Farewell from TractorSmart !

[MessickFarmEqu]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(
MessickFarmEqu, I understand you have taken over the site. So what are you going to do about prices. )</font>

We have not "taken over" anything. I think you'll find that our pricing is some of the best out there. We do add a small surcharge to the cheapest parts to justify the handleing cost, but 90% of what we sell is the cheapest price Kubota will allow on the internet.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Having seen the true facts what do you think now -Mike Z. ? )</font>
I understand if you have some animosity towards Kubota. However what they are running now under this new drop ship program is still better than what most companies that we deal with. Yea, if you drop ship 20 labels things don't make much sense. However you can still stock order those items and bring them in at a reasonable cost. In the end this is going to force more dealers to keep more items on hand which can only be a good thing for the customer.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( When I wanted a set of front rims for my 2410, who else would have contacted Kubota and had them pull some from the assembly line of the manufacturer and send them directly to me for no additional shipping cost than my $5 ??? AMAZING!!!!
)</font>

That is awesome! Going forward this is still going to cost $5. Its likey that as a customer your going to notice very little difference with most dealers.

 

[JLoaf]

Ronnie,
Thanks for all the help, especially with my ZD21 rebuild last fall.
Thanks for the .pdf parts books.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and all the SERVICE.
You have been a great resource and a great help to me.
I hope you'll reconsider, and if not, I hope that someone will offer service equal to yours.
Good Luck.
John C. in Arkansas.

 

[ToolDad]

Ronnie,

I too am sad to see you go. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I have purchased many parts from you, finding your service and knowledge quite pleasing. Though cost is always a concern, my major catalyst for me to use your site was the convenience factor and the knowledge base you have. My dealer is not that awfully far away, but difficult and time cosuming to get to just the same. I could support some additional shipping costs (but I do not know about this $5/item handling charge > what's up with that!!). /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Thanks for all of your help, and I wish you the best in your new endeavors. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[tractorsmart]

Okay loyal customers.

I guess I owe it to you to at least give it a try.
The $5.00 shipping you understand will soon be gone.
I will try my best to rework the shopping cart to figure some realistic as possible shipping cost.
If possible maybe I can configure an approximate delivery time frame and offer different shipping options to choose from.
I did not want to see anyone waitng two weeks on parts.
We think we can handle a pretty good fill rate from our own inventory. What we do not have will need to be looked at and descisons made.
It only takes a little $0.25 part that was not in stock to mess the whole thing up.
We will all be in that same boat however. I eneterd some part numbers for orders I have filled this week in some other dealers shopping cart. They could not fill any of the orders from in house stock completely either.
We can try this out and see if it will fly.


Ronnie Bowman

 

[RobJ]

MessickFarmEqu, Sorry for the taken over thing. Since you post here I keep thinking you are taking over Ronnies site, but that is another company. I did just cross check a couple prices and there is good news, tractorsmart, $79.28, Messick $79.28. Local Dealer $107.03. This would be a heavy part so shipping might be more (32310-13810) and I would not consider this a dealer stock item.

Another part tractorsmart.com had (32460-11640), your site didn't return a listing.

I've got you bookmarked.

 

[riptides]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Having seen the true facts what do you think now -Mike Z. ? )</font>

Now the scenario sounds like the internet sales models is a victim of both bean counters and business process rules run amok.

Somewhere someone thought they were doing a good thing and they don't understand the order shipment process end-to-end.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[curt1]

I recently found the TractorSmart web page and really liked the price's when compared to my local dealer. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I am almost ready to order filters (and mower deck belt) for my ZD21 and L3130 and TractorSmart is where I am going to order from. I would be willing to pay increased shipping costs. My time and driving expense cost me $$, not to mention my dealer may not have the part(s) in stock.
I bet that most dealer's will simply add $5 to most part's they sell, instead of stocking additional part's...pass the additional cost on to the customer. Some dealer's may not have additional space for increased parts inventory. It wouldn't surprise me any if they add the additional cost to part's, as nearly every time I buy parts at my local dealer, they have increased their price's. I buy a good deal of filter's, fluid and mower blades every year.
It seems to me that Kubota has some of the highest priced part's in the industry....that's just my opinion. When I can save a dollar, I am going to do just that. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Keep TractorSmart alive and I think you will do as well/better than you have in the past. Great customer service speaks for itself. Good luck in whatever you decide to do with your business. I wish you well. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Curt

 

[kubotaman68]

why all this hatitude for dealers ? it seems like this forum consistently belittles dealers and in everyone opinions they are all crooks just staying up nights thinking of ways to rip people off. Is it now immoral or unethical to operate in anything other than nonprofit status? What do you all derive incomes from? would it be prudent to say that if your livlihoods were elimated or outsourced to cheaper labor pools in the interest of saving your employers money that that would be agreeable to you? I think #1 most all of you agree that Kubota is a very good product, with its share of shortcomings to be sure, and that without dealers selling parts and there service in most cases could not survive on sales alone. And I know that a kubota if maintained properly will last in excess of 25 yrs , so my question I guess is , what do you think will happen if the dealers just say enough is enough and they aren't able to make a reasonable profit and go out of business?

 

[DUMBDOG]

I try to support my local dealer, However the complaint that I think is that dealers are marking up their parts higher the suggested price by Kubota.

This summer I was going to change the SUDT in my tractor, the price of the oil was marked up by about 40 per cent over the suggested retail. I did not buy it.

Sent a email to Kubota, a week later received a call from the dealer regarding a pricing error. There was no pricing error, it was just additional money to cover the freight. I am sure that there is stocking programs to cover this. I bought on the programs for free freight in the motorcycle business.

All that we ask is to be dealt with it a fair manner.

 

[Sully2]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( And I know that a kubota if maintained properly will last in excess of 25 yrs , so my question I guess is , what do you think will happen if the dealers just say enough is enough and they aren't able to make a reasonable profit and go out of business? )</font>

Then a NEW PERSON will start up..operating on a lesser profit margin. It happens all the time..in all sorts of businesses.