Grapple Skidsteer Express won't stand behind their grapple!

IslandTractor · May 6, 2012

nickel plate said:
IT,
I fail to see my exaggeration. A 72" "EXTEREME DUTY" grapple was offered for sale along with a one year warranty. Now it needs warranty work and no one at Skid Steer Express wants to wear the warranty hat! "Simple boneheaded failure of customer service"? How about "Dereliction and willful neglect from customer service". If a warranty is offered, it must be addressed in a timely fashion. Not anywhere near happening in the OP's case.

My point is simply that it is a small outfit and there is no evidence yet that they are evil, just incompetent. Sheet happens. Give them a chance to make good now that there has finally been communication that makes SSE aware that the customer is unhappy. You seem overly excited with terms like "dereliction", "willful neglect" etc., this is not yet a case for the lawyers and if the owner of SSE is a decent businessman he will acknowledge his company's failure and make good. The original complaint was only a bit over a week ago so this is hardly a shocking delay even with the failure to promptly establish communication. I have experienced far worse from many companies listed on the NYSE. Calm down.

crazyal · May 6, 2012

They are a advertiser here, Titan Skidsteer, and the OP of their sticky has their phone number it. I have no idea why anyone would think they have no phone number. They even say you can pick up at their warehouse, so again I have no idea why people are so ready to assume that it's a moonlight operation.

It sounds like they screwed up. I have no idea how long they've been in business but they sound pretty small. If they had 50 people working for them I bet they would have been on top of it. But being a company with a few people who knows, maybe the owners are also in the shop building what they sell and leave things like warranty issues for one person to deal with.

The point is we don't know. If they are unwilling to fix it then I would be all over them. If their repair was junk I would be all over them. If they were a large company and it took weeks to get them to do something I would be all over them. But when you buy from a small company with few employees for a discount price you have to accept they may take longer to make it right.

In the snow removal forum is a thread about a Woods snow blower that took something like a year to get fixed It was repaired several times and I don't think in the end they did as good a job as they should of. Woods is hardly a small company and even sent an engineer out to try and fix it. Sure it didn't help Wood's image but mistakes happen.

Hopefully SSE do get on this and resolve it soon, the clock is ticking.

dustinfox · May 7, 2012

IslandTractor said:
My point is simply that it is a small outfit and there is no evidence yet that they are evil, just incompetent. Sheet happens. Give them a chance to make good now that there has finally been communication that makes SSE aware that the customer is unhappy. You seem overly excited with terms like "dereliction", "willful neglect" etc., this is not yet a case for the lawyers and if the owner of SSE is a decent businessman he will acknowledge his company's failure and make good. The original complaint was only a bit over a week ago so this is hardly a shocking delay even with the failure to promptly establish communication. I have experienced far worse from many companies listed on the NYSE. Calm down.

I have to disagree Island. Any business owner who ignores a customer for a week has already proved derelict in their responsibility. Responding to customers, especially one who has a problem with your product, should be the absolute number one priority.

RickB · May 7, 2012

dustinfox said:
I have to disagree Island. Any business owner who ignores a customer for a week has already proved derelict in their responsibility. Responding to customers, especially one who has a problem with your product, should be the absolute number one priority.

Agreed. Expecting the customer to "call back Monday" says it all. If the appropriate person isn't available until Monday, that's OK. But when that person becomes available, he **** well better pick up the phone and dial it.

dustinfox · May 7, 2012

crazyal said:
If they had 50 people working for them I bet they would have been on top of it. But being a company with a few people who knows, maybe the owners are also in the shop building what they sell and leave things like warranty issues for one person to deal with.

The point is we don't know. If they are unwilling to fix it then I would be all over them. If their repair was junk I would be all over them. If they were a large company and it took weeks to get them to do something I would be all over them. But when you buy from a small company with few employees for a discount price you have to accept they may take longer to make it right.

So if what you say is true, that would mean they have more quality issues than one person can deal with in a timely manner. It also tells me that they are preoccupied with making product, selling, whatever, and once a sale has been made, that customer moves to the bottom of their priorities. Both fatal to any business.

blueriver · May 7, 2012

Today appears to be the day ... I have dealt with Bill and will be surprised if this does not get handled.

I'm not making excuses for anything but we have to remember folks get busy and sometimes its hard to catch up ... one never knows.

I'm small business ... sometimes my days run together and by night fall I really don't care to be on the phone ... I'll handle it tomorrow.

dustinfox · May 7, 2012

blueriver said:
Today appears to be the day ... I have dealt with Bill and will be surprised if this does not get handled.

I'm not making excuses for anything but we have to remember folks get busy and sometimes its hard to catch up ... one never knows.

I'm small business ... sometimes my days run together and by night fall I really don't care to be on the phone ... I'll handle it tomorrow.

I don't care how small a company is. There is absolutely no excuse (under normal business conditions) for ignoring a customer with a problem for more than one day. At the very, very least, an acknowledgment is in order. I can't imagine myself eunning a business and not immediately returning a phone call from a customer with a problem. Tomorrow? Maybe. A week later? No excuse.

Timm250 · May 7, 2012

IslandTractor said:
My point is simply that it is a small outfit and there is no evidence yet that they are evil, just incompetent. Sheet happens. Give them a chance to make good now that there has finally been communication that makes SSE aware that the customer is unhappy. You seem overly excited with terms like "dereliction", "willful neglect" etc., this is not yet a case for the lawyers and if the owner of SSE is a decent businessman he will acknowledge his company's failure and make good. The original complaint was only a bit over a week ago so this is hardly a shocking delay even with the failure to promptly establish communication. I have experienced far worse from many companies listed on the NYSE. Calm down.

The original complaint was made to Bill on 4/20/12 so it has been over 2 weeks without any sort of solution.

IslandTractor · May 7, 2012

Guys I am not arguing that this example is a model of good business practice. SSE has screwed up. However it is a big leap from there to assuming that this is a willful or evil corporate strategy to ignore a legitimate warranty claim. Yes, two weeks to get acknowledgement is bad customer service. I've experienced that from multiple companies over the years where it was simply a breakdown in process or lack of process to insure good communication. Let's see what happens this week. It is after all a discount implement dealer. This is why big business only deals with other big business or premium priced companies with outstanding customer support. Those of us who hunt for bargains cannot expect lickitysplit service and lowest price.

TitanSkidsteer · May 7, 2012

Good morning Tim and fellow tractor enthusiast. I dropped the ball here dealing with Tim. Even though I could explain myself, as stated here earlier there is no excuse. One thing is for sure, we stand behind our products and we are an honest operation that is committed to doing the right thing. We do get overwhelmed at times and we dont have the number of employees as "the big boys" but we are committed to our customers and products!

Of the small number of employees we do have, they are the hardest working bunch of folks you will ever run across. We are serious about providing a good piece of equipment at the best price. We are also committed to providing great service and acknowledge the room for improvement.

We are open weekdays so if anyone wants to drop by to kick the tires they are welcome.

Tim, you will hear from us this morning and as we stated, we will get the problem fixed for you.

Tractor community, our customer service will improve to meet your expectations. Our number 800-605-8241 is posted at www.palletforks.com and it will be posted at Skid Steer Attachments Pallet Forks Hay Spears Bobcat Cat John Deere Mount Plate before the day is over. (you may have to delete you web history to see the change).

I hope everyone has a great week!

Sincerely,
Bill