Not a happy Kubota owner

[Cat_Driver]

Kubota, New Holland, Deere... whoever IS NOT structured to handle direct customer problems.

...As a dealer posted earlier in this thread a dealer is the first place to call upon when a problem is detected....it is then their responsibility to come back to Kubota for answers or guidance on how to solve the problem.

OK two obvious problems indicated here, by both of these posters. We all know, manufactures are NOT structured to handle direct customer problems, and we all know it's the dealers responsibility etc.

Therein lies the problem. Dealers do not want to take care of customers, since there is "little" profit in it ( according to every dealer for almost every product I have dealt with )

Seriously how difficult would it be to have an 800 number so customers can SPECIFICALLY call when unresolved issues occur. Heck it doesn't even have to be manned,just an answering machine that gets listened to by someone with real help - not dealer run a rounds.

Trust me, if I ever got a call from manufacturer and they said, we're on you case and will get some action. WHAT!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I would set up an entire web site saying how great the corporation is.

Problems should never ever have to go on so long that a guy has to devote an entire web site to slamming a manufacturer - and I've seen hundreds of them.

So if you corporate types are reading this site, then at you next meeting.

Note to all manufacturers, dealers are not your best friend, and more often do things to burn your loyal customers. Keeping a tiny bit hands on with your customers will do a lot more than any advertisement you could purchase on Superbowl Sunday.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Here is the response from the guy who is having all the problems with his Kubota.

I read the response from th "Kubota Rep" ...and asked the guy having problems if it was true, and here was his answer to what the Kubota rep said.

"Thanks for asking. NO IT IS NOT TRUE. I have registered on that site,(tractorbynet.com) but the admin has not approved it yet. As soon as I can post, I have words to share. That person has no clue what they are talking about. The RTV is sitting here. We haven't used it since Dec/Jan because it sounds like crap. The front pulley bracket has broke 3 times. Kubota has made promises but we haven't got it resolved. Corporate will not return my calls.


Thanks,

Jerry


You know, it's not hard to get a hold of this guy, I just e-mailed him and I don't know him, to get the straight answer. He's willing to say his peace here, in the meantime if anyone has questions like I did , contact him.

So now I have my questions for the person that posed as SEdivision, someone is not telling the truth here. We have a guy saying his Kubota is inoperable, and we have SEdivision, saying he is a happy customer.

Hmmmmmm, anyone else have questions?????

 

[AZGOLD]

First, you've got to understand why we bought it. Enclosed cab=protection from Africanized bees, A/C=we use it in Arizona, Diesel= static sparks cause explosions, Kubota has always had a good reputation in my mind, plus some other reasons.

SE DIVISION, at the time this began I just wanted Kubota to be fair and replace it. It had been back for service quite a few times. It is permanantly parked as of Dec/Jan. After months of runaround, Kubota came up with a solution that was acceptable for them. I doubt we'll get a fair shake there. Basically, to get this "resolved" by their standards, they want me to shut up. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Had they taken care of the obvious problem from the start, I'd have nothing but praise for Kubota. We knew it was a new vehicle and there is a chance for some quirks. The local Illinois dealer I bought it from was really a good guy that did what he could. The dealer in Arizona has one bad apple in the bunch, but overall is a great dealer. The one guy told us it shakes as much as any other 1100....and he had never seen one before ours. He also told us they couldn't keep working on it because it was costing them money. I went to his boss and resolved that. Kubota later made it a point to tell us they paid all of the warranty claims that were submitted. We bought a second RTV1100, and purchased it through Bingham Kubota after carefully looking it over. It has been trouble free. What can I say! It's great! That is how they should be. We have really appreciated it. To make a long story shorter...ish, NO the situation is NOT resolved. Kubota regions or districts did not want to work together to resolve this. The RTV has to be returned to the central division. The western divisions rep was terrible to deal with. The rep tried to school Tara on diesel engines, WRONG ANSWER. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean you can talk down to her. I'd bet that if him and her were in a room together, she'd put him to shame on what part goes where and how it works. She has a background in management and engineering in the arms industry. Anyhow, I sent Kubota corprate an email and they were even LESS helpful. It's all on the web site. Thankfully the second one we bought has been trouble free. Why did we buy a second one? There is nothing else like it on the market or we would have bought something else. It fits the specific requirements needed to do the job. If we did have problems with it, we figured we could always keep one on the road. We did look the second one over close. At the time we bought the second one, we compared several different ones that were sitting at the dealership. Some were early production like ours and they shook bad. There were a couple that were later production, and we chose one of those. BTW, we use the new one every day, and every day we have someone stop us and ask how we like it. Pictures, chronological compilations, and video tell the story best. And NO I didn't buy RTV1100forum.com to be vindictive. I bought it because when we were researching the product, we couldn't find ONE single post about it on any of the forums boards. My original goal was to create a forum board so others could share their good and bad about the product and accessories. Unfortunately, for Kubota and Us, things didn't go so well with the purchase of the first one. The story is not over.

Jerry

 

[TWO GUNS]

SEdivision,
What now ?

I am also a proud KUBOTA owner !!!

We would like to read the " rest of the story " >>>>

 

[coobie]

SEdivision,
What now ?

I am also a proud KUBOTA owner !!!

We would like to read the " rest of the story " >>>>

Ditto on what Two guns said,I would also like to hear the rest of the story.coobie

 

[AZGOLD]

The next step, apparently is to transport it back to the central division and see where the proposed agreement between Kubota and us goes.

Jerry

 

[SEdivision]

Before this discussion gets too wild and we start slingin' e-pistols.....let me explain my role here at Kubota.....I work in the finance section making sure that dealers pay Kubota on time as well as assist the dealer's bookkeeper's with problems and questions on their accounts.

I occasionally have some free time and find it somewhat enjoyable to read through these boards. When I came across this problem I thought it worthy of seeing what I could do through email to assist this customer. A private endeavor as it goes well beyond my job responsibilities. I researched it as well as the computer system would allow. The notes regarding this unit indicated that the problem was dealt with and that the customer (AZGold) had purchased a second one. Based on that limited info I suspected that with the purchase of a second unit he had been satisfied with the outcome on the first one.

Apparently that is not the case. Now this customer and the problem is outside of my division I am not certain that there is a lot that I can do, but now that I know that the problem is still well a problem I will see what I can do with it.

I hate to see our end use customers get less than expected equipment and sub-par service.

I'll be in touch if I am successful.

 

[SEdivision]

The next step, apparently is to transport it back to the central division and see where the proposed agreement between Kubota and us goes.

Jerry

Jerry what is the proposed agreement? That will help me in probing the issue.

Also do you have names of who you are working with?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Guys, don't be too hard on SEdivision. He is trying to help and it isn't often we get people from within the industry to post on here. Hopefully he will stick around and help out others in the future if he can.

 

[AZGOLD]

The agreement is "secret" by Kubotas request, if you know what I mean. SE, I appreciate your interest, it's probably not what you'd think. Before this gets out of hand, I will take care of it from my end. If we don't get satisfactory results, then I'll unleash the hounds. The biggest thing I've learned is Kubota does not have a well informed network, and from what I see, the competition between divisions for profits overrides the customer satisfaction. I like the second RTV, and it has minor issues that I can deal with, but Kubota really needed to test the new stuff better than they did. Both units have the front window levers work their way open. The rear screen protector rattles and eventually comes loose. If you've got one, always make sure it's secure correctly before you raise the dump bed or CRUNCH. I put a metal strap around it so it will not open. Just little things like that make a huge difference to the public. Those are things that can be addressed by field testing and making solutions before production. I like the RTV and the entire concept around it. We got a bad one, but that doesn't make them all bad. Because we use it in a remote area, it's a hassle to take it to the dealer when it breaks. Bingham Kubota has come and picked it up free of charge on one occassion. How many dealer will do that. I really appreciate them.

Jerry