Is this acceptable quality on a brand new Kubota?

[IH3444]

My neighbor and I bought from a dealer who sold both New Hollands, and kubota. We both were commenting on how well the New Hollands were welded, and how crappy the Kubotas were welded. We were both a bit turned off by the poor quality welds on the Kubotas, even though that wasn't why we both bought NH. That was back in 2004, and 2005.

 

[Mustangous]

here are some more pics...

 

[BANDAMAN]

Mustangous,

Thanks for posting the pictures....my tractor has the same label: Gainesville, GA. You just proved that they can weld better then what they did on mine.

 

[BANDAMAN]

Just out of curiousity because I'm not a welder, I checked out the welds on my L4400HST. It's a new unit with about 3 hours on it. They are smooth and well laid with no overpainted splatters.
Bandaman, in comparison to the welds on your tractor as shown in your pics, it's the difference between night & day. You definitely have a case for weld quality not to mention safety.
I'd go all the way with this issue, including going up the chain of command as far as it takes to satisfy you. Again, I will state that sloppy welds and deplorable prep work should not be excused by anyone!

Exactly! Thank you, I will be absolutely amazed and tremendously dissappointed if a Kubota Representative can look at my welds and say that its great Kubota Quality and they are proud of it! I am hopeful that my dealer will send this up the Kubota ladder and help give me a voice that will be heard with them.

 

[BANDAMAN]

I believe for some it is and that is why they have the business .. customer satisfaction. There are many strange charecters out there, they too spend money.

What I think is as consumers we have simply agreeded to accept sub standard ... that should not be the way it is.

In this case, he is unpleased ... What is he to do if Kubota does nothing for him, then what? I also agree with the other post that said "Done Deal" ... In this case his overwhelming excitement and faith in the product and the dealership his expectations have not been met.

Perhaps someone somewhere during th mfg process said "What the hey ... out the door ... who cares ... looks good to me ... I'll still get a check"

Blueriver...your right!

Shame on me for being as excited as a kid at Christmas to get my new tractor that I had to wait a few weeks for.....At my age I should know better, I don't think I'm a dummy, but I let the emotions and excitement take over and I did not inspect this unit the way I should have before signing the papers. I guess I thought that is what the dealer was supposed to do???? Yea, I learned, but I'm still going to try and get what I paid for and what I expected in quality.

The guys that say "you bought it, done deal" have a point, that might get them off the hook for the scratches, but I didn't accidentally slip and put crappy welds on my tractor after I got it home. This needs to be handled by Kubota. If they feel that these welds are a representative of the quality products they have to sell, they are in trouble. My hope is that someone in Tokyo gets to see this....I bet they will have something to say about it.

 

[ray66v]

I believe for some it is and that is why they have the business .. customer satisfaction. There are many strange charecters out there, they too spend money.

What I think is as consumers we have simply agreeded to accept sub standard ... that should not be the way it is.

In this case, he is unpleased ... What is he to do if Kubota does nothing for him, then what? I also agree with the other post that said "Done Deal" ... In this case his overwhelming excitement and faith in the product and the dealership his expectations have not been met.

Perhaps someone somewhere during th mfg process said "What the hey ... out the door ... who cares ... looks good to me ... I'll still get a check"

Again, I think the welding job is done poorly. Although it is really too late to reject it.

There is a lot of blame being thrown at Kubota, they should have done this and they should have done that. Kubota made the product, offered it for sale, and your free to inspect it, and buy it, or pass on it.

I can assure you, they did the research, and they know how much they can get for a tractor. Then the machine is built, working backwards from that price point. Every step and piece, is part of that price point. This tractor was made, and passed inspection within those limits. Meaning, any changes to the process will likely increase the final price. As manufacturing costs increase, adjustments have to be made. Do we eliminate a step that is cosmetic? or increase the price? He already feels, it was expensive, how much more would he have paid to get the machine, he thought that he bought?

The general consensus here seems to be that because he had expectations, they need to be meet. This is not always possible. What if his expectations were unreasonable? What if the next guy is 15x more particular than him, and does not look at the machine at all before, before buying it, why is Kubota obligated to also meet his expectations later?

Because most everyone here is apparently disappointed in Kubota, they probably will make some concessions to try and satisfy this customer. And that's probably good business. I'm just not sure if it is fair.

 

[WaxMan]

Again, I think the welding job is done poorly. Although it is really too late to reject it.

There is a lot of blame being thrown at Kubota, they should have done this and they should have done that. Kubota made the product, offered it for sale, and your free to inspect it, and buy it, or pass on it.

I can assure you, they did the research, and they know how much they can get for a tractor. Then the machine is built, working backwards from that price point. Every step and piece, is part of that price point. This tractor was made, and passed inspection within those limits. Meaning, any changes to the process will likely increase the final price. As manufacturing costs increase, adjustments have to be made. Do we eliminate a step that is cosmetic? or increase the price? He already feels, it was expensive, how much more would he have paid to get the machine, he thought that he bought?

The general consensus here seems to be that because he had expectations, they need to be meet. This is not always possible. What if his expectations were unreasonable? What if the next guy is 15x more particular than him, and does not look at the machine at all before, before buying it, why is Kubota obligated to also meet his expectations later?

Because most everyone here is apparently disappointed in Kubota, they probably will make some concessions to try and satisfy this customer. And that's probably good business. I'm just not sure if it is fair.

BULL I can assure you that Kubota didn't sent out a poorly welded loader to save money because they were working backwards. It's poorly welded because of the welder working that day.
He could not look at it before he bought it I'm sure it had to have a deposit before it was ordered . So since the guy had to take it site unseen lets get rid of this one with the poor welds. NO WAY if it was me that dealer would be getting me a another one I don't care if I took it home or not. Because I was all excited my tractor finally came in I didn't check out the welds I screwed.
He didn't buy it at a tag sale, they have 10,000 of those loaders customer not happy get him another one Period. If all the loaders were welded like that OK live with it. If there not like that one you have every right to get a correctly welded one People who care demand the good one People who don't settle for the crap. It's a done deal when I say it's a done deal.

 

[blueriver]

He already feels, it was expensive, how much more would he have paid to get the machine, he thought that he bought?

WHAT ... He would have paid the SAME for the same Machine that others have bought with acceptable welds. The only price difference would be the negotiated price at the time of purchase ... I am pretty sure the MFG suggested retail price is based on the individual machine .... not the welds, please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[WaxMan]

Again I'm talking about the weld , you should limit your main complaint to the welds and not the touch up paint, that part is minor and can be easily repaired by you. The welds you will live with forever. If you complain about the grease etc. they might just dismiss the whole thing and give you a harder time.

 

[Mike Costello]

Is fairness really whats a stake here? One man vs. giant Kubota. Kubota could drive that tractor off a cliff and never miss it. Lets face it, even the best companies occaisionally build lemons. They need to step up to the plate and handle this issue once and for all.
A wise old mechanic once told me "Anything built by man is subject to failure". That statement was told to me over 35 years ago when I was just a young man starting out in the automotive repair business. It pretty much says it all.