Authorized Kubota Warranty Service Provider? Part 2 of 3

[fried1765]

Donald,
I'm having a hard time seeing where the dealer has done you wrong. You damaged the hydraulic line on the backhoe, had damage to the lower frame/axle support, damage to the frame/FEL support, damaged or worn ssqa in 300 hours. I could be completely wrong but my first thought is with these issues, you may have have been using the tractor in a manner it's not intended for. But the dealer still repaired each of these issues, plus gave you 4-5 gallons of fluid for free, plus a 200 hour and 300 hour service for no charge. Yet your upset because the hood they replaced (for free, whether new or used,) based on your allegations they damaged it, wasn't painted as professionally as you would like? Sorry man, unless there's a lot more to this story, I'm on the dealers side of this one.

I am NOT on the dealers side!
If the factory rep authorized a new FACTORY hood, it should be a NEW factory hood, in factory new condition.
NOT a factory blemished hood!
A new $52,000 tractor should have come with a dent and scratch free hood, no matter how many other items the dealer also later agreed to fix!
The factory rep obviously believed the OP!
Should WE assume that the OP is lying about when/how the original hood was damaged?

 

[Leo182]

I am NOT on the dealers side!
If the factor rep authorized a new FACTORY hood, it should be a NEW factory hood, in factory new condition.
NOT a factory blemished hood!

I get what you're saying, but to me personally, a " blemish" is an acceptable trade off for repairing all the damage that I may have caused by improper use, which is just an assumption on my part. No proof the OP caused the damage, could just be coincidental.

 

[Leo182]

Fried,
In reference to the edited part of your post, I do agree that a $52,000 tractor should come with a dent and scratch free hood. The OP said that prior to the service trip he didn't notice it. So it sounds like he did buy a dent and scratch free tractor. And no, I'm not accusing him of lying. I meant that he doesn't know how it happened and made an assumption, which most likely is correct but not 100% proven that the dealer caused it.

Also, I haven't seen him mention anything about how the other damage occurred. It just sounds possible that he may have done something with the loader that caused it. Should the dealer be on the hook for that too? Would that be covered by the warranty?

 

[5030]

There was an appointment to have the L3560 looked at with the Service Rep, myself and the dealership service manager and the Dealer Tech.

The parts necessary as noted by the Kubota Service Rep were ordered, came in and I was asked to bring my tractor in again at about 300 hours to have those items taken care of and since it was close to 300 hours I asked that they do that Service as well. It included a number of things but specifically included the Fan and Alternator belts.

I was called to pick up the equipment but was out of town the day the Service Rep was there to help the tech install the various items:

1- fix the tire rub issue (new front lower frame assembly that supports the front axle)

2- a new replacement lower FEL support for the one that had been cut

3- a BH92 Backhoe hose that was damaged from the 3 point hitch as they interfered with each other

4- replacement of the quick connect for the front loader (excessive play)

4- replacement of the damaged hood with the dent and scratch in it (with a factory hood)

Upon pickup I purchased 2 colors of spray paint for touch up of the internal and external gray areas, a can of orange spray paint for touch up of the bucket and quick connect on the loader as they are a paint wear point, and a 2.5 gallon container of hydraulic oil as suggested by the service team.

The service manager walked around the tractor with me and covered the items on my list which were taken care of including a bag of stickers for the BH92 Backhoe (which thank god I didn't bring with me this time).

The service manager stated that due to all the issues I had with service that they would not be charging me for the 300 hour service, and that there would be no charge for the work under warranty either. That was another nice way of saying we appreciate you as a customer I thought.

So out to the Tractor to load it onto my trailer. out into the sun on the lot to get it to the trailer I noticed something was awry with the hood... yes, the new factory replacement hood.

It had a horrible orange peel finish that faded and returned across the entire hood from the side to the top and the front. The orange peel was so bad that it actually prevented the "KUBOTA" stickers from adhering to the surface of the paint due to the highs and lows in the paint. There was no shine, it was a dull orange-peel finish that I myself had experienced when painting cars in my past... to much thinner, too heavy of a layer... dries too fast and without any gloss additive that's what you have forever.

I walked around the lot and looked at every single new and used Kubota Tractor to see it there were any that exhibited any orange peel... even really old units. I must have looked at 30 tractors and none exhibited that freshly painted orange peel finish as was on my 300 hour 8 month old L3560 that just had a Factory hood installed sitting in the repair lot at the dealership that day...

So I approached the Service manager and asked if there was anything they needed to tell me about the hood to which they replied "no, why?"

We took a walk to the tractor and I pointed out the hood with its orange-peel finish and said that was indicative of a painted hood, not a factory hood as was ordered by the Kubota Service Rep per my notes and his.

To that they replied "Ok, I'm going to be honest with you"

Can you imagine what must be going on in my mind at this point?

(Oh, so you haven't been honest in the past, but now that you've found Jesus, you're going top tell me the truth!!!)

I didn't say that... but I did listen to the story.

"You see" they said,

"the original hood came in damaged, that's why we couldn't get the tractor back to you as early as we thought, so we had to reorder the hood"

However, the real reason they couldn't get the tractor back to me was because they had no idea what was causing the tire to hit the frame until they removed and inspected a number of components and found the issue was the main lower front Frame assembly that supports the front Axle. The bosses designed into the frame assembly that prevents upward movement of the axle on each side were different heights, allowing the axle to move up further on the right than the left side , causing the interference of the lower FEL support Bracket to the tire when turning and under load.

I said "ok, so then how did we get from a replacement Factory Hood to this?"

To which the service manager replied... "This is the Factory Replacement Hood"

Then the service manager followed up with this:

"Look, we have done everything we can for you. you had issues, we fixed them, you had more issues, we called in the Kubota Service Rep and spent hours going over your issues with you, him, myself, and the tech. We have replaced this hood from the Factory part that was ordered. This hood was removed from the crate and placed on your tractor with the Kubota Service Rep there for that. there is nothing more I can do for you. I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you the Kubota Service Reps Name and Cell phone number. You can call him and discuss whatever you need to discuss with him. As for this conversation, it is over and I'm going to walk away."


Stay tuned for Part 3 of 3 !!!

It ain't a Ferrari, it's a tractor. That hood and general paint job is 'commercially acceptable'. Quit whining. Better yet, go trade it on a Deere. You are obviously a Deere person.

 

[number two]

I sure hope they won't include this discussion in the Hot Topics e-mail we get.
Nobody will have the time to read all of the replies!

 

[4570Man]

Fried,
In reference to the edited part of your post, I do agree that a $52,000 tractor should come with a dent and scratch free hood. The OP said that prior to the service trip he didn't notice it. So it sounds like he did buy a dent and scratch free tractor. And no, I'm not accusing him of lying. I meant that he doesn't know how it happened and made an assumption, which most likely is correct but not 100% proven that the dealer caused it.

Also, I haven't seen him mention anything about how the other damage occurred. It just sounds possible that he may have done something with the loader that caused it. Should the dealer be on the hook for that too? Would that be covered by the warranty?

Maybe the hood was damaged when the op got it, maybe he accidentally damaged it. But in either case a hood so slightly damaged that it took you weeks to notice clearly isn’t an issue. On a Lamborghini maybe, a tractor no. And maybe the dealer actually did plan on giving him a new hood and couldn’t get one. It certainly wouldn’t be the only thing having supply issues right now.

 

[fried1765]

Maybe the hood was damaged when the op got it, maybe he accidentally damaged it. But in either case a hood so slightly damaged that it took you weeks to notice clearly isn’t an issue. On a Lamborghini maybe, a tractor no. And maybe the dealer actually did plan on giving him a new hood and couldn’t get one. It certainly wouldn’t be the only thing having supply issues right now.

It ain't a Ferrari, it's a tractor. That hood and general paint job is 'commercially acceptable'. Quit whining. Better yet, go trade it on a Deere. You are obviously a Deere person.

The real point here should not be personal opinions about the hood!

The factory rep authorized a factory quality finished new hood!
The factory provided a flawed replacement hood.

For $52,000, the OP had paid for a shiny new hood!
The dealer did not properly comply with the hood replacement intent of the factory rep!

 

[DonaldP]

It ain't a Ferrari, it's a tractor. That hood and general paint job is 'commercially acceptable'. Quit whining. Better yet, go trade it on a Deere. You are obviously a Deere person.

Than you for your feedback !!!

I hate to be considered “commercial”.

For me this is a once in a lifetime purchase of something that costs as much as my first home did.

So far this has seemed like a perfect fit in form and function.
It reminds me of the story of the high school couple that finds love at first sight, ends up staying together

Fried,
In reference to the edited part of your post, I do agree that a $52,000 tractor should come with a dent and scratch free hood. The OP said that prior to the service trip he didn't notice it. So it sounds like he did buy a dent and scratch free tractor. And no, I'm not accusing him of lying. I meant that he doesn't know how it happened and made an assumption, which most likely is correct but not 100% proven that the dealer caused it.

Also, I haven't seen him mention anything about how the other damage occurred. It just sounds possible that he may have done something with the loader that caused it. Should the dealer be on the hook for that too? Would that be covered by the warranty?

Thanks so much for your input!!!

There has been NO damage to my tractor. Nothing is bent, broken, or non functional. The lower FEL support bracket was fine … nothing wrong with it, but it took the Kubota Service rep some time to isolate that the front lower frame (the metal frame that surrounds the front of the tractor and that the front brush guard and front Axle mounts to was manufactured incorrectly (see post #3).

The Machined bosses on each side of that frame assembly ( or stand offs) that the top of the axle actually contacts as a stopping point when it pivots up were incorrectly machined. One of the bosses (right side) were machined shorter than spec, allowing the front axle to swing up in its arc, further on the right side than the left side. That allowed the tire to interfere with the lower FEL support bracket.
So after cutting it, the Kubota RDP replaced it when he found the real issue to be the front lower frame assembly and not the lower FEL bracket.

Again, there never was and is still NO damage to the L3650 (yet!!! )

 

[DonaldP]

Fried,
In reference to the edited part of your post, I do agree that a $52,000 tractor should come with a dent and scratch free hood. The OP said that prior to the service trip he didn't notice it. So it sounds like he did buy a dent and scratch free tractor. And no, I'm not accusing him of lying. I meant that he doesn't know how it happened and made an assumption, which most likely is correct but not 100% proven that the dealer caused it.

Also, I haven't seen him mention anything about how the other damage occurred. It just sounds possible that he may have done something with the loader that caused it. Should the dealer be on the hook for that too? Would that be covered by the warranty?

No damage to the tractor so far. These were all isolated to either dealer prep or manufacturing issues.

 

[ptsg]

Just because it's a tractor or any other equipment, doesn't mean it can get smashed to death. Yes, things will happen due to the environment this machines work on but it's still no ok to have someone else, specially by someone else, bang your stuff up. It's even worse that it happened at the dealer, where the tractors it's not even doing any work.

I treat all my stuff just like my vehicles, regardless if it's my tractor, backhoe or the 70's electric forklift. I'm still mad at my self from a scratch I put on the hood of my tractor when it had like 100 hours as I was tilling an orchard for someone else.