Let's see now, first the Blizzard guys are arrogant and now Tarrant? You don't suppose your "magnetic charm" had anything to do with it?
I explained in another post that the aluminum manifold required by the 810 is sourced out and unique, this is the limiting factor in the production of their plows. They had problems with the first contractor who provided them, and found another who can provide a higher quality product. Unfortunately, the volume this contractor can handle is limited and when the supply of these manifolds runs out, so does the supply of 810s.
Blizzard has been investigating producing these manifolds in house, but apparently is not equipped to do so yet. Would anyone recommend them sacrificing quality over volume?
I mentioned how pleasantly I've been treated by the staff at Blizzard, both before and after my purchase of their plow. The same holds true for John Tarrant, owner of Tarrant Manufacturing.
After visiting their website, I called and asked to come to their facility to inspect the "Snowfighter", an F-550 based plow/sander truck. John immediately offered to bring one down to me to demo, a 2 1/2 hour trip for him. We met a couple days later, saw the truck and had lunch together.
After a little thought, I decided to order one. John brought the truck down to me a second time and we made out a detailed order sheet, based on some custom changes I wanted to make to my truck. The only thing John required from me was a handshake to start my order.
I was called a number of weeks later that the truck was ready, towards the end of June. I was in the real heat of business at that time and asked if they were open on Saturday. He stated no, they weren't, but when I explained that I couldn't afford to lose a day's work at that time during the week, he didn't hesitate to make arrangements for someone to make the delivery on a Saturday.
When I arrived early that Saturday morning, the employee was already there to greet me, and had the paperwork ready. He helped me load my truck and brought out some complimentary replacement parts. You couldn't ask for anyone to be more accomodating.
The original accounts in this thread don't anywhere near represent the experiences I've had with either company. I've met both John Tarrant and Kurt from Blizzard at shows months after purchasing their products, and both remember me by name and are very gracious. Real people in my opinion.