watch out for bait and switch

willywildes · Oct 11, 2004

On 8-28 i bought a new L3130 from bobcat central in Stockton CA I had been to several dealers in my area getting prices.
all were helpful all within a few hundred dollars. I setteled on
Stockton becouse they had a big clean shop and new showroom parts area. I told them what i wanted new 3130GST
513 loader heavy duty bucket,bolt on blade t&t 72"tiller,72"gannon box so he gives me the price which was a
two hundred dollars higher than my second choice dealer
never using part numbers just using generic terms so when
they fed ex the P.O to sign i noticed no bolt on blade. So i called
and told them i orderd the heavy duty bucket with a bolt on blade thay said will take care it. The tractor shows up with a light duty bucket that they drilled and put on a cutting edge
I said the minute i saw it this is not the bucket i orderd he said yea i know we have to order one he wrote on the P.O.
need round back bucket. then calls me two weeks later and says he needs me to pay $285 if i want it. butt he really didnt think i needed it. today they brought a newly painted scratched up used bucket it is straight so i'm just going to
live with it i split the cost in half and they were to throw in
the 50 hr filters and oil. what i got was 2 gallons of motor oil
and 1 gallon of udt 3 oil fillters and a fuel filter. this is why
car deallers had to putt on sticker prices. I love my tractor
but my EX DEALER sucks. I hope no one else has to go through this

WW

KennyV · Oct 12, 2004

When it comes to pricing/shopping things like this can happen.

If you beat up a dealer too bad on price, a shady one will agree to anything and then go out of his way to get back at you. An honest guy would just tell you he can’t do it and he may even try to explain why.

It dose not sound like you did anything to deserve this ‘buyer beware’ /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif type of sale you received. You say it was two hundred dollars higher…

This may be a new guy in the tractor business (no excuse). He now has all the normal obstacles of running a business plus the bad ‘word of mouth’ that he will certainly receive from you… A very poor business move on his part.

You are obliged to specify what you are expecting in your purchase agreement, and dealer is obliged to satisfy that PO. With any discrepancies you then have to work it out the best you can, or litigate…

Enjoy your tractor, sounds to me like this guy has just gone out of his way to steer you to a better dealership /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. There are more good dealers than bad ones out there for this, and other reason. KennyV.

DannyD · Oct 12, 2004

Label me the idiot or whatever, but that tractor would have been back on his lot and he would have been refunding my money or talking to my attorney, simple as that. Sounds as though you left no doubt what you wanted, and expected and he did all he could to make sure you got less than what you asked for, but more than what he could afford to sell you. But then again, I am just an idiot butt head.

Rolando · Oct 12, 2004

Shouldn't you be contacting Kubota directly? They need to know about these kinds of shenanigans, and hopefully they would do something about it.

Junkman · Oct 12, 2004

( Shouldn't you be contacting Kubota directly? They need to know about these kinds of shenanigans, and hopefully they would do something about it. )

Kubota doesn't get between a franchised dealer and the customer on disputes of this type. What the buyer should have done was to return the contract and have it updated with the correct bucket being shown on the face of the contract along with all the other details. Since he didn't do this, the dealer is only obligated to deliver what the contract specified. When there is a written contract, all verbal agreements go out the window and are no longer enforceable. This could also be the result of a unscrupulous salesman pulling a fast one that even the management wasn't aware of. Whenever there is a dispute, the first thing to do is contact the people that own the dealership and try to resolve it with them. They are the ones that will suffer from the bad salesman's selling practices long after the salesman is gone. For this reason, they will usually try to make it right. If it was one of the owners that he made the deal with, then they were cognizant of what they had in mind doing from the outset. In this event, the only recourse is to file a complaint with the BBB, for what ever good that will do.

willywildes · Oct 12, 2004

I talked to kubota today they are working on it. Talked to the dealer thay claim it's a new bucket they picked up from kubota yesterday and painted it because it was scratched. then said thats all your getting and hung up on my wife. you can tell someone used it to load a good deal of rock.Im not being a hard **** they charged
me 110$ for doc fees when they quoted 85$ said they would
change it. they didn't.they over estimated the tax buy 140$on the work sheet. but didn't give it to me just put in on the price of the tractor. The point i'm trying to make is a some dealers word isn't worth a ****. Don't trust any of them make sure
it's the right model number on the contract. They will say any thing to make a sale! I put my trust in them and learned a lesson. It could be worse.

ww

_RaT_ · Oct 13, 2004

Looks like you got it equipped with all the right stuff. Sorry about the mess up. You should do well with the setup. I have much the same but I don't personally like bolt on cutting edges. The HD bucket has a good tough edge to start and I find the exposed bolts and the ability to get the bucket into material takes more umph. Now if I was plowing snow and dragging the bucket on aspahlt, it would be another story. I also find that about 70% of the time I have a toothbar on which pretty much isolates the bucket cutting edge anyway. You certainly can't really go wrong though having the bolt on cutting bar, not trying to make you feel like it doesn't have it's benefits. Best wishes with your tractor. Rat...

Junkman · Oct 13, 2004

The sales tax money you can recover. If they over estimated the sales tax and didn't return the excess, then they are in violation of the state tax laws. All taxes collected belong to the state and if they over charge on the tax and don't either remit it or return it, then they are guilty of STEALING! I would contact the state Attorney General and discuss the entire transaction with them. As a business, the last thing that you want to be happening is have the taxing authority going over your books with a fine tooth comb. The states take a very dim view of fraud when it comes to taxes..... especially California where they need and want every tax dollar that they can find. It is now time that you turn the heat up on that unscrupulous dealer. Don't wait, because the longer you wait, the harder it will be to get the governmental agency to take action. Strike while the iron is hot!!!

Cliff_Johns · Oct 13, 2004

( On 8-28 i bought a new L3130 from bobcat central in Stockton CA . . . snip . . . I love my tractor but my EX DEALER sucks. I hope no one else has to go through this )

I was under the impression that we were not to discuss specific dealers in any negitive conotation, but now I can't find it in the rules, so I guess it's OK. Seems like we should avoid this sort of thing, though since it may cause legal problems for TBN and is also an invitation to sleazy dealers to come on TBN and badmouth the competition. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, or maybe I'm really being followed.

Still, sounds like you got a nice machine, it's too bad the actual deal took some of the shine off your enjoyment. I'm sure the loader will last a very long time in any case.

Cliff

Riddler · Oct 13, 2004

A similar frustration that I encountered (also with a local Kubota dealer) was quoting me a decent price on the tractor and implements, showcasing the subtotal in bolded print and then inserting line items just below the subtotal, not in bolded print, for things like "set up fees", "shipping charges", etc. In the end, I would have been paying the dealer the same amount as another dealer who quoted me near-list prices but didn't tack on hidden fees and costs. When I told the sales person that I was not inclined to pay the add-on charges, he claimed that his "service department" charged the "sales department" for inspecting, assembling, ordering, etc., so there was nothing he could do to waive the fees. Of course, this was a nonsense explanation designed to head off any further discussion of waiving the fees. This dealer's tactics were enough to send me to my local blue dealer for a visit, who turned out to be wonderful to do business with. The buying process ended up uncomplicated, relaxed and enjoyable. I also ended up saving a lot on machine that was very comparable to the orange machine I had in mind.

The moral of the story is be patient, open minded and visit lots of dealers. They are by no means created equal.