Dealer says I can't use Harman coupon.

[moey]

Thats pretty shady if dealer has to pay half the coupon price. Although I guess they can raise the price X amount.

Try asking the dealer to take half the price of the coupon off.

 

[joescho]

That dealer seems to be going out of their way to not loose any money whatsoever. I understand they are in the business to make money, but it sounds like we're not talking much here. Especially with all of the good will he couls create here and make all that back plus more in two service calls.

I had a similar situation where when I bought my stove they had a $200 coupon. After I paid in full (but not installed was waiting for the stove from the manufacturer) the came out with a coupon for a free ton on pellets which I was not aware of at the time. Dealer called me up and we re-rang the deal so I could get the pellets instead.

If I were in your shoes, and still are willing to let the deal go through, I would learn a lot about the stove to be self sufficent because this dealer sounds like he's going to nickel and dime you to death.

 

[gbreda]

I knew I was going to buy one, so I saw no issue in paying for it all up front. The first surprise I got, was hearing, "I don't know if the owner will be happy with you buying now to take advantage of the discount, but not have it installed for a month."
I said, "Why does it matter when you install it? I am giving you all the money now. It shouldn't matter when you install it."
I will call them today, and see if we can figure something out. Now that I know that half of the coupon comes out of their pocket, I will probably let it go.

This will most likely come down to their written policy on deposits, because if it isn't invoiced, it is still a deposit.

Good luck and enjoy the heat

Pics after install or it dint happen ! !

 

[seaken]

I guess it comes down to how each dealer does business and I'm sure they have their reasons. But we accept coupons and apply them at time of sale. We do not control what the manufacturer does and we cannot accept more than one coupon at a time unless the offers specifically allow it. So, last month I would have taken your $100 coupon at time of sale, over the counter, regardless of install date. If on the date of install you present me the $300 coupon I won't take it. It's the luck of the draw and beyond my control. It's all in the timing.

However, in this case, where the dealer told you NOT to present the coupon until install date, I WOULD take the $300 coupon instead of the $100 coupon. It would have been my fault since I told you not to print the coupon. In that case I would have been the victim of timing, not you.

Sean

 

[jslinger]

Since they never called me back, I called the dealer today. It almost seemed like the guy had been reading this thread. It seems as though I will just have to pay the initial price. It is not worth getting on their bad side over $200. It is unfortunate that I have to worry about that though.
Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[saladdin]

Since they never called me back, I called the dealer today. It almost seemed like the guy had been reading this thread. It seems as though I will just have to pay the initial price. It is not worth getting on their bad side over $200. It is unfortunate that I have to worry about that though.
Thanks for the input everyone.

If it was me, it would depend on how I felt they were handling it. Are they being asses about it? Or are they just a little blindsided that you want to change a deal they thought was set ?

If I thought they were not taking me serious or trying to brush me off, I'd cancel the deal. I'd cancel the check, start a credit card charge back etc... How I am treated trumps a few hundred dollars.

If it's just a case of general confusion (you didn't exactly have a simple deal) over how to handle it then I'd just let it go.

Honestly, you lost bargaining power by paying upfront.

And I disagree with not naming the dealer. It's our responsibilities as consumers to share the good guys and the bad guys.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Call another dealer ,when i bought my stove i checked several dealer and got 3 prices 2500,2400,1900. aLL FOR EACTLY THE SAME STOVE. and each dealer was about the same distance from me.

 

[Lousyweather]

we are accepting the coupon as well, but it must be understood that as dealers, we have to follow the specifics of the coupon guidelines, or be faced with footing the bill ourselves. So, for us, lets say you bought a stove and had it installed prior to the $300 deal-io, and instead had the $100 deal-io. It was invoiced, we sent the invoice to Harman, its a done deal....sorry. But if you havent invoiced yet, then no harm, no foul....as long as its invoiced by March 18th, its all good. Come in on March 19th tho and try to talk me into it....not gonna happen.

 

[Lousyweather]

Call another dealer ,when i bought my stove i checked several dealer and got 3 prices 2500,2400,1900. aLL FOR EACTLY THE SAME STOVE. and each dealer was about the same distance from me.

man, that $1900 number seems low for ANY Harman....technically, dealers cannot sell a stove below 10% less than MSRP, otherwise you risk losing your Harman dealership (they can cut you off)....

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Isn't the XXV around $3k MSRP? Plus install you are probably around $4k or so brand new?

If they gave you $100 off for the coupon and then brought the total discount up to 10% isn't that more than $300?

What am I missing?

XXV retail is $3900.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Their total discount was $350. $100 of that was from Harman. My point is that the Harman coupon is independent of the $250 discount they offered.
Since the coupons offered by Harman have no impact on their income, they should have no issue honoring the coupon.
Since they have accounted for the $100 coupon in what I have already paid, they would want to recover that money through Harman. But since there is no longer a $100 coupon, there would be no other option for me, than to provide the dealer with the $300 coupon. And then, when Harman reimburses them, they would get to pocket $200, instead of passing it on to me.

HHT will give the dealer 50% credit of the coupon no matter what and the dealer has to do the paperwork. The dealer does not have to take the coupon.

 

[Lousyweather]

HHT will give the dealer 50% credit of the coupon no matter what and the dealer has to do the paperwork. The dealer does not have to take the coupon.

yup, the dealers signs up for the promotion......its elective, not required. Although, frankly i dont see why a dealer wouldnt sign up.....and yes, the dealer has to pony up half the coupon.....for instance, that $100 off coupon? Harman only reimburses the dealer $50

 

[Bigjim13]

XXV retail is $3900.

Wow didn't realize it was that high!

I guess what I was saying is that the dealer discounted 10% and the $100 coupon. My guess is that if you went in today with the $300 coupon there would be no 10% discount.

Either way it equals out.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

man, that $1900 number seems low for ANY Harman....technically, dealers cannot sell a stove below 10% less than MSRP, otherwise you risk losing your Harman dealership (they can cut you off)....

That was 3 years ago, but thats the price.Bought a lot of accessories as well and still didnt get near $2400.

 

[Lousyweather]

That was 3 years ago, but thats the price.Bought a lot of accessories as well and still didnt get near $2400.

well, thats the Harman guideline.....but I can imagine some folks are rebels!

 

[smwilliamson]

They cannot invoice it until it is installed? That's a bunch of ...... What do they do with the cash and carry stoves???Never invoice them?...ah.....perhaps I answered my own question?

I can tell you that dealers always have the option to take part in promotions etc and may chose not to honor coupons...and yes, most promotions require the dealer to match the manufacturer dollar for dollar, since they share the benefit.

I can also tell you that HHT is now requiring dealers to submit warranty registrations via the web and there may be something tied into that part of the process that is also tied in to the promotion...so perhaps there is some truth to the story they have...it is also completely possible that the person you talked to gave you the wrong answer and if you talk to another two people at the dealer you may get two more completely different answers...who knows.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

man, that $1900 number seems low for ANY Harman....technically, dealers cannot sell a stove below 10% less than MSRP, otherwise you risk losing your Harman dealership (they can cut you off)....

For the crappy service you get from many harman dealers that policy dont make sense. If you read through the harman threads on this site the NO1 complaint by far against harman is dealer apathy. IN many case service after the sale is completely non -existant. Even at just answering questions the dealer was pretty much AWOL WHen i called the company they refered me to the dealer despite have told them repeatedly the dealer was no help at all. 99% of what i learned about the stove came from hearth .com. Not the dealer and not the company.

 

[Bigjim13]

For the crappy service you get from many harman dealers that policy dont make sense. If you read through the harman threads on this site the NO1 complaint by far against harman is dealer apathy. IN many case service after the sale is completely non -existant. Even at just answering questions the dealer was pretty much AWOL WHen i called the company they refered me to the dealer despite have told them repeatedly the dealer was no help at all. 99% of what i learned about the stove came from hearth .com. Not the dealer and not the company.

Agree. I bought my Harman (different dealer than OP) and while they are ok over the phone, when I have needed them to actually COME to my house it takes a bit of haggling. Not cool given that while I was buying the stove they touted their service.

I have gotten more useful info from this site than anywhere else.

 

[Stevekng]

I probably will. I just wanted opinions to see what others thought of the situation. It was just hard for me to come to terms with, because my father has owned a small business in the area for 30 years, and he would never think to question the customer in this situation.
It certainly hasn't been a problem free transaction so far. Even when I was trying to give them my money, they wouldn't return my phone calls. I can't say I will recommend them to any friends.

I have 3 rules that I follow, when I make a purchase for a big ticket item. Rule#1. If the store can't return my call while setting up a purchase,then go elsewhere.
Rule#2. If I have to pay full price, then go elsewhere.
Rule#3. If they won't fix it, make sure that you go to the store and convince shoppers to go
elsewhere.

 

[Nathaniel Rice]

And I disagree with not naming the dealer. It's our responsibilities as consumers to share the good guys and the bad guys.

I really disagree with that statement. It's our responsibility as consumers to share our stories and not "out" bad dealers unless they truly are bad. I say this because somewhere on this thread my company is on here in a bad light. The most frustrating thing is other dealers "smoozing" my former customer and berating my policies, procedures and written contract that this customer decided did not apply to him. Heck he even tried to say he had "clout" with the manufacturer and when the manufacturer (verbatim) told him the same things I did, he came on here and bad mouthed me, went to google and gave me a horrible review. I've since worked on re-writing my policy because of this. Do I think I was in the wrong? Not at all. I had a signed contract and stated that since my manufacturer doesn't re-imburse me for travel that the customer would be charged. He was OK with this in the beginning until he needed a service call. So yeah, I don't believe we should out dealers on hearsay. Here, literally every dealer bashed me about how it's horrible I charge for this, how they wouldn't, how they'd do things differenty and it really portrayed this site in a different light than I currently thought. Based merely on what someone said on here, everyone took it as scientific fact without having the other side of it (MY SIDE!).

As for coupons, I do know that when we honor manufacturer coupons that we have to cover half of the cost (25% being covered by the manufacturer and 25% being covered by the distributor). Stipulations on the coupons are that we have to submit a contract showing full payment on the product(s) and a serial number. If this was time sensitive and they already submitted your coupon then only thing they can attempt is to re-force the coupon to the manufacturer. However, if they look at their 10% off on top they may see that the new coupon doesn't give you as much off and there is no guarantee they can even honor the new coupon. So, sadly, it could be either way. They could be tough to deal with or they could literally have their hands tied. I do not know and can only offer an opinion on why

 

[Lousyweather]

And I disagree with not naming the dealer. It's our responsibilities as consumers to share the good guys and the bad guys.

I agree as well, but with a modifier. The tendency is to only name the BAD dealers, we dont hear about the good ones, which seems, well, unfair. Also understand there is (at least) two sides to every story, and the person posting will only give their (and usually laundered), opinion. As we all know, ALL dealers are bad, ALL pellet stove owners are infallible and righteously clean and maintain their stoves to perfection....I guess those things should be just assumed.....

 

[kinsmanstoves]

I agree as well, but with a modifier. The tendency is to only name the BAD dealers, we dont hear about the good ones, which seems, well, unfair. Also understand there is (at least) two sides to every story, and the person posting will only give their (and usually laundered), opinion. As we all know, ALL dealers are bad, ALL pellet stove owners are infallible and righteously clean and maintain their stoves to perfection....I guess those things should be just assumed.....

Let me add to this. There are THREE sides to every story, one persons idea of what happened, the second person's idea of what happened, and third is what really happened.

Eric

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Stove dealers are like everyone else,theres good and bad. FInd a good one and keep em. THe bad ones cant see past the commission on the new stove. My stove came from a hardware store so stoves were NOT their only concern. Some of the people there couldnt pick out a wood stove in a police line-up. Others were very knowlegable.

 

[saladdin]

I really disagree with that statement. It's our responsibility as consumers to share our stories and not "out" bad dealers unless they truly are bad. I say this because somewhere on this thread my company is on here in a bad light. The most frustrating thing is other dealers "smoozing" my former customer and berating my policies, procedures and written contract that this customer decided did not apply to him. Heck he even tried to say he had "clout" with the manufacturer and when the manufacturer (verbatim) told him the same things I did, he came on here and bad mouthed me, went to google and gave me a horrible review. I've since worked on re-writing my policy because of this. Do I think I was in the wrong? Not at all. I had a signed contract and stated that since my manufacturer doesn't re-imburse me for travel that the customer would be charged. He was OK with this in the beginning until he needed a service call. So yeah, I don't believe we should out dealers on hearsay. Here, literally every dealer bashed me about how it's horrible I charge for this, how they wouldn't, how they'd do things differenty and it really portrayed this site in a different light than I currently thought. Based merely on what someone said on here, everyone took it as scientific fact without having the other side of it (MY SIDE!).

As for coupons, I do know that when we honor manufacturer coupons that we have to cover half of the cost (25% being covered by the manufacturer and 25% being covered by the distributor). Stipulations on the coupons are that we have to submit a contract showing full payment on the product(s) and a serial number. If this was time sensitive and they already submitted your coupon then only thing they can attempt is to re-force the coupon to the manufacturer. However, if they look at their 10% off on top they may see that the new coupon doesn't give you as much off and there is no guarantee they can even honor the new coupon. So, sadly, it could be either way. They could be tough to deal with or they could literally have their hands tied. I do not know and can only offer an opinion on why

So a dealer doesn't want consumers talking about them in a bad light, only good. Nice.

 

[Lousyweather]

So a dealer doesn't want consumers talking about them in a bad light, only good. Nice.

well, yea, of course. Hello. Would you rather have someone talk about you in a good light or a bad one?

I have to submit that most folks never communicate thier good experiences, only the bad ones....especially here. Take note of all the "my dealer sucks" posts versus "my delaer is wonderful..." posts here....100 to one?.......does this mean that out of 100 dealers, only one is good, the other 99 stink?