Ag-Pro Texas - 8 weeks and tractor is still there waiting on repairs!

[Industrial Toys]

And the big dealerships that are on top of things and get your machine in and out quick, couldn't fix a busted shoelace! What do you do?

To me, the difference is between someone that is intent on fixing equipment and they are likely (or possibly) to make money at it, as opposed to running a business to make money and they plan on fixing equipment to do that.

 

[Ford850]

Ag-Pro bought out several of the local JD dealers up here in Ohio too. They now have at least 90 dealerships, so they control a lot of territory. I'm sure a big chain like them brings more pros and cons, and probably make both more obvious compared to the original dealerships.
I'm not sure why working on smaller tractors is lower priority, since hourly rates are hourly rates, regardless what they are working on.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Many dealers have preferred customers that spend maybe millions. So who do you think they are going to service first?

 

[johncanfield]

Glad you got your tractor back. Hope they fixed it. So they didn't have to split the cases?.....

Hope you like your new mower. I believe they have fuel injected gas engines now. I'm guessing they get better economy.

We haven't had any good rains in 2 months now, so I don't need to mow.

They will be delivering the 4720 Tuesday - fingers crossed, I've really missed it. Fortunately they did not need to split the case, I dodged a huge bullet there! My Deere ZTrack 945M has a 27 HP fuel injected Kohler engine, no more choke to fool with when starting the engine! Oh, I've only had a chance to mow with the ZTrack two times - I guess I jinxed the rain.

Many dealers have preferred customers that spend maybe millions. So who do you think they are going to service first?

My dealer is in a small town so I doubt there are any million dollar customers but I could be wrong (but I agree with your supposition - money talks.) What diverted their scarce repair resources was a Deere skid steer in warranty with a difficult repair problem. The service manager told me they must have 100 hours of labor in that which they might not ever see returned in dollars from Deere.

On another equipment note, my new Bobcat E42 excavator has a leaking side window which my dealer discovered when washing it after the initial 50 hour service. He took a video of it leaking (this was like four or five weeks ago) and talked with the Bobcat regional service rep about replacing the window. Just last week the window was ordered . I'm really pleased with their service department though, they have been very responsive (had a problem where a boom pin wouldn't take grease, mechanic made a house call and then had it picked up - they returned it later that afternoon.) :thumbsup:

 

[johncanfield]

Home - finally!

Dealer delivered my hopefully fully repaired 4720 a while ago - yippee :dance1:! I had the tires filled with antifreeze while in for maintenance and wow does the tractor feel different when driving it.

 

[crazyal]

When I bought my Kubota the green dealer near me focused of farmers. It was clear from the moment I walked in the door. When I bought my riding mower it was a different class of dealer. They focused on movers. I'm not sure if they had anything over 30ish HP. That dealer was a little further away but the rider was a year old with low hours and a good price. I had to bring it in for warranty work to a newer dealer that also doesn't deal with large equipment but they do sell CUTs they were just as good to deal with. They even said the rip in the seat was covered under warranty even though it was there when I bought it. They suggested waiting until this fall when the warranty was close to being over. I guess it all depends on the dealer and where they make their money.

 

[johncanfield]

Here in the Texas Hill Country there are no huge farming operations, hay fields are usually 20-50 acres but there's lots of sheep and goat ranches (and some cattle) so there's not much of a market for big equipment. The Deere dealer will have a 5 series on the lot and some construction equipment (skid steers, mini-ex, etc.), mowers and implements.

I had a radio kit installed in my 4720 and the tech apparently lost the remote control and the instruction booklet. The remote is no big deal (it's a generic Chinese model) but the booklet is a big deal - there is no trace of this fly-by-night Chinese radio vendor on the Internet and it's unavailable on Amazon.