Buying Advice Buying from one dealer / Using another for repair

[bigbull338]

come on guys the dealer network should honor the co warrenty work no matter where it was bought from.ive delt with a few bad dealers in my time,an ive raised thunder with them pretty bad.an in the long run it did cost them money.an if its bad enough they never forget what happened,an if i try to deal with them again they come around to my way of thinking.

 

[TripleR]

I have seen from the success of one local dealer, Davis Farm Supply, that you don't have to be really big to offer fair prices and good customer service. Dealers needs to look at the potential for new customers and additional sales even if it costs them a little money on one warranty repair.

Some smaller dealers obviously can't compete with some really big dealers, but if they are reasonable, they will get business. I am really disappointed in the attitude of some former and current dealers.

 

[bigbull338]

same here ive been going to tractor an auto dealers with my dad for 40yrs.an from a young age i learned how to spot a good dealer from a bad 1.was trying to work a deal over 20yrs ago on a new cattle trailer,i made the dealer an offer an he said no.so i said its your lose an walked out.he followed me out an complained to my dad,telling my dad to reconsider the deal.an my dad told him it was my deal not his,an that he made me madd an the deal was off.well it took me 3yrs fore id deal with him again.

 

[ejkessler]

I find it interesting that almost everyone here has stated that for a few hundred dollars they would keep it local. It is the high end of gouging that is being addressed here. Either you were/are gouging as a dealer or you were/are not. There are always going to people who will go with the lowest dollar no matter what and that is going to be unavoidable no matter how you work it. When hundreds turn into thousands it's turning business into gouging. If that does not apply to you as dealer than don't own it. If your looking to be exonerated for gouging you won't get it here, plain and simple. Being a factory dealer comes with responsibilities you may not like but are still there. Welcome to life and the business world. As one dealer posted here earlier in this thread it all comes out in the end/long haul and comes with the territory. The hard working ethical dealers know who they are and take the good with the bad. They are the ones that get my business in state and/or out, preferably local if I can when and if the above conditions apply.

 

[keyman1808]

Around these parts just getting warranty service from your selling dealer is like pulling teeth.

 

[RoyJackson]

Being a factory dealer comes with responsibilities you may not like but are still there. Welcome to life and the business world.

Very true, but those dealers can prioritize their work...and someone who purchased their tractor at that dealer's would likely get quicker service.

 

[TripleR]

Very true, but those dealers can prioritize their work...and someone who purchased their tractor at that dealer's would likely get quicker service.

Yes they can, but I consider the only really acceptable way of prioritizing as who brought their tractor in first. If I take my tractor in after someone who did not buy their tractor there, I don't expect to get priority treatment. I choose my dealer based on how they treat everyone, not just me.

 

[keyman1808]

Yes they can, but I consider the only really acceptable way of prioritizing as who brought their tractor in first. If I take my tractor in after someone who did not buy their tractor there, I don't expect to get priority treatment. I choose my dealer based on how they treat everyone, not just me.

Couldn't agree more...Thats how I run my buissness. First in first out, even if I didnt sell the product.

 

[ejkessler]

Yes they can, but I consider the only really acceptable way of prioritizing as who brought their tractor in first. If I take my tractor in after someone who did not buy their tractor there, I don't expect to get priority treatment. I choose my dealer based on how they treat everyone, not just me.

Plus 1 and agree completely.
I was in the medical proffession full time for 25 years and part time now for 5 and was in the "medical industry " for a couple of years during that time. I left even though the money was good because of the attitude of white collar entitlement and the idea of not playing fair but only getting ahead by kissing butt. I am not going to kowtow to anyone for anything and I would rather be treated the same as the other customers otherwise it just turns into another payment to the entitlement program. It is true that the dealers can make a choice to play with that dynamic, I just won't support that. I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. If they don't choose to play fair they can kiss my butt though I would prefer just keeping equanimity.

 

[brain55]

I have worked for equipment dealers 12+ years of my career, primarily as a mechanic, but I have been in charge of parts, ran the shop, and even sold a couple of tractors. First come, first serve in a perfect world is how I run things too, but it doesn't work in every case. The guy that just plopped $80K down last week for a tractor and has a problem, is going to get pushed ahead, so is the contractor that has bought a dozen tractors from you that has an emergency. The sales department drives the business, they will ultimately dictate who comes first.

Many equipment dealers consider the service department as a necessary evil, and few are actually a profitable part of the business. The last dealer I worked for had a service manager whose standard reply to a customer was that it would be 3 weeks until we could look at their machine. One of the last years I worked there, another mechanic and I ran the shop without a service manager. Our response was to have the customer bring it in and have us take a look at it. I usually triaged it in a couple of days, got a price to the customer and ordered parts. It wasn't uncommon for me to have 5 machines apart waiting for parts. Parts availability becomes part of the decision making process along with overall customer attitude. How quickly a customer pays and how much you have to hold their hand after giving them a bill plays a part too. If the owner walks through the shop and comments on how it takes so and so 90 days to pay, it will affect the priority list too. Anyway back to my point. The year that we ran the shop, was the only year out of the 20 he had been in business, that the shop actually made him money. We were about repairing as much equipment we could as fast as we could.

When it comes to warranty the tractor business is not like the automotive business. I'd say in most cases you are lucky to get 80% of the time you put into a repair. I was pretty good at writing Kubota warranty claims, but it would take an hour to write a claim that would get you paid for all of your time if there was any complexity to the repair at all. Short Lines are even worse. I made a repair on a machine one time when my shop rate was $75/hr and all the manufacturer would pay is $40/hr and then only paid 4 of the 6 hours I had into the repair.

Brian