Mahindra: Nothing but problems

[dmize]

I am still without any change in warranty repair status: The "wrong part" has been sent several times for the suction tube alone, not to mention many numerous loader parts that were incorrect. I have left phone and email messages with the regional service rep, corporate customer care, and corporate customer care manager. There has been no reply from any party other than the dealer.

The Virginia lemon law states:
3 repair attempts or 30 calendar days out of service, or 1 serious safety defect, one repair attempt. Claims should be initiated through the BBB of Virginia and there is a $35 legal consultation fee should dispute resolution fail to resolve the issues.

This is an undesireable situation, but this type of performance and treatment is unacceptable. If anyone has experience with this please PM me the details.

I can't believe it has come to this, but thanks for any input

 

[AchingBack]

dmize, my heart goes out to you. If I were the VP in charge of sales at Mahindra and if I had been doing my job; someone on my staff would have been assigned to be involved with this forum. Furthermore, long ago, I would have been in contact with you. I would have offered you an exchange or a refund.

 

[murphy1244]

Good Luck Dmize, this just ain't right. Is this your first Tractor?

 

[s219]

I say you gave Mahindra plenty of time to make it right. Time to go at it with both barrels firing.

In addition to the BBB, you can also try contacting the Virginia dept of Consumer Protection -- not sure if they can help, but it's worth looking into.

 

[dmize]

This is my first big tractor. I have a little John Deere 240 garden tractor I cut grass on when I was a kid. It's a 29 year old machine with a little 38" belly mower that was handed down from a friend of the family because he was too sick to use it. I replaced some fuel lines and shop vaced out the tank, and that things runs like a top. It's good to keep it running because he meant so much to our family, and it's a good thing because otherwise I would have needed a hay bailer.

Mahindra returned my calls and the correct part should be arriving today. I won't have the tractor back before the weekend, but hopefully next week... Thanks for everyone's support and advice on taking the next step, it is certainly justifiable.

 

[DavesTractor]

Good, I emailed them yesterday. They unofficially watch this site, but I think the "watcher" must have been doing something else for a while!

 

[ultrarunner]

I am still without any change in warranty repair status: The "wrong part" has been sent several times for the suction tube alone, not to mention many numerous loader parts that were incorrect. I have left phone and email messages with the regional service rep, corporate customer care, and corporate customer care manager. There has been no reply from any party other than the dealer.

The Virginia lemon law states:
3 repair attempts or 30 calendar days out of service, or 1 serious safety defect, one repair attempt. Claims should be initiated through the BBB of Virginia and there is a $35 legal consultation fee should dispute resolution fail to resolve the issues.

This is an undesireable situation, but this type of performance and treatment is unacceptable. If anyone has experience with this please PM me the details.

I can't believe it has come to this, but thanks for any input

First... thanks for the update and hope this gets you back to tractoring.

I'm only familiar with the CA Lemon Law which reads similar to Virginia.

The BBB in my State is certified as are the arbitrators when it comes to Lemon Law.

Arbitration is a process and in my hearings I allow each party to explain in detail their position as long as they stay on point, do not repeat and present in courteous manor.

As an Arbitrator, I realize arbitration comes at the end of a long process and I will go the extra mile so both parties leave knowing they were heard.

Again... this type of Arbitration is only available to consumers with products used for personal, non-business use.

 

[TomSeller]

Good, I emailed them yesterday. They unofficially watch this site, but I think the "watcher" must have been doing something else for a while!

Ya, like sleeping.

 

[KiwiBro]

It's a shame people have to put up with such hassles. And I'm not just talking about the unfortunate buyers who bought in good faith and have had their lives and livelihoods put at risk by the faults and poor service. There are clearly some great dealers who really, sincerely care and their efforts are being undermined by a few, frankly, morons who run or own a dealership or an utterly disrespectful distributor above them in the chain. Like most chains, they are often only as good as their weakest link.

From "new", my 5035 Mahinderence was delivered with 4hrs on the clock (clearly not 4 hrs of quality control checks) and the following faults:

- shorting light
- FEL hose rubbing against adjacent coupling causing premature wear
- kicking out of medium range into neutral when going down hills (could have easily killed me or my Dad)

Dealer took two attempts to 'fix' the potentially fatal shift-kicking fault. Their fix was to crank the tension on the detent spring on the lever up so high it's an absolute pig of a thing to select ranges and nothing like the tractor I bought originally. This not a fix. It's a hail-mary shot in the dark patch-up job.

Within 100hrs the following faults appeared (in addition to the ones upon delivery):
- blew a 3PH hose. Turned out it was cut 1/2" too short but was connected anyway in a tighten and hope for the best manner.
- knobs falling off the draft control levers and paint flaking off the grill guard

Within 150 hrs:
- fuel line failed at the crimp, another collapsed so I replaced the lot
- kicking out of first gear in medium and high ranges when doing down hills
- kicking out of second gear in medium and high ranges when going down hills

I have come as close as you can get to rolling this tractor without actually rolling it, when it kicked out of gear. It was up on two downhill wheels, teetering on the brink of going over. That was the final straw and resulted in a 9pm phone call to the sales rep where I said I've had enough and want my money back before I'm dead at the bottom of a hill. From this point on I feel I have been met with the most astounding level of disrespect imaginable, from both the dealer and the Australian and NZ distributor. They want to keep winding the clock down on the warranty by attempting more repairs. My faith in the quality of their repairs and the tractor has evaporated, replaced with a genuine fear for my life. They have refused to take this tractor back and buy me out.

I cannot put this Mahinderence in the hills, which is probably about 80% of my work so in a desperate bid to limit my losses (I have had tens of thousands of dollars worth of trees I cut over a year ago on the ground all this time because they are in hill country I am too scared to use the tractor in and they will not survive as merchantable quality firewood for yet another Winter and access is only over Summer) I have had to hire another tractor. I want people to know I could have easily lost my life, there has been no demonstrable acceptance of that fact or remorse shown by the dealer or distributor, and I have lost many thousands of dollars in lost production and extra costs.

It is astounding. I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about it and the damage it is doing to my business, and how I can plan the next week or so to make sure Virgil (as I've come to call it) is only used in dead flat paddocks, and how I can afford to keep paying for the tractor hire, etc, and the callous disrespect for my and my father's lives just eats away at me. It's immoral. It's simply outrageous that I have to go to court to attempt to resolve this.

 

[dmize]

Kiwi, We have had similar issues, though mine have happened with less than 50 hours and don't include the gear issue as I have a hydro, but I had a suction tube leak which puts a bunch of air in the fluid, making it less dense, compressible, thus delivering less power.

Good news!
I received a call from teh dealer last night that the tractor would be back today. I am excited to try it and see if there are any operational differences with the leaks fixed. There would have to be noticable improvement from getting more fuel and not pumping air through the hydraulic system.

Thanks to everyone for the input and support: Mark at Old Dominion Tractor and Dave at Dave's tractor have been exceptional and gernerous with their support and time. Please support them if you get the chance and they will treat you right.