Anyone have problems getting their tractor serviced from dealers they didn’t buy from

[justman777]

Hate to break it to you, but that is standard operating procedure for almost all dealers. they will service the farmers/ commercial customers that purchased from them first, then the regular customers that purchased there, then commercial customers from other dealers then regular customers that didn't purchase from them next.

Might be SOP, but they don't have to tell you that. If they do, that's a sign to me they don't want your business if you bought from someone else.

 

[East30]

I haven't serviced my tractor to date, but I did take my RTV-X1100 in for service maintenance, and had zero issues. Never asked where I purchased, and turn around was exactly as they stated, even went over and beyond to replace a snapped-off lug bolt I was planning to fix myself. I purchased both pieces of equipment 2.5 hours away from my cabin, where the equipment is currently housed. Of the times I've been there to purchase a few things, everyone there has been very personable, and spent the time to answer any question I had with my equipment. If down the road, I run into issues, I'll simply trailer my equipment home if necessary, as I don't have large pieces of equipment. (that's what she said) But for convenience, I'll do all my maintenance and purchases based on what works out best. I understand a bigger job, or locals, may take priority to me. I'm fine with that, if I know it up front and it doesn't impact my schedule. No hard feelings on my part either way. I figure if we all know expectations up front, we'll make it work on both sides.

 

[justman777]

I haven't serviced my tractor to date, but I did take my RTV-X1100 in for service maintenance, and had zero issues. Never asked where I purchased, and turn around was exactly as they stated, even went over and beyond to replace a snapped-off lug bolt I was planning to fix myself. I purchased both pieces of equipment 2.5 hours away from my cabin, where the equipment is currently housed. Of the times I've been there to purchase a few things, everyone there has been very personable, and spent the time to answer any question I had with my equipment. If down the road, I run into issues, I'll simply trailer my equipment home if necessary, as I don't have large pieces of equipment. (that's what she said) But for convenience, I'll do all my maintenance and purchases based on what works out best. I understand a bigger job, or locals, may take priority to me. I'm fine with that, if I know it up front and it doesn't impact my schedule. No hard feelings on my part either way. I figure if we all know expectations up front, we'll make it work on both sides.

Very true! My experience with the dealer closer to me was more of the "we'll eventually get around to you since you didn't buy from me" type of thing, and I definitely got the vibe they weren't interested in the work. It would have been totally different if they had said "Sure! Bring it on in and we'll take a look at it. I apologize, but we're a bit backed up, so it may be a bit." They could have worked on 15 tractors before mine, and I wouldn't have known a thing. But when your first question is "Did you buy it from us?", I knew what the deal was. For me, it was all about their approach.

 

[RandyT]

Might be SOP, but they don't have to tell you that. If they do, that's a sign to me they don't want your business if you bought from someone else.

Would you rather them say Sure drop it off, and then in a month they still haven't touched it because of own customer priority.

Very true! My experience with the dealer closer to me was more of the "we'll eventually get around to you since you didn't buy from me" type of thing, and I definitely got the vibe they weren't interested in the work. It would have been totally different if they had said "Sure! Bring it on in and we'll take a look at it. I apologize, but we're a bit backed up, so it may be a bit." They could have worked on 15 tractors before mine, and I wouldn't have known a thing. But when your first question is "Did you buy it from us?", I knew what the deal was. For me, it was all about their approach.

And that is becoming more common everyday. More dealers are going the work on what they sell only, even if they are a listed dealers and required to work on everything under warranty no matter where purchased. Wait till car dealers start doing this.

 

[JimR]

Re: Anyone have problems getting their tractor serviced from dealers they didn稚 buy

Would you rather them say Sure drop it off, and then in a month they still haven't touched it because of own customer priority.



And that is becoming more common everyday. More dealers are going the work on what they sell only, even if they are a listed dealers and required to work on everything under warranty no matter where purchased. Wait till car dealers start doing this.

By not working on your tractor that you bought elsewhere they are not only hurting themselves but also hurting the brand name. If a service dealer says that to you I would contact Kioti and complain about it. Car dealers will never do this because they need the service work to stay in business.

 

[BigNuge]

REALLY ? Not in my neck of the woods.Pretty broad statement saying the dealer network sucks.

The Kioti dealer out by me sucks, tiny hole in the wall dealer with a piss poor attitude. That was a major factor in my not going that direction. They were middle of the pack price wise, and I wouldn’t have been able to see/sit on one for months.

I was looking at tractors in June. Kioti dealer literally says “you’re not going to see one till August, and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that”.....

Imagine the comfort that gave me about their customer service.

 

[todd92]

Re: Anyone have problems getting their tractor serviced from dealers they didn稚 buy

There should never be a requirement to purchase in order to obtain service. At car dealers sales and service are separate profit centers. I've never once been asked where I bought by a car service department. I buy where I get the best deal and I service where I get the best service. For tractors, especially smaller brands, it's complicated by the lack of dealers. I bought FOUR pieces of equipment from the local dealer. A NX5510, a CK3510SE, a Mechron 2200 and a Toro Z-Master 5000. The sales and parts department were fantastic, I could not have got better deals no matter how far I traveled. The service department is an utter disaster, because the mechanic is a moron. I've chronicled the problem with the NX5510 DPF in another thread, I was forced to find another dealer to fix it, that dealer was very competent, diagnosed and fixed the issue under warranty, while the selling dealer told me it was my fault and flat out refused to even work on it (because the mechanic is a moron). The dealer that it fixed warned me they were extremely busy, but did not care that I didn't purchase from them. It took months, but it got fixed. Because of this, I'm soured on Kioti, not because the equipment is bad, but if your local dealer is a dud and you have a warranty issue, you will be very frustrated. At least with Deere and Kubota and MF, it's not that far to the next dealer. Now I see plenty of 5 year old tractors with 2-300 hours on them, so none of this will probably matter to those type of owners, but ours had 800 hours when it started acting up and 1000 when it in was stuck in limp mode. Caveat Emptor.

 

[justman777]

Re: Anyone have problems getting their tractor serviced from dealers they didn稚 buy

There should never be a requirement to purchase in order to obtain service. At car dealers sales and service are separate profit centers. I've never once been asked where I bought by a car service department. I buy where I get the best deal and I service where I get the best service. For tractors, especially smaller brands, it's complicated by the lack of dealers. I bought FOUR pieces of equipment from the local dealer. A NX5510, a CK3510SE, a Mechron 2200 and a Toro Z-Master 5000. The sales and parts department were fantastic, I could not have got better deals no matter how far I traveled. The service department is an utter disaster, because the mechanic is a moron. I've chronicled the problem with the NX5510 DPF in another thread, I was forced to find another dealer to fix it, that dealer was very competent, diagnosed and fixed the issue under warranty, while the selling dealer told me it was my fault and flat out refused to even work on it (because the mechanic is a moron). The dealer that it fixed warned me they were extremely busy, but did not care that I didn't purchase from them. It took months, but it got fixed. Because of this, I'm soured on Kioti, not because the equipment is bad, but if your local dealer is a dud and you have a warranty issue, you will be very frustrated. At least with Deere and Kubota and MF, it's not that far to the next dealer. Now I see plenty of 5 year old tractors with 2-300 hours on them, so none of this will probably matter to those type of owners, but ours had 800 hours when it started acting up and 1000 when it in was stuck in limp mode. Caveat Emptor.

My local Kioti dealer has literally ONE technician. Service manager told me so. That's probably because they don't get enough work to warrant one. Based on his 5 minute analysis of my issue (needs a new HST), I quickly came to the conclusion he didn't know what he was talking about. I wouldn't take my tractor back there for an oil change. Like Todd92, I'm quickly becoming soured on this brand, as they just don't seem to have it together. Manuals stink, local dealer service is extremely poor, customer service at Kioti corporate is anything but helpful and professional, and it takes forever to get warranty service approvals from the regional support tech. They definitely need to re-work their corporate business model.

 

[rademamj1]

I support Todd92's statement regarding Kioti Dealership network. Overall, they need significant improvements to their dealer network. Sales and Parts/Service should be independent profit centers within each dealership, and i clearly see that occuring at some Kioti dealerships, while other Kioti dealers just seem to link sales and service for the life of your tractor ownership. Which means limited service, unless you purchased that tractor from us.

This is a Kioti Corporate problem, who should implement a certification process on their dealers, to insure these two departments stay independent. And that each dealers parts/service department are trained and fully capable to handle most maintenance issues. Training, training and more training is required for their service staff. Kioti Tractor owners should not be spending 10-12 hours a month reading and researching the diesel DPF/DOC emissions system, so they can diagnose and repair their own tractors, when a regen fails and the tractor goes into Limp mode.

 

[JimR]

Re: Anyone have problems getting their tractor serviced from dealers they didn稚 buy

I support Todd92's statement regarding Kioti Dealership network. Overall, they need significant improvements to their dealer network. Sales and Parts/Service should be independent profit centers within each dealership, and i clearly see that occuring at some Kioti dealerships, while other Kioti dealers just seem to link sales and service for the life of your tractor ownership. Which means limited service, unless you purchased that tractor from us.

This is a Kioti Corporate problem, who should implement a certification process on their dealers, to insure these two departments stay independent. And that each dealers parts/service department are trained and fully capable to handle most maintenance issues. Training, training and more training is required for their service staff. Kioti Tractor owners should not be spending 10-12 hours a month reading and researching the diesel DPF/DOC emissions system, so they can diagnose and repair their own tractors, when a regen fails and the tractor goes into Limp mode.

Kioti should have used a standardized OBD2 system so that tractor owners could clear their own codes and limp modes instead of having to bring it to the dealer to clear it. If they justified this system that they have in order to fix it properly, then they should have dealerships ready and willing to work on all tractors regardless of where it was bought. I'm glad my service dealer doesn't have this issue. I also helped sell a tractor for him to a guy that I know. I did make him aware of this.