a little background. I do a a lot of chainsaw work. It has been a number of years maybe 5 or six when I took my saws in and they did a basic service. cleaned them up. sharpened the chain, cleaned the air filter, etc. Like $32.50 per saw. So I cycled all my saws through the shop. Worked out great. Fast forward Took four saws in, had another four when those were finished. They called and said the first four where done. Went in to pick up. over $500. When I took them in they all ran great, so not carb. work. Just basic clean up. Maybe a plug and fuel filter, blow out the air filter, touch up the chain. Needless to say I told them no more work on my saws. He probably did not have 90 mins. total on all four saw's. Maybe $40-$50 in parts max. I was not happy.

Was this at a independent or someplace like Ace?

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
Was this at a independent or someplace like Ace?

independent stihl dealer.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:

Was this at a independent or someplace like Ace?

Ace Hardware stores around here are all individually (family) owned. I was a supplier to couple dozen Ace stores, covering Brevard and Volusia Counties, for more than twenty years.

Each store had its own personality and idiosyncrasies.

You didn’t ask/verify price(s) first?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
You didn’t ask/verify price(s) first?

No, but that does not excuse and excessive overcharge imho

I do (amateur) small engine work.

I've pretty much given up on any saw work beyond a clean and sharpen. None of the major brands will sell parts to anyone but a dealer and the carbs have gotten to the point where you literally need a computer to tune them.

Well, that sucks. You certainly should have received an invoice for the charges -- what does it state was done?

I have 2 Stihl dealers that I trust. One caters to fire fighting crews & arborists, the other to arborists & heavy-use non-professionals. Both are primarily rental shops. Both are classified as Stihl Elite Dealers. Their work on our saws with electronic carbs has been primarily for replacement parts -- when I need new bars & chains. The only real work on a 400CM occurred when it got pinched while felling a tree, and the stem crunched the gas tank & rear handle. They've done more work on our older 271 & 310 saws -- carb replacements, oiler gears, fuel line & filter replacements.

I do cleaning & light maintenance on my saws after almost every day of use.
- I clean exterior surfaces & under the clutch covers with a pressure washer whenever possible. Sometimes that's done in conjunction with a trip to the car wash.
- I check air filters at least once a day. I give them a tap with the scrench to get rid of the surface buildup of dust. When they show a lot of dust, I wash them at home.
- I inspect the bars after almost every day of use. I primarily cut pine, so there's almost always a buildup of crusty sawdust/sap/oil on the bottom edge of the bar. I wipe that clean with mineral spirits. I usually flop the bar (ride side up / upside down) after every cleaning.
- I check the bar edges for burrs after cleaning. If burrs exist, I hand file them flush with a small mil bastard file.
- I check older bars for wear and squareness of the rails. When wear begins, as needed I square the rails with a Pferd bar edge dresser file.
- I keep my chains really sharp. I can't stand it when the saws aren't throwing large chips. They go no more than 2 tanks of fuel without sharpening. When I'm in old/hard and dirty wood, they get touched up every tank. I use a Stihl (Pferd-designed) 2-in-1 sharpener in both the field and at home for full-comp chains. Skip tooth chains require the old school round file, and then I check raker depth with gauge from Westcoast Saw. Keeping the chains really sharp means that I don't need to press the saws hard into the wood to obtain maximum cutting speed. It's easier on me, and easier on the engine/clutch/bar.

As a result of my ongoing maintenance work above, my Stihl dealer does very little work on the CM-type Stihls.
- Two months ago I bought a new Stihl Rollomatic ES Light guide bar, to replace one that's nearing end-of-life. Brought in the old one, so they could get the part number. The bar's white coating is almost all gone, the groves have widened from wear, bar edges show obvious filing to remove burs, rails have been repeated trued. But the bar is still straight and the nose roller is fine. And it generally cuts straight as long as I'm using good technique, even on big wood. The shop manager stated that this bar is in crapload better shape than most of the folks that come in for new bars. But given that I was retiring a very worn chain, a new bar would be nice. At the same time I got a new drive sprocket, even though it wasn't completely worn out.
- Last month I hit a nail that was buried in a tree. Completely hidden, it likely had been there for decades. Brought in the chain to the dealer, to have him assess whether the chain could be ground into a useable backup. He said nope -- over half the tooth length on one side would need to be ground away. The cost might be close to that of a new chain, and the temper of the teeth would likely be compromised by heat from the grinder. And I'm not spending hours and hours of my time hand filing. So into the trash went a Stihl RS yellow full-comp full-chisel chain with only 2 days of use on it.

All this means I'm working on the saws regularly. But since it's a little here and there, it doesn't seem to heavily cut into my time on any one given day.

Inflation is through the roof on all sorts of things, including service work. I have a STIHL FS 561 C-EM clearing saw, the largest one Stihl makes. Last week, I called my local Stihl dealer to order a another 250MM Chisel blade. It was $89.00 plus tax. Last year, I got one for under $50.00.

The cost of doing business has gone up CONSIDERABLY in the last 5-6 years and parts are no longer $40-50 to tune up 4 saws. Rent, insurance, tax, healthcare, labor, parts, and on and on has increased exponentially.

A buddy of mine has a yacht carpet cleaning business with 6 employees, he spends $50k a year for all of the required insurance!!!!!

Yeah I’ve seen this in the vehicle market, from purchase price, to parts, to servicing. You’ve seen the grocery cost now. This is going on across the board, A to Z. Price gouging across the board with everything and a bunch of bs justifications used. On the horizon I see a different financial landscape. Anyone with any common sense, financially, is going to have to be extremely frugal going forward. Vacations cut. Dining out cut. Since Covid people have been unwilling to change lifestyles, and cut back. Well studying the vehicle market as a hobby, well lenders are finally denying loans to people as the banks are tired of the repos. The pricing on everything has gone through the roof. I wouldn’t call it a recession coming. I’d call it a change of lifestyle for anyone with sense as people will eventually run out of credit, especially credit card limits. As people cut back, and they will have to, it will have a ripple effect across the entire economy. It’s inflation, Covid price increases, supply chain cost increases. Everything there is has gone up in pricing sans maybe flat screens which is just economies of scale. Mfr’s punch drunk on price increases and profit margin increases. It’s starting to come to a head.

I have 10-12 years until retirement and I’ve already narrowed things I will spend money on going forward starting with vacations. Time for me to get real chintzy with everything. My lawn equipment, several machines broke last year, and I’m glad I got them repaired last year before the pricing gets even more expensive. Everything has gone up in price and nobody is getting wage increases to offset. It’s going to hit, hard, sooner or later.

Pursuant to Prefontaine's post above:

We've never taken a "vacation" since we've been married. Closest we've come is a couple of stops along the way during PCS transfers. As the wife says "We live in Vacationland, why would we need to go anywhere."

House is paid for and they'll haul our cold dead carcasses out of here when the time comes.

We don't eat out at sit-down restaurants. Ever.

It's theoretically possible we'll not need to replace a vehicle in our remaining time above ground. If we do, it's most likely to be a "want and we can afford it" rather than a need.

The only thing I find concerning is energy costs. Between heating oil and electricity, I spend nearly $1000 a month in the cold months. Electricity is up nearly 30%.

Even taxes are pretty reasonable. Insurance on vehicles is not outrageous especially since I told State Farm to go piss up a rope. Only cloud on that horizon is homeowners which due to circumstances beyond my control is still with SF. Went up a bit over 25% this year.

My Wrangler is finally going into get some rust repair, a JK that has developed rust on the rear corner below the taillight. Finally finding someone to do that has been a challenge in itself. Anyhow, I have an aftermarket steel rear bumper that was given to me that also has developed rust.

Went to a shop that advertises sandblasting. Asked for a price, bumper off the Jeep, a carry in. No painting as I was going to POR-15 it and then do a bed spray over it. The price, $300. I expected maybe 100-150 range.

Went to Amazon, ordered a new bumper instead. It was less than the sandblasting price alone.

All these places are getting crazy

I took my Honda HRX (double blades) blade in for sharpening at a shop that sells mowers and all that stuff.

Dummy me thought it would be like MAYBE $10 per blade at most.

They charged me $40! A brand new blade set is like $42!

I got a clamp and a good file and do it myself now, for free.

Never again. These places are all pricing themselves right out of the market.

I try to do it myself, as able, mid level mechanic. I have a Stihl 029 I bought new in 1993, used it a fair bit. In recent years it’s had some issues, bogging out, low power.

I had a newer, larger saw, mostly used that. I would try to get the 029 going, checked a bunch of things. It was at a shop, maybe 2, no better.
I checked the fuel line, replaced the carb, no spark arrestor.

I was about to sell it to a local repair shop, $60, they had hopes of a re-sale. I did one last check online fixes.

The one site said to check the ‘fuel tank vent’. I never knew about that. I found where it was on that saw, gone. The short tube was there. I cleaned the hole, put a new vent in place, working almost normally.

One question I had is why didn’t a shop find this? It’s something they should of known to check for.

It doesn't sound like even YOU know what was done definitively. How do you get so pissed with that little background?

My dealer would touch base beforehand if more costly repairs were needed. $500+ for a basic service for 4 saws is high, period. I bought a brand new MS 261 a couple of years ago for not much more than that.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
You certainly should have received an invoice for the charges -- what does it state was done?

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
It doesn't sound like even YOU know what was done definitively.

<< crickets >>

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
parts are no longer $40-50

4 spark plugs, 4 fuel filters for under $50 unless you are grossly overcharging your customers.

I needed a fuel shutoff solenoid for my MS261. Everywhere, including Amazon sellers, wanted between $75-89 for the part. I Googled a bit and found a dealer in the U.K. selling it for £16, which cost me $25 after currency conversion and shipping. We seem to be getting ripped off by the U.S. distribution of Stihl parts. Try a European source for parts.