I think my John Deere dealer is becoming "lazy"

[Johndeere3720]

My local deere dealer was also recently bought out by a "mega" dealer, they are now part of the Pape' group. I have never bought new machinery, both my Deere's are used, one even came from a New Holland dealer! However, I have a great relationship with my local dealer. The parts guys are awesome, they can get me parts within a couple days and the prices aren't too bad, plus they have interests in other things that I have interests in (Jeeps especially). Everyone working in the showroom knows me by name (I must spend too much $ there ). In my opinion they must be doing something right, I have came in just to visit a few times and always felt welcome, not like they try to push you out the door if your not gonna buy something.

[J F]

My local deere dealer was also recently bought out by a "mega" dealer, they are now part of the Pape' group. I have never bought new machinery, both my Deere's are used, one even came from a New Holland dealer!

However, I have a great relationship with my local dealer. The parts guys are awesome, they can get me parts within a couple days and the prices aren't too bad, plus they have interests in other things that I have interests in (Jeeps especially). Everyone working in the showroom knows me by name (I must spend too much $ there ).

In my opinion they must be doing something right, I have came in just to visit a few times and always felt welcome, not like they try to push you out the door if your not gonna buy something.

Nice.

[plowindeeper]

When I bought my tractor in 2005 I went to my local dealer 2 or 3 times and not one person would speak to me. After the third time I was fed up went in and demanded a price got a quote at $27,000. Me and my great uncle were talking about this. He said "Do you want it", I said "Yea for about $20,000 or so". He said lets go get it then. We drove up there,the owner, not a salesman met us at the door, we set down in his office. He asked what he could do for us. Uncle told him the problem, told him I'd give $17,500 if it was delivered today. Dealer jumped up and shook our hands and the deal was done.

My great uncle buys about 1/2 million a year and has a large farm and cattle operation along with a dirt construction and trucking company.

I was at another JD dealer one time and the parts guy told me flat out "I don't know anything about anything but cotton pickers and combines and looked over at the other guy and said he only knows about sprayers, planters and 70's thru 80's tractors so we can't help you with that".
At least they were honest.

When I was trying to buy a JD tiller, one of the independent dealers that was over took and closed by JD beat the mega dealer by $2500 on a less than $10,000 item that's a lot of differance.

Yes it pays to shop around

FYI my dealer treats me great now after I've been going there for about 8 years.

[scobrado]

My great uncle buys about 1/2 million a year and has a large farm and cattle operation along with a dirt construction and trucking company.

...Yes it pays to shop around .

It pays to have a rich great uncle too! I gotta get me one of those.

[Coyote machine]

Sad but true, it's not just JD who is treating the smaller customer base like _ _ _ _. I had a bank trust company tell me that any account under $100K was now going to be charged $5000/year for handling the account. That tells me they do NOT want any business that 'small' (in their minds), and to go away or pay the price. So from a couple hundred/mo on average to $5K/yr for doing NOTHING- you bet I'm GONE!
Companies and banks are going for the BIG dollars because they can and want to. their not too silent message is if you want to get hammered then stick around, otherwise scram, you're wasting our time. Smaller customers take to much time and manpower to handle, and most important don't generate big enough sales. One of the 4th oldest JD dealers was put out recently in NH. It is a sign of the times and it isn't going to get better for those who are used to personalized service. I hate to see it happen, but it is reality and one needs to see the writing on the wall. MEGA is the wave, and its going to sink the small guys. They're powerless to stop the tide without serious money they just don't have.
Choose where you buy and what color wisely; 'cause if they don't want to sell to you, how well are they going to service you?!

[sam5570]

you know i was reading these post and i be darn i walked into the den Sunday night and the wife was watching donald trump's your fired and if you seen it it was carried out just like what were talking about here.trace atkins raised over 200 thousand more than the other team and had sign's on the windows closed for private event. the other team opened there doors to the public and had a bunch more people but raised alot less money. trace went after the big dogs checks and the other team went to the street. i have never seen that show before and may not see it again but i just thought it fit so well with what we are saying here.

[ctlguy]

"

Around my area, John deere bends over backwards for the municipalities. They don't question prices, they just phone and say I want 10 zero-turns. They can pencil in any numbers and it will be signed by a city employee and paid for by the tax payers.

Kind of doubt that, entirely possible your community however is a member of a purchasing group, then items are already bid out and the price is set ahead of time. Kind of like the federal purchasing programs where price is contracted ahead of time.

[jdbnh]

I am a NH dealer and the deere dealer in our town in Texas is doing the same thing. Im not just saying this because im a NH dealer. For instance, a BIG dairy customer who told me to my face two years ago that while he likes NH hay equipment he will never by anything but a GREEN tractor. Well he now owns 5 BLUE tractors bought from me, the smallest being 125hp. He isnt the only one either. Deere is really doing some stupid stuff IMO, and the customers are going else where. THe people that i have even quoted equipment too and they still go buy a Deere, well they regret the purchase. Service, and jsut the over all demeanor of the dealership has gone to crap. This dealer was once a family owned one store place. They are now a 5 store place and think they are the sh..

[Tenn_Blue]

The dealer where we bought our 2320 is a smaller local dealer (Florida) - still is. They sell mostly L&G stuff and commercial landscape equipment. Always got great service from them, and everybody was nice to deal with. I still drop by to say hello and socialize when we are in town - it's that kind of place.....

The place closest to us up here is part of a larger group of dealers. I've only gone to them for the occasional part and maintenance items. They don't know me, don't want to know me, and arent very friendly - but the parts folks do know their inventory and are competent to handle a sale.... The one time we were looking at newer tractors, the salesman didn't have any time to spend on us - guess we didn't seem like a likely sale to him....

As to the why, I don't know... Realize that we are an unusual group - tractor fanatics for the most part, and probably don't represent the "typical" customer to many of these businesses. I think a lot of customers have become less "brand loyal" and more looking for cheapest price, even if it represents an only adequate product. Look at Harbor Freight, Walmarts, and the "big box" stores - they sell often inferior products at reduced prices - and people buy them....

Premium suppliers (I would consider the old deere sales model a premium type product) often have difficulty selling in this type of market. "Quality" customer service isn't free - maybe corporate Deere is adjusting their model to what they think the "typical consumer" wants?

[smalltown]

It will be two years soon since I purchased my JD2520. The local dealer ( that is part of a three dealership chain) was terrible we were not even close to a descent deal. I asked for a price breakdown, and realized they were actually charging more than the JD build it yourself prices. Crazy things like charging me 6 hours labor to install my 62D mower. I was very close to going out of state, and told them so. They could have cared less. In my last attempt I visited a JD dealer 33 miles away they told me up front because of the distance that they would need to charge for hauling in for service if the occasion arrived.

Couldn't have found a better dealership: the kind you walk into and everybody still says hello some call me by my fist name. Salesman standing at the counter shoulder to shoulder with the parts guy and the owner.
They gave me a fair price, and I travel down there to buy all my supplies. They had their single dealership for 52 years, and I hope they remain, after reading posts of the horror stories makes me appreciate my dealer all the more.