Local dealer dropped ball -- forget buying a Massey?

[GregP27]

And that's what is wrong with many dealers!

You are offered the chance to meet an available price. If it is out of state, you can only meet the price plus taxes, but at least you are meeting the price. I'd rather buy from a local guy myself, but only if he or she gives me a decent deal. Son;t have to actually perfectly match, but I will NOT pay a bunch more just for a local deal. Taxes? No problem from me. MSRP? No way.

I've never paid MSRP for any car and won't for any tractor, either. MSRP is for suckers ... unless it's the only game in town.

Give me an attitude and I'll never grace your doorway, ever again, regardless of your product ... unless you runa funeral home. Then ... someday.

If I heard what the OP heard, I would be all over the factory rep and tell him if it came back as OK, he'd read tomorrow morning in his local newspaper in 6-inch block letters. I've done that one (not a tractor dealer). The dealer went under, later, after 2 years of declining sales. Good riddance. Nothing they can do back as long as you tell the truth, don't name call, don't make inferences or conclusions, and don't get personal in the slightest. The truth is always OK to print in normal words. It's when you start sounding ugly that it becomes recoverable back at you in court.

Go look at most any Facebook post. You';; see offensive words there all the time in replies. These idiots have forgotten the basic rules!

NEVER put anything over a phone or computer or in conversation (private or otherwise), in any way, unless you'd be confortable having it come back at you from a plaintoiff's lawyer, in court, in front of witnesses, knowing you said it and that can be proven, and it's true and you stand by each and every word, mostly WITH proof. If all that is true, they recover nothing.

 

[plowhog]

Unless I missed it, the OP did not claim the dealer was at MSRP and refused to deal. I've only bought two tractors. But it seems if a tractor dealer refused to budge from MSRP, they would last about as long as a car dealer who did the same.

 

[GregP27]

Perhaps you are correct, Obviously, I wasn't there.

But if I heard from someone that they would not service a unit bought somewhere else, I'd raise holy caine with the parent company and tell the better business bureau.

I've been in business for 38 years and you don't DO that. And I won't stand for it without a LOT of people knowing, so they can make an informed buyer's choice. If they choose to buy there, great. But at least they should know the kind of people they are dealing with.

Also obviously, I could have mis-read the situation, but his post didn't sound as though he received too nice a welcome. Could be wrong. If so, no problem here. Stay nice and make whatever decision is desired.

I never go in expecting anything but regular service and dealings. Last time I bought a car, it was all very fast and friendly. I told them what I was looking for and what I would pay for it, and said that if they could meet it, I'd drive out in it. If they couldn't, let me know and I'd be gone. I said they had exactly 5 minutes to answer and I had a yes in 4:30. I drove the unit within 10 more minutes, and I left in it with another 20 minutes. Paid cash. No credit needed or asked for. They demanded my SSAN and I said no. They said they needed a credit report and said no they didn't, it was a cash deal. They still wanted it and I said all they were going to get was a driver's License. That ended it. California tried to use my SSAN for the license and I refused. They can't legally make you divulge it. It's how identities get stolen and I wasn't about to let my SSAN on a license!

That was after walking out of 3 other dealers 5 minutes after I walked in. Total time wasted was less than 3 hours including driving around time. I walked out of Ford, Chevy, and Toyota. Wound up with Nissan Titan. Have had zero issues with it since 2007. Have had nothing but good service since then the very few times I have gone there. Almost all my service has been at dealers I didn't buy from, out of convenience ot me.

I'd expect the same from tractor dealers and, if not, would NOT deal with them. But, to each his own. We all do what we do. The OP didn't sound too happy to me, but maybe I read it completely wrong. The best thing is to stay as pleasant and nice as possible, state your case, and move ahead.

Mea Culpa, if I got it wrong.

Cheers to everyone!

 

[BlessedMess]

Thanks much for your thoughtful response and I generally agree. However, it wasn't worth my time or heartburn to try and fix stupid. A really great salesman with a Kubota dealer called me about a low hour MX5200HST trade he had just received. Real happy with it, although weather has precluded me from doing too much. It already had 2 rear remotes and a hydraulic top link. They installed 3rd function and now I'm shopping for a grapple, box blade, flail mower, and some plows to put it to work. Thanks again to all.

 

[charlton289]

Where I live we have a green, orange, red, and blue red and blue are the same dealer. I got a red( Massey Ferguson) but the salesman I dealt with let me choose a tractor and he didn't push one brand or the other. I got to choose which tires r4, turf, or ag. And free delivery with a full tank of fuel for an advertised price so there was no haggling and if I have a problem I just pick up the phone and call wether for service, sales,or parts and I recommend them to everyone I talk to about tractors.

 

[plowhog]

I love a happy ending!! Good luck with the MX5200, and be sure to post some pictures.

I agree completely with not trying to fix bad practices or bad dealerships. I very nearly called dealerships and called Kubota corporate based on how poor my experience was with trying to buy a Kubota L6060, for cash. I made the same decision as you-- it's their problem, and not worth my time. Eventually the market will fix it as business goes elsewhere.

The easy trap I think we all fall in is comparing a tractor sales operation to a car sales lot. Cars are high volume, often with many models and colors to choose from, on the lot, and to also test drive. You can test drive several competing models from different manufacturers easily in the same day. That's not my experience with the average tractor dealership. Out of multiple dealerships over months, I only saw a cab model L6060 one time. I could sit in it, but I was not allowed to drive it since it was for another customer. I did respect that, although I didn't like it. I drove 40 miles in another case to see a cab model L6060 that "is sitting on my lot right now," only to get there to find it was the narrow M series. My #1 gripe about the industry is the low amount of stock, with the model I want to buy usually out of stock ...

 

[BigDog1956]

I believe all manufacturers need to have a fixed price on all machinery so the customer does not have to put up with this kind of childish game dealing with these salesmen, why should one person have to pay thousand of dollars more for the same tractor than the next guy, it just puts a bad taste in everyone's mouth and really ruins the fun of shopping for a tractor when the dealer says he won't service your unit if you buy it somewhere else. If I knew that a tractor manufacturer had set prices for everyone you bet your life I would give them my business in a heart beat then have to deal with these salesmen.

Catman-back in about 1990 when HONDA-cars went to 1 priceing for all everyone said they were crazy, well they didn't turn out to bad #1 at time.

 

[BigDog1956]

Don't know about where you are, but here in Canada, that would be considered price fixing and is illegal.

Bullcrap-that's not PRICE FIXING, most item's for sale anywhere have a fixed price-see if Walmart will neg their shelf prices???? how about GAS pump's ??

 

[AxleHub]

I will depart from the consensus of opinion here to instead look at the dealer side of this.

OP said Massey 2706e was "top choice during brief test drives." So, its fair to presume he was consuming resources at the local dealer. It's probably fair to presume the dealer provided an employee to discuss tractors, a showroom and maybe some brochures, and they had tractor(s) to drive around on the lot. All of which cost money, and require a return on investment in order to keep the doors open for the next customer. So far, no problem, no foul. Normal business.

OP then tries to beat the dealer down off their quoted price, by several thousand dollars, using a lowball out of state bid. No problem, no foul. This is done all the time. I've done it myself.

Where I disagree is the seeming belief the local dealer should be required to sell his product on terms he doesn't want to-- just because the OP wants that. Massey dealers have an annual allocation, and when all their tractors are sold they have ... nothing ... to sell until the next year. So, as they begin to fully sell "this years" allocation, as the number of tractors gets low they began to hold out for higher and higher sales prices for the last units remaining. That is their right and privilege to do that. They are the ones paying rent, paying employees, and paying to have tractors for people to come and kick tires on. It is what I would also do if I owned a tractor sales operation.

Finally, my opinion is that the dealer did the OP a huge favor saying he would not service an out of state purchase. Buyer beware on steroids. I used to own a company that sold a 2nd tier computer brand. These were also sold mail order. I had many people come in, see and touch the equipment, get extensive product demonstrations, ask questions, blah, blah. Then some of them purchased mail order because it was cheaper. At my expense, they used my resources and knowledge, then cut me out. Later, when those same customers brought in their mail-order unit for warranty service, I gladly accepted them for service. Those units stayed at the absolute back of the line while I gave preferential service to "my" customers who bought from me locally. Was it vindictive? No. I had a responsibility to back up the service promises I had made to customers when they signed a purchase order with me, some of whom also bought after warranty maintenance contracts. I moved mountains to ensure the customers who chose me as their dealer were not left hanging. I had no such responsibility for those who I made no such promises to.

I absolutely agree plowhog . . There are certain customers who believe that buying a product is a competition where they need to beat the seller. In my business I used to see this pattern also. Those particular prospects would then have some bizarre rationale that my profit was far higher than it was . . . as their justification for acting the way they did.

The reality is. . there are poor quality business people at times . . . but there are poor quality customers and prospects at times also. It's not about money. . It's too frequently about there attitude about money.

You had a good post.

 

[Thall303]

Thoughtful and.....true.