My Experience with Summit Tractors

[svbhvman]

If you read this already, I apologize. My posts were taken down and the ADMIN will not tell me why. So I removed all reference to the CEO’s contact information other than his first name which can be anybody. Colored text is quoted from emails.

I bought a Summit TX25 from Home Depot in Jan 2025. On February 18, 2025 I ordered a BHX76 backhoe from Summit. I was told delivery would be between March 12 and 17. On May 9 I sent an email inquiring as to where my backhoe was and received the following response from the CEO.

This is Doug, CEO of Summit Tractors. I’m very sorry for the delay in getting your backhoe installed. We will handle it next week, contacting you early next week to schedule a pickup and return of the tractor as we take it to a nearby service partner to install.

We are going to credit your account $500 for the delay. Some errors on our side, communications was not good.

Again, my sincere apologies.

Doug

I never got the credit.

On May 16 I sent another email because I still didn’t get the backhoe as stated in his earlier email.


Doug, though I appreciate the apology and gesture of the $500 credit, another week has passed and I still have not been contacted to schedule installation. You stated and I quote:

"We will handle it next week, contacting you early next week to schedule a pickup and return of the tractor as we take it to a nearby service partner to install."

It has been 3 months since I placed the order (February 18). Not once has Summit contacted me about this unless I reached out first, which I have done repeatedly and no doubt why you have become involved. I am very displeased with the whole situation.

And he responded

May16.

My apologies sir. We will definitely get your tractor install done and back to you NLT Next Thursday. There are some long-lead parts for production and we (me personally) was slow to get the orders in when sales got bigger earlier this year. The installer is nearby K2. We will contact you to coordinate pickup early next week.


May 20

We are shipping the backhoe to the dealer tomorrow and it is a same day install on Thursday. Will be contacting you to arrange the time.


I reached out on May 22 stating that the installer did not have the backhoe yet and he replied as follows.

You have every right to be upset. It was me personally that misunderstood the demand and the long manufacturing lead time didn't allow for a miss.

Want to make this right. The backhoes have arrived. Getting it there and installed by this weekend not possible though. Holiday weekend. Will get it there Tuesday, NLT Wednesday.

Want to make things right. Could you use a box blade, landscape rake, rear blade, land plane. Feel free to pick one and we'll send.

And I replied back to him.

I appreciate that. I'm not complaining to get your offers. I am raising awareness to get my backhoe installed. But if you feel it would "make this right". I was planning on getting a rear blade to cut some swales for water control and street shoes for the backhoe.

His response to this was.

Never thought you were trying to get anything out of this other than your backhoe. Happy to send a rear blade, they are very useful.

Well it is now the end of September and I still don’t have the backhoe, my $8000 I paid for it, the $500 refund or the back blade that he stated that they would provide. He has also stopped responding to my emails entirely. Neither he, nor anyone representing Summit, has made any attempt to contact me once during this process unless I initiated it and now they don't even respond when I initiate. I know most people have a good experience with Summit but be warned, if things don’t go well, they may file you away and forget about you like they have done to me.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

 

[Tinhack]

Sounds like the place is run out of someone's garage.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'm disheartened. If the contact information was the problem the post could have been edited.

If I were an *******, I might suspect Summit, and advertiser here, may of asked for your thread to be pulled.

If I were an *******.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

While there is a separate sub-forum here Summit Tractors Forum it seems to be moderated by summit? Which is also an advertiser here ...

While there will probably be more views with it placed here ... It might be better to have the thread over there ... Although probably most tractor owners, or possible new tractor owners wouldn't even see it over/down there ...

I hope the OP can get this straightened out, and made right for his loss.

 

[svbhvman]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

I bought the 54 inch grapple with the backhoe and it arrived quickly. I live on eleven heavily wooded acres and have used it to clean up brush and move felled tree logs around. I was surprised by how easily it handled some of the larger logs.

 

[svbhvman]

I'm disheartened. If the contact information was the problem the post could have been edited.

If I were an *******, I might suspect Summit, and advertiser here, may of asked for your thread to be pulled.

If I were an *******.

That was my thought exactly. I purposely didn't repost on the Summit forum because of that and the fact that this post was to inform potential buyers of how I have been treated by Doug/Summit. In all fairness the guys in tech support have been wonderful but the company can only be as good as its leadership.

 

[4get gto]

With all the time them saying they would make it right pretty much without any argument and then ignoring you doesn't say anything good about how they do business.
The promises they made will come back and bite them.

 

[Panik]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

Not quite, originally the U.S. corporate office was about 15 minutes from my house and located in a bit of funky industrial complex. They moved to a different location in my area not too long ago.

What I find interesting is when they first arrived in the area they had some partnerships with local big box stores to sell their tractors out front with all of the other "powered" yard equipment like mowers and log splitters and such. Interestingly those displays have been slowly disappearing around town. Also interesting is that none of the local, actual tractor dealers (inclusive of gray market dealers) seem to be carrying their line.

Doubt it will ever happen, but I would be curious to better understand why. Looking at the equipment packages in person the tractors all seem well built (over built in some ways) for their size and the pricing for the options are pretty amazing.

<Note: Don't have a dog in this fight... while I would love to trade my Bx for a slightly larger, more powerful tractor I'm certainly not in a financial position where I would do that with any brand currently>

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

They do seem.to be much less present here and elsewhere online