Machine Pricing
09-07-2011, 01:34 PM
#111
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 155
[quote=Grannymom]Here's another question - what is it that these $$$ machines do that make people willing to mortgage the house to buy them?
I have Viking 870 with a lot of bells and whistles and a 40 year old Kenmore zig zag with cams for fancy stitches. Truth is I sew on my Viking most of the time - but at a cost.
How often do I need to spend $100 + to "service" my Kenmore - never. I know it intimately, can oil it and clean it thoroughly myself. Now, our machines are sealed so we can no longer care for them. Even the mechanical ones. My DIL has a new Kenmore, but she has to take it in for cleaning and oiling because she cannot get to the working parts.
Automatic tension on my 870 is usually very nice but occasionally I wish it were easier for me to control like the Kenmore. Thread cutting, nice when it works but it fell apart at one point and was expensive to fix so now I only use it in the middle of a big quilt.
Foot up, needle down - this I like, but even than, after sewing again on my Kenmore for awhile I get into the rhythm were I have to admit it doesn't make a lot of difference.
Bobbin winding - much more stable on the Kenmore.
Buttonholes - not nearly the options on the Kenmore, but they are reliable and well done, and I have never had to tear one out because the machine didn't do right. Viking - alas, I'm always a tad surprised when I do get a good buttonhole.
And, to be honest, while I pretty much have my Viking figured out and do well with it, it is a lot more finicky than the Kenmore which seems to sew anything pretty easily without balking. Even FMQ without any special foot - I just reduce the pressure foot pressure.
To answer your question, Grannymom, I'm not sure what that spending the big bucks makes a lot of sense unless money really isn't much of an object.
I have Viking 870 with a lot of bells and whistles and a 40 year old Kenmore zig zag with cams for fancy stitches. Truth is I sew on my Viking most of the time - but at a cost.
How often do I need to spend $100 + to "service" my Kenmore - never. I know it intimately, can oil it and clean it thoroughly myself. Now, our machines are sealed so we can no longer care for them. Even the mechanical ones. My DIL has a new Kenmore, but she has to take it in for cleaning and oiling because she cannot get to the working parts.
Automatic tension on my 870 is usually very nice but occasionally I wish it were easier for me to control like the Kenmore. Thread cutting, nice when it works but it fell apart at one point and was expensive to fix so now I only use it in the middle of a big quilt.
Foot up, needle down - this I like, but even than, after sewing again on my Kenmore for awhile I get into the rhythm were I have to admit it doesn't make a lot of difference.
Bobbin winding - much more stable on the Kenmore.
Buttonholes - not nearly the options on the Kenmore, but they are reliable and well done, and I have never had to tear one out because the machine didn't do right. Viking - alas, I'm always a tad surprised when I do get a good buttonhole.
And, to be honest, while I pretty much have my Viking figured out and do well with it, it is a lot more finicky than the Kenmore which seems to sew anything pretty easily without balking. Even FMQ without any special foot - I just reduce the pressure foot pressure.
To answer your question, Grannymom, I'm not sure what that spending the big bucks makes a lot of sense unless money really isn't much of an object.
09-09-2011, 08:29 PM
#112
Super Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Round Rock,Texas
Posts: 6,135
Originally Posted by grannie cheechee
Iwent to buy a new car, a few yrs back, and the salesman told me that when I brought my husband in, he would tell me the price. I laughed at that one, and told him I had the check book in my purse. I wonder what would happen if I sent my DH into a shop to buy a machine. Lol
Dh only needed to be there to cosign the loan.
09-09-2011, 08:31 PM
#113
Super Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Round Rock,Texas
Posts: 6,135
Originally Posted by Maggieloe
I bought a Viking Sapphire 870 3 years ago. Local dealer proudly advertised his was the lowest price anywhere - $2300, and he was so sure, he would "beat" any other price. When I went to the Viking website I had to give my address to get a Viking dealer and I was only given this one dealer so of course there was no way to compare prices.
I had to use my father's address in San Francisco for the website to give me additional dealers.
Then I began calling around. I found a place in the San Francisco Bay area that would sell the machine to me for $1699. I returned to my local dealer and to his credit, he did meet the price. But he was not at all pleased about it and implied that I had somehow cheated.
I hadn't cheated. This is called competition but the sewing machine manufactures and dealers manage to keep price competition very difficult and it seems that we all become cowed by this and go along with the secrecy by not quoting prices on list serves etc.
I've known a few people to be really "taken" in sewing machine purchases because it is so difficult to find what they usually sell for.
I had to use my father's address in San Francisco for the website to give me additional dealers.
Then I began calling around. I found a place in the San Francisco Bay area that would sell the machine to me for $1699. I returned to my local dealer and to his credit, he did meet the price. But he was not at all pleased about it and implied that I had somehow cheated.
I hadn't cheated. This is called competition but the sewing machine manufactures and dealers manage to keep price competition very difficult and it seems that we all become cowed by this and go along with the secrecy by not quoting prices on list serves etc.
I've known a few people to be really "taken" in sewing machine purchases because it is so difficult to find what they usually sell for.
09-29-2011, 04:59 AM
#117
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: North Kansas City, MO
Posts: 561
Manufacturers/Dealers are afraid customers will be scared off by a listed high price. By having to request price, you give the salesmen the opportunity to justify his price by pointing out all the "must haves" of his machine that the cheaper don't have.
This from a college Marketing/Merchandising course years and years ago LOL
This from a college Marketing/Merchandising course years and years ago LOL
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