Advise on being ripped off at Kioti dealer

[N2DFire]

At this stage in the game I am in agreement with the folks telling you to stay after Kioti and work your way up the chain.

Go skim thru this thread
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...g/342127-ck35-hst-shattered-piston-400-a.html

Then Contact member CenTex Chris directly if you can, and speak with him about his experience and the process of going thru Kioti Corporate

Make your decisions after that.

Best of luck to you.

 

[LD1]

In mechanics it's very seldom you know the exact problem when there could be multiple failures the cause the same issue, it's called troubleshooting.


The tractor came in with a no drive condition with an unknown failure, Perhaps they first split the tractor at the clutch joint expecting to find the issue there, when everything checked out. They would then have to split the tractor again at the transmission joint, to check the coupling.

I would normally agree except the mechanics comments.

And something else dont add up. Even if you split in the wrong spot, all is not lost. Because alot of the teardown up to the point of the split is the same.

For example, if book calls for 4 hours to split at the engine/trans, and also calls for 4 hours to split at the trans/rear end....its not additive. It wont take 8 hours to do both.

Once it was split at the wrong location in 4 hours (assuming engine/trans), it shouldnt take an additional 4 hours to pop the trans off the rear end.

But even so, regardless of all of this, the customer was told "book time is 4 hours", and part is $400.

Assuming a ~$120 labor rate...The initial quote was $4800. So $4800 - $400 part is $4400 in labor. 4400/120 is OVER 36 HOURS.
SO, WHERE are they coming up with that time at? IF it takes twice as long as book to tear apart, twice as long to put together, and a few hours to install the part, we are STILL at 1/2 the hours they were trying to bill for initially.

Something is amiss. Either the mechanics are compete idiots that only ever done oil changes, or he is being taken advantage of, or some combination of both.

I dont see why a component mechanic cant have the thing tore down and re-assembled in a day and a half tops. I would certainly think I could do that with my kubota which isnt that different.

 

[Coyote machine]

The zone rep is not being straight. ALL shops are independent shops, and sell Kioti's tractors. That makes no difference. It's just a smoke screen.
The dealer had a unqualified 'mechanic' butcher your tractor and now they are trying to get you to pay for their mistakes.
Call Kioti Corporate headquarters, take names and extension numbers and get email addresses. Tell them what has happened, including the rep's response, and document EVERYTHING in writing via email. A paper trail is essential.
Go sit with the dealer owner and tell them you want your tractor delivered to wherever you choose to be repaired by xyz tractor mechanic, FREE of charge. You will obviously pay the mechanic you choose to do the repair correctly. It's NOT your job to pay them to learn how to repair tractors on your time/money. They will say no; tell them you never agreed to have an unskilled mechanic tear into your machine and screw it up, and this is the resolution you want for you to forget it ever happened. See what they offer in return.
Post back results.

 

[TripleR]

Talk about a rock and hard place. Before picking up the unassembled tractor, I would try for resolution through Kioti. It is really hard to find anyone willing to take a bunch of parts and make a tractor out of it if they didn't do the tear down, just too many things to go wrong; missing parts, damage done by the previous mechanic, improper diagnoses and so on.

 

[JFoy]

I hate to say it but in this day and age, I record and document everything. If your state allows single party consent on recordings, record your phone calls, record in-person conversations, etc. If the recording laws are against you, try to get them to admit to stuff via email. I agree with the others saying to make such a stink, the shop will do anything to get rid of you. Call the BBB, stay on Kioti, get your attorney involved, etc.

 

[stan33]

Talk about a rock and hard place. Before picking up the unassembled tractor, I would try for resolution through Kioti. It is really hard to find anyone willing to take a bunch of parts and make a tractor out of it if they didn't do the tear down, just too many things to go wrong; missing parts, damage done by the previous mechanic, improper diagnoses and so on.

+1 Yes

 

[Fuggley]

ah... ah gees! It's going to be tough to retrieve a split tractor. The shop obviously doesn't want your business. If they are just too busy with other work, they should at least allow you to bring in an alternate mechanic on your dime (using some of their heavy tools) to at least see if you can repair/assemble it back together to get it out'a there. A reasonably equipped/experienced shop can split a tractor with not much more effort than it takes a rookie to do an oil change.... then like everything else it depends on skill and tools. Hope you reach a reasonable resolution on this.

 

[Winmac]

I'm just trying to offer a different perspective on what that situation might be, after all we don't know exactly what was said or done.

The original post mentioned something about warranty coverage continuing after the shop did the repair, is it still under warranty? Why would this repair not be covered if yes?

 

[orezok]

Years ago I used to own and operate an auto transmission shop. Every once in a while a customer would ask us to "tow out" a vehicle from another shop and fix it because the original shop couldn't/wouldn't.

We typically refused to do this because it was common for the original shop to sabatoge the tranny or "lose" expensive parts. I knew several mechanics that faced this problem and warned me when I opened my shop. The original shop always swore that everything was there when it left. The worst was when they would drill a small hole between 2 passages in the valve body. The transmission would never work properly and the second dealer/mechanic was stuck with a large and expensive problem.

Beware of vindictive dealer who faces a large loss.

 

[stan33]

I think he needs to try to get Kioti on side and helping him out before he does anything else with the dealer. And the dealer needs to know that from now on, Kioti are watching what he is doing with this issue. Otherwise it sounds like the op is just going to get pushed around more.