First of all, doing "warranty" work for large companies isn't the
"gravy" that it was 20 years ago... companies like Mercury Marine, Yamaha,
Polaris (and probably Miller) have cut way back on the amount of time/money
they will "allow" the dealer to fix your stuff under warranty.
You can make the flat-rate... if it doesn't take a lot of
trouble-shooting to figure out what's wrong and you're right the first time.
If it's an "intermittent" problem... or two or three things conspiring
together; you lose your a$$ on the warranty claim.
I can see why a dealer would be reluctant to push aside "paying"
customers' repair work so they could work on a "warranty" claim. They would
rather do that (required) low-profit work when they have nothing else going
on... as "filler" work.
Second, the internet isn't such a great place to buy welders. I shopped
online, checked e-bay, and called my local Miller rep when I bought my TIG.
Even though there were low "advertised" prices online... the local rep
delivered my TIG to my front door for about $200 less than the best online
deal I could find.
Then, when I went in to get my gas bottle and extra consumables... he
gave me a fist-full of mild steel, stainless, and aluminum filler rods in
various sizes; so I could try them all and decide what I liked best. Not a
huge deal, maybe 2 pounds of rods... but something the internet guys
wouldn't/couldn't do.
Finally, he also gave me 30-days to pay for all of the stuff (including
the welder) and loaded the gas bottle onto my truck for me! ;-}
David



http://pstuning.com/ "Too_Many_Tools" wrote in
message ups.com...
I would suggest that you not feel guilty about buying the welder over
the Internet....it is here to stay and will be the main method of
purchase in the future. There are many businesses that are learning a
hard lesson when it comes to competitive sales and timely support after
the sales because of changing buying patterns.

The dealer being a factory authorized dealer/repair depot is on the
hook to do the warranty work. Their foot draggin is a thinly veiled
attempt to punish you for not paying hundreds of dollars more to them
for the welder. You may also want to realize that they get paid less
for factory warranty work than for what they charge for out of warranty
shop time. This means no one will fall over themselves to put warranty
work ahead of a better paying job whether or not you had bought the
welder from them. I would have a discussion with owner noting that you
expect the warranty work to be on a timely basis and make it clear to
him that Milller is in the loop as to knowing when and how it will be
done. And just so you don't feel singled out, Miller/Lincoln are having
a difficult time with their support centers because of the transisition
to a more competitive sales environment where the "we've always done it
this way" shops are dragging their feet. As their monopoly of the local
markets slowly slips away (welder purchases on Internet, gas supplies
at Home Depot/TSC), you will see the less responsive shops close.

TMT