Machine Dealer Rant - long

I got into the same stupid mess with my Elna 945 serger. Bought it on ebay, needed help, the closest dealer is a jerk. I told them I would be happy to pay for lessons. She said I could by appointment at her convenience. I said I'd call when I had my calendar in hand. Before I left, I inspected her work on the display models. Hummmpf. Not as good as mine. There's an Elna serger group on Yahoo that's very nice and I learn from them, but don't imagine that they would know much about yours - but (!) our Kate Dicey is a serging expert (if you don't count that she goes so fast that she had her serger land in her lap one time). I'll bet she would be glad to help you with your questions. Meanwhile, back to the Elna jerk - she could have made good money from me but her arrogance cost her dearly. Polly

"witchystitcher" wrote > Bought a Brother Serger on Ebay from a dealer who had closed up shop.

After I left here, I flipped back to check my email. The serger group is talking about an 8-thread Babylock. Nope. No-sireee. Not me. Please tell me they're just kidding. Polly

what is TOL

Top of the Line

Babylock Evolve. It's been around a while. :) Babylock do some good sergers, but I have yet to find one that suits my budget and needs, rather than mere wishes!

Bad retailer! UGH!

Brother UK are giving EXCELLENT after sales service at the moment, but Husqvarna Viking are not... So my next new serger with a free arm may be the Brother rather than a new Huskylock!

Which model have you got? Oh, the Brother 2100. No - can't find a threading diagram on-line for that... But I'll keep looking!

Generally, serger thread paths are colour coded: look at the UPPER looper and see what colour code the thread path has: follow that thread path with that thread, and do thread UPPER looper first, then lower, then right and finally left needle.

My Babylock is sooo easy to thread and then they give you a video to demonstrate "how to". Mine is just a 4 thread but it serves me well.

I bought my Bernina 200E on E-bay. It was brand-new. My local Bernina refused to honor a warranty on it. Now just so I can fill you in, I purchased a 153QE, The little embroidery stand alone Bernina, and a 1200DA serger from her already. I saved about $1500 on the 200E on E-Bay. Long story short, I found another dealer who "adopted" my machine and gave me the warranty coverage. The orignal dealer lost me as a customer and comments to my friend how she never sees me any more. Bless my friend, she told her why too. LOL In the end the 200E is problem free and is a dream to operate. She owns 3 Bernina stores and many people do not like her attitude. She acts like she is doing you a favor taking your money. Can you say "cutting off your nose to spite your face?"

Linda in Tx

I got the threading order, but what I couldn't understand was the diagram for the threading of the lower looper just before it goes into the eye. The diagrams they give in the book are awful. The serger person at the dealer did figure it out and I can now use it, so I guess it was worth the $100. What she figured out did not look anything like the diagram. But for that price, they did not figure out how to thread it for the other stitches - the coverlock or the chain stitch. Now that the mystery of the lower looper is solved, maybe I can get that by myself.

Linda

That's exactly how I feel with this dealer. She could easily have made a $4,000 sale with a little sugar. I'm sure there is quite a profit on that. Not the mention all the extras that go along with owning this type of machine.

I bought my Bernina 440 used and found a multi-machine dealer who sells them. Talked to them about lessons. After hearing that I already knew how to use the Artista Software, used embroidery machines and had previously owned a Bernina, they told me that I was better off spending money on accessories than lessons. I ordered a few feet and the magnifying glass from them.

They also sell Babylock, so I will check out the TOL Babylock, which is the same as the Brother, and, unless the price difference is significant, will probably go with the Babylock if I decide on a new machine.

This made me think of a story my Bernina dealer tells. She had a woman come in and ask her all about the 200E. She spent time with this woman, thinking she had a potential sale here. Then the woman let her know she was buying a 200E on Ebay for considerably less than the dealer charges. Crass, just really crass.

I originally looked at the 440 at a dealer intending to buy it from her. She did spend a bit of time showing me the BSR and then left me alone to play with it for a while. She even said I could bring back a quilt and try it out on the machine. Life intervened for a while and I couldn't afford the machine. Later someone on the Yahoo list was selling one for considerably less and I bought hers. I called the dealer and discussed the cost of lessons, but, on her advice, instead of lessons, I dropped a few hundred dollars on accessories for the machine. I'm sure that over the time I own this machine, this dealer will have made quite a bit of money from me because she knows how to treat a customer.

Don't forget, with these embroidery machines, the cost of the machine is just the beginning.

I don't understand why a dealer would quibble about warranty/guarantee work. If you take your proof of purchase, so they know when the machine was bought, surely they can do the work? Don't the manufacturers reimburse them for that? That's the way it works here: during the five year guarantee period, any Husqvarna dealer would have fixed my machine and Husqvarna would pick up the tab (provided it was a guarantee covered problem, such as when the carrying handle broke on my Lily)), or would have sent it back to Husqvarna for fixing.

Two years ago I bought a Brother SE270 Disney model. It takes a different bobbin than the Singers I had at the time, so I looked up the only Brother dealer in the area, a 50-mile round trip from my house. When I get there and tell the woman behind the counter that I need bobbins for this machine, she tells me she's never heard of this model. Another woman, who was conducting a class at the time, contemptuously shouts out that it's one of those cheap models you buy off the Internet, and tells the other woman which bobbins to sell me. My initial reaction was to tell them to shove it, but I need the bobbins, and I did drive some distance, so I buy a dozen bobbins and leave.

When I get home, they're not the right bobbins and they don't fit. I don't even know what machine they *would* fit. Too bad her attitude cost her a sale on additional embroidery cards and a walking foot, which was what I was planning to buy in addition to the bobbins.

That's a bit different than going to a dealer with no intention of buying a machine from her in the first place, ya know?

Sounds like a winner. :-)

...cut...

I can't speak for the dealer, but they'll know if you weren't the original owner of a computerized Bernina. The machines actually run on Windows CE and they put your name and registration information into it before you leave the store.

What the *company* policy is on transferred machines is another issue. I can't speak to that, but I can probably find out.

I bought my machine here in the UK, but if I had stayed in the US, Nancy would have gotten my business too. As it is, they still get more than half my fabric/threads/books money, even though I live 5 timezone away. I love this store!

Hanne > I have a Singer Serger that I bought before I moved to Virginia, but had