# Ariens Customer Service



## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

When I started my search for a suitable snowblower, on another thread I asked the kind people on here about their thoughts on my need to have outside - under cover storage as well as ability to get up the two steps to the porch.

In conversations with many here and with dealers, both Ariens and Honda, I was able to develop some insight into what would work best for me. Honda, particularly, was very approachable.

On the other hand, and this is the reason for the thread here, is that I received a perfunctory boiler plate response from Ariens telling me the opposite of what my Colorado contacts that deal Ariens said by tellling me what I "couldn't do." 

Would it not be better for a manufacturer, an American manufacturer as well, to try to tell me what I "could" do? It just seems that very little thought was given to my situation and no attempt to reach out and discuss my particular situation.

In my business, I always impressed on my people to see what you can do and not what you can't do.

Ok, got that off my chest, FWIW....

Captain Dave
Breck


----------



## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

Well, we dont know what you asked, or what they said in reply..
therefore we cant tell if you were right, or if Ariens was perhaps right and gave you good advice, but it wasn't what you wanted to hear.
So, with no detail, we dont know who to believe.

Scot


----------



## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

Wasn't a matter of believing one or the other, but to me, at least, the response indicated Ariens could care less about going the extra mile to find common ground with me. I'm not looking for any validation, I simply made an observation from my own personal point of view having run a business for over thirty years that if one of my employees or partners responded with what I would call a similar "shrug" we would talk about it.

It's all good. I was actually posting for the benefit of Ariens. But.....what do I know.


----------



## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

I'm bummed they let you down like that. Every experience I have had with Ariens has been super positive, which is why I buy their products now. Snowblowers, and even a lawn mower. I reward good customer service by continuing to be a loyal customer. I wonder if perhaps they were just having a bad day or were just simply clueless and didn't know how to handle that situation properly.


----------



## Dauntae (Nov 10, 2016)

I contacted Ariens on a used way out of warrantee blower and got a response the next day not only with a answer of will this fit, but a correct part number for the item I was inquiring about and a brief description of how to install, I'd say you may have gotten a newer employee answering your question, most companies won't even reply to inquiraries on a 10 yr old machine.


----------



## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

It's really tough to form an opinion on a one-sided conversation. And, seeing there are 3 sides to the truth, it's ultra dangerous territory. But as far as I know, Ariens designs and manufactures Outdoor power Equipment. Are they in the stair fabrication business now??? If not, perhaps they weren't confident dispatching advice on how many or what type of stairs their machines could or could not climb. For strictly legal reasons I imagine. GLuck, Jay


----------



## matto (Nov 5, 2016)

I emailed ariens customer support asking them for their phone number. They replied telling me they don't have one and I should go to a dealer. 

I wasn't particularly happy with that reply either.

To their credit I explained that I had already been to multiple dealers and they were not able to help me. Ariens then answered all my questions via email.


----------



## ih8thepackers (Jan 4, 2014)

In my opinion Ariens customer service is top notch...any time I had to contact them always ended with positive experience...


----------



## GoBlowSnow (Sep 4, 2015)

Yup. As a time and cost savings thing, many companies are doing away with dial in customer support phone numbers and now require correspondence via e-mail type of services. But e-mail isn't for everyone. Ah well. Glad they took care of you. I do think that many times the local dealers for various companies are of no help at all.


----------



## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

JayzAuto1 said:


> It's really tough to form an opinion on a one-sided conversation. And, seeing there are 3 sides to the truth, it's ultra dangerous territory. But as far as I know, Ariens designs and manufactures Outdoor power Equipment. Are they in the stair fabrication business now??? If not, perhaps they weren't confident dispatching advice on how many or what type of stairs their machines could or could not climb. For strictly legal reasons I imagine. GLuck, Jay


Jay, I think you- and possibly others - were somewhat confused about the intent of my original posting.

First, it was my intent to bring to the attention of Ariens, I thought, that from someone such as me who has run a company and formulated customer relations policy, that I felt a terse reply not presenting alternatives or possible solutions was striking: to me. I invited input from others to see how their experiences might have compared.

Second, respectfully, any suggestion that I was somehow referring in any fashion to "stair fabrication" is, frankly, silly. 

Perhaps I did not spend enough time in my opening post explaining my motives and desires for forum input but I didn't feel at the time I would be opening up Pandora's box. It simply felt that the information being provided to me by Ariens was impersonal and terse, while the information from dealers I called was much more personal and conflicted with actual experience of them which encouraged me about my two main issues at hand.

Thanks, Jay,

Captain Dave


----------



## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

GAfternoon Captain D, I understand. And as a small biz owner for 30+ years, that had employees,I would stress to my guys, be helpful. be informative, BUT, stay in your lane. Ex. I'm in Auto/Truck/Small engine repair/sales/service. Customer asks my secretary about vehicles....fine to give opinions about vehicles...... But DO NOT answer questions about parking a D8 on a crickety wooden floor of a barn. What does she know about crickety floors in Barns??? IDK either. But when the D8 crashes through the floor, lawyers come a knocking, suggesting my secretary was dispatching advice about buildings. Best to avoid such conflicts in a litigious society. I simply cannot speak for Ariens, but I'm a one man show, fixing snowblowers. I don't want to know about stairs at a customers house, ESP when I've never seen such stairs. Plus, I'm busy working 23.5 hours/day..... I'm short with customers also, when they ask the same question 4 different ways..... It becomes "Silly" I sincerely hope you get the answers you are looking for. 

GLuck, Jay


----------



## djc11369 (Feb 17, 2014)

This may be nitpicking but my last response from support seemed to be a rushed answer as well as written by an individual with a 5th grade english literacy level. To me, a support person that is in contact with a customer should be both knowledgeable and have good communication skills which this person seemed to possess neither. Maybe I'm just getting old and expecting too much. :icon-shrug:


----------



## RIT333 (Feb 6, 2014)

djc11369 said:


> .
> 
> Maybe I'm just getting old and expecting too much. :icon-shrug:



It "Ain't" like the old days anymore. Kids these days care about video games, their phones, and that's about it. Sorry Kids !


----------



## Cardo111 (Feb 16, 2015)

interesting thread not sure what the original issue was. I always promoted Ariens usually excellent support, as another member stated you may have gotten a newer employee. I have had better experiences asking to speak directly with their tech support team rather than regular customer service. I am grateful that at this point they are still providing domestic customer support without the language/cultural barriers often experienced from support outsourced to other countries.


----------



## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

Guys, don't take this the wrong way....As I'm certainly NOT a cheerleader for Ariens. I LOVE their products. I research, study, download anything I can (that's how I found THIS Forum), to become an Informed Idiot, IF I have to reach out to ANY company. And I'm making no excuses for their perceived slights. I will only give you my experiences. Who answers the phone over there?? IDK either. But if it was Dougie, his dog died recently (RIP, Spot). I know they are busy, as it's winter. Any snowblower company that's NOT busy this time of year, won't be in the snowblower game much longer. A little trick I learned a while ago, was to talk to engineering dept. They are knowledgeable, sometimes have answers I'm looking for, can talk the same language, and generally appreciate talking to someone other than each other. I've established relationships with a couple guys from a few companies. I keep their emails on file, and remembering their names GREATLY increases the odds of getting a quick honest answer. Much better than getting poor Dougie (who's dog just died) and who just happened to grab the phone at the time because Marianne was in the bathroom (she got a bad bagel, as it was told to me, so she was unhappy too). 

GLuck in you Quest for THE TRUTH!!!!! Jay


----------



## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

JayzAuto1 said:


> Guys, don't take this the wrong way....As I'm certainly NOT a cheerleader for Ariens. I LOVE their products. I research, study, download anything I can (that's how I found THIS Forum), to become an Informed Idiot, IF I have to reach out to ANY company. And I'm making no excuses for their perceived slights. I will only give you my experiences. Who answers the phone over there?? IDK either. But if it was Dougie, his dog died recently (RIP, Spot). I know they are busy, as it's winter. Any snowblower company that's NOT busy this time of year, won't be in the snowblower game much longer. A little trick I learned a while ago, was to talk to engineering dept. They are knowledgeable, sometimes have answers I'm looking for, can talk the same language, and generally appreciate talking to someone other than each other. I've established relationships with a couple guys from a few companies. I keep their emails on file, and remembering their names GREATLY increases the odds of getting a quick honest answer. Much better than getting poor Dougie (who's dog just died) and who just happened to grab the phone at the time because Marianne was in the bathroom (she got a bad bagel, as it was told to me, so she was unhappy too).
> 
> GLuck in you Quest for THE TRUTH!!!!! Jay


Jay, I'm down with that. It wasn't my original intent to start a firestorm on here - I am the new kid on the block after all - just posting an innocent observation that perhaps might be looked at by an Ariens guy who might want to bring that up at a monthly ( and I love dogs too, I have two Goldens out here on the mountains! and I've had a bad bagel or two as well, hey, my daughter used to work in the best bagel shop in town!)

All kidding aside, I hear ya Jay. I've been around long enough to know that guys like you and many others on here are the true experts having taking apart many a snow blower or other pieces of machinery. You also speak to the nuts and bolts people at the various companies who appreciate your input. In the world I worked in, I understood the nuance of working relationships and spoke with knowledgeable people who I knew and trusted. Me being me, I wanted the quick fix and the "answer" right then and there about where to spend some big bucks! That's was not only naive but not very well thought out.

I certainly didn't mean to slight anyone and perhaps not having been around here long enough, I stepped on my...Well, ya know. Yeah, here I am at the time of the year for most of you that the big time snow will be coming to an end while I have two and a half months more to go and I'm as dumb as a rock about all you guys' forte. (Twenty years of shoveling instead of buying a snowblower does that I guess) I'm jumping into this at the tail end of what for you guys is busy season. 

So, it's kumbaya for me now and I will say I'm learning a lot on here....which makes decision making that much more difficult. Do I now shovel until the beginning of next season and see what the latest and greatest is? Beats me. I'm seeing both an Ariens guy and a Honda guy tomorrow. Just look at what retirement has done to me!

I just wanna say I love the expertise and source materials on here. Good stuff. Thanks to everyone and have a great week coming up. As we would say in my business, that is neither a sea story nor a fairy tale.

Be safe out there......

Dave


----------



## JayzAuto1 (Jul 25, 2016)

No offense taken, I enjoy sparring occasionally, ESP, with customer service, because it takes a lot for me to even make that call. Then I found out about engineering dept's. I had no idea I could even communicate with them. But as I climbed the ladder at a S/B company, over a weeks time, no one was able to answer my questions. Again, I thoroughly researched the issue, but being a brand new design, it had weak support. Of course, I was getting irritated, and many are quick to 'Pass the Buck". So that's when I was refereed to the transmission manufacture of said S/B. I climbed that ladder, and was finally given to an engineer. He was busy, on the road, unavailable, yada yada yada, but when I wouldn't leave him alone, he relented and we developed a relationship. I now send him Christmas e-cards as a joke. I finally got my answers, although not the one I wanted to hear, but a solution none the less. After learning that trick, when I contact a company, I make sure to find out the engineers name and title before I contact him/her. Now, when I contact them, it may appear (OR, I make it appear) that I am continuing a previously discussed issue. They are busy too, and never question my intentions. Of course, I've already researched the issue, so I'm not asking stupid questions, such as, "How do I actually take the transmission OUT, so I can check what your asking me to check". In the end, it's faster, and I'm dealing with a professional that actually has the answers. May be Slightly underhanded, but beats calling India waiting for a canned answer that I've already checked. 

GLuck, JAY


----------



## Breckcapt (Jan 4, 2017)

Well, the long search is over for what I'm getting: it will be the HSS928ATD but I will be waiting until the next season models to come out so this 'old man be shoveling for a few more months. 

The story is I had two dealers in the county that sell them, indeed one did have a 928 but when in need of service it would be incumbent upon me to get the unit over to the other side of the county which is a problem as I have a van and an SUV. Further, service would be up in Wyoming with a two week turnaround. I'd have to get it as well.

The other dealer is certified Honda and they perform service in house and, for a small fee of course, will deliver and pick up as needed for as long as I own it. They're a smaller local retailer and I'm a guy who likes to support local business anyway. They didn't have one in stock and frankly I'd like to get a manual and start learning about the guts of this baby I'll be getting. I'll trail you guys round on here and suck up any knowledge I can get. Besides, maybe next year's model will address some things I have read about such as speed reductions after direction reversals, chute clogging, directional stability issues, and maybe they'll add a few more amenities to sweeten this old man's life a little. 

Appreciate this site and if anyone has suggestions on what I may want to study or view on you tube have at it. 

I'll be lurking around and maybe I'll throw a few sea stories at ya sometime when the winter's over. Like the time I had a ship I was piloting lose power and we were heading for an SSN and the Spanish Captain of the ship was on his knees praying because the anchor wouldn't let go. Thirty years ago and it's like it happened yesterday.

Later guys and ladies,

Captain Dave


----------

