Service after the sale

[Anonymous Poster]

The below quote from MSullivan echoes my expectations in this situation:

[[[Would fully expect though, that he will service his own sales first--imagine the buyer who found he was placed below an out of state buyer in the service line.]]]

There are times of the year when everyone says "Well, I better get the (tractor, mower, whatever) in for that long overdue service/repair...the grass is growing, donchaknow?"

Someone's equipment is going to be serviced now,..someone's later! (I don't know whether any dealers have a strict "take a number" policy, in which customers are served strictly in the order in which they came in). In any event, the dealer is in a position, at least, to give a little "extra" attention to the needs of a loyal customer, and to think it doesn't happen is a little naive, in my opinion. Human nature is a part of the equation, after all, and faced with a situation where there are a great number of people who are going to have to wait awhile to get their equipment back, a dealer may not be averse to nudging a "loyal" customer a little closer to the "front of the line"... won't change the overall picture much anyway, huh?

All of this is my own opinion, and is NOT an evaluation of my particular dealer, who, as I've posted previously, has been reccommended to me BECAUSE of his service, by a happy customer.

Larry

 

[Thomas]

banjobj,
Good luck in seeking your new tractor,and there no need to be sorry.


Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[TomP]

Maybe I'm naiive(I think it's more a function of how I was raised), but throughout my life, as a businessowner, a customer, and also as a citizen, I've rarely given preference to anyone based on such limited information(like a dealer sticker on the bumper). What you can't tell from a sticker(or serial # search,...) is how that tractor came to be in your shop.

In my case, I just bought my retirment property in the town where my wife and I grew up. But I still have business and personal interests in another state, and I won't be going "home" tomorrow. I can use a tractor now, but it'll end up in a different state in a few years. I can't afford to wait, so I'll get it now. Whenever I move to my new home, I expect the dealer to service mine just as he would any other customer's--first in, first out, giving consideration to parts avail, urgency, and other REASONABLE considerations. If I got the impression that my needs were subordinated to another's because I had "the wrong sticker", I guess I'd question the dealer's integrity--directly, in an honorable and diplomatic fashion. From that inquiry(I'd hope he'd ask me how I came to be standing in his shop), I'd decide where my business would go--here or to another dealer.

Clearly, there can be reasonable circumstances leading to a service call at a dealer other than the one from whom the tractor was purchased, and I think this is the case for the majority of instances. There are also customers who will use the services of a dealer--ask 8 hours of questions,...--and then buy from another purely for saving $--that's a bad customer. I suppose there are also dealers who give different levels of service to customers based on a sticker--that's a bad dealer. Neither the bad customer nor the bad dealer is worth the time or effort, and capitalism will eventually weed them out.

 

[RICK R]

I did not buy my L 2650 from my local dealer. He is less than 4 miles away.First of all he would not meet another dealer's price or finance terms.Even though both were thru Kubota.When I was looking at scape blades I ask him if the one I was looking at could be pulled by my tractor he said if I had bought there it would.He is so much a smart aleck and A-- HOLE I will not set foot in his place.I got my tractor at McMABEE TRACTOR & TURF EQUIPMENT in Greer S.C. They were very good to deal with. They are over 65 miles away but they delivered it free. Also they have made 2 trips up on minor warranty work .Once it was even my fault . Something I didn't know how to do.Still no charge.Their number is 864 8480174

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by RICK R on 01/19/01 12:40 PM (server time).</FONT></P>