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.

 

[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...

 

[MESSMAKER]

My Cub Cadet 2544 is really disappointing. It is 3 years old and I am ready to get rid of it now. It always has something wrong with it. I cry in my hands every time I look at the made in the U.S.A. sticker on the back. I will never buy another.

 

[BethesdaEC]

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).

I Believe it, my grandfather had one too. What a piece of junk, but then again Toyota stopped making good cars 10 years ago. Pretty much since the 98 to 2002 sludge-0-matic engines. My father in law bought a 2000 Odyssey, six trips to the dealer to get the airbags to finally work and he is on his second transmission which grenaded at 60K miles. I will stick with my Fords thank you very much.

 

[John47]

A Stihl saw, was bought because my old Stihl "farmboss" died and couldn't get a replacement electronic ignition anywhere. I had around 20 years service out that machine, started most times first pull.

New one lasted a couple of hours and seized up! Dealer replaced piston, cylinder head and a couple of other things.
Got it home, lasted about an hour, yep seized up again.
Dealer blamed me and said I didn't know how to use a chains saw, one minute he's saying I added too much 2 stroke oil to the mix then contradicts himself saying not enough.
Made a formal complaint to Stihl, they told the dealer to send the damaged parts to them. After a week, we were told to pick the repaired saw up, covered by full warranty.
Yep, you guest it, lasted less than an hour.
It's still in my shop four years later, I bought myself a Husqvarna after that, did have a warranty issue with it, but been operating perfectly ever since.
No more Stihls for me.

 

[Diamondpilot]

A Stihl saw, was bought because my old Stihl "farmboss" died and couldn't get a replacement electronic ignition anywhere. I had around 20 years service out that machine, started most times first pull.

New one lasted a couple of hours and seized up! Dealer replaced piston, cylinder head and a couple of other things.
Got it home, lasted about an hour, yep seized up again.
Dealer blamed me and said I didn't know how to use a chains saw, one minute he's saying I added too much 2 stroke oil to the mix then contradicts himself saying not enough.
Made a formal complaint to Stihl, they told the dealer to send the damaged parts to them. After a week, we were told to pick the repaired saw up, covered by full warranty.
Yep, you guest it, lasted less than an hour.
It's still in my shop four years later, I bought myself a Husqvarna after that, did have a warranty issue with it, but been operating perfectly ever since.
No more Stihls for me.

I do work for 3 guys who do lawn and garden type care. Mainly own mowing business but also have equipment ranging from mowers, saws, dump trucks, diesel pickups, BobCats, Bull Dozer, Back Hoe, ect. Anyway, they run nothing but Stihl but are done with them.

The Stihl stuff of the last 4 years or so is nothing compared to the older stuff. Pressed parts instead of bolts and studs, cheap plastics, ect. One guy has a Poulan Pro that has outlasted his last Stihl saw. They are all going Husky or Efco. The new Efco stuff is not cheap but is about 1/3 the weight and more HP per saw.

Chris

 

[peterc38]

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

I heard a news report on the radio about this and they stated it as 1%, not 18%.

Other sources appear to corroborate this.

China's SAIC buys nearly 1 percent stake in GM | AP Nation / World - The News Tribune

GM stock opens strong in first day of trading - Nov. 18, 2010

 

[Don87]

I heard a news report on the radio about this and they stated it as 1%, not 18%.

Other sources appear to corroborate this.

China's SAIC buys nearly 1 percent stake in GM | AP Nation / World - The News Tribune

GM stock opens strong in first day of trading - Nov. 18, 2010

That's weird........initial radio reports put it at 18%. I heard it on 4 different stations between New York City and Pittsburgh.


EDIT: Makes one woder what's being covered up this time.

 

[Diamondpilot]

That's weird........initial radio reports put it at 18%. I heard it on 4 different stations between New York City and Pittsburgh.


EDIT: Makes one woder what's being covered up this time.

Guess it comes down to who is telling the story. I looked it up and it looks like they have 1% of the new offering but a ton of the old stuff. Not sure if it equals 18% or not?

Chris

 

[Don87]

Guess it comes down to who is telling the story. I looked it up and it looks like they have 1% of the new offering but a ton of the old stuff. Not sure if it equals 18% or not?

Chris

I'm not sure.
It was my understanding that the old stock was gone(=0), because the company went bankrupt, and the taxpayers bailed out the union, because they overstepped and promised more to the employees than the compnay could possibly afford.
Last I heard before the collapse, was that 1/3 of the GM workforce was being paid to stay home(what business can afford this).
But what do I know.............I'm not an overpaid congressman, or senator............nor am I a member of the UAW.

 

[aczlan]

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.

BCS also makes a nice machine, but it doesn't till quite as deep as a troybuilt.

Aaron Z

 

[mjncad]

Most of the issues resulted from someone flat out not giving a rip. It's depresing to se what passes as craftsmanship these days

Crapsmanship = craftsmanship in the eyes of the crooks building modern housing.

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

I thought China bought the rolling blow job called Hummer to get a foot into the USA market for their crappy cars.

My father in law bought a 2000 Odyssey, six trips to the dealer to get the airbags to finally work and he is on his second transmission which grenaded at 60K miles. I will stick with my Fords thank you very much.

Odyssey is made by Honda. Sienna's and prior to that Previa's are made by Toyota.