BX22 Availability

[dmartin88]

Update on my earlier post. Order a BX 22 from the dealer in Purcleville, VA. Tractor was due in today but no news so not looking good. Planning to cancel the order in the morning and find a dealer that can actually meet a delivery date, didn't feel right when I was told it would take this long the first time and probably shouldn't have waited. The folks in Gaithersburg were of no help either so may have to travel a bit farther afield to see if I can get my hands on a unit. Just looking for the basic TLB, will add some implements later but for now, just looking for the tractor.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Today I was at a dealer east of Pittsburgh and he had four BX22s lined up waiting for buyers. The shortage may only be in your area.

John

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Here's the latest. Spoke with the owner of the dealership this morning. He was as frustrated as I am, and very apologetic. Story is that Kubota is building the BX22 at only one plant in Georgia. They are also building the BX2200 and one of their most popular zero-turning-radius mowers in the same plant. Kubota badly underestimated demand this spring, and are running way behind, and the plant is overloaded. Delivery commitments from Kubota to the dealer have no date on them, only a month. My tractor is currently flagged for delivery "May 03". Nothing more specific. They claim they are not the only Kubota dealer with orders they can't fill. They are contacting Kubota again this morning, hoping for a tighter commitment. Mine is supposed to be one of three slated for delivery at the same time, all of which are late. One of them was ordered even longer ago than mine was. So the waiting game continues. Sounds like really poor planning / management on Kubota's part if what I was told this morning is true. Still maddening. A purchase this size shouldn't be this hard to make.

 

[dmartin88]

Thanks, I called today and was told that they were trying to find more and to please stand by for more information. Now I'm wondering if my unit is one of the 3 that are due or if I'm not even in the first batch to arrive? I ordered on April 19th. You're right, very frustrating and have almost convinced myself I really don't need a tractor! Oh well, will see what happens.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Decided to get a BX22 myself. I stopped at York Tractor in Dover, Pa. (5 miles NW of York Pa.) and they have 3 ready to go. Going in next week and picking one up. Price quoted was 15.9K with toothbar delivered. Going with the 0% deal and with this a $100 fee to file the loan with the state / county. I guess its like a title. My homowners insurance covers it so that is not a issue.

I have a BX1800 with 125hrs and still figuring out if I will trade or sell outright.

From dealing with York Tracrtor before, I have found that they are easy to deal with. I picked up the BX1800 back in April 2002 from Finch Services in Hanover, Pa. I went to Finch first for the BX22 and I have found that the sales people do not return your calls nor see to be that friendly. Also, Finch last week and had 1 BX22.

Ken

 

[5030]

I ordered my 5030 as soon as the model came on the market and my dealer, Dans farm equipment in Adrain Michigan had my tractor in in about a week, with all accessories and delivered. A few Kubota's ago, I ordered a tractor, and the distribution center in Columbus, Ohio didn't have one so my dealer got one from another dealer here in Michigan. I guess that Kubota dealers do it just like car dealers, if they don't have the model you want, they get it from another dealer. I think I'd go to another dealer. By the way, Dan's website is: www.dansfarmsupply.com

 

[Anonymous Poster]

After adding the post I did on Friday, I decided to get a little more proactive. So I went back to the Kubota website, and looked up the factory in Georgia where the machine is being built. Called the number listed, and asked for someone who could talk to me about ship dates. Was connected to a delightful woman named Carol, who said she could easily give me a ship date if I could give her the factory order number from my dealer. I told her I didn't have it, and she asked for the salesman's name, so she could call and get it. Promised that as soon as she knew the factory order number for my machine, she'd call me back. Was courteous, and genuinely apologetic. More to the point, she also seemed mystified that I'd been waiting 6 weeks for a tractor to reach my dealer. Didn't get a call back on Friday, so I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow (Monday) and ask for the factory order number for my machine. The response I get to that request will tell me a whole lot. Stay tuned. The saga continues.

 

[Tdog]

VaV,

As I said in a previous post, & others have too, you might do yourself a favor by going to another dealer - - unless there is some over-riding reason you have to do business with these people who have not been able to deliver.

 

[dmartin88]

I'm not necessarily tied to this dealer but the 3 next closest dealers didn't have stock either when I talked to them about a week ago. They all told me that they couldn't give me a delivery date at this point. I sent a note for a quote from Carver as well, quoted about 8 weeks for availability and a price about $700 above the local dealer so that didn't seem like a real alternative either?

I didn't like the idea of waiting a few weeks but if it had showed as promised, could live with it. At this point, not sure what I'll do.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

any updates on the bx22?
DaveL

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Was back at York Tractor yesteray and was surprised to see that the 3 BX22's that they had were now down to 1.

They were saying that they are having major problems with getting equipment from Kubota. Kubota must have under estimated the demend that the 0% deal would place on the sales and they are having problems keeping up.

Ken

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had a face-to-face meeting with the owner of the dealership today, and have a much better understanding of what's going on. Turns out that the shortage / bottleneck on these machines is a Kubota planning problem being aggravated by the Kubota allocation system.

The planning problem is that they under-estimated the demand for this machine ... badly. The allocation system problem is more complicated.

The "factory order number" I was told about last week doesn't exist on a machine when the order is placed with Kubota by the dealer. It only exists when Kubota assigns an actual machine to that order. In my case, the order was turned in by the dealer promptly, and they are still waiting for Kubota to assign an actual machine to it. Until that happens, there is nothing to track. They have a system by which the Regional Sales VP learns of the number of machines in the pipeline, allocates those to District Sales Managers, who allocate them to dealers. Until machines are allocated to a given dealer through that chain, no factory order number is assigned. My machine is still unassigned. Repeated calls to several folk at Kubota about the allocation /assignment placed by the dealer with every contact they have yielded nothing substantial.

The dealer has committed to take a factory stock machine (one of two due within "a couple of weeks" according to Kubota in GA) trade the 12" bucket for a 10", swap the turf tires for bar/ag tires, and retrofit the 3 position valve with the 4 position that I need. They are making a good faith effort to meet my needs, and are caught by a shortage in the Kubota pipeline (recent phenomenon, within the last 5 weeks) the structure through which allocations are made at Kubota, and the unavailability of key people at Kubota to return calls and help clear up the mystery.

So, net end result: I'm still waiting, and hoping for a machine that may arrive within the next two weeks. The only good news is that a machine for a fellow who ordered 4 weeks before I did is on a truck from GA to VA now. So at least some machines are moving, and someone is about to get one. Just not me, not yet.

 

[BillyP]

That sure sounds familiar. I waited 2 months, last year, for my JD 4610. I ordered it in April and finally got it in June.

Oh well, it was worth the wait. While I was waiting, JD came out with a $900.00 rebate, which I gladly accepted /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

4x5 - I too ordered from them and I think that I am the fellow that they say my tractor is on the way for. I ordered around the 6th of April or close to that. I have been talking to them too and am also very frustrated. If that tractor is not for me than I will be very upset as they have been telling me that I am the "1st one in line". Its sad that I have to hear that it is on a truck heading this way from you on this site and not from them as they know how anxious I am. Oh well. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I ordered the BX22 TLB w/ 60" MMM, Bar Tires, 4 Position Valve, Filled Tires, Delivery, Familiarization, etc. I was quoted $16,000 for the total.

 

[surfran]

Sorry to hear you have to wait. It killed me waiting 3 weeks for mine and it was primarily due to the paperwork and the rear grass catcher that wasn't in stock.

One thing that helped me tremendously was that the dealer, Carver Equipment sent me the manuals when I ordered, so I had plenty of time to read them before machine arrived. This also meant my enthusiasm when it arrived didn't allow me to operate the unit without some familiarization and do something I regretted. Of course I still had to re-read some things, as it doesn't always set in my head until I see and feel what is being described.

This also sounds like dealing with the bigger, higher volume dealers probably makes sense at this time as I would expect they get the higher prioritization for allocation. Of course that doesn't always translate into better service or better pricing.


Good luck,

 

[dmartin88]

Sounds like I'm out of luck as I think I'm the third in line for a BX22 from the Purcleville dealer. If there are 2 due in during the next two weeks (which I hope is correct), this means that I'm even further out!

I sent an email to the folks from Kubota in Atlanta a day or so ago and the good news is they answered it. The bad news is that they must not have read it because the response was that the "southeast division provides excellent updates to their dealers" and that I should contact the dealer if I'm looking for an update. This was in response to a note that said I'm unhappy with the response from the dealer.

Net is, I'm not as comfortable that the folks at Browning Equipment in Purcleville have done all they could but if the response I received from the Kubota corporate office is any indication, I can see they're getting little support as well.

I called 7 other dealers today in Virginia, none had units in stock, only one said the could get one within a week and also said that the price would be $1,600 above the ordered price here and didn't seem willing to talk any further.

Thanks to 4X5V for the information, if only the dealer communicated as well!

 

[manganos]

Dinwiddie Tractor has a couple out front of the store. They will gladly sell you a tractor but the service sucks. IMHO. I was going to trade in my BX22 on a 3130 and told Herman the owner. He said he would get back to me withing a couple of days on how much I could get for my BX22 on trade in. It has been over a month with no repsonse. I recieve my Kioti tomorrow from a very well known out of state dealer.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It's Wednesday morning, and I just launched a call to the Regional VP Sales at Kubota in Georgia. It will be interesting to see if I get the courtesy of a return call.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Maybe Tomaay, dmartin and I should arrange to parade our BX22's down Main Street in Purcellville once we have them. At this rate, we could comfortably plan that event for Memorial Day Weekend ... 2005.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Well, the one that was on the road from Georgia is here and it is mine so I am quite happy. The dealer has been just as frustrated as I have been with the availability issues that everyone is experiencing and I think that everyone should try to keep that in mind. I know that I want to have a good relationship with them b/c they will be my local servicing dealer. It took about 6 weeks from my order to when it arrived at the dealer. Now I just have to wait for them to finish prepping the tractor and then arrange for delivery hopefully sometime this weekend. Too bad it will be raining but at least it could be in my garage soon. Everyone else, good luck. I know your frustration and remember, so does the dealer.