Can You Defend Kubota Corporation....

[Spencer C]

As a dealer, I can absolutely assure you that it's your local dealer that determines the outcome of many of these complaints. Kubota corporation has dealers as its customers.... not end users. They are insulated from the "front lines" of the business, leaving that work to the dealer network.

If a tractor is just out of warranty or experiences a known problem, 90% of the time Kubota will warranty it. However, they do so as a "goodwill" claim. This means that Kubota pays for parts and the dealer pays for labor. At my dealerships, we ALWAYS provide the labor free of charge to the customer in "goodwill" claims. Other dealers may pass that cost on to you.... another reason why your local dealer is so important.

We recently had a commercial customer that had major backhoe problems with his B3200 from the time he bought it. Six months later, we (through Kubota) had him in a new B3200 with a new loader, new backhoe and new warranty.

In almost every case, Kubota has treated my family and my customers very well. The outcome of most of these problems posted here comes from the local dealer.

 

[teg]

Even tho the thread is five years old... I missed it the first time around. It was a very good read...

 

[Grateful11]

Even tho the thread is five years old... I missed it the first time around. It was a very good read...

I agree. I too missed it until now. I noticed early on that some were expressing
concern over Kubota closing up smaller dealers and choosing dealers with
multiple dealerships. I hate to say it but basically they're all doing that. JD
especially, most of our equipment is Case IH and IH with several JD implements.
The closest CaseIH dealer is over an hours drive. Like I said it's not just Kubota
it's all of them. I know of one JD dealer that they came into his dealership and
flat told him the next day was his last, that they would be there that week to
pick up all of his inventory, he wasn't doing enough volume for JD.

 

[Grandad4]

i will say that i am ok with kubota, when i bought my 3030 i gave the dealer 5000.00 cash down and told him i wanted a new tractor and backhoe and loader well 3 days later he called me and said he found one that was already to go but had been put together for about a year an that he would take 300.00 off the price and i replied that i would rather just get a new one and then he said it would be 600.00 more for shipping now , i said well ok just get me a new one well i could tell that he was not happy with me not taking the one he had found and i did not hear a word from him for two weeks an when i finally called to check when it might be in he said he order it and it will be ready the next week so i waited 6 days on a Tuesday and called to see if it might be ready on friday because we would be leaving for vacation Monday he said he wasn't sure if it would be done that he would call me. finally on thursday around 10 am i call to see if they could make it on friday he said he would have to call and check and i asked if he could call right now to see if friday would work he said no im not calling them if its done on friday its done. Well im really pissed!! i called customer service in California an they called me back with in one hour to see what was going on an they called my dealer and my tractor got deliverd and i was not charged the 600.00 for the new one so ihave to say kubota did right by me

Yes they did! That sounds like it was entirely a dealer issue and the manufacturer went to bat for you. People are often pretty vocal with thier criticisms of companies like Kubota, Deere, etc., right or wrong, so it's good to hear when the company goes out of its way to help the end user. Lot's of businesses wouldn't bother.

 

[Texas Fella]

First off, lets talk about the "getting rid of ma and pop" store thing. I happen to know a little bit about the process of buying out dealerships and very seldom does one tell the truth about why he could not sell or buy a dealership. There are several factors involved in buying or selling something such as a tractor dealership. Most are very private things like cash flow, credit scores, and succession plans (who gets it if the owner dies). Kubota has not shown any real plan at obtaining multi store locations (such as Deere has). In fact, most of the new dealers that they have added in my area are individaul owners, not multi store locations. Just remember that when a person gets dumped (ie. can not buy or sell a business), they never run around telling everyone that it was all their fault.
Secondly, I have to agree that most of these issues have to do with the dealership, not Kubota Corp. Every time my dealer has gone to bat for me (with a reasonable request) Kubota has helped me out. Try getting a Deere guy on the phone (trust me, you can't, I have tried). Just my 2 cents woth.