Deere Getting Out of Walk-Behind Business

[grsthegreat]

The wife bought a john deere weed trimmer a few years back from home depot. It broke after the 3rd time using it. pull string just froze up.

I took it back to HD, and they said it had to go to John Deere for repairs.

So i took it to the local JD shop, and they proceeded to tell me that it was made in Mexico and just branded JD. I guess JD licensed their name to some crappy Mexican company that painted them green and affixed labels.

Bottom line neither HD or JD would honor the warranty. After i exploded on the poor HD salesman and went into a tirade about the crap they sell, they finally offered me a full refund just to get me out of the store.

Now what this has to do with this thread......i'll just bet that JD will just license out their name to some foreign companies and continue to offer push behind equipment. It doesn't cost them anything and there is always some dumb schmuck like me and my wife that see JD green at the depot and think it will be better than the poulan or MD brand. Who knows.

 

[jenkinsph]

The wife bought a john deere weed trimmer a few years back from home depot. It broke after the 3rd time using it. pull string just froze up.

I took it back to HD, and they said it had to go to John Deere for repairs.

So i took it to the local JD shop, and they proceeded to tell me that it was made in Mexico and just branded JD. I guess JD licensed their name to some crappy Mexican company that painted them green and affixed labels.

Bottom line neither HD or JD would honor the warranty. After i exploded on the poor HD salesman and went into a tirade about the crap they sell, they finally offered me a full refund just to get me out of the store.

Now what this has to do with this thread......i'll just bet that JD will just license out their name to some foreign companies and continue to offer push behind equipment. It doesn't cost them anything and there is always some dumb schmuck like me and my wife that see JD green at the depot and think it will be better than the poulan or MD brand. Who knows.

It depends on what you are buying, I have a variety of Deere stuff but not their crappy string trimmers. I have Homelite chainsaws, Stilh 600 backpack blower and string trimmer and wouldn't matter what Deere has.

 

[ctlguy]

Too bad on the string trimmer issue, I have always thought buyer beware when buying ope equipment from a box store. I bet a quick call to the mentioned local dealer and ask them "what do you think about the Deere string trimmers at home depot?" you probably would have gotten a response along the lines of those trimmers are junk if you don't want a disposable unit lets look elsewhere or the Echo units where great and the later gen homelite/mitsubishi (not the period where Deere owned Homelite) where just OK. I do sympithize (sp?) with getting screwed on hard earned money out the door, my wife has bought me things too where I have thought (not out loud of course :laughing you Dingbat I wish you would have talked to me first you got hosed. Trimmers are tough I don't think there is such a thing as a good reasonable priced trimmer they are either priced appropriatly and are junk or they are way way to expensive and could still be junk but not always.

 

[jinman]

I think Deere is making a move that reflects the economy. They can sell their stuff in box stores, but it probably is a headache for repairs. With everyone watching the bottom line, I'm not sure Deere dealers can afford the salesman time to sell lower cost mowers. If a salesman spends one hour with me demoing and selling a mower, the profit on that mower is gone. If he has to demo it to three customers before a sale, he's lost money. I think the same thing can be said for the 100-series riding mowers. JD dealers can't afford to spend time selling those when they make so little money, especially off-season cash sales. If I take a 12 months no interest-no payment deal and pay cash at month 11, the whole financing paperwork is a waste since no interest money is made. I believe that's why they've taken such a large inventory of these mowers and put them into box stores. Today's slim margins mean you can lose money on product lines that take a lot of employee time. Except for fleet sales to landscape companies, you have to think that there's very little money to be made on walk-behind sales.

 

[jenkinsph]

Jinman,
I agree that Deere dealerships can't make money on the walkbehinds but for my own interests being able to get parts makes it practical. Since I buy other higher priced items from the dealer he still comes out ahead in the long run.