How was your experience with Kubota finance?

[riptides]

To get my rant out first... So I traded a little Massey Ferguson for a B2601, and so far the "buying experience" is being soured by Kubota. The dealer is great, but Kubota Corp and their business operations are a little concerning. All the parts (3rd function, backhoe, etc...) I wanted were delivered from the warehouse in KS, but they forgot the subframe for the BH. Now they say they don't have any and don't know when they will. I've been waiting about month.

Not happy, but oh well. Dealer is leaving my tractor with me until it gets sorted. I go to sign up on Kubota finance's website, and "account can't be created". I call Kubota Credit, who says "give it a couple of weeks".

Seriously? Your supply chain and materiel management is "sorry, no idea when we'll have the stuff you bought a month ago". Your finance department is "give it a few more weeks", but we'll send you a payment booklet. I'm not impressed, and wondering if anyone else had similar experiences.

Well, I took delivery of a new tractor not that long ago. I was waiting on accessories and attachments to show. Dealer said, at the time of the deal, they were having delays with both.

On the finance side, my account did not show for a while too.

 

[ProjectKing]

If I were looking at an LX, I’d completely agree about COVID shutting down the factory and product delays. Not so sure that applies to a model that has been available. If they’ve got the BH’s, they should have the subframes. Most manufacturing uses software (like SAP) to manage the supply chain from production to assembly, etc... I think they’ve got some growing pains at the new warehouse in KS.



Glitches happen, and maybe I’m just the lucky guy who got to experience one. The demeanor from the customer service rep I’ve been corresponding with and the finance rep I talked to today seemed a little indifferent to me. I’m not really surprised with customer service. The industry standard seems to be “sorry we screwed up, please accept our apology as that’s all we’re going to do about it”.

I think you are greatly under estimating the impact to manufacturing by the pandemic issues. Also backhoes are expensive and not super common. So I can see where there maybe a shortage. I can imagine it’s very frustrating waiting on your equipment to arrive.

 

[CobyRupert]

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Try Kubota’s approach with your payment.
When they ask “Where’s our money?”, just tell them you ran out of checks, but you’ve got them back ordered but don’t know when they’ll be in “because corona!”.

Tell them not to worry about your payment and to “give it a few more weeks.”

 

[AHNC]

When problems like this arise, to me, this is when the dealer has to earn their keep. Being military this is a "chain of command" issue that the dealer should be all in on. While 12 or so years ago my experience with K. Finance was very good.

 

[dneal]

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

Try Kubota’s approach with your payment.
When they ask “Where’s our money?”, just tell them you ran out of checks, but you’ve got them back ordered but don’t know when they’ll be in “because corona!”.

Tell them not to worry about your payment and to “give it a few more weeks.”

It's funny, because that very thought crossed my mind. If it's ok for Kubota Customer Service to tell me (today) "My Apologies, No ETA available at this time. We have multiple orders waiting on this parts." I suppose it's ok for me to tell them "My Apologies, No ETA at this time. I have multiple people who want my money."

When problems like this arise, to me, this is when the dealer has to earn their keep. Being military this is a "chain of command" issue that the dealer should be all in on. While 12 or so years ago my experience with K. Finance was very good.

The dealer is going above and beyond. They are looking across other dealers for the subframe, and willing to lose profit in shipping costs to make it right. The system showed the item in stock. The warehouse shipped the BH without the subframe. The dealer has been led to believe the warehouse took the subframe and shipped it separately to someone else.

So yes, the "chain of command" needs to be involved. But now that's higher up the chain, and that's where Kubota is failing. They could be looking across other dealers' inventory. They could be expediting the part.

 

[dneal]

I think you are greatly under estimating the impact to manufacturing by the pandemic issues. Also backhoes are expensive and not super common. So I can see where there maybe a shortage. I can imagine it’s very frustrating waiting on your equipment to arrive.

Again, if it were a new model like the LX, I would agree. If there were simply no backhoes available, I'd agree. If it were a shipping delay, I might agree (although the warehouse is about 2 hours away). This is not a new model tractor or backhoe. Why would you have a backhoe available and not have the required subframe?

 

[BRMyers]

We had no issues with the financing, but as you noted, we were told to wait a few weeks before creating the account online. I guess they don't get into a big hurry setting that up. My wife waited, created an account about a month later and I haven't heard any complaints from her, so I guess everything is fine. (Plus they haven't come and taken the tractor back, so I'm guessing she is paying the bill.)

 

[dneal]

My financing was approved on May 12. I purchased from an out of state dealer and am still awaiting delivery but I have no complaints there. That was expected and communication with Barlow has been excellent.
I do find it strange that nearly a month later I have yet to hear anything from Kubota finance or insurance. No account information, no premium payment requested. Maybe the ball doesn't start rolling until I actually take delivery or the tractor is on the truck heading my way.
It's not a big deal and I'm not upset in any way. I'd rather not be paying on something I haven't seen or taken possession of yet. But generally these details are set up in advance. I could have had the account information set up in my local bank's online bill pay service if I had it to work with.

Thanks. Your scenario (with Kubota Finance) seems similar to mine. I told them I didn't want it, but they did the "no payment for 90 days" thing automatically; so there's time to get it set up. I assume your case is the same?

It just seems weird that in the 21st century the system didn't populate in 24-72 hours, and that they can't fix it on the spot. "just wait another week or so" seems that they're hoping somebody else does their job...

 

[riptides]

It seems crazy that I cannot have one finance account for all my Kubota purchases.

 

[Thomas]

We had no issues with the financing when we bought our second Kubota,also the insurance was real good.