Warranty Work

[JerryG]

<font color="blue"> No matter how righteous someone's case appears, you are only hearing one side of the story. The other party is not on TBN sharing their side of the story. It's no more complicated than that.</font>
If I remember right, that is how Muhammad stated it a while back.

 

[spb1971]

Agreed!

 

[TCBoomer]

Thanks for the reply MikePa and MossRoad. When I replied to Pineridge, my first impression was he was referring to a legal issue as a civil matter. Then I realized he was talking about a TBN rule. My mistake

While I don't completely agree with the reasoning given, so be it.... it's just my opinion. One reason is>> why does TBN allow members to discredit a product manufacturer yet not a dealer? The manufacturer is not here to give their side of the story, so IMO that's the same issue....not trying to start anything either

I would be more than willing to discuss my PAST issues with my dealer on this forum IF they would. But I was able to resolve all the problems on my own. So no point in doing so now. Maybe I'll post a new thread about it.

Thanks again for the explanation

 

[Donnyj]

I just got done reading all of these posts. I'm just sitting here shaking my head. I can't imagine telling a customer at our shop after 2 weeks that there will be a charge for doing warranty work on there vehicle. I guess the tractor business is different. To be honest, I can't imagine my own dealer telling me that. Not picking at NH, because I'm sure it goes on with each different tractor manufacturer, I'm really surprised that a well respected and highly regarded company like NH would operate that way. How did the repair start out as warranty and then become a non warranty repair? You have more patience than I do. I'm glad to see everything worked out for you though. I'm still shaking my head. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[gmsssi]

It's not the customers fault a dealer chose to sell a brand. Warranty work is a consideration they would have had to made to get there franchise. I feel no remorse for the loss a dealer MAY incur on warranty work. Fact of the matter, if I purchase a product and it's under warranty it should be fixed and I should not have to worry about how, who and the cost in getting it fixed!

 

[spb1971]

That is why dealer's sometimes act as they do. Because people will drive far away to save a buck but when the warranty issue comes up they are alright to deal with. Kinda like going on a date with that girl you really don't like but you will because you have no better alternative. My point was that I understand if a dealer would prefer to first take care of their customers that purchased from them before someone who did not. Not saying they should not service someones tractor because it was not purchased there. These guys have to make money to keep the door open so that all of us can buy the things we want and need. Sometimes we just expect everything cheap and I think value is the whole experience (purchase, after sales support). Don't get me wrong, there are some terrible dealers out there in regards to service.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Why didn't you just take it back to the guy you bought it from?

 

[Donnyj]

I have to ask a question to Messick since he is a dealer. How does a dealer lose money on warranty work? In my business at a Ford dealership, the dealer gets a flat rate time to do a repair as dictated by Ford. The dealer pays the tech the allowed time, the tech makes lets say $23.00 per flat rate hour, some higher, some lower, the dealer bills Ford for the allowed time at lets say $79.00 per hr. Thats not including parts markup of anywhere from 30 to 70%. Dealership makes good money at least in that example of the auto business. Now, does a tractor dealership run differently? I can understand taking care of your "own" customers, but the customer bought a NH tractor from a selling dealer. We don't turn anybody away. Work is work. Warranty work does not pay as well, but it beats standing around not making nothing. In my shop all the techs get paid flat rate. No work, No pay. Just curious how the tractor business is run? Thanks

 

[RickB]

Real simple. Tractor techs don't work on flat rate, at least not any in the northeast that I know of. We get paid for all the time it takes to effect the repair whether or not the store gets paid for that time. The dealer often transports equipment for warranty repairs without any compensation whatsoever from the manufacturer. Warranty doesn't pay diagnostic time, as noted. Warranty parts are typically reimbursed at or very near cost, without any freight allowance. A dealer that orders warranty parts any way other than his weekly stockorder is eating the incoming shipping costs. The only warranty work that pays realistic repair times is safety related problems where the manufacturer may have liability exposure. Otherwise, the flat rate manual is written to favor the manufacturer's botom line at the expense of the dealership because there is no underlying reason to base it on reality like the auto industry(fair technician pay). This response is directed to the question 'how does a dealership lose money on warranty work?' not a reflection on the subject post.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I don't process warrenty work personaly so I can't site specifics. I have never heard anything contrary to the previous post. I will add that its very time consuming to fill out all the paper work to get paid for this stuff. We employ someone full time just to file warrentys, there is no compensation for that time.

This is not such a big deal on compact tractors if you have well educated mechanics. It is a HUGE issue on combines and large equipment where repair bills often cross $10,000. I know on some of these machines we have recovered under 50% at times. The only instances that I know that we have given customers a rough time about warrenty work are in these situations as it can be extremely costly to the dealership.

In my opinion, the problem that this guy probably has more to do with two dealerships who don't get along more than anything else, not that it makes it any less frustrating.