Jimbo wrote:
Question:

Was the original seller of the chain saw an authorized dealer? A lot of
the stuff people buy off the net are not be sold by authorized dealers. The
sellers are just discounters who buy old stock from bankrupcies etc. and
resell it cheap to unsuspecting buyers.

Rick:
You make some very good points and the manufacturer would be a fool not to
check the serial numbers of the equipment before turning down a warrantee
claim on either the chain saw or the washer dryer.

Grey market products are flooding the market place and a lot of consumer
don't realize they are not covered by the manufacturers warrantee. My
advise to anyone buying on line or through mail order would be to ask for a
model number and serial number before purchasing. Then they should call the
manufacturer and find out date of manufacture and the warrantee status of
the product.

If the product was sold by an authorized dealer there is no way the
manufacturer can legally refuse to service it. Whether or not the local
dealer is obligated to fix it is another story because we don't know what
kind of contract the manufacturer has with the repair depot.

I'm retired now but this business of people buying stuff off the net and
expecting a local company to repair it under a warrantee for well below the
regular shop rate really upset me.

You have a right to be upset. But I'm not clear
who you should be upset with. I can recall my
dad's anger 40 years ago. He signed up as a dealer
for DuMont televisions and on his first warranty
repair, he was reimbursed $.40 for finding and
replacing a defective capacitor (condenser then).

So the problem is not new. Clearly, dealers should
be reimbursed at a profitable labor rate, but short
of legal action I don't think it's going to happen.

On the other hand, the dealer signed the dealer's
agreement and agreed to provide warranty support.
I suspect this includes products purchased elsewhere.
If not, the manufacturer should make it known to
Joe Consumer *before* he purchases the product.

I believe there was a huge lawsuit involving Ford
and whether or not a consumer could take his car
to an arbitrary dealer for warranty service. The
verdict was yes.

Ultimately, this is a dispute between the manufacturer
and the dealer. As long as neither bother to inform
the consumer of his status before he purchases the
product, he is not to blame.