Echo's customer service is pretty bad

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Yes it will be on everything. And it will eventually be faultless. Other than unneeded complexity and loss of user control.

problem is, for those who actually work in the bush far away from saw shops (my crowd) they have been left with a lot of crap to deal with. Lots of no-start saws this past winter...

at least the saws are mostly not blowing up any more. They just won't start is all...pretty sad when you just hiked down into the bottom of a gnarly valley first thing in the morning only to not be able to start your saw. Pretty hard to make money that way. Happens pretty regular...
 
Not really. Echo doesn't sell many says and never has.
Echo is not the pro saw some make it out to be. Decent saws, but mostly not pro. They don't even offer heat. Almost nobody in these parts wants to work with a saw without full heat anymore. Why? Husky and Stihl and previously Dolmar offered heat. Not Echo. Most Canadian sawhands want heat, for one thing.
 
But just to be clear, the pros are eyeballing those Echos over the fence. Cause they just run. Still never see one on a job tho...
The thing that gets me about echo is what they charge their dealers for shipping.i needed a bold and the dealer said part is $2.66. Then he said I am sorry but shipping is $20. That is what we have to pay. Wow! I said I understand and I will get an aftermarket one.
 
The thing that gets me about echo is what they charge their dealers for shipping.i needed a bold and the dealer said part is $2.66. Then he said I am sorry but shipping is $20. That is what we have to pay. Wow! I said I understand and I will get an aftermarket one.
Shipping! It is ridiculous at times. As far as i am concerned it was the straw that broke Baileys back. A long time ago around 2010 Baileys out of California was the place to shop for saws and saw related items. Clothing, chains, pistons, cylinders, misc small parts, common wear items, peavys and everything else under the Chainsaw world sun, they had it. In the beginning shipping was fair and tolerable. Then it got outta hand and i mean badly out of hand, the data breach didnt help either. Still miss that place but like many others i adapted and moved on.
 
Shipping! It is ridiculous at times. As far as i am concerned it was the straw that broke Baileys back. A long time ago around 2010 Baileys out of California was the place to shop for saws and saw related items. Clothing, chains, pistons, cylinders, misc small parts, common wear items, peavys and everything else under the Chainsaw world sun, they had it. In the beginning shipping was fair and tolerable. Then it got outta hand and i mean badly out of hand, the data breach didnt help either. Still miss that place but like many others i adapted and moved on.

I've ordered stuff from there. They aren't in business anymore??
 
Shipping! It is ridiculous at times. As far as i am concerned it was the straw that broke Baileys back. A long time ago around 2010 Baileys out of California was the place to shop for saws and saw related items. Clothing, chains, pistons, cylinders, misc small parts, common wear items, peavys and everything else under the Chainsaw world sun, they had it. In the beginning shipping was fair and tolerable. Then it got outta hand and i mean badly out of hand, the data breach didnt help either. Still miss that place but like many others i adapted and moved on.
Baileys was doing the credit card like it is supposed to be done. Don't charge the card until the item ships. The customer if like me needs a few Husqvarna parts, put in the part numbers add to cart then go and add more stuff to make it to some amount for a shipping pricing policy. Then the stuff shows up in multiple batches and the card is charged multiple times.

If you bought the echo device at the dealer I suppose getting parts there is ok. To get the device on line and then use a dealer for little no real mark up possible parts is kind of unfair. https://www.echopartsonline.com/ This is the place I have been using, generally it isn't real fast but I don't if that is because I order multiples they don't have a way of easily obtaining.
 
The thing that gets me about echo is what they charge their dealers for shipping.i needed a bold and the dealer said part is $2.66. Then he said I am sorry but shipping is $20. That is what we have to pay. Wow! I said I understand and I will get an aftermarket one.
All manufacturers charge for shipping-husky, Stihl, Briggs. How much do you think they make on a $2.66 part to offer free shipping!
(Although some will have free freight limits.(order $500 in parts = free freight) order 20 serialized units =free freight on units and parts on that order)
order 1 part (most if not all have minimum orders of $50) charged base freight maybe $20.
order under that $500 still charged same base freight $20 but freight cost could work out to $1 per part when averaged out.
how it is transferred to end user (you)can vary
I know some dealers will charge a fee on ever part order like mentioned $20. Even if they order above that free freight mark. Thus turning Shipping fees into a profit centre.
or if you needed that part rush and no other parts to order- then dealer may say I can order, but you have to pay freight
 
Most companies have product coming in through their regular scheduled orders. Weekly or so. One-off orders aquired through the regular shipment are generally free, in my experience. The local Husky dealer tried that 20.00 shipping on a 10.00 part with me after the fact on a special order part shipped through their regular schedule. I just said no. He retracted immediately.

gouging
 
Baileys was doing the credit card like it is supposed to be done. Don't charge the card until the item ships. The customer if like me needs a few Husqvarna parts, put in the part numbers add to cart then go and add more stuff to make it to some amount for a shipping pricing policy. Then the stuff shows up in multiple batches and the card is charged multiple times.

If you bought the echo device at the dealer I suppose getting parts there is ok. To get the device on line and then use a dealer for little no real mark up possible parts is kind of unfair. https://www.echopartsonline.com/ This is the place I have been using, generally it isn't real fast but I don't if that is because I order multiples they don't have a way of easily obtaining.
I refused to buy my echo from a box store. I like small local businesses for spending m money. Seems they sell more tractors than saws. I am finding they do not stock much at all. Still like them though. I did end up getting my parts from the site you suggest. Price was good. I bought some extra parts as it seemed shipping did not go up when I added them to the cart
 
The plot thickens: I find a parts listing on jackssmallengines.com site. There are 4 groups of s/n's. Most have the same major components but mine, C69215001001 -- C69215999999 calls out Walbro HDA 268 carb, diff air filter/case and did call out the side plate with the captured nuts. Funny thing is there is a thread on this site back in 2016 where a guy called out the HDA 316 carb spec. That was 4 years before my saw was even built. Wondering if this saw was cobbled together after having parts "borrowed" or something strange. Got to get to the dealer and see what's up.
 
The plot thickens: I find a parts listing on jackssmallengines.com site. There are 4 groups of s/n's. Most have the same major components but mine, C69215001001 -- C69215999999 calls out Walbro HDA 268 carb, diff air filter/case and did call out the side plate with the captured nuts. Funny thing is there is a thread on this site back in 2016 where a guy called out the HDA 316 carb spec. That was 4 years before my saw was even built. Wondering if this saw was cobbled together after having parts "borrowed" or something strange. Got to get to the dealer and see what's up.
All companies change carbs from time to time. I don't understand why this would get you worked up. Of course lack of captive bar nuts sent you into a tail spin as well.
 
All companies change carbs from time to time. I don't understand why this would get you worked up. Of course lack of captive bar nuts sent you into a tail spin as well.
Expectation is the Father of Disappointment. Sadly, you expected something and got something else. I fully understand your disappointment. I've never had captive bar nuts and don't miss them. I do carry a magnet in my tool box and a couple extra bar nuts.. WHEN I remove my side plate. I lay the magnet right down there and place the bar nuts on it. I've not lost a bar nut in years. Once long ago, I had a saw that once in a while would vibrate a bar nut loose. To cure that I drilled a short piece of thin metal and slipped it over the bar studs as soon as the side plate was slid on. Then the bar nuts were tightened and the ends of that strip of metal was bent up enough to keep the nuts on. Yet, I was able to set it so the nuts could be loosened enough to tighten the chain. Eventually I designed something that allowed a small piece of wire to go through it and capture the nuts. I guess I should have patented that thing. LOL.
 
If you haven’t used it, ask to return it. You’re unhappy with the product and that will taint the fun you have when using it. Pick up an ms261 with adjustable carb if you know how to tune one, mtronic if not. Very similar price and punches above its weight.
 
I work in a dealership of another sort and we frequently borrow parts from an unsold unit to make an existing customer happy. I hate doing it, but that's how it goes.
Sometimes it's because the customer comes in with a broken part and the original is back-ordered, so we borrow a part off of an unsold unit to take care of the customer. In other cases, the manufacturers themselves might substitute a part if they run out of the "correct" one (or maybe they are using up old stock). It sounds shady but in most cases it's right there in the fine print of the item description. The vast majority of customers would never notice and for the guy who does, we borrow from an unsold unit and kick the can down the road.
To get the donor back in sell-able condition I might have to source a substitute that isn't strictly correct, but I would never install an inferior part without marking the unit down.
 
To the OP, I suggest you download the parts diagram for your s/n range from Echos website and compare p/n's with what your saw has. Look for any mention of substitute p/n's. If your saw is wrong, I would take it back to where you bought it. If it were me, having been on the other side of the counter, I would just be very friendly and reasonable about it, but I wouldn't take no for an answer. Tell them you would like to exchange it for one that is correct and if that's not possible, a refund would be adequate.
I hate to say this but you would have absolutely no trouble making the return or exchange if you bought it at Home Depot. Sometimes the mom and pop types cop a take it or leave it attitude. There is a saw/equipment dealer near me who gets 1 star out of hundreds of reviews online because the guy behind the counter is always combative when customers have a problem.

Oh, and as for product support straight from the manufacturer, my biggest supplier would have given you a very similar answer (in very polite terms), then they would have told you to call me and I would make it right. At my expense, of course.
 

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