Please Boycott Dolmar OPE

[rahtreelimbs]

Oh but I like my PS 5100 and 7900 they are so fast, who f@ckin' cares.

All saws get through a log the same way. It does not matter to me if its .134secs faster. What matters to me is a good dealer along with good company reps.

I had a little problem with a Stihl rep. a few years ago and will NEVER patronize Stihl again. Now that Dolmar has shafted you, Tony, I will never buy a Dolmar. If this is how they treat their "employees" which is a direct reflection on how they run a business, then image what some of their products must be or are going to be. I question the future and the management of Dolmar, without dealer backing Dolmar might just as well be a Poulan.

This is all too true wiuth Husky too!

Steve, does Dobosh still sell Husky?

I know of one Husky dealer that was told "you're done".

This is all to familar!!!:bang: :bang: :bang:

 

[ShoerFast]

To hear Dolmar tell it, it was a cool bike!

Sorry to hear that they did you wrong!

About 25 years ago, I bought in to a Stihl Dealership. Sthil was fantastic!

I had no clue except for a good mechanical aptitude, and they did everything they could to help out,,,,,, I had once told them how crazy my Friday afternoon were, and they (Minnesota Stihl, in Brainard) would call Fridays at parts cut off time, just to ask if my hair was on fire? and if I needed anything!

If I was a little short on there minimum stock order for free delivery, they went as far as checking there stock for a couple saw that would look better on my shelves, gave me a free 30 days and shipped them!

In all, I would say that Sthil bent over backwards to help me make it go!

Life lead me a different path, but I look back fondly of my Stihl days!

Kevin

 

[THALL10326]

After nearly two years of pouring my heart and soul into re-establishing the Dolmar name in my local area, and establishing a steadily growing business with a growing number of loyal customers, working almost for free in the attempt to create something from nothing, Central Power Systems and Dolmar have pulled my dealership. That is the thanks I get for doing a great amount of advertising at my expense and with my time. I am asking everyone who is willing, to boycott everything Dolmar. If this is the way that IDN and Dolmar want to do business, then I want no part of it anyway, and I want everyone to know the lack of integrity that they are displaying. I now have to turn to the many customers who have bought saws from me and expected me to be able to supply parts and warranty work, and say sorrry, I can no longer offer those services.

On top of that, I was never informed of the decision, until I was attempting to place an order for saws and parts that I have already promised people.

Dolmar and their distributors are the only ones who have benefitted from my hard work, and I made that sacrafice willingly to grow a business in hopes of future returns. Now all I have sacraficed for has come to naught.

Thank you to all you guys on Arboristsite that have done business with me over the last year or so. The shop will now be closing.

Man thats sounds like a raw deal for sure, especailly the way you found out, thats totally uncalled for. I know little about Dolmar but I can tell ya something I heard first hand about them. I was recently sent to a Briggs&Stratton school in North Carolina at a outfit call Preferred Power, a huge distributor for Briggs&Stratton. The teacher told us that Preferred Power was taking on the Dolmar line because the Dolmar dealer network was near dead in the USA. According to him they, Preferred Power, being one of Briggs&Strattons largest distributors in the country, could do something with Dolmar that Dolmar couldn't, makem sell. From what I could gather Dolmar makes a pretty good saw but they have never been able to market them very well in the USA. Preferred Power is going to market them themselves. I've never fancied any manufacture selling its products any which way it can. Preferred Power had over 5 million dollars worth of inventory in that building so that may explain why Dolmar is allowing them to take the reins on thier products and shutting down the small dealers. Don't seem right but when big money is involved we know who is going to win and who is going to lose. Husky, from what I've been told, is having alot of trouble with thier old time dearlers for moving in to Lowe's and Sears with some of their lower priced products. Alot of dealers have sent them packing because of that move. Seems Stihl is about the saw company left that is totally loyal to its dealer network. If I'm not mistaken Central Power is part of the huge Briggs&Stratton network which would mean Preferred Power and Central Power both are taking the Dolmar and marketing it the way they want at the approval of Dolmar. You problem has arisen because of that direct relationship of Dolmar and the big network that are taking on their line. The network is calling all the shots and being allowed to by Dolmar. Once again its just a matter of money, big money. The small dealer can't compete with the big network of distributors who buy millions worth of product at a time and are marketing them on their own. It's a bum deal for you but Dolmar isn't in the position to do anything about it because they have handed over their product to big money and gave up control to get that big money........

 

[Javelin]

Tony

Here in my state if you are current on account and do not have a problem with paying bills or floor planning they cannot just drop you without buying back all product at full list +10%. I would definetly talk to a lawyer about it! I am dealing with one now because of a dirty yazoo/kees distributor and they are going to be sorry when I get done. Bye the way contact Makita same saw in some casses better priced! I carry both just to keep each other honest!

 

[slipknot]

Efco makes a good saw. I'm sure they would play with you.

Good Luck man,

Fred

I agree Efco makes one hell of a saw!!! Cub cadet commercial saws are discontinued I heard then there is the deere saws. My question is...why isn't there any "real mccoy" EFCO dealers around? I can't find one in ohio! I need parts damnit!
efco dealer efco dealer efco dealer efco dealer efco dealer we need one here in central ohio!

 

[Freakingstang]

Tony, sorry to hear. I just sent you a PM before reading this. Man that sucks. Did you make any calls up the ladder to find out WTF happened? While I agree with others, The dealer service is what makes it. A nice product helps, but not without dealer service/product/knowledge/etc. I would definately find out something and call a lawyer.


Steve

 

[slipknot]

:censored: Dolmar!!!!!

:censored: Stihl Too!!!!!

I quoted this so people could see it again after they just read it earlier in the thread! :fart:

 

[Dadatwins]

Tony, I am sorry to hear of this also, the few parts that I purchased from you for my one and only dolmar saw a ps-401 were delivered quickly and at a reasonable $$. I will miss the service. This blow combined with the family stuff has to $uck big time, but stay focused on what is important, things happen for a reason, hard for us to see it sometimes, but they do.
Good luck.

 

[Javelin]

Tony

Make sure you send the dist. a certified letter requesting the reasoning behind this decision and also asking why you were never notified. This is very important in case you do have to take legal action.

 

[Allan.K]

I feel for you.. I been there with Jonsered.. I was a dealer in the late 90's ..I was a dealer for 4 years and then they pulled my dealership for no reason. I asked the main office asked Y and they said I was not moving that many saws..I was selling about 15 a year (saws)..Later that month I found out that my sales rep opened up a new saw shop for a guy and pulled my dealership just becouse he ordered everything that said Jonsered and ordered more parts and he was in a much bigger town ..Also in one year the new dealer sold out and dropped Jonsered,becouse of the sales rep was a major azz...Now he sells Echo and he likes them...Lets put this way now all the county crews and state crews run all Stihl's....No more Jonsereds.. I asked what happened to them they said they junked them all and called them POS's..But I will never ever work on a Jonsered or sell one..Like I said I really feel for you Tony..It sucks ....

Allan.K

 

[Javelin]

Also send one to Dolmar and let them now what is going on and request a response to the matter.

 

[spacemule]

This makes absolutely no sense. The number one complaint of Dolmar has been the lack of dealers. What gives?

 

[Marco]

I have a total of 6 Dolmars in stock. I sold WHOPPING 5 saws since the distributor shakedown. I am with Magneto power out here and my territory man was out here 2 weeks ago to set up my online order thing with the Mag. So they are working with me and even sounded concerned about my thaughts about how close their next dealer was going to be to me. Well their next dealer is over 100 miles away so I ain't worried yet. ARE YOU SURE THAT SHIPPING SAWS ALL OVER DIDN'T BREAK SOME PART OF YOUR DEALER CONTRACT?

 

[Javelin]

The only shipping thing they told me was a no no was ebay. Which I agree with.

 

[Jackman61]

Tony M,

Sorry to hear about your situation. Consider the Dolmar embargo "ON"!!

Rahtreelimbs,

Dobosh may still sell Husky, but I'll never darken their door again. Worthless.

It pains me to hear of a dedicated dealer getting the hook, knowing that folks like Dobosh continue on. From reading Tony M's posts, I could tell he had his heart in this venture, and his customers would be the one's getting the benefit. Seems like Dolmar made a big blunder, they will never capitalize on Tony's commitment, for lack of their own.

Best of luck to you Tony M, please keep AS and the membership thereof in the loop as to your future ventures. I'll throw whatever support/patronage I can behind you, small as it may be. Post your contact info.

 

[skwerl]

Jackman, Tony's contact info is in his signature.

 

[TonyM]

At one time I listed a new PS540 on ebay, one I had around from when I bought from L.W. Meyer and son. I was notified by Terry Green that it was in violation of the dealer agreement, a dealer agreement I had never even seen, and I pulled the auction immediately. I did , however, sell a used PS540 on ebay recently. It was one I bought and paid for out of my own pocket to use as a demo saw and to test run myself. It was my own personal saw, and I sold it on ebay. Originally I offered to honor the factory warranty, but Terry didn't like that, so I changed the wording in the add saying I would honor the warranty at my expense.

I have not made enough profit in the time I have been a dealer to even consider hiring a lawyer. I make better money doing service, sharpening chains, and selling GB then I ever did with Dolmar anyway. I will probably just stick to that for a while. At one time I thought about picking up Solo, and maybe I will look back into that. Firewood is selling sky high, and I make good money at that too, so I guess I have more time to cut wood now!

 

[TonyM]

The reasons I was given was my location (I am in a rural area), my hours (evenings and Saturday), and the size of my shop (very small). Hmm, seems to me that most wood is cut in a rural area! Most of my customers love my hours, because they are all working folk and the evenings work well for them, and as for the size of the shop, I'm glad I didn't make any big investments in a commercial building. As it is, I'm not out much. And I was not about to spend thousands of dollars on a building just to go broke. A business can only sustain growth at about 20-30% without growing to fast, and there has to be a profit to grow in the first place. My goal was to keep my overhead as low as possible and grow at a slow and steady pace so that I can focus on providing competitive prices and prompt and high quality service to the customer, not spend my time worrying about how to pay for a building. I did not have the luxury of slipping the Dolmar line into an already profitable retail sales store. I started from ground zero, and learned as I went. I lost money the first year, but made a profit the second year. That's a major accomplishment in my eyes.

I was just starting to get established with one of the biggest loggers in the area. He buys saws 10 at a time, and I sold him a PS7900 to put through the paces. He was waiting to see how the saw held up over time before buying more. He used to use exclusively Dolmar years ago, but then had bad experiences when Sachs-Dolmar first came out with the PS9000. He switched to Husqvarna after that. Here I was trying to win him back over to Dolmar, and succeeding I believe. Not only winning him, but all the people he comes in contact with, as he brought me a lot of other business. I wonder what he'll think when I tell him I am no longer a dealer. Husqvarna will get that business!

 

[davefr]

This seems totally idiotic. Dolmar needs as much dealer breadth as possible. Now is not the time for them the be thinning dealers.

Dolmar seems to be good at doing everything wrong from a marketing standpoint.

 

[computeruser]

It would seem to me that the Dolmar distribution folks have things completely backwards - there is NO good reason to terminate a distributorship before there is someone else in the area to pick up the business, right? There is, supposedly, another Dolmar dealer in the area but I have never seen a single Dolmar saw on their sales floor. Out of curiosity I once asked about their turnaround times on ordering Dolmar parts and they made it clear that they are unwilling to order parts in a timely fashion; they instead prefer to try to sell Dolmar customers such as myself a new Stihl or Husqvarna product. I don't get that.

The fact is that I drove by a number of other chainsaw places on my hour-each-way trip to Tony's shop. This was not by accident. And now I don't have that option. Which leaves people like me in a bad position - we have to either try to deal with the other Dolmar "dealers" in the area or pick up a different brand of product.

Granted I am no bigtime commercial user - most of my cutting is for my own benefit or the benefit of family and friends; for nonprofit cemeteries and nature preserves that I'm involved with; and only occasionally for profit. Even still, I really don't have any interest in dealing with the lawnmower shops that stock saws as an incidental portion of their business - too many unspiring experiences and even more really irritating experiences with these folks. Can you believe that a "chainsaw" shop that sells Stihl and Echo would not stock ANY bars for any Echo saw, and that the only way to get a bar from them would be to order one for me and it would take two weeks to arrive? Never once did they even think or offer to pull a bar off of one of their display saws, and when I asked if they would do that they said that "this is the sales department, not the parts department." They even refused my offer to pay twice the going rate for the bar so I could have it right that moment. Or that another shop would not have ANY HU mount bars in stock, in any length or gauge?! These places sure are helpful when something goes down in the middle of a job, right? Now, I've learned my lesson and am stocking more of my own parts and spares, but this is expensive for a nearly-non-profit cutter such as myself, especially when I'm running six different saws. But really, why should I have to do this - that's what stores are for, isn't it? Sadly, though, these are the sort of folks that I'm now left to deal with...which is a problem, because they are both major chains of OPE dealers in the communities where I live and cut, and there are very few independents left and most of these guys have terrible hours, often closing by 5pm on weekdays and not opening at all on weekends.

Anyway, I went on a bit of a tangent, I know, but think that Tony's situation really evidences some failures on the part of the Dolmar distributors to thoroughly think through their actions from the perspective of the buyers and end users of their products.