If they wont sell you anything close to what you want, it's not your fault. The dealers are the ones splitting their own throats, not you.
I'm lucky with my local dealer I guess. They usually call or Email me back. They know I'm kicking tires at times, so are leisurely in replying at times or occasionally forget. They step up if I indicate its urgent at all.
Yeah, I don't feel like it's my fault. But, at the same time, I do wonder, what will happen when they are all gone/absorbed into some conglomerate (hint, it's probably not gonna be good for us) and don't like being the person who's causing it to happen. There's a huge gap in e-mail, it seems that most of the dealers want to deal face/face or, at the least, by phone. I don't like either medium, I hate face/face, I can say things I don't mean, you can tell me things that aren't true and I can't research anything because you're sitting there right in front of me. I like phone better because as a dealer is telling me my options, I can look it up and see what they are talking about. And I love e-mail, send me a quote with a paragraph on "why this is the right blade for you" and you'd have my business. I bought my tractor basically by the criteria of "e-mail savvy". I went to a dealer, met them, drove the tractor and told them I'd e-mail with exactly what I want. I did, and they never got back to me. Followed it up with phone calls, still nothing. So, I went on to Kioti and asked them to find someone who could use a computer and wanted to sell a tractor. First guy who was responsive (and I'm using that term very loosely, in my world, "responsive" is a reply in minutes, in the tractor world, it's a reply within 24 hours) sold me the machine. Never met him before, showed up with the tractor on a flatbed and the paperwork. Nice and easy, just the way I like it.
The "ease of use" is just so much higher Internet vs in person even with a very well educated and responsive dealer. I can have 50 implements heading to me, having read reviews on all of them and done some comparison shopping before you've driven to the dealer sat down, and found someone who can discuss implements with a degree of authority. That the thing I wanted from my local dealer, and the value they could add. My soil is just like yours (local dealer), I'm trying to crown my trails and cut ditches with a 7000 lb tractor.. Is this the right blade? That's the question that an Internet guy can't answer because, they have no idea what my soil/terrain is like (well, except for EA, but that's only because they are 100 miles from me and we have the same conditions). So there's value in that, but it has to be coupled with someone who will return a phone call and knows something about the products that they are selling. I just can't seem to find that person (although, to be fair, the guy I have working on my Kioti right now seems really good; told him I was interested in a grapple, sent over some pics, prices and specs a few hours later.. So maybe I finally found "the guy" who I can work with).
