Dealer Damaged Wheels

[peterp]

But a Bazooka beats a pea shooter!

Honestly I think the rims could be straightened out without any issues, I've seen way worse, but I get you being upset and I would be too!

I agree, that is why I accepted to take this one out of four rims. The other three rims look like they got in a hatchet fight and didn't have no hatchet!

 

[bcbull378]

I don't know about your state but here in California there is a Automotive Repair board it's a state agency. I had a local Ford dealer damage the transmission on my pickup I took my paper work and receipts to the board and Ford reimbursed my $2600 immediately . Check and see if your state has anything like this they put the fear of God in the Ford dealer......Good luck

 

[Tooljunkie]

Put thus down as lack of tech skill. Guy could probably rebuild a trans in the dark, but not swing a tire hammer to save his life.

Worked with a guy, 5'8" tall 160 soaken wet. Could change the big tractor tires and make it look like poetry in motion. It was his thing. One of the most meticulous guys i know. (Waxes his farm equipment-all of it)
The other guy rang the bell for an hour and couldnt brake a bead. He was sickening. Damaged rims in a regular basis.

Sorry to see they damaged your rims. Its a common thing, mostly lack of experience. Vw guy i know had 4 wheels wrecked in one shop- all replaced, then one more in another shop. Also replaced.

 

[OldeEnglish]

I think this thread answers my question I had today why a kubota dealership I went to today doesn't change tires!

I'm sorry to hear about your rims, I'm not a big fan of dealers that don't stand behind their work or products. I agree with the other fellas to go straight to the Kubota corp if the dealer doesn't do anything about it. If that doesn't work, search for a site that reviews can be written about the dealership and tell your story. Bad reviews on service never look good for the dealers.

I had to put up a hell of a fight with Subaru a few months ago when I bought my wife a new ride. Negotiated a car starter in the deal, dealer tried to go behind my back and install an aftermarket unit that would void the warranty of the new car, they would save $200. How do I know it will void it? The dealer told me it would when I had a starter put in her previous subaru. Caught them once, gave them a second chance, they tried to screw me again, two chances in my book is sometimes too many. Went straight to subaru and had to fight like hell with them to pay for my starter to be installed somewhere else. They didn't want to help me until I threatened to write a letter to the gentleman that owns the rights to import subarus into the country exposing warranty fraud and dealers not selling factory equipment. Needless to say, subaru changed their tune and cut me a check. Don't give up and let them win

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Peterp,
And that is one sweet dump trailer!
I'm building one just like it.

 

[skeets]

Who was the dealer? Where is he located? These things should be posted so maybe some other poor fella don't get jerked around the same way you are. See these sites are monitored by some folks that have shall we say some influence. I know this to be true because I posted some rather negative comments on a HD site I use to visit, and when I took the bike in for service, the store manager pulled me aside and asked that I never mention their store's name again on the net. I asked why, and he told me they received a call from HD, about the issues I posted and wanted to know how they were resolved. And I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the big "K" has a few moles trolling all the tractor sites as well. They can and do find many easy fixes on these sites for things, suddenly that turns up in shops, and mods made to tractors as well poof well hell I saw that same thing on the internet years ago. Point is the companies do watch these sites, so point out the dealer and location, ya never know !!

 

[peterp]

Peterp,
And that is one sweet dump trailer!
I'm building one just like it.

The link did not work for me for your picture. Regarding my trailer, I have to stay off of Craigslist, found the trailer in Northern Vermont, paid $800 for it plus time and fuel to go get it. Made in Quebec. It is 4' x8' and has a 3300# payload. Double acting cylinders so power up and down. The gentlemen had a horse farm and used it for hauling leaves, manure and sawdust so its nice and straight. The steel sides are removable and it came with 3 foot plywood sides as well making it 4' x4' x8', the plywood sides go into the stake pockets in the 1' steel sides. The walking beam works great offroad. No dings or dents, unfortunately most likely wont stay that way

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The link in the other post doesn't work because your links died.

I did save a local copy of it:

 

[BAP]

PeterP, I suspect that the reason the service manager wants to keep it under the radar is that he probably is not good at his job, and has been in trouble before with upper management for other problems. I would bypass him at this point and talk directly to the owner. A good owner will set everything straight.

 

[peterp]

Thanks guys for all the feedback. Nothing new here, dealer has not responded since yesterday when I called. FYI, I have spent around $6K in parts and service with them within the last year.

 

[peterp]

Here is an update with my issue and it's time to name names:

Columbia Tractor, Inc. Hudson, New York. A vist to their website http://www.columbiatractor.com/

displays this: Columbia Tractor, Inc
"Your Satisfaction is Our Pleasure"

Well folks, I am not satisfied, I have given Columbia more than enough time to get their act together and here is what happened today.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014. As, I did not hear back from Greg, Service Manager, on Friday, as promised, I contacted him mid-day on Tuesday and asked him about the rims. He said "just this morning he had just spoken with Stu, the Owner of Columbia Tractor, Inc. and Stu asked him to put together a quote for me for (4) new rims". I then asked so what is the quote, he said he was still working on it. I then asked Greg what my bill was so far to remove the calcium chloride and dismount the tires, Greg could not tell me as there were hours charged to my job looking for used rims. I said I am not going to pay for looking for rims to replace the rims Columbia Tractor damaged. Greg responded "that is why he could not give me a total. I reminded Greg, I have spent over $7000 for parts and service at Columbia Tractor in the last year (revised total from earlier post). His response was that they have customers that spend millions. (Can you believe this response I couldn't). I then asked Greg to finish the quote and call me before the end of the day. He said he would, I did not hear from him as usual.

FYI, I am keeping very good notes from day one as this issue will most likely end up in small claims court.

 

[Daren Todd]

Here is an update with my issue and it's time to name names:

Columbia Tractor, Inc. Hudson, New York. A vist to their website http://www.columbiatractor.com/

displays this: Columbia Tractor, Inc
"Your Satisfaction is Our Pleasure"

Well folks, I am not satisfied, I have given Columbia more than enough time to get their act together and here is what happened today.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014. As, I did not hear back from Greg, Service Manager, on Friday, as promised, I contacted him mid-day on Tuesday and asked him about the rims. He said "just this morning he had just spoken with Stu, the Owner of Columbia Tractor, Inc. and Stu asked him to put together a quote for me for (4) new rims". I then asked so what is the quote, he said he was still working on it. I then asked Greg what my bill was so far to remove the calcium chloride and dismount the tires, Greg could not tell me as there were hours charged to my job looking for used rims. I said I am not going to pay for looking for rims to replace the rims Columbia Tractor damaged. Greg responded "that is why he could not give me a total. I reminded Greg, I have spent over $7000 for parts and service at Columbia Tractor in the last year (revised total from earlier post). His response was that they have customers that spend millions. (Can you believe this response I couldn't). I then asked Greg to finish the quote and call me before the end of the day. He said he would, I did not hear from him as usual.

FYI, I am keeping very good notes from day one as this issue will most likely end up in small claims court.

Witnesses to the conversation help to. Even if it's a coworker or spouse with the phone on speaker. Thats absolutely ridiculous that he's thinking of charging labor looking for rims they damaged.
Have you bypassed the service manager and spoken to the owner? At the point of the conversation earlier it sounds like the complaints need to go up the food chain. Kubota customer service, most have a contact us on the website. And can drop an email with contact info, or an 800 number you can call

http://www.kubota.com/contactus/ContactKubota.aspx

 

[peterp]

Thanks Darin T. First thing in the morning, I will drive over (45 min. each way) to the dealer and ask to speak with Stu, the owner. Thanks for the contact info. In the overall scheme of things, this is such a small issue, that I cannot believe that the Service Manager does not have the ability to handle it.

 

[Tooljunkie]

We should all send an e mail to dealer explaining how they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Sounds like they have a long way to go to live up to there motto:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Qualified Technicians
We have an outstanding staff of service technicians who are willing to do what it takes to keep our agricultural customers productive. They take great pride in being a certified dealership and are continually participating in factory service training."[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What the rest of the customers don't matter?[/FONT]
Sounds like they skipped a few classes, or do they train to damage parts?[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Special Abilities:
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Service is the key to making your equipment purchase the long term investment that you want it to be. From routine maintenance to major overhaul, our factory trained technicians can keep your equipment working for you!"[/FONT]

Pride of the business!
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Regardless of what color your equipment may be, you can count on our staff to give it the same attention that they would their own equipment, utilizing all of the Training, Tools, Knowledge and Experience that our staff has amassed over the years.[/FONT]

These Guys must really own some Junk!
Also sounds like there Training that they have "amassed" over the years was out of a cracker jack box or at the bar!

 

[OldeEnglish]

Peter,

That's awful customer service, $7000 is a lot of money to spend with anyone! You must be able to keep your composure well, if that was me the cops would have to drag me out of there and taze me to release my grip around his neck. I live not too far from you and have only dealt with Bacon's in Williamsburg, MA and my father bought his 2910 new at Sharon's in Troy, NY on RT7. If you end up getting some new rims take them up to MR. Tire up in Plainfield, MA. They do good work and are old farm boys so they know what they are doing. They just did my tires and didn't even scratch the rims. FYI Bacon's Does not change tires at their shop but sends them down to Northampton to have them done.

 

[Daren Todd]

Most of the new mechanics coming out of diesel school are glorified parts swappers. Focus on the computers, have to submit to corporate what the issue is, provide data. Then corporate reports back on what the fix or solution is.
Had several parts swappers come through the shop. Seen some replace something over and over instead of asking the simple question "what's causing this to fail". Those guys didn't last long before they were run off. Working on getting rid of another one right now.
I've been sent to other locations to figure out some service issues they were having. Found the mechanic was just a wasting perfectly good air. One guy would take 2 hours to install a belt guard on the front of a motor. It consisted of five bolts and a spacer He had just taken it off 10 minutes before attempting to put it back on. This was after a six week course on the equipment that he was working on, and diesel school He was gone before the week ended.

A good mechanic knows there abilities. If it's not in there scope of expertise, then they refer it to someone who can handle it. I send tires to the tire shop. One of the other guys I work with is the welder. I can do it, but boy are those welds fat and ugly

 

[D2Cat]

peterp, you're putting up with way more then a man should have to put up with.

I would suggest before leaving on a 45 minute drive call first to be sure the party you need to talk to will be there.

I would print off this thread and give it to the owner. Let him know you would like nothing better then to get back on this web site and give them a good report.

My guess is they have a line item in their budget called "advertising". Why would any company budget funds to draw in customers then treat them they way you have been treated. Posting negatives about a company on the internet travels fast, but then so does the positive. They get to choose.

I'd be sure to get the destroyed wheels back if they choose not to make it right. I would then take good, detail pictures of the wheels and put an ad on CL, local paper or wherever you can explaining why the price is so cheap---because you had some service work done at Columbia Tractor in Hudson, NY. and this is how they mangled them and required you to pay for their incompetent workmanship!

In this competitive market it won't take much to get many times what they short change you out of their hide! No personal satisfaction to you, but they have to overcome their greediness.

 

[Tooljunkie]

My nephew graduated heavy duty two years ago, my son is in school for his level 2 right now. Hes working on heavy duty diesel and millwrighting simutaneously. The union hes in is finding him work in both trades to rack up his hours.

Both i believe will be parts changers. I have worked in auto, aircraft and electronics repairs. Parts changing in many cases isnt an option. I prefer to determine the fault before throwing parts at it.

Example- dead forklift, dead frozen battery and no spark. Cause=ran out of fuel. Operator attempted to repair no start by cranking engine while turning distributor. Points burned, coil dead. Key left on.
Replace coil, points and battery. Add fuel fire engine and set timing.
The simplest things can boggle the greatest minds ( operator is actually a helicopter pilot)

Cause and repair.
Tire service isnt rocket science. If you cant do it, find someone who can.

 

[skeets]

Columbia Tractor, Inc
"Your Satisfaction is Our Pleasure"

Sounds like a crock of shyt to me