care, warranty is an issue that Simplicity cannot ignore. If the failure of the hydrostatic unit was caused by a sub-standard oil filter. Only the dealer knows the truth, the customer is greatly inconvenienced and Simplicity is stuck with the bill. For those of us with older machines... we are cheated, inconvenienced and stuck with the bill. Regards.
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