anybody ever dealt with Southwest Trading?

[Skwerl]

I've been searching out my options for buying Husqvarna chainsaws ever since they eliminated online sales and Bailey's no longer carries them. Through Google I found a company called Southwest Trading (http://www.a-chainsaw.com/index.php) that gave me a price over the phone. I've never heard of them before, does anyone here have any feedback on them?

[Mr. Sir]

Never heard of them.

Isn't there a local dealer you can buy from? I'd rather deal with someone face to face.

[Skwerl]

The only local Husky dealer has only been carrying Husky for less than a year. My previous experiences with them when they were a Stihl dealer were not positive and I have no affinity toward dealing with them. I'd prefer dealing with an online dealer since I have all my parts lists and work on my own equipment. I can get parts from Bailey's quicker and cheaper than my local dealer can get them.

And I do better dealing with people online than face to face. ;)

[woodworkingboy]

Is it cool to post a company .....hate to get somebody in %&# for selling online. I'll PM you the company that sent me Huskys after Bailey's said no way. No muss no fuss, the saws went right out.

[Frans]

And I do better dealing with people online than face to face. ;)

It's those two big freaking front teeth you have, Skwerl. :lol:
damm, that would scare me off too!

-Weres my squirrel dog!?, here comes Skwerl!

[MasterBlaster]

Sure Jay, post away.

[woodworkingboy]

www.AbellTurfandTractor.com

Contact Franklin Abell. He sent me four saws in January (359s) for myself and some buds. I'm not sure if he will supply the complete line of Huskys or not. I asked if he would continue to supply saws in the future. He said sure, no prob.......offered me a job as his agent here too.

[Skwerl]

Well I certainly appreciate all the input here as well as the private messages. Husqvarna has changed the rules since the first of the year so technically the dealers aren't supposed to sell out of their area. I contacted a dealer I did business with a couple years ago and they agreed to sell me a 395 since I was an existing customer already. And they also do power tuning (porting) work in house so I'm having them port the saw as well. Unfortunately I was asked not to tell all my buddies where I bought it so I can't disclose the dealer.
:(

[Al Smith]

Obviously I don't buy new saws .I do however buy parts and each every Husqvarna part has came from an online source . We have no stocking Husqvarna dealers in this area .

[woodworkingboy]

I believe that there is no restriction on selling Husky parts online. You'll be wanting to open up the muffler on that saw too.

[Skwerl]

Yup, I don't run stock saws. All of my saws have some degree of modification. ;)

[vharrison]

Wonder why Bailey's stopped selling Husky's?

[Skwerl]

Because Husqvarna changed the rules to forbid online sales in order to bolster support for local dealers. Just like Stihl, the dealers are now only allowed to sell to their local market or to walk-in customers.

[squisher]

Yup, I run Stihl's and am at the mercy of our local dealer. There's only two different guys at that shop that are still there from the old days that are even worth talking to about parts, otherwise forget it.:roll:

[stehansen]

I actually have 2 competent Stihl dealers within a reasonable distance. The closest one also sells husky.

[Magnus]

If you think about this it is pretty easy...

We dealers dont sell a saw, don't meet the custemer, can't help or influence in his purchase. All we get is the wining and demand for support of a product they did not really want or need.
And to top it all we want money too!

No, bye with a dealer, get a good relationship going and you are set.
There are bad dealers, sure, but bad internet sellers too!

[woodworkingboy]

If you think about this it is pretty easy...

We dealers dont sell a saw, don't meet the custemer, can't help or influence in his purchase. All we get is the wining and demand for support of a product they did not really want or need.
And to top it all we want money too!

No, bye with a dealer, get a good relationship going and you are set.
There are bad dealers, sure, but bad internet sellers too!

Magnus,
That is a great assessment of the situation, thanks for clarifying, NOW will you sell and ship to me? :)

[Magnus]

I am a Dolmar Dealer.
I can order most anything as we saw nut's work together here regardless of brand.

But I am in Sweden.

[Magnus]

I think I know how to help if that is what you need.

What saw are you looking for?

[MasterBlaster]

But I am in Sweden.

Lucky bastid!!! :X


:lol:

[Magnus]

Well, I can say with out a doubt, you would not trade with me, Butch.

[MasterBlaster]

Really? I thought Sweden was an uber cool place to be?

[Magnus]

Magnus,
That is a great assessment of the situation, thanks for clarifying, NOW will you sell and ship to me? :)

Regardless of were you buy it it will need parts and service.

You can buy anything online, but it is hard to get help later when you go to a dealer that know you will not buy a thing of him....
Many dealers mark their saws and service the custemers that buy from them, ignore the rest or give them a run around, salted bills etc.
It is like if you go to a tree job and mark the branches so the custemer can remove them himself without cost to him and no income for you.


For company's and proffessionals I belive the best is to find a good dealer locally (regardless of brand) and get service, advice, products from same place.
If you don't have good dealers close that is a diffrent matter.

[stehansen]

Really? I thought Sweden was an uber cool place to be?

Looks pretty good to me.

[Frans]

No, bye with a dealer, get a good relationship going and you are set.
There are bad dealers, sure, but bad internet sellers too!

Very wise words. Folks ask me what is the best saw, and I always say find a dealer that you like, and buy what they recommend and service.

With my dealer, I can go in with an 'emergency' and he will drop everything and get on it right away.

He also sells me saws at far below list.

Here is the trick, if you don't need it right away, tell them.
Nothing pisses off a saw mechanic then to say you need it, and then don't come back right away to pick it up.

My dealer takes care of me. I don't know what I would do if I did not have a dealer close by. Maybe start again with fixing my saws myself.
But that takes time. Time I am chroniclly short of.

[Magnus]

Looks pretty good to me.

There is more to it than meets the eye!

How about 3 times the gas price, doubble the rent and 25% sales tax evrytime a product shifts hands. We have higher salory, but about 10-15%.
You end up with more than us.

I now can compare the living in states, in particular NH state and Maine, to mine here.

If it were practical, I would move in a heartbeat!

That is just the financial bit...

[squisher]

Finding a dealer you like here is not a option. It's more if you happen to have a good local dealer. If not, you learn to do it yourself. I would buy from the cheapest source possible and forget about trying to train my local dealers staff for them so they actually know what I'm talking about.

[Skwerl]

Exactly, Squishey. I've given up on ever having a dealer fix a saw for me. Too many expensive disappointments and shoddy work, many times never even fixing the problem. I can fix 95% of my breakdowns myself. If I can't fix it, then it becomes a parts donor. I'm not paying $80 per hour shop rates for some kid to attempt to fix my saw while stripping out screws, gouging plastic or twisting/ pinching fuel lines creating more problems for me down the road. I'd almost rather throw away a saw than turn it over to the local shops.

[squisher]

Damn straight, around here it's the same with nearly everything. All maintenance and mechanical work for my trucks and everything I do as much as possible. One benefit is saving money, the other is knowing it's done right and nothing else screwed up and hidden away cause they don't wanna own up to it.

I'm nearly done with shops entirely, maybe I'm a picky SOB but I find most work by others not to be up to my standards.

[Magnus]

What ever work's for you I guess is OK.

But sell a saw they can't screw up, can they?

[squisher]

I buy all my saws locally. Except for a couple I've gotten from members here. But if I could have one delivered here for cheaper I would.

[Skwerl]

Well I think I've just placed my last order with my local Husky dealer. I stopped in there yesterday to get a few loose odds and ends, gas cap, various screws, kill switch wire, etc. The total came up to $46 which I thought was a little high but I paid it without looking at the receipt. Today I called them to see if the parts were in and he says "They are coming from California, takes 5 days". He charged me from $1.69 to $2.31 for screws and $7.38 each for the kill switch wires! :X

I said to him "If I knew it was going to take a week then I could have just ordered them from Bailey's". He hemmed and hawwed and basically admitted that he was ordering my stuff there. :X

And after correcting him a half dozen times over the last 10 years, he still has my name misspelled in his damn computer. And my street name as well. Bailey's can spell my name and address correctly.

[Jonseredbred]

Must be he didnt pay his Husky bill.

[woodworkingboy]

The only gripe I have with Baileys is that they never send me a new catalog, even though I have purchased mucho stuff from them, for myself and friends. I email them and ask for a catalog, and my main man there says, "Oh sure, get it right out", but it never comes, and that gets repeated over and over. My current catalog is for 2005. You'd think that like twenty chainsaws would put you on the mailing list?

[Bounce]

Man, I'm probably sticking my foot in it by posting on this one, but here goes. I deal with complaints like these all the time at Wesspur. I agree with Magnus - online ordering places are just like your local saw shop: there a good ones and bad ones. The trick is to find a good one. And even then, bear in mind that there's going to be mistakes. I try to take the attitude that it isn't whether or not someboyd drops the ball, its how fast they pick it back up again.

[NeTree]

If I'm not mistaken, my 346XP came from Southwest.

My local dealer is a jackass and a ripoff. Screw him.

[NeTree]

Okay, just checked my files... and yep. It came from Southwest Trading.

as I recall, it got to me fast, and the pricing was right. As for the saw itself...

Well, I was using it just today.

[Skwerl]

Erik, I ended up buying from a dealer I had purchased from before. The only reason Southwest's name came up is because they were the top Google search result.

But then that's not saying much. Arboristsite is the top result when searching for arborist forums. :roll: I wanted to deal with somebody that had some reputation, not just good ad placement.

[NeTree]

Oh, I gathered that, Brian.

I was just sayin' my dealing with them was positive.

[Skwerl]

Well I got to run the new 395 a little bit more today. 4 or 5 cuts before I hit a rock grown into a big fork in the tree. I didn't even get to make the stump cut. :(

That makes a total of about 9-10 cuts I've made with it so far. About a tank of fuel total I'd guess. It doesn't rev up as quickly as my other modified saws but it does have a satisfying grunt with a decent amount of torque. It should get stronger as it gets broken in (5-10 tanks of fuel).

[squisher]

Shoulda got a 660.:P

[Skwerl]

It would have clashed with all my other saws. :P

I worked with an old friend today on another removal. He got a chance to run my 346 and my 372, he was quite impressed. Of course he would be, seeing as he's only run Stihls all his life. He joked about 6-8 times about keeping my 372... :lol:

[RIVERRAT]

My dealer takes care of me. I don't know what I would do if I did not have a dealer close by. Maybe start again with fixing my saws myself.
But that takes time. Time I am chronically short of.
Frans, that is my exact sentiment. I am small potatoes in regard to the size of the other outfits my Stihl shop takes care of. But they have on a couple of very dire occasions stopped & fixed my saw when needed.

That is far more valuable to me than saving $50 or what ever on a saw at purchase.
My saw shop also hears the scuttlebutt from others on the recent gnarly jobs Ive done. They know every one in the area that is of any account. It's a great place to hear how those I have not run into for a while are doing.

They also heard of my accident & when I came in for the first time after it took place Mike & his partner stopped what they where doing to ask how I was & also hear & listen to the gory details.



Going to my saw shop is a break, that I relish. An escape from the every day monotony I call work.