John Deere sold at Lowes & HD

[Fordlords]

On the other side of the scale my brother was a parts sales manager at AutoZone for a few years, and the stories were a hoot. Not a day would go by where some guy would come in and buy $30 worth of parts and expect my brother to go out to the parking lot and rebuild half the car for him for the $10/hr he made there. This is what has become the American box store mentality. If you go in to these places and expect the very best of service for the little amount of money you spend there, you are eventually going to be disappointed. I think Blowes and Home Cheapo should have disclaimer signs clearly posted in their tractor sections stating that their stores DO NOT service these products there. It would only be fair to the customer.

Sears and Craftsman are different. They will have someone come out to your house to repair their tractors, either in or out of warranty.

-Fordlords-

 

[Volfandt]

He didn't "storm in and demand a replacement". He asked them to fix the tractor and in true box store ignorant $8/hr fashion, they accused him of "throwing a rock into the gas tank while mowing".

Who said he did. I certainly didn't. From my own past experience, I recommended that he, or anyone else for that matter, not to go into the DEALER and demand service. Even though the assigned servicing dealer is supposed to service it.

Part of buying a tractor is the dealer you buy it from. When the scatology hits the fan, I don't want to be trying to explain to a pimple faced kid who listens to Snoop Dog in his mom's car during his smoke break that my tractor is broken and I need help.

Now that's "keepin it real"

If you want to keep it real, I'd recommend not trying to get a pimply faced kid employed at a box store to service a tractor....... Course if he's employed by a certified repair facility, what he looks like and what he listens too won't matter.....

I agree that it's better to buy from a dealer. He's the one that'll provide service for it, provide parts for it and upgrade you to a premium machine when it's time to.

I don't agree that the 100 series is junk. Theres a reason why JD got into the economy class......

As for "real",
I've mowed two acres w/a Craftsman GT6000 and a JD L130 and not only did both do an excellent job finish mowing, they held up well enough to be resold when I upgraded to bigger machines.

 

[Builder]

Who said he did. I certainly didn't. From my own past experience, I recommended that he, or anyone else for that matter, not to go into the DEALER and demand service. Even though the assigned servicing dealer is supposed to service it.

If you want to keep it real, I'd recommend not trying to get a pimply faced kid employed at a box store to service a tractor....... Course if he's employed by a certified repair facility, what he looks like and what he listens too won't matter.....

But you implied he did.

Last I looked, there were no trained service personel at the box stores. They want your money, then you're on your own. When my friend's Deere 100 series took a dump, he naturally called the box store he bought it from. That's what the average non-mechanical guy does. That's when he knew he made a mistake. Meanwhile, the grass is growing 1" per day while the tractor sits broken.....

"I agree that it's better to buy from a dealer. He's the one that'll provide service for it, provide parts for it and upgrade you to a premium machine when it's time to.

I don't agree that the 100 series is junk. Theres a reason why JD got into the economy class......

As for "real",
I've mowed two acres w/a Craftsman GT6000 and a JD L130 and not only did both do an excellent job finish mowing, they held up well enough to be resold when I upgraded to bigger machines."

WOW!

 

[Raceral]

My local JD dealer told me that he got 60 bucks for every JD that Lowes( right down the street) sold.

 

[jm102397]

My local JD dealer told me that he got 60 bucks for every JD that Lowes( right down the street) sold.

They just "get" it?

Not quite.

The dealership is paid to go out and uncrate, set-up and perform the "pre-delivery" inspection on every unit sold at a big box store. Then after the unit is sold, the store is responsible for passing the warranty card to the servicing dealership to register the sale in the JD system and start the warranty. The dealer is then responsible for calling the new owner, making sure they know who/where their servicing dealer is and see if they have any questions on maintenance, use etc. These calls can be QUITE lengthy as the customer is usually fairly "green" as to what they bought (a direct result of the lack of knowledge on the part of the person at the big box that sold it to them). The amount the dealership is paid is not $60 and the dealership does not just "get" it-there is a lot of work involved with earning it.

Your local dealer has it easy if the store is right down the street-for many dealers the big box is further away and by the time they figure in the tech's travel time and such they may break even on the deal.

 

[jm102397]

BTW,earlier in this thread someone said they doubted the warranty on an LA series JD would transfer to a second owner-in all actuality it does

 

[war_eagle]

Can't help but throw in my quarter here (inflation you know). There seem to be a couple things I really disagree with. First the comparison with cars and trucks. I've even seen a dealer post that the L105 is the "cheapest thing" JD sells and you should expect to get what you pay for. Who says inexpensive should be crap? Should a Ford Ranger be less reliable than a full-size Ford? You can compare Fords to Toyotas for example, but a Ranger should be just as reliable for what it was built for as a F250. Nobody should expect to pull an RV with a compact pickup, but it should do what it was designed to do for 20 years or so. The same with the cheapest JD vs. the most expensive garden tractor. If you get your L105 home and within a month, it's broken, it's not your fault for going cheap. Second, if the tractor companies, JD, Cub, no matter who, are selling crap with the idea that you'll come back for an upgrade, then shame on them, and we shouldn't buy any of their products. That sounds like a legal form of bait and switch. On the other hand if you do have to go buy at the box store, it may be a good idea to buy the cheapest JD they have since the quality is probably about the same anyway. But to me at least, its sounding more and more that any company that sells these "entry level" disposable machines don't deserve my business on any of their products, cheap or expensive.

 

[jm102397]

War Eagle-

I, for one, do not believe the LA series is "crap". There are many features (like the one piece welded frame) that JD kept from their more heavily built equipment that sets them apart from many other manufacturers. That being said, one of the biggest issues is with people using the lighter weight piece of equipment to try and do things outside the scope of what it was built for, i.e pulling a huge cart loaded down with logs, stone etc behind one....just not designed to do it. The problem is people don't read operator's manuals, don't ask questions and sometimes don't listen when they are given information-they already know the answer or think they know better than what the dealership informs them of, usually because they don't want to hear the truth. I make the follow through calls for our dealership to people who bought at HD or Lowes. I can not tell you the # of times I have asked people about the "break-in oil change"-are they aware of it, have they done it yet-and have people telling me "Oh, that's not neccessary....that oil isn't even dirty yet", even though the unit already has 30 hours on it. Doing that intial service can make a huge difference in the life span of an engine but from talking to those box store customers I would make a guess it is only done about 10% of the time. Very, very few times do I contact a customer who has read their manual or has any idea what the service schedule is on their unit, all of which is in the manual and posted under the hood. Many of the units in the LA series are totally BEAT when we see them come in-dirty oil, the factory installed oil filter still on 2 seasons after purchase, plugged fuel filters, corrosion on the battery, blades that have been obviously run through rocks-and a customer complaining about how the unit doesn't run right and they want it warranteed. I am not saying this is true for every customer from HD and Lowes but I do know that we see way less issues like this from people who buy from the dealership than from the box stores, in my mind that's because we make sure the customer realizes this is a piece of equipment and needs to be treated like one-not just used once a week and put away without ever giving it any care.

 

[bontai_Joe]

War Eagle-

I, for one, do not believe the LA series is "crap". There are many features (like the one piece welded frame) that JD kept from their more heavily built equipment that sets them apart from many other manufacturers. That being said, one of the biggest issues is with people using the lighter weight piece of equipment to try and do things outside the scope of what it was built for, i.e pulling a huge cart loaded down with logs, stone etc behind one....just not designed to do it. The problem is people don't read operator's manuals, don't ask questions and sometimes don't listen when they are given information-they already know the answer or think they know better than what the dealership informs them of, usually because they don't want to hear the truth. I make the follow through calls for our dealership to people who bought at HD or Lowes. I can not tell you the # of times I have asked people about the "break-in oil change"-are they aware of it, have they done it yet-and have people telling me "Oh, that's not neccessary....that oil isn't even dirty yet", even though the unit already has 30 hours on it. Doing that intial service can make a huge difference in the life span of an engine but from talking to those box store customers I would make a guess it is only done about 10% of the time. Very, very few times do I contact a customer who has read their manual or has any idea what the service schedule is on their unit, all of which is in the manual and posted under the hood. Many of the units in the LA series are totally BEAT when we see them come in-dirty oil, the factory installed oil filter still on 2 seasons after purchase, plugged fuel filters, corrosion on the battery, blades that have been obviously run through rocks-and a customer complaining about how the unit doesn't run right and they want it warranteed. I am not saying this is true for every customer from HD and Lowes but I do know that we see way less issues like this from people who buy from the dealership than from the box stores, in my mind that's because we make sure the customer realizes this is a piece of equipment and needs to be treated like one-not just used once a week and put away without ever giving it any care.

I agree with what you said 100%. Many folks remember grandpa's Deere or Cub Cadet (a GT) being able to do things that today's entry level tractors can't do at all or not for very long. Deere and Cub Cadets first models made in the 1960's were garden tractors. Lawn tractors came later down the line. And a LOT of folks don't know the difference.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Can't help but throw in my quarter here (inflation you know). There seem to be a couple things I really disagree with. First the comparison with cars and trucks. I've even seen a dealer post that the L105 is the "cheapest thing" JD sells and you should expect to get what you pay for. Who says inexpensive should be crap? Should a Ford Ranger be less reliable than a full-size Ford? You can compare Fords to Toyotas for example, but a Ranger should be just as reliable for what it was built for as a F250. Nobody should expect to pull an RV with a compact pickup, but it should do what it was designed to do for 20 years or so. The same with the cheapest JD vs. the most expensive garden tractor. If you get your L105 home and within a month, it's broken, it's not your fault for going cheap. Second, if the tractor companies, JD, Cub, no matter who, are selling crap with the idea that you'll come back for an upgrade, then shame on them, and we shouldn't buy any of their products. That sounds like a legal form of bait and switch. On the other hand if you do have to go buy at the box store, it may be a good idea to buy the cheapest JD they have since the quality is probably about the same anyway. But to me at least, its sounding more and more that any company that sells these "entry level" disposable machines don't deserve my business on any of their products, cheap or expensive.

The last time I checked the Ford Rangers cost as much as the F-150. We were looking for a nice fuel efficient truck that we could use from time to time to get materials and other light duty jobs like estimating jobs and such. Well, for the cost it didn't make sense. The fuel economy wasn't that much better then the 4.6L F-150 and the price was close to the same so we skipped the whole ideal and bought a diesel F-250.

Now I do believe you get what you pay for. If you buy a cheap vehicle they had to cut corners somewhere. The amount of work required to build a Ford Ranger is the same as a F-350. The only difference is the amount of material used.

Now when it comes to lawn mowers, you get what you pay for. A $1k lawn mower will mow your lawn but generally is going to require a lot more upkeep compared to a $3k garden tractor. The amount of work required to build both machines is the same so how can one be so much cheaper then the other? You use cheaper parts that are not built as strong so you get a cheaper machine