2012 Bad Boy Outlaw Kawasaki FX850V blew cylinder wall out at 7.9 hrs

[Greyst1]

Originally Posted by luckydooley

. I really enjoyed the BB and would purchase one in the future if there were another local dealer available.

What part of this experience was enjoyable?

The fighting to get what's rightfully yours???
The pit in your stomach when you couldn't properly service your customers??

or

The uncertainly of where your 10K is because your BB dealer is just that fabulous???

When i 1st read this i felt for you and i still do. ! will stay that you must feel somewhat confident that BB took care of you to buy another BB in the future. I hope that BB learned from this so this is really an isolated incident.

For me for everyone there is few dealers i can really deal with. They all suck, lie, cheat, BS, over charge, and put the PROFIT before the CUSTOMER OR JOB. So much of our deadbeat culture is that way, is there an answer, no, just try to minimize your losses and it sounds like you did.

So what did you get?

[luckydooley]

Ok, I will try and answer some of the questions. If I miss anything please let me know. I did not sign any agreement to not speak about this, rather it was a verbal agreement, and I am only stating the truth. I hope this does not get too hairy, but I can see how there are many unanswered questions.

I have not replaced the mower as of today.

I purchased the mower in the afternoon Friday June 15th.
The motor blew Monday morning June 25th at 7.8 hrs.
The resolution commenced last Friday July 6th.
I originally traded a couple pieces of equipment towards the new mower. I paid the difference with a check.
The dealer did not include the trade-ins on the invoice, he just made the invoice amount for the difference. This is clearly not beneficial to me, as I cannot depreciate the full value of the mower for tax purposes.
This should have been my first clue. Hindsight is 20/20.
After the motor blew and I had taken it back, he gave me a loaner the same day. The first day it cut like crap. The blades were installed wrong and the deck was way out of whack. He had the loaner corrected and back to me the next day at 10:30am. Unfortunately, my trade-in was not available to loan out. After a few days, I became concerned about lack of progress/answers/direction we were headed. I contacted BB direct Wednesday afternoon June 27th. I also posted here seeking advice Monday June 25th, the day the motor blew.
Dealer contacted me Thursday afternoon June 28th and we had a hour long convo on the phone. During this convo was when he stated he did not wish to conduct further business with me after this was resolved. This concerned me. I had a hard time pinning him down to a deadline for resolution. We finally agreed to Friday July 6th. He asked me to bring the loaner back if I was not happy with it. I stated I will keep it until this is resolved. Many more things were discussed during the hour convo, but I will keep this as brief as possible.
His primary concerns and the reason he became upset with me was:
A. I contacted BB without consulting with him.
B. I posted on this forum seeking advice and apparently from his point of view, I was trashing him and BB.
Fast forward:
I learn from retrodog Thursday July, 5th, on this forum, that I have a new mower with my name on it.
I arrive Friday July 6th, with the loaner, not knowing what to expect. I am offered three options:
1. New mower. As stated I do not have a local dealer other than this one, so I was not comfortable knowing I would not have someone to rely upon for parts/service.
2. Trades back, and difference in the form of a check. My trades were no longer in the condition that I conveyed them in, so again, no go.
3. Money back in full, form of check. This is where it got tricky.
I added the amount I paid by check, plus agreed value of trade one, plus agreed value of trade two. Pretty simple. Well after standing around for half an hour listening to this guys mumbo/jumbo and funny accounting, I got sick of it and took a loss of $219 to get my a$$ out the door. See I had an advanced chute put on the mower for $199. He pulled another slick one on me and added on the original invoice “advance chute included”. So he refunded price paid for mower, plus sales tax, plus trade one plus trade two.... Advance chute not included. $199 plus tax = $219. How convenient.
So that's the jist of the story. Hope it makes sense.

In summary:

There was a major lack of communication/action on the dealers part. When I became proactive the dealer got extremely irritated with me. I even mentioned the point retrodog brought to the table of expedited service from Kawi for commercial cutters.

I am in no way disappointed or aggravated with BB. It was a fluke that could have happened on any brand mower. It appears to just be a case of a poor engine cast. That does not make me irritated with Kawi either, chit happens.

I am hard pressed to find another mower as well designed as the BB for the price. The only thing I would point out as a flaw in the mower was that it was a 54” deck, but the front right caster wheel protruded out past the rest of the frame of the mower apprx. 4” essentially making it a 58” mower with a 54” deck. That was a let down as I would have just gone with a 61” if I would have known. 4” don't seem like much, but it makes a difference in a lot of my personal situations.

[Greyst1]

Originally Posted by luckydooley

Ok, I will try and answer some of the questions. If I miss anything please let me know. I did not sign any agreement to not speak about this, rather it was a verbal agreement, and I am only stating the truth. I hope this does not get too hairy, but I can see how there are many unanswered questions.

I have not replaced the mower as of today.

I purchased the mower in the afternoon Friday June 15th.
The motor blew Monday morning June 25th at 7.8 hrs.
The resolution commenced last Friday July 6th.
I originally traded a couple pieces of equipment towards the new mower. I paid the difference with a check.
The dealer did not include the trade-ins on the invoice, he just made the invoice amount for the difference. This is clearly not beneficial to me, as I cannot depreciate the full value of the mower for tax purposes.
This should have been my first clue. Hindsight is 20/20.
After the motor blew and I had taken it back, he gave me a loaner the same day. The first day it cut like crap. The blades were installed wrong and the deck was way out of whack. He had the loaner corrected and back to me the next day at 10:30am. Unfortunately, my trade-in was not available to loan out. After a few days, I became concerned about lack of progress/answers/direction we were headed. I contacted BB direct Wednesday afternoon June 27th. I also posted here seeking advice Monday June 25th, the day the motor blew.
Dealer contacted me Thursday afternoon June 28th and we had a hour long convo on the phone. During this convo was when he stated he did not wish to conduct further business with me after this was resolved. This concerned me. I had a hard time pinning him down to a deadline for resolution. We finally agreed to Friday July 6th. He asked me to bring the loaner back if I was not happy with it. I stated I will keep it until this is resolved. Many more things were discussed during the hour convo, but I will keep this as brief as possible.
His primary concerns and the reason he became upset with me was:
A. I contacted BB without consulting with him.
B. I posted on this forum seeking advice and apparently from his point of view, I was trashing him and BB.
Fast forward:
I learn from retrodog Thursday July, 5th, on this forum, that I have a new mower with my name on it.
I arrive Friday July 6th, with the loaner, not knowing what to expect. I am offered three options:
1. New mower. As stated I do not have a local dealer other than this one, so I was not comfortable knowing I would not have someone to rely upon for parts/service.
2. Trades back, and difference in the form of a check. My trades were no longer in the condition that I conveyed them in, so again, no go.
3. Money back in full, form of check. This is where it got tricky.
I added the amount I paid by check, plus agreed value of trade one, plus agreed value of trade two. Pretty simple. Well after standing around for half an hour listening to this guys mumbo/jumbo and funny accounting, I got sick of it and took a loss of $219 to get my a$$ out the door. See I had an advanced chute put on the mower for $199. He pulled another slick one on me and added on the original invoice “advance chute included”. So he refunded price paid for mower, plus sales tax, plus trade one plus trade two.... Advance chute not included. $199 plus tax = $219. How convenient.
So that's the jist of the story. Hope it makes sense.

In summary:

There was a major lack of communication/action on the dealers part. When I became proactive the dealer got extremely irritated with me. I even mentioned the point retrodog brought to the table of expedited service from Kawi for commercial cutters.

I am in no way disappointed or aggravated with BB. It was a fluke that could have happened on any brand mower. It appears to just be a case of a poor engine cast. That does not make me irritated with Kawi either, chit happens.

I am hard pressed to find another mower as well designed as the BB for the price. The only thing I would point out as a flaw in the mower was that it was a 54” deck, but the front right caster wheel protruded out past the rest of the frame of the mower apprx. 4” essentially making it a 58” mower with a 54” deck. That was a let down as I would have just gone with a 61” if I would have known. 4” don't seem like much, but it makes a difference in a lot of my personal situations.

Check out Ferris, Scag or Snapper Pro. IMO, they are the best out there. Good luck.

[MOturkey]

Sounds to me as if the dealer was trying to pull a fast one, and got caught. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but why else would he be irritated that you contacted BB? I would think he would be pleased at anything that expedited the situation, and if a customer calling in a complaint would help, then why not?

[luckydooley]

Originally Posted by Greyst1

What part of this experience was enjoyable?

The experience was horrible, only the time the mower operated was enjoyable.

The fighting to get what's rightfully yours???
The pit in your stomach when you couldn't properly service your customers??

or

The uncertainly of where your 10K is because your BB dealer is just that fabulous???

Every one of those feelings are spot on how I felt! Horribly stressful situation. Still feeling the effects.

When i 1st read this i felt for you and i still do. ! will stay that you must feel somewhat confident that BB took care of you to buy another BB in the future. I hope that BB learned from this so this is really an isolated incident.

I honestly feel it was a lack of dealer support that was the issue.

For me for everyone there is few dealers i can really deal with. They all suck, lie, cheat, BS, over charge, and put the PROFIT before the CUSTOMER OR JOB. So much of our deadbeat culture is that way, is there an answer, no, just try to minimize your losses and it sounds like you did.

Exactly how I feel, and the reason why I have not replaced it yet.

So what did you get?

Have not found a dealer and mower I am comfortable with yet, so just winging it, with a little help from good friends!

You have pretty well expressed all my emotions, I will be very leary in the future. It seems dealers will blow all kinds of smoke up your butt to make the sale, but after.... buyer beware.

[retrodog]

Alot of dealers (expecially big tractor dealers) absolutely hate people contacting factories of products they represent and hearing from a daddy or boss per say about a complaint when they are the owner. Worst thing a biz owner wants to hear after working hard to own it just to have another "boss' telling how it is.. on the other hand, the customer wants to be fixed asap and will do whatever it takes...i fully understand, just dont understand all these dealers burning so many bridges. If i was the dealer, i woulda been happy my actual biz name wasnt mentioned and bashed publically, it was never mentioned... i thought the op was very light on posts...
Posted via Mobile Device

[Ridin' Green]

Originally Posted by retrodog

Alot of dealers (expecially big tractor dealers) absolutely hate people contacting factories of products they represent and hearing from a daddy or boss per say about a complaint when they are the owner. Worst thing a biz owner wants to hear after working hard to own it just to have another "boss' telling how it is.. on the other hand, the customer wants to be fixed asap and will do whatever it takes...i fully understand, just dont understand all these dealers burning so many bridges. If i was the dealer, i woulda been happy my actual biz name wasnt mentioned and bashed publically, it was never mentioned... i thought the op was very light on posts...
Posted via Mobile Device

This is all totally correct. I can't see any reason either why the dealer would get his undies in a bunch over this, when no one here knows who it was aside from the OP.

[Keith]

Par for the course for some dealers. When I had my Exmark problem almost ten years ago, my two month old EFI Lazer sat at a dealership for two weeks and they did nothing to it. Picked up with the exact same problem, then took it to another dealer that Exmark recommended. By this point I had notified Exmark right here on their sub-forum, which no longer exists. That's when the **** hit the fan. Before you know it the dealer unleashed to dogs on LS. Two or three brand new users started bashing me. It was blatantly obvious who sent them. Funny thing, one of those users stayed around here for a bit after that. He named dropped the dealer about 18 months later confirming he had come from exactly where I thought he had. And a few years later he posted how sorry this dealer was. He obviously had a run in with the dealer that originally sent him here. I thought that was funny He does the dealer's dirty work, then he gets stabbed in the back by him.

[StanWilhite]

Originally Posted by Ridin' Green

This is all totally correct. I can't see any reason either why the dealer would get his undies in a bunch over this, when no one here knows who it was aside from the OP.

I agree 100%, I thought the op was being more than polite considering the position he was in.