Somebody posted that the TPE mowers were built to the standard of the old 216. Not sure of the quality of the DMC copies. Not game to be the first to try. Would like to hear from anyone who has bought the DMC copy.
G'day Dylan,
sorry to miss the initial rush of questions, but I'd given up on ever getting any sort of response from Honda Australia almost 10 years ago.
You can imagine it was quite a surprise when I stumbled on this thread tonight in a different section of the mowing forum to where I have spent years passing on the information to contractors I have developed in the field. The same information I have sent to Honda in letters and emails with only an automated response.
Let's hope your interest in our opinions is a sign of possible future change in Honda Australia's arrogant attitude.
Most of the early problems, feedback and innovations can be found in the thread that deals with trying to resolve the design faults of the HRU216.
You will see it has had almost 24,000 views to date, I don't know the significance of Internet data, but to me it seems like a lot of people.
Give it a good read - here's the link http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/sh...s-What-s-yours
Following the consistent failure of Honda Australia to listen to it's Contractor customers for more than a decade (10 years), and the introduction of the latest series of Honda Mowers with all of the old problems repeated, I figured it was time to look elsewhere. I still buy Honda - but from the USA. THis thread has had 7,700 views in the past 9 months - once again, read and learn.
http://www.indmowing.com.au/forum/sh...-an-Aussie-HRU
Honda Australia has done an awful lot of damage to it's reputation with contractors over the past decade. The need for a better power equipment supplier has developed to the point where a competitor could take advantage of Honda's weakened position in the Australian market and make a long term significant impact on it's market share.
Honda has repeated the mistakes of the McCulloch chainsaw brand in the early 80's - Once an industry giant, McCulloch now struggles to sell entry priced domestic products.
I'll be very interested to see if this little exercise in PR patching ends up bearing fruit for the contractor.
PM me if you need to, or if they sack the R&D manager and want me to do the job properly.
"Can't" is a dirty 4 letter word.
If someone says "Can't" , take the "T" off the end and brew it.
Sip on a mugfull, relax, and take a look at what you've got left to work with.
Hey Arfa, well said but I think Dylan is only here for Sales, he only visits when there is a sale coming up or only selectively answers the easy questions, where there is a possibility of a sale. Good luck
"Can't" is a dirty 4 letter word.
If someone says "Can't" , take the "T" off the end and brew it.
Sip on a mugfull, relax, and take a look at what you've got left to work with.
Just from what I see around the traps, they dont have it as much as they did, when I started 7 years ago, almost every trailer you saw had a honda, not anymore. When anyone used to ask me what mower to get, I automatically said Honda, not anymore, in fact I say dont buy honda. Why, poor after sales service, poor performance (ie when wet), lack of responsiveness to questions. COST (just over the top for what you get)
Personally, I like Honda's equipment, mowers mainly, though I agree their prices are too high and their customer service to contractors when it comes to warranty claims is absolutely pathetic.
I once had a huge argument with Honda over a brush cutter warranty repair, even after speaking to senior management there they still refused to repair the unit under warranty. Had a similar problem with Stihl 3 years ago, spoke to senior management about my motor blowing up in my Stihl BR600 backpack blower, no problems, Stihl fitted a new engine as they realised they where at fault. Honda - take note.
Matt - Colorscape Gardening
http://www.colorscapegardening.com.au
http://www.facebook.com/colorscapegardening
yeah, Hondas had the Richard in Australia. the time for them to pull up their sox is looong gone.
theyre mostly known as the has been of mowers.
most guys I know are buying rover now.
all it'll take is rover getting a bit more reliable, and Honda will be gooooneski for good.
Honda? yeah theyre expensive, heavy, and mow like cr@p in wet or heavy grass. who'd want one?
Hopefully Honda pull their finger out one day? Not sure where to start asking questions. I havent owned a honda mower for 8? years because the last one I brought fell to pieces. I pretty much replaced every bit with parts from my very old 195 mower. Including the base that got cracks and holes all over it and the engine that lost all grunt after about 18 months. My brother still has that mower which is my 195 that would be more than 20 years old now. Still starts and runs well. They had a product that was awesome and turned it to rubbish. Cant see a Honda being put on my trailer any time in the future. Sorry about the rant but Im still cant see ANY improvments made to honda products in the last 10 years. It disappointing!
cheers Rick
I saw this thread and posted without reading the other posts. Its funny that most have the same issues with a product that used to be the only way to go. When I got my new 196. I thought it would be a better mower than my 10 year old 195. Wrong! after having many issue with the design of evrything, small holes started to appear in the base at about 7-8 months. I went to the dealer and they told me I had been misteating it and I had been hitting too many stones etc. Yes maybe that was true, but it had an easier time than the old faithful 195 ever had. I was using the old mower for the feral jobs so I wouldnt ruin the nice new 196. I called honda and they said the same thing. Got 18 months out of it before the engine was shagged. Thats when I brought my Bushranger and I found what I was missing out on.
Last edited by administrator; 23-09-2013 at 10:10 AM.
Thanks for your feedback Arfa. I've been at Honda for just on a year now, so obviously I'm still learning about the industry, and issues that came up a decade ago. I will, however, go through those threads you mention and pass the concerns and questions up the ladder where I can.
Over the past few months I know for certain[/I] that feedback proposed on this forum has been shown not only to senior engineers and business planners here at Honda Australia, but also to decision-makers at head office in Japan. I know this because I helped develop the presentation on behalf of concerned Australian contractors.
I'm very happy to report that action has been taken on one of the issues that's been brought up on this forum by many contractors. Without jumping the gun with details, the results wil be available at Honda dealerships very soon (at this stage it is looking like before the end of the year). I will be sure to keep you posted on this.
bb1, I'm not sure what you mean I'm only here when there's a sale coming up. I've been active on this forum (across a number of different threads) since near the start of the year and Honda certainly hasn'thad a constant sale since then (would be against ACCC regulations)! I try to monitor this forum as best as possible; you've probably noticed from post date-stamps there is often plenty of time between some posts i.e. before Arfa's post it was 4 weeks since the last person posted.
When you say I'm "only here for sales", I'm sure you'll agree that encouraging contractors to use Honda products is a sales-focused task, not only from the usage of the contractors yourselves, but also the impact that word-of-mouth has in the industry (and for domestic users as well). So I am not trying to hide the fact that sales are a major reason why I'm here (at the end of the day, if no-one's buying Honda products then I'm out of the job!), but it's also to gauge contractor sentiment and, where possible, offer an official opinion about an issue/question.
The fact that Honda has an official presence on this forum hopefully indicates that the company does take contractor concerns seriously. Granted, my personal experience on this forum has been relatively Honda-focused, but I haven't seen an official presence from any competitors listening as intently to contractor conversations (although I am more than happy to be proven wrong!)
Although I might not respond to every question/issue, I take note of all pertinent issues and pass them up the chain where appropriate.
Cheers,
Dylan
Honda - The Power of Dreams
powerequipment.honda.com.au
Thankyou Dylan we appreciate your assistance, i did warn you it would be pritty hot for Honda and you have taken it very well ,alot of concerns regarding new Honda Models not all contractors like them including me lol .I am sure Honda is taking the comments very seriously and because of the size of the company i understand it will take time . Competition is fierce .
Dylan,
Thanks for fianlly answering one of my posts, I will refer you to several posts I made in the "What we want from Honda" thread for which I am still patiently waiting answers on, the posts are soemwhere between 36 and 43.
Thus far the only solution you have provided me for my queries was to try to "Sell" me a big bag kit, which even you own dealers are suspect of, and as I noted in one of my posts (still unanswered), significantly downgrades the mower, as confirmed by your dealers.
Yes it is Honda job to sell mowers, but one of the first speels on one of this posts by Admin and yourself, was that you werent here to push sales (which we all know you are), but also to help us contractors with genuine issues, I am not convinced that is what is happening. Just today again I was out with my new and improved Honda 196, mowing a little bit of wet grass and was blocked at least 10 times, what is honda doing to fix our problems, the only I have seen from you is that it will take years for Honda to change models, well thats not helping us contractors. What are you doding to make service departments more resposnsive to our needs. What are you doing to make the price realistic.
Maybe you didnt answer my queries because I have already stated some where that once my current dud 196 breaks, I am changing brands, thats fine, I am up front with that fact, but I would have thought Honda would be trying to retain every customer, not admit I have lost them, so I will ignore them.
Bert
Sorry meant to comment on your promise of something exciting by the end of this year. I recall when I went to buy my second 196, I was urged by the dealer to wait for the new and improved 196, which I did because he said it would be even better, what did I wait for, a Hakf chute heavy weight monster that doesnt mow in the wet. The dealers response, just mow the lawn twice. Your response buy a big bag kit, you forgot to mention that it downgrades the mower..
You are not saying if this exciting thing is to fix the 196 or or if it is the same rumour I have heard, which is that Honda is bringing out a new sun hat for us contractors, but it was due to come out a month ago, but you forgot to put the rim on the initial models, and it only fitted child size heads, so you had to send it back for a re think. And I am sure that even if it was to fix the 196, you would be making us pay dearly for it.
Anyway back to looking after the kids for school holidays and trying to run a business with dodgy equipment.
In one of your posts you said the current mowers were put together with a select bunch of contractors from Melbourne. Hands up all you guys in Melbourne or anywhere else who were consulted over the latest great thing from Honda.