Bad Start

[Mactool]

Well I haven't been on in a while but I have been playing catch-up with my new tractor after going though all this. So I just hit 50hrs and wanted to do the service as frustrated as I was with them I still stop by to service the mechanics in back so out of convenience I grabbed $300 in fluids and filters and asked for a service manual which they didn't know the number so would get one I said great get it ordered. So the next day they call me and say yes we found the number give us your credit card and we will order. Now mind you I am there every week and the mechanics in the service department owe me over $3000 in truck accounts and as I was driving I asked can you just get it and when I stop by next week I will pay for it and they said nope need card or can't order. WTH I told them never mind I will order and pay for drop ship from the dealer a couple hours away.

 

[rentthis]

Mactool, In fairness to the dealer, it's his employees that owe you $3000.00 not him. He only supplies you a customer base.

 

[Tooljunkie]

I see Mactool's point , hes in there once a week- no stranger to the place. A person would expect better treatment than that. Bet if he talked nice to a mechanic, could get l the info he needed for free. But chose to buy a WSM.

 

[rentthis]

True, I would have ordered the book for him, but I own the place. Employees are given just so much rope. The trick is not to hang yourself with it. I'm sure someone at the counter factored in, how do I explain a WSW that was ordered and still on the shelf. The counter guy could have probably gotten permission to ask if he had taken the initiative.

 

[ShaunRH]

What it really comes down to is the mentality that is allowed to grow in the establishment.

Are you working there for yourself and to do the least amount of work possible?

Are you working to earn the praises of coworkers, and look good?

Are you there to make a difference in others lives, your own included, that elevates everyone around you?

The first two options get you very self centered work places that act like MacTool describes. The last one tends to get very customer service oriented places and makes for a fun and rewarding place to work.

The management sets the tone, the staff quickly follow.

 

[Daren Todd]

I'm thinking it the dealership policy as far as ordering things. The local dealer in town will not order any parts with out payment up front. They consider it a special order even though half the time it's an inventory transfer from another location. I think it's to gaurantee that the sale is gonna got through.That being said, if it's the wrong part, they will issue a refund on the spot or option to reorder. Now if it's through work with my purchasing card, the order will not be paid for till I recieve the part. Either the dealer plays ball, or I go to a different dealer

 

[sheepfarmer]

Well add to it the fact that Kubota is weird about these wsm manuals. When I got mine from the dealer they had to order it from Kubota and needed a credit card number to do it. The manuals are printed out in California only as ordered. They cannot be returned. So the person helping me wanted to make sure we were ordering the right one since I would have to pay for it regardless. When I picked it up I think we swiped either the same or a different card. So I can imagine that the staff would be operating under some pretty strict rules on that particular item.

 

[ShaunRH]

I don't mind paying in advance for a special order, it's kind of par for the course, but it's the attitude around it that's the problem.

I've known dealers that would crack open THEIR wsm's and look over it with me to figure out what is going on. Sure, they might miss out on selling me a manual (if I were the type that liked coming into the dealer all the time and take up their time and live off their manual... which I'm not that type) but they win a life long customer that values their time, energy and assistance.

You can't buy dealers/mechanics that have that much interest in making sure you leave with a battle plan to fix your problems. I try to with occasional coffee, donuts and pizza, but you can't buy them at all.

 

[Bluegill]

My dealer ordered around $1400 in parts for me a few years ago and wanted
no money up front.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I think good service is good service and really pays big dividends, and not trusting a customer's word kind of puts a damper on things.

But the point I was trying to make about these shop manuals is that they are no longer even useful to the dealer, the tech looks only at an online (kubota password protected) version and prints out the pages he needs. (Gee power failure and all work really stops!) I was surprised that the dealer didn't get one with the tractor order. My dealer did not even have a 3560 paper copy that I could look at when I was trying to decide if I wanted to fork out the big bucks for one. He did let me look at a couple of older ones he had on his shelf. So unlike a part that can be returned or used on another tractor the manuals would be an out of pocket loss, for the new ones of 100 to 200$, if a customer orders one and then changes their mind.
My schtick is that Kubota is way too protective of information that could or should be online from their website.

 

[ShaunRH]

My schtick is that Kubota is way too protective of information that could or should be online from their website.

That's also par for the course on modern manufacturers. They do it for a multitude of reasons, some understandable, some not so much. It used to be that when you bought a large purchase (like a vehicle) that it came with a full manual.

When the D-17 I own was purchased in 1959, it had a full shop manual (for the tractor, the front loader and the backhoe) included with it. It used to be that they knew you might be stuck out in the middle of nowhere with something broken and need to fix that unit or peoples lives/livelihoods could be negatively impacted.

That point of view is long gone. Between the lawyers, corporate espionage and looking for the last cent of profit; it just doesn't happen any more.

So, if you want a WSM, you have to pony up the money, even up front, and just live with it as an additional cost.

Personally, if I were a dealer, I'd throw in a WSM with every new tractor/vehicle purchase at my cost (meaning no profit to me) if the owner wanted one.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Agreed, and I understand, but what still chaps my hide is that having paid for the wsm, and it is about 3 inches thick, needed 2 looseleaf binders for it, they have excluded the error codes for the engine functions that one might like to know about with this tier IV stuff. Only accessible by a tech with a password as I understand it. Some error codes for ordinary things are there but not all of them. Granted messing around with the computer is beyond me, but I'd still like to know...they may be afraid that if we understood it we'd disable it. It must be possible since these new tractors can be sold used overseas where they don't have ultra low sulfur diesel.

 

[Shadow]

Those DTC's that you're referring to only being available thru the dealer is because they are only useful to the dealer. You have to have a laptop with the Kubota diagnostic software to read the DTC, and then monitor the tractor to watch what caused the DTC to set.

As far as every tractor getting a WSM with purchase, what would be the incentive for the dealer? He would lose out on service work, or get to work on a machine that someone already monkey'd with and didn't know what they were doing, and caused themselves and their dealer more of a headache.

The printed WSM's are still available to the dealer, but have to be requested. The CD with the WSM come direct ship.

 

[BotaDriver]

This experience sounds like something you'd get from Rhinehardt Kubota / Bobcat in Rome, GA. Had work done on the RTV - Starter was on its last leg, work done under warranty. During the 'work', they broke the flywheel and tried very hard to convince us it was the "high torque of the new starter" So 5 or so weeks later when we got it back it, all of the wiring inside the engine compartment was just left loose to flop around. The plug from the stator to the electrical system had one of the wires loose causing the battery to run dead from lack of charge. There was also a hose clamp missing on the pressure line from the fuel tank (glad I found it right away).

The last time I went in there for parts after we spent $30k on equipment, I tried to negotiate a deal for some fluid and misc filters and they said no, full price. I walked out the door laughing and haven't been back since.

Glad to see that Kubota came through -- be sure to post a review of that dealer everywhere you can so that others don't have to share in your experience.