Just curious:I closed my account at our londstanding NH dealership today. The owner had refused to waive a restocking fee on a part his parts department had ordered wrong. By the time we realized it, the 15 days had passed, and out of the $2200 parts order, this was about $300-350, if memory serves me right.
We re-orderd;the right part, got the baler redone, with new cogs and chains. This was a triple cog or sprocket. The mistake they made was between the silage special and the regular baler of the same model.
The owner kept getting up in the middle of things, and messing it up. SIL had taken back the original part, got it all worked out, and Mike had been expecting a credit on our next statement. He had even been in the dealership a week or so ago, to talk about it, and picked up several hundred dollars' more stuff like net wrap.
Anyway, I had a bill that had arrived last week, and my OCD to get it paid was going DING-DING!No credit on it. Owner told Mike he'd have an answer by Friday, then Saturday. When Tuesday rolled around and no answer still, I said to call him and get his final verdict.
He wasn't willing to come off of his restocking fee BS, so I said to get my final balance on the account, to reflect everything charged since the statement, and tell them I would be picking up my part today. Wrote the check as "Final balance on account" and drove up there this morning.
Frist, they couldn't find my part. Then, once I got it, and had paid the account, I told the parts guy we had enjoyed doing business with him, but we were closing our account. He was apologetic, and I said it was nothing personal.
Owner's son tapped my elbow on the way out the door and asked how I was doing. I said, "I am done."
I know we are far from their biggest customer, but had done about $20,000 in cash business so far this year. Had an order in my hand for ten more baler parts yesterday, but replaced this tightwad with fifteen seconds of Internet searching for another dealership, and ordered from them instead.
Just my curiosity, but how much of a percentage markup do dealerships earn on parts?
My point to Mike was that this one wanted to retain his profit, on a part his staff had ordered wrong, and make us eat that loss. I decided to eat the whole thing and take my business elsewhere. On principle.
Price of my principle was less than $200...I can sell the thing on eBay, or make an office doorstop out of it.
Am I right about that margin or not?
