MAC702
Senior Member
- Location
- Clark County, NV
Their best product is the 20# catalog for holding down the tablecloth at the company picnic.
Generator installations- becoming "Authorized"
- Thread starter sw_ross
- Start date
- Status
Their best product is the 20# catalog for holding down the tablecloth at the company picnic.
GentekPower
Member
- Location
- Michigan
I think my post was misread or misinterpreted along the way. In NO WAY was I suggesting you need to purchase a generator in order to be a SERVICE dealer. You DO however have to buy the 'Air Cooled Level 1 parts kit' which is not cheap. That is the minimum purchase to become a new Service dealer. If you want to be a SALES dealer, you DO have to buy 1 air cooled standby generator to get setup. That is the minimum requirement.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
You have to buy at least one every 12/mo.
Also, if you’re not a service dealer, you are not eligible for any of the factory rebate coupons that are advertised. So if you sell a generator and the customer has a coupon, Generac will not honor it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
Did you mean to say "if you are not a SALES dealer:"?
Or can SERVICE dealers really submit customer purchase coupons?
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
I should clarify .... you have to be a service & sales dealer.
They will not honor rebates for sales-only dealers.
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GentekPower
Member
- Location
- Michigan
You DO NOT have to purchase a generator of any kind to be a SERVICE DEALER for them. Sales dealers are required to make the purchases of generators. Select dealers are required to purchase 1 home standby unit per year to maintain that status. You can be one without the other and you can also be both.
michaelc7a
Member
- Location
- California
Shipping damage
Shipping damage
Our biggest customer ordered a Generac from us for his biggest customer two months ago and it shipped two weeks later. The cheapest shipping company Generac could find (Estes) absolutely mashed it in shipment so that Estes actually refused to deliver it for over a week, just trying to stall the inevitable. We could see from a distance that it had been crushed and possibly dropped so we had to reject it. What happens next is what separates Generac from others. With another vendor, you could get a replacement in the queue at that point. Instead, Generac will wait until they receive the damaged generator back. Keep in mind that it is going back via the same disreputable shipping company (Estes) that held it on its way to us. Expect the return trip to take 1-2 months (the average we've experienced, with some taking 3-4 months, if they don't lose it altogether on the way back). Generac won't do a thing until it is received back in Wisconsin, including invoice for damages to the shipping company, and the shipping companies knows this which is why they intentionally stall shipments once/if damaged. Then, expect Generac to take their sweet time to evaluate it and, only then, will Generac put your order in the queue for a replacement. This has happened to us many times and it is always the same - there is never a fast turnaround on damaged shipments. If you weren't a dealer, you could cancel and re-order to avoid an added 3 month delay. Instead, you get a black eye with your biggest customer, who also gets a black eye with their biggest customer. If we had the option to simply cancel and re-order, we would have received a replacement last month. Instead, we're still looking at receiving the replacement over a month from now, at best.
This is especially relevant to becoming "authorized" with Generac because Generac will make you agree to only purchase from Generac direct (at a much higher price than you can get it for online, that much is certainly true). So there's no cancel and re-order, there's no advocate for you at Generac trying to rush your new generator to you: you're stuck with this process while anyone ordering even on eBay gets a lower price and, if damaged in shipment, the replacement order is only delayed by the original lead time because you can simply cancel that order and order another through a different channel. Also, when you're not a dealer, no one expects you to repair the generator yourself (which takes even longer since replacement enclosures have a super-long lead time), which also really sucks because you don't get paid for your time performing those repairs.
So mid-May is our best hope for a replacement for a simple generator that first shipped in February. That's assuming it isn't again dropped upside-down, destroying just about everything inside down to breaking the motor mounts in two, bending the frame and otherwise destroying the generator. Adding insult to injury, the shipping companies Generac chooses are so shady that they will even put on new cardboard boxes to conceal the damage in an effort to get out of taking responsibility. Yes, we've had to go to court before to even get basic reimbursement for the cost of parts, nevermind the months delay in getting those parts, the labor to install them, the hassle of having to go to court. Generac knows full well that the shipping companies are careless with their stuff yet they still choose the worst companies. We're vigilant about checking our shipments and opening the boxes (fired the one employee who accepted that Generac with a new box but was fubar inside). We actually have companies on the other side of the US order generators from us because they're tired of getting piles of poo when ordering direct from Generac...
Shipping damage
Our biggest customer ordered a Generac from us for his biggest customer two months ago and it shipped two weeks later. The cheapest shipping company Generac could find (Estes) absolutely mashed it in shipment so that Estes actually refused to deliver it for over a week, just trying to stall the inevitable. We could see from a distance that it had been crushed and possibly dropped so we had to reject it. What happens next is what separates Generac from others. With another vendor, you could get a replacement in the queue at that point. Instead, Generac will wait until they receive the damaged generator back. Keep in mind that it is going back via the same disreputable shipping company (Estes) that held it on its way to us. Expect the return trip to take 1-2 months (the average we've experienced, with some taking 3-4 months, if they don't lose it altogether on the way back). Generac won't do a thing until it is received back in Wisconsin, including invoice for damages to the shipping company, and the shipping companies knows this which is why they intentionally stall shipments once/if damaged. Then, expect Generac to take their sweet time to evaluate it and, only then, will Generac put your order in the queue for a replacement. This has happened to us many times and it is always the same - there is never a fast turnaround on damaged shipments. If you weren't a dealer, you could cancel and re-order to avoid an added 3 month delay. Instead, you get a black eye with your biggest customer, who also gets a black eye with their biggest customer. If we had the option to simply cancel and re-order, we would have received a replacement last month. Instead, we're still looking at receiving the replacement over a month from now, at best.
This is especially relevant to becoming "authorized" with Generac because Generac will make you agree to only purchase from Generac direct (at a much higher price than you can get it for online, that much is certainly true). So there's no cancel and re-order, there's no advocate for you at Generac trying to rush your new generator to you: you're stuck with this process while anyone ordering even on eBay gets a lower price and, if damaged in shipment, the replacement order is only delayed by the original lead time because you can simply cancel that order and order another through a different channel. Also, when you're not a dealer, no one expects you to repair the generator yourself (which takes even longer since replacement enclosures have a super-long lead time), which also really sucks because you don't get paid for your time performing those repairs.
So mid-May is our best hope for a replacement for a simple generator that first shipped in February. That's assuming it isn't again dropped upside-down, destroying just about everything inside down to breaking the motor mounts in two, bending the frame and otherwise destroying the generator. Adding insult to injury, the shipping companies Generac chooses are so shady that they will even put on new cardboard boxes to conceal the damage in an effort to get out of taking responsibility. Yes, we've had to go to court before to even get basic reimbursement for the cost of parts, nevermind the months delay in getting those parts, the labor to install them, the hassle of having to go to court. Generac knows full well that the shipping companies are careless with their stuff yet they still choose the worst companies. We're vigilant about checking our shipments and opening the boxes (fired the one employee who accepted that Generac with a new box but was fubar inside). We actually have companies on the other side of the US order generators from us because they're tired of getting piles of poo when ordering direct from Generac...
michaelc7a
Member
- Location
- California
How Generac handles shipping damage claims
How Generac handles shipping damage claims
The drama continues... So this generator that we rejected for shipping damage, that Generac put at the absolute back of every queue and took three times as long to replace as it did to first order, finally arrived and...
wait for it...
It appears someone again drove a forklift about four inches into a permanent panel (why can't they aim for something easy like a removable door?). Nothing internal was damaged this time, however (radiator, engine, controls were all fine - just the enclosure is munged).
Generac often requires you to pursue the shipping company yourself and, even if Generac does offer to cover the part and labor, travel is usually not covered. Since it was already returned once, Generac had "mercy" on us and agreed to pay us to repair it on site. Except this generator is on a rooftop with normal access through a small hatch. But I digress...
Adding insult to injury, after we've delivered the generator to the customer, Generac reneged so we can't even get Generac to pay for the damaged panel, much less labor and travel. Where's the poop emoji when you need one?
Did I already mention that roughly half of the generators we get from "Generac - we only use the lowest price shipper - Generators" arrive with shipping damage? It wouldn't be so bad if Generac would provide decently designed protection for their gens. What would that cost them, really, to use a bit of plywood in their box? When you consider they transport their air-cooled gens stacked, not having them reinforced for lateral motion is absurd. Digression #2...
How Generac handles shipping damage claims
The drama continues... So this generator that we rejected for shipping damage, that Generac put at the absolute back of every queue and took three times as long to replace as it did to first order, finally arrived and...
wait for it...
It appears someone again drove a forklift about four inches into a permanent panel (why can't they aim for something easy like a removable door?). Nothing internal was damaged this time, however (radiator, engine, controls were all fine - just the enclosure is munged).
Generac often requires you to pursue the shipping company yourself and, even if Generac does offer to cover the part and labor, travel is usually not covered. Since it was already returned once, Generac had "mercy" on us and agreed to pay us to repair it on site. Except this generator is on a rooftop with normal access through a small hatch. But I digress...
Adding insult to injury, after we've delivered the generator to the customer, Generac reneged so we can't even get Generac to pay for the damaged panel, much less labor and travel. Where's the poop emoji when you need one?
Did I already mention that roughly half of the generators we get from "Generac - we only use the lowest price shipper - Generators" arrive with shipping damage? It wouldn't be so bad if Generac would provide decently designed protection for their gens. What would that cost them, really, to use a bit of plywood in their box? When you consider they transport their air-cooled gens stacked, not having them reinforced for lateral motion is absurd. Digression #2...
Last edited:
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I've never had a Generac arrive damaged, but then, I've never ordered from Generac.
I usually buy from these guys:
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/
https://www.powerequipmentdirect.com/
They're actually the same company.
I usually buy from these guys:
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/
https://www.powerequipmentdirect.com/
They're actually the same company.
- Status