Is this acceptable quality on a brand new Kubota?

[crbr]

As a previous AWS CWI, even through the paint, that is some crappy welding. Very shoddy workmanship. I too would suggest asking for a replacement. That is completely unacceptable with many identifiable weld defects. Looks like a drunken stick welder with no regard for his work.

 

[stuarth]

THE PICTURES ARE BETTER AND WHAT A MESS

 

[shvl73]

Those welds sure aren't pretty! Not what I would expect of Kubota but, I could easily live with it.

I'm changing my opinion! After looking at the second set of pics, WOW!
Those are amateur at best. I hope you get satisfaction.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

-Slow moving vehicle sign flew off on the way home.....I did not know it wasn't bolted on, but only in a slide in bracket....nobody told me this.

-Excessive grease on the zerks and pivots....no biggie, I cleaned it off and was just glad everything was greased, although done sloppy.

-Small scratch on the hood....deep enough it won't buff out....ok, no biggie, but still its new!!

-Small scratch on one of the rear wheels...once again, I can live with this, but come on!

-Many more small-medium scratches on one of the spare wheels (turfs mounted on). This time bad enough I want the wheel replaced.


Your first post. I started reading at the top and by the time I got to the bad welds had decided you are the perfectionist that can't be pleased. Have purchased 6 Kubotas in the past few years and each one may have had at least one of these problems. I've never waxed my Kubotas but I keep them covered and serviced and still bright orange. I have purchased over 100 cars/trucks and do expect a new one to be near perfect so I do have expectations of a quality product relative to the price I pay. I expect a new one to be near perfect no matter what I pay. I want new to be new. I have not expected the same perfection for my tractors but I have never had any big issues other than a rim that would not hold air on one and Steve Barlow replaced it for me. Also had one that the rubber ring in the fuel lid had dislodged and fell into the fuel tank and melted. On that one Steve Barlow got me another fuel lid with rubber ring at no cost. I also recently had the quick attach mess up on my L3240HST and he replaced all of it at no cost. Well I guess I have had a few issues now that I write them out but my dealer Steve Barlow took care of all of them. Now to my reason for my second response. Your latest pictures show a product that I would not expect from Kubota nor would accept without some major concession in price or replacement. I agree you rec'd a bad welded loader and should have it replaced or given some money back. I did not see the crappy welds in the first batch of pictures, maybe because I had already decided after the sign loss because they didn't tell you and the excess grease on fittings that you may be expecting a bit to much. Hope your dealer, I think that's the responsible party, takes care of this flawed new merchandise that you purchased from him/her. If he/she has dragged their feet on this issue, I would expect them to fix every single problem that you have with the machine down to each scratch and chip. If they don't, demand your machine back, give their machine back, tell everyone in the world their name and then trade with Steve.

 

[638]

HOLY C***. Are you sure that is a Kubota loader?? I've never seen anything that bad come out of a factory. Back yard, yes.

 

[rickster]

Very ugly welding!!

 

[Botabill]

Yes, my dealer is working on this with Kubota, I see no need for any legal action at this time. I think perhaps, that this loader is so far from the norm, that no one believed me. I really had no intentions of making a big deal out of this, unfortunately it has become one on this site. I learned long ago to address a customer complaint quickly, regardless of the severity of the issue, an unhappy customer who is heard immediately (and in person if possible) and offered solutions, can often times be satisfied.

Good luck to you Bandaman in getting some resolution but that doesn't necessarily resolve the basic concern we Kubota owner have expressed here. Yes we support you but the bigger issue is... can a person who buys a Kubota expect and receive a high level of quality product or is the company grabbing for the cash and to h*** with the customer.

 

[OlderToday]

Might I suggest that other BX series owners that would not accept this level of quality on your own machine follow my lead and submit a complaint to Kubota on BANDAMAN behalf at https://www.kubota.com/f/secure/contact_pctract.cfm? There is power in numbers.

My submission was as follows:

You need to take care of the following problem. Fix it or risk losing customer support!! http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...4048-acceptable-quality-brand-new-kubota.html

 

[bandit67]

can a person who buys a Kubota expect and receive a high level of quality product or is the company grabbing for the cash and to h*** with the customer.

OK, easy fellas. Obviously, by the responses from all the other Kubota owners out there, this particular loader's welds do not meet the high standards that we have come to expect from Kubota.

I think it's probably an isolated case of some poor Quality Control that allowed this one to slip all the way through (maybe the QC dept has gotten a little lax because they're used to not finding this type of poor workmanship at their factory).

But I think it's also perfectly reasonable to fault the dealer, who should also recognize that they don't typically deliver this type of poor Kubota workmanship. The dealer did seem to really drag their feet initially. A good dealer would let Kubota know that both they and Kubota screwed up and let a poorly manufactured product slip through the cracks, and then both the dealer and Kubota should have made sure that the issue was resolved a little more quickly.

Sounds like too many dealer and Kubota folks are already thinking about their holiday vacation and not jumping all over this. Thus the 472 pages of replies to the initial posting.

However, I would expect Kubota to get this taken care of to the OP's satisfaction without giving him too big of a headache. You know, when you choose a dealer, you are also choosing someone to take care of things for you without you having to pull too much hair out. This particular dealer's customer service seems a bit questionable, in that they should have said "use your loader as much as you need to and don't worry about it while we get this ironed out for you". Those are the types of responses I've heard over the years from good dealers.

 

[emmy71]

The customer should have never seen that loader. Dealer should have taken a straight forward appraoch and called the customer saying he received the loader but noticed a defect in it and did not feel comfortable selling it to him. That would have won won him a long term customer. I weld as a hobby and as a need to repair things (have never taken a class) and I can do better than that.

As a side note, I believe it is required that the slow moving vehicle sign be removed before transporting the tractor because it will be traveling more that 25 miles per hour. Learned that here.

Terry