Stihl, whats with that 90 day warranty?

[avalancher]

I stopped by the local shop to get some new files, and to drool over the new saws. I am a Husky man, have owned only one Stihl in my life years ago, but this shop carries only Stihl. I have considered for some time a new saw to replace my 372, I need a bigger bar so many times than what the Husky will pull, even with a skip tooth. Picked up the 660, and liked the feel of it. After looking at the chart and noting that it would pull anything that I wanted to carry around I thought, "Hey, why not?"
Salesman said he would make me a deal, 1000 bucks with a 30 inch bar and two chains to go with it. Would even throw in the box of files I had in my hand.
I asked him about service, etc then he dropped the bomb. "Proffesional saws only have a 90 warranty, only the Joe Homeowner lines carry a one year warranty."
What? Can you tell me why? A guy who needs a 30 inch bar is far more likely to know how to take care of his saw, run it only on premix, make sure the case is wiped off before filling with oil, and the other numerous things that I can think of that can trash a new saw. Joe homeowner is far more likely to fill that new saw up with the gas for his lawnmower.
At least Husky gives you a one year warranty under proffesional use, two year if its a homeowner.
Doesnt Stihl have any more consideration for their customers?
By the way, this is not a bash on Stihl, I think they are just as good as a Husky, the warranty thing has just really got me puzzled.

 

[Fastcast]

They're sooooo good, you won't need a warranty....

It stihl leaves a twisted feeling in your gut though, when you're dropping a Tbill....

 

[spike60]

If this was over on the chainsaw forum, there would be 6 pges of arguing by now.

 

[mranum]

If this was over on the chainsaw forum, there would be 6 pges of arguing by now.

OK I'll start........


Geez even ECHO gives a year for pro use, five for homeowner and 90 for rental.



opcorn:

 

[Peacock]

It's only 90 days for professionals. It's 1 yr for any non-pro for any saw.

 

[STEVEGODSEYJR]

I just bought a new 441 mag and my dealer showed me a paper that stihl sent him saying even the pro saws had a one year warranty.

 

[Patrick62]

Kinda related

I had a chat with a local buddy here who informed me that he was told that he has to run his saw on Stihl oil or the warranty is void.

Pardon me fella's, but I over reacted again. Complete nonsense!

When Brian told me that on with the saw I was buying a few years ago I simply informed him that isn't going to happen. Pi55ed me off.

I kind of agree that a "pro" saw is so good that it doesn't need a warranty.
The warranty is there to make the buyer feel better about buying a product that they think might have problems. Many times I have purchased something and did not care if it had a warranty.

Another thing about warranty. What if "they" choose not to honor it?
Numerous reasons.... What you gonna do? How much hassle are you willing to put up with?

-Pat

 

[OilHead]

It's the same way with sony products good stuff but warranty is sort of lame.

 

[ropensaddle]

I had a chat with a local buddy here who informed me that he was told that he has to run his saw on Stihl oil or the warranty is void.

Pardon me fella's, but I over reacted again. Complete nonsense!

When Brian told me that on with the saw I was buying a few years ago I simply informed him that isn't going to happen. Pi55ed me off.

I kind of agree that a "pro" saw is so good that it doesn't need a warranty.
The warranty is there to make the buyer feel better about buying a product that they think might have problems. Many times I have purchased something and did not care if it had a warranty.

Another thing about warranty. What if "they" choose not to honor it?
Numerous reasons.... What you gonna do? How much hassle are you willing to put up with?

-Pat

Depends on how much boot they can take! I have not had problems
with my husky's and I am sure pro stihls would be the same. I agree
that pro use is better on a saw. The hardest thing on saws is not
using them and maintaining them. Most homeowners well I will not
say :censored:

 

[Billy_Bob]

They always give me the warranty card to fill out. It asks what the saw will be used for. I always check "home use".

Sure I use my 460 with 36" bar and square ground full skip chain for trimmin' the trees in the yard a bit....

But as stated, it does not matter. These saws last and last.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

The warranty is 1 year for any of the Stihl saws for personal use - 90 days for a commercial/professional use. A professional woodcutter may be easier on a saw......however the professional may be using the saw 6-8 hours a day compared to the evening and weekend use a homeowner has available to use a saw.

Hour for hour the professional will probably get more hours of saw use under warranty than the homeowner will.

 

[046]

IMHO... Stihl is only covering their @ss

betcha... if in fact there was an actual factory defect... stihl would probably cover it anyways... 90 days or not..

 

[avalancher]

I had a chat with a local buddy here who informed me that he was told that he has to run his saw on Stihl oil or the warranty is void.

Pardon me fella's, but I over reacted again. Complete nonsense!

When Brian told me that on with the saw I was buying a few years ago I simply informed him that isn't going to happen. Pi55ed me off.

I kind of agree that a "pro" saw is so good that it doesn't need a warranty.
The warranty is there to make the buyer feel better about buying a product that they think might have problems. Many times I have purchased something and did not care if it had a warranty.

Another thing about warranty. What if "they" choose not to honor it?
Numerous reasons.... What you gonna do? How much hassle are you willing to put up with?

-Pat

Funny you should mention that Stihl requires the use of Stihl oil in order to use the warranty. I bought my Stihl brushcutter a couple of years back, and within hours the coil went out. I brought it back to the Stihl dealer and when I went to pick it up, he mentioned that they drained the fuel out of it and replaced it with gas mixed with Stihl oil before they sent it out to the repair facility. He said that the repair facility would have refused to fix it under warranty when they discovered non Stihl oil in the gas. He said that they had a couple of repairs come back that were refused because of this, and the break down had nothing to do with gas/oil mix so that is something that they do for their customers. I sure am glad that someone was looking out for the customers, I would have been ticked off if I had to pay for a new coil after an hours use!

 

[avalancher]

The warranty is 1 year for any of the Stihl saws for personal use - 90 days for a commercial/professional use. A professional woodcutter may be easier on a saw......however the professional may be using the saw 6-8 hours a day compared to the evening and weekend use a homeowner has available to use a saw.

Hour for hour the professional will probably get more hours of saw use under warranty than the homeowner will.

One exception to that, the pro saws. no matter who owns them they are covered for only 90 days. Says that at the bottom of each page of the catalog. The 90 day warranty applies to any saw starting with the 440 and anything bigger after that.
It also applies to gas powered cutoff saws, no matter what size.I guess they figure that only a pro would buy a $1000 cut off saw.
It also mentions that the warranty does not cover wearable items, no matter how long it has been run, including chains,bars,sprockets, and clutches.
I think I would be some kind of ticked off if I had to pay for a clutch with less than a years worth of use.

 

[spike60]

Funny you should mention that Stihl requires the use of Stihl oil in order to use the warranty. I bought my Stihl brushcutter a couple of years back, and within hours the coil went out. I brought it back to the Stihl dealer and when I went to pick it up, he mentioned that they drained the fuel out of it and replaced it with gas mixed with Stihl oil before they sent it out to the repair facility. He said that the repair facility would have refused to fix it under warranty when they discovered non Stihl oil in the gas. He said that they had a couple of repairs come back that were refused because of this, and the break down had nothing to do with gas/oil mix so that is something that they do for their customers. I sure am glad that someone was looking out for the customers, I would have been ticked off if I had to pay for a new coil after an hours use!

Hey wait a minute guys. The Stihl "dealer" had to send the saw out to a "repair facility"???? Doesn't Stihl claim that all of their 9000 independents are "servicing dealers"????? Why doesn't this store have service at this location?

 

[ckliff]

Funny you should mention that Stihl requires the use of Stihl oil in order to use the warranty. I bought my Stihl brushcutter a couple of years back, and within hours the coil went out. I brought it back to the Stihl dealer and when I went to pick it up, he mentioned that they drained the fuel out of it and replaced it with gas mixed with Stihl oil before they sent it out to the repair facility. He said that the repair facility would have refused to fix it under warranty when they discovered non Stihl oil in the gas. He said that they had a couple of repairs come back that were refused because of this, and the break down had nothing to do with gas/oil mix so that is something that they do for their customers. I sure am glad that someone was looking out for the customers, I would have been ticked off if I had to pay for a new coil after an hours use!

How in the blazes would they know? Is there a test for oil brand?

 

[Billy_Bob]

Hey wait a minute guys. The Stihl "dealer" had to send the saw out to a "repair facility"???? Doesn't Stihl claim that all of their 9000 independents are "servicing dealers"????? Why doesn't this store have service at this location?

I used to be a dealer service guy (not Stihl - different products). We would do most repairs at the dealer location, but send some repairs to the factory. We would do this because sometimes it was cheaper to have them fix it. Or sometimes they wanted to see a new problem to determine if a part should be designed better or whatever.

 

[04ultra]

Hey wait a minute guys. The Stihl "dealer" had to send the saw out to a "repair facility"???? Doesn't Stihl claim that all of their 9000 independents are "servicing dealers"????? Why doesn't this store have service at this location?

Hmmmmmm......................Wonder if my local UPS or USPS will warranty my Huskys or Jreds .........I'd be pissed if I had bought a saw mail order and had to send it back and pay shipping both ways each time ..........Does my local dealer have to warranty a saw that was bought mail order.???? There are plenty of west coast saws around here..



Huskys warranty is great.........It left me with out a 385 for over 3 months in early 02.........Had to wait for Husky to finally admit they had a problem with the early 385's .............


.

 

[avalancher]

Hey wait a minute guys. The Stihl "dealer" had to send the saw out to a "repair facility"???? Doesn't Stihl claim that all of their 9000 independents are "servicing dealers"????? Why doesn't this store have service at this location?

Good question, but he is a Stihl dealer alright. The store is Newport Hardware in downtown Newport TN, and they dont service a thing.

 

[avalancher]

How in the blazes would they know? Is there a test for oil brand?

I dont know about a test for the oil, but mine was clearly a different color than the Stihl oil. The oil that I have been using (I think it was the Husqvarna brand at the time) made the fuel look brown, and if remember correctly the Stihl brand makes the fuel look green.
The clear tank on the brushcutter was a dead giveaway I guess.