LEMONS!

[zman007007]

Meanwhile back at the ranch. LOL I found nothing wrong with Pintos as long as you had two of them, like I did. One to drive while the other one was being repaired, and vise versa. LOL zman :thumbsup:

 

[mjncad]

Meanwhile back at the ranch. LOL I found nothing wrong with Pintos as long as you had two of them, like I did. One to drive while the other one was being repaired, and vise versa. LOL zman :thumbsup:

A division director at my last employer does the same thing, only his fleet consists of mid 80's Cadillac Fleetwoods.

 

[WillysWoodPile]

You know what I mean. You bought a brand new tractor and you had nothing but problems from the moment you got it. Who's got the best (or is that the worst) lemon story? Manufacturer & model, what went wrong, what happened to fix it or make it good?

Husqvarna 650 CRT Rototiller. The reverse-tines bottleneck everything right where they meet the tires. Consequently rocks abruptly shut it down. Then there's a plate on the inside of the tine drive-belt cover that "bends" from the abrupt stop. So you have a belt, pulley, plate rub problem. Take wheel off, take the cover off, beat the plate straight, put cover back on, put wheel back on, till another five feet, hit rock--repeat. The short-term fix was to remove the side-covers that prevent dirt from covering your plants. That let the tiller "throw" the rocks out the side [sometimes] making 'abrupt' stops less frequent.
Also, if there is anything on the surface like say, straw or leaves that you want to till into the soil, you can't do it because it builds up at the bottleneck point causing the tiller to either stop or ride on top rendering it ineffective.
So I call Husqvarna and get into a row with a chap at customer service who doesn't know beans of what I am talking about. He keeps trying to refer me to whoever is a Husqvarna rep' in my area assuming I bought it at one of those places. I said "this isn't about warranty" it's about bad design. After a few minutes of getting nowhere I asked for his superior, actually I was VP or President mad by this point. He says "no". So I hung up and fumed for a while. I finally call a local place and proceeded to tell him my story. It just so happens that I got the one-and-only person who could help me. He was a mechanic at this shop with many years of experience and he was instrumental in 'splainin' things to me, calming me down, and even chastising me a bit for using the tiller wrongly.
I instantly like this guy. He tells me like it is. Gives me the whole kit-n-kaboodle story from the beginning of his experience as one wise in this situation, to the end [which was at that moment].
I get off the phone with him and sit and contemplate for a few. I then take the rototiller over to the Church garden and set to work preparing it for the fall. I followed his directions to the "T" and had but just a few times where I had to stoop over and spread out debris that was too thick for the tiller. Rocks are still a problem though.
All in all, I got what I paid for in a mid-grade tiller.
Bottom line! I'll make sure I know exactly what I am buying next time. No impulse buys.
And I am giving the guy's shop who helped me out ALL my business. He's going to get years worth and thousands of dollars worth of my business all because of one honest to goodness phone call.
So was it a lemon? Not in the strictest sense of the word; just bad design. And you can bet that I won't buy any Husqvarna equipment for a while.
Oh, and I also had to push the throttle control lever forward [for more gas] in two places, at the lever on the handle and on the motor because the wire wasn't strong enough to do it from the handle. But I could throttle down okay.
There's more but that is enough for now. Suffice it to say that I have learned how to use it "as is".
The next time I buy a walk-behind tiller [which will probably be never] it's going to be the biggest baddest Troy-bilt money can buy.
To save my back I am now getting a tiller for whichever larger than average lawn tractor I am getting.

 

[Don87]

Consumer reports and all actuarial data on vehicle repairs, each and every one, place GM products near the bottom right next to Chrysler. Ford products are wedged between Nissan and Mazda near the top on most reliability ratings. Consumer Reports came out just this last week and Ford is by a huge margin the highest rated domestic manufacturer. It's against their policy to copy their data without their permission, but feel free to look it up yourself. Again, just the facts. There is a reason that GM and Chrysler went bankrupt. Like millions of others who got screwed when they did that, I'll never forget or forgive them from stealing my money.

Fortunately for GM, there is a new fool born every day and most Americans seem to have short memories. GM's new IPO is today. Nothing personal, no, it is personal, I hope they fall flat on their face! They killed off so many jobs, destroyed so many suppliers and devastated so many retirement accounts that I personally don't think they should still exist. I will admit that I did smile when the Consumer Reports current edition which reported on vehicle reliability pretty well called GM products junk.

That would be China, they just purchased 18% of GM stock.

 

[Diamondpilot]

That would be China, they just purchased 18% of GM stock.

Hmmmm. Did not see that one coming. This was a inside job from day one. China wanted a American car company so bad. With about 60% of the company out there floating around it will only be a matter of time before they have what they wanted.

In all actuality I never thought they would get it the old fashion way. I figured the governments stake in GM would be traded to pay off some of our debt to China.

Chris

 

[Dargo]

You pick up your CR magazine and buy your equipment, I'll hit the streets and talk to people.

Take a deep breath & relax, no need for personal attacks!

Sorry Pal, but I'll take the hundreds of thousands of repair statistics I have over your personal opinion. As I continue to say, and continues to fly over your head, I rely on actual facts and statistics rather than opinions and emotions. If you take it as a personal attack that I opt for science rather than your opinion, that's something you'll have to work out with yourself.

 

[Dargo]

That would be China, they just purchased 18% of GM stock.

How else can they figure a way to make their product cheaper?

 

[75H2]

The biggest lemon we own is our house...that one hurts.

+1 on that comment. Although not a full fledged lemon our new house required more call backs than I care to recall. Most of the issues resulted from someone flat out not giving a rip. It's depresing to se what passes as craftsmanship these days

 

[Dargo]

Meanwhile back at the ranch. LOL I found nothing wrong with Pintos as long as you had two of them, like I did. One to drive while the other one was being repaired, and vise versa. LOL zman :thumbsup:

Would you believe that I've had exactly one vehicle bought back by the factory under the Lemon Law? How about if I told you that it was the one, and only, Toyota I ever purchased? No kidding. I bought a brand new Toyota Avalon ('95 I think?) their first year out. I was promised that it was nothing new; just a stretched Camry, which at the time was one of the most reliable vehicles.

In the first, and only, year of ownership, I was in possession of the vehicle for just over 2 months. The rest of the time it was at the dealership in their shop. Failures included, engine, front drive shafts, a constant and extremely loud wind noise, failed power windows and a constant popping and grinding noise in the front (proved to be the top of the struts and tens of thousands of Avalons suffered that same failure for at least 5 years of production before Toyota changed them).

 

[orezok]

How bout the PINTO!

rear collision = KABOOM!!!! :laughing:

Interesting fact, and I'm not a Ford guy. The post office keeps a good track of maintenance costs and back in the Pinto's day, it was the most reliable vehicle in their fleet. Go figure...