Is this acceptable quality on a brand new Kubota?

[SnowRidge]

Why do the welds have to be defective? Why take the machine to a certified welder and have him examine the machine. That's not the point.
Lets say my neighbor and I both order BX's his comes in with perfect welds
mine are like Bandman's We both paid the same , all the other loaders are good. Mine would be considered cosmetically defective. Does it say somewhere that Kubota is not responsible for poor quality?
I'll say this again
It all depends on what the other loaders look like, If the others loaders are perfect all the welds look great then the op has a good case of why am I the one that ends up with junk welds when all the others are fine.
Then hands down his loader is cosmetically defective. Kubota does not have a leg to stand on. Especially since he has not used the loader yet.
If the other loaders are all like his or very close then he has to live with it.
It is as simple as that.

He bought a tractor with a loader, not a Porsche. He may a have a personal expectation that the welds should be pretty, but he does not have a warranty claim unless they are defective. Ugly does not equal defective, even if the weldments don't meet industry standard welding practices. The bottom line is going to be is it safe, and does the machine function properly? If so, then he can only hope for a goodwill repair or replacement on Kubota's part.

 

[Evil the Weasel]

He wasn't able to look over the machine before he made the purchase. That wasn't the right thing to do, but that's not the point. The point is that if the other Kubotas at the dealership had hideous welds like the one he received, he probably would have bought from another manufacturer. This isn't about a warranty claim, this is about customer satisfaction and perhaps Kubota's reputation.

 

[DGS]

if you financed it, what your asking for is really much more complicated than you would think. If it was a cash sale its alot easier. Be persistant but nice, if you start getting ugly they'll think your unreasonable and you won't get anywhere.

11 pages about this! Wow, you guys really are a different breed. I don't think I've ever had a customer looking at welds before.

Ok Neil
You posted your reply so what some of us are asking just what do you think about those welds
I just want you to know that that are a lot people that read the posts on this site and since you are the first dealer that has had enough nuts to post an answer I for one am eagerly anticipating an answer
Don Salisbury

 

[AndyinIowa]

If I was running Kubota, I would:

1) Immeadiately order a replacement to be delivered post haste and at no charge to the customer. I would also offer an apology to the customer accompanied by gift certificate for his 50 hour service. Costs of these measures would be charged back to the factory.

2) Suggest to dealer/salesperson that I would expect him to recognize any such future issues as part of the dealer inspection and ask the customer to allow Kubota to make it right. To benefit the company, and it's customers, I would publish this directive for all dealers/salespeople in next newsletter or sales conference. Stories on going the extra mile to make things right for a customer have to be shared and reinforced to become the norm.

3) Order an independent quality audit of the originating factory. Has this welder learned how to weld yet? Has other substandard work been released? Followup. Check how quality control let this out the door. At the very least they will get the message that more is expected.

4) Overall this issue speaks to the dings and chips that seem to be making their way into the product delivery stream. Initiate defect identification (send someone to look at sample product on dealer lots) and root cause analysis (figure out the underlying causes, packaging, handling, product design?). Who/what is damaging the product and what needs to be done to prevent this?

5) Include a question in post-purchase cutomer survey identifying concerns regarding product quality and make someone responsible for listening.

OK so I'm not Mr. Kubota, but if somone reading this is, please feel free to take on this mission. This thread is an opportunity to earn customer loyalty and maintain brand value. We care about your products; show us that you do too and we will remain loyal fans.

Ok, Mr. Kubota. You've done a great job satisfying this (and other similar customers). Unfortunately, you completely missed your share holders' profit expectations, and due to your high level of goodwill, more customers are expecting full vehicle replacements for small issues. You've just driven the CUT divison into the red, and the board of directors have made a decision.

Profits are gone, and here's your pink slip. Have a nice day...

IowaAndy

PS - Being sarcastic, but in the world of manufacturing, customers don't (and aren't willing to pay for) perfect. If an OEM tries to do as above, the bottom line will suffer, and people lose jobs. This isn't opinion, this is current reality in the US manufacturing sectors. When manufacturers are extra giving in the customer service department, people take advantage of that to the extreme...

 

[EddieWalker]

Interesting thread. I'm rather shocked at those who say he should live with it. I wouldn't. It's not what he ordered or was sold. He wanted a brand new tractor that was in perfect condition. If he wanted scratched and dented, he could have bough used. There are all sorts of used tractors out there, some with very few hours on them for allot less money then brand new.

As to the welds, there is a reason that a good looking weld is important. It's not that it's pretty, it's that the weld indicates a quality job of joining the metal together. A sloppy weld is a good sign of a bad weld. We'll never know if the weld is strong enough, or as strong as a quality weld without having it tested. Looking at it will never tell for sure. It's a gamble that Kubota has forced the buyer to live with.

What concerns me the most is that Kubota is selling brand new loaders with such ugly welds on them. Something is wrong when a company allows that to happen. They used to be able to weld a piece of metal to another without it looking like crap. Why the change?

This of course leads to the real question and what should concern everyone who's looking at buying a new Kubota. If they cut this corner that is obvious to see from the outside, what other corners are they cutting. Every company can fail and go downhill. When it happens, it always because somebody thought they could cut a corner and get away with it. Save a buck to earn just a little bit more. There is a point where that comes back to hurt a company.

Eddie

 

[WaxMan]

Profits are gone, and here's your pink slip. Have a nice day...

IowaAndy

PS - Being sarcastic, but in the world of manufacturing, customers don't (and aren't willing to pay for) perfect. If an OEM tries to do as above, the bottom line will suffer, and people lose jobs. This isn't opinion, this is current reality in the US manufacturing sectors. When manufacturers are extra giving in the customer service department, people take advantage of that to the extreme...[/QUOTE]

Everyone assumes all the welds on all Kubota's new loaders are sloppy weld jobs. Why do you think if you hurry up and do a sloppy weld your profits will go up?
It takes just as long to do a neat weld as a sloppy weld.
The BIG question is has anybody seen a new loader with a sloppy weld job.
Anybody??? For all anybody knows at this point he might be the only one.
Everybody here seems to think all the loaders are like that and it's because of profits.
Anybody else have bad welds????

 

[Mustangous]

Everyone assumes all the welds on all Kubota's new loaders are sloppy weld jobs. Why do you think if you hurry up and do a sloppy weld your profits will go up?
It takes just as long to do a neat weld as a sloppy weld.
The BIG question is has anybody seen a new loader with a sloppy weld job.
Anybody??? For all anybody knows at this point he might be the only one.
Everybody here seems to think all the loaders are like that and it's because of profits.
Anybody else have bad welds????

exactly... Doesnt take any longer to weld correctly, especially with mig. The dealers probably scratched the rims. They should of corrected it before delivery. Stuff like that make the customer look for more stuff and thats probably why he noticed the welds too....

 

[SnowRidge]

This of course leads to the real question and what should concern everyone who's looking at buying a new Kubota. If they cut this corner that is obvious to see from the outside, what other corners are they cutting. Every company can fail and go downhill. When it happens, it always because somebody thought they could cut a corner and get away with it. Save a buck to earn just a little bit more. There is a point where that comes back to hurt a company.

Eddie

Which is the reason that his best hope is to go over everyone's head and appeal directly to the top of Kubota. If senior management sees the weld job, they may decide they have not only a QC problem on their hands, but a PR problem as well, which they may decide to nip in the bud.

 

[escavader]

FIND a large stone wall and go work the heck out of that loader and see how the welds do.If you cant break it moving boulders you never will.If you do its under warranty aint it?Thats what id do id beat the snot out of it and see if it lives up to KUBOTA quality.After that its all scratched and broke in ,problem behind you.MY 2 CENTS
If your goal is new tractor.Iwouldnt put any more hours on it.
ALAN

 

[boxygen]

You could drop it off the empire state building directly on its loader and those welds will be last to fail. You could hot glue gun that metal together and it wouldnt fail either, on a loader thats designed to lift 400 lbs. The very fact that you are using the tractor to move snow means you have accepted the equipment. You can't have it both ways.
If I was Kubota, all I would offer was a lifetime warranty on the loader welds. Since it hasn't failed to do what it was designed for, they have no reason to give you something else. As others have said, where does it stop? If one of the welds on the underside of the tractor frame has some spatter or "sloppy" weld, would you demand a new tractor too? Nobody has any proof those welds aren't the strongest welds in the world. If your dealer offers you as much as a keychain for your "trouble" you should graciously accept it and never mention the issue again because he doesnt even owe you that. The welder had a bad day. Don't let it ruin your life. I can just imagine how your dealer will treat you if you ever have a "real" warranty issue down the road.
And if you take offense to this just go back to the first post where Banda asked for our (my) opinion.