Warranty on dealer installed failure

[bearskinner]

Last summer I saved up and purchased a Grapple, front quick hitch and third functionkit for my BX. When I contacted my dealer they actually made me a good deal on it, and free installation. Still expensive, but saved a couple hundred.
Today I was grading my road with my land plane, when it started raining. I ran back to the shop and backed it in, not noticing anything wrong. After a few hours of running to town, doing errands I arrive home and it's sunny and dry.....EXCEPT for a trail of hydraulic fluid going into the shop. This doesn't look good. So up on the lift it goes. Both skid plates come off, small factory fan shield and the full aftermarket skid plate. Apparently when the dealer installed the 3rd function kit, the technician took the easy way and routed the hydraulic hose UNDER the frame, and not attached or secured to anything, it has been moving around under the skid plate.
So the hose has rubbed a hole in itself between the frame and skid plate ( which the dealer reinstalled over the hose) but to make matters WORSE, the loose hose has worn a continuous groove in the HST Fan, and there is visable damage. I have taken a few pictures and will be at the local dealer when they open tomorrow morning, Hopefully they are stand up guys and will own their mistake. We shall see. I think I have an argument on my hands. More to follow.

 

[bearskinner]

Here's a pic of the damaged fan

 

[85Hokie]

I would approach the dealer with a smile and present the problem in a fashion that makes him feel as if IT IS their problem!

How to do that - first tell them that "they" gave a good price and blah blah....
then ask the dealer HOW he would recommend the hose routing....when he (or whoever) explains the route, you either say, "this is what happened because of that" or "that is not how it is routed" then show the pictures......print all the apply!!! show pictures of the oil path, the fan damage......show SO much, that it is hard to refute anything!

To catch someone that has done something wrong, allow them to step in the trap rather than show the trap and how to get out of it.

Now....dumb question....would a series of heavy duty zip ties have done the trick?

 

[redmaher]

That's like crazy lazy! Bet he wouldn't have done that on his own tractor.

Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk

 

[bearskinner]

Now....dumb question....would a series of heavy duty zip ties have done the trick?[/QUOTE]

Either a 90 degree fitting, or possibly zip ties may have kept the hose out of the HST fan, both should have been done at least. But there's NO excuse for running the hydro lines under the frame, than reinstalling the skid plate over it.
Due to the inadequate Routing of the hose, more damage was done by the shoddy work.

 

[bearskinner]

I was pleasantly surprised when I drove to town this morning to visit the Kubota dealer. Both owners were present, and I had a sit down with the co-owner that was also the head of sales. He printed out the hydraulic hose routing and installation instructions, and did remember me bringing in my tractor for the initial install. When he looked at the date on my receipt, he nodded and stated that at that time they had a "employee that was no longer with them, as his quality of work was not up to the standards of the dealership" I was actually in awe, he looked over the pictures, called the parts department ordered the HST fan and both hoses. He stated they have two Mobil service technicians that do it all in the field, and once the parts come in, Monday or Tuesday, they will contact me and all work will be repaired "correctly" the next day.
I left the dealership satisfied, and hopefully will remain that way once the work is completed. They owned up to the shoddy workmanship, and realized the problem was because of just that. I'll report on the progress next week.

 

[hodge]

Great report.
Everyone makes mistakes and poor decisions, at some point or another. I've had a similar situation- a tire shop dropped a heavy truck tire on my hood (the tires were stored on shelves around the shop), and I initially didn't see the damage because I picked the truck up, after hours, in the dark.
If they take responsibility and corrected it (which, in my case, they didn't), I'm fine- we are all imperfect. Everyone deserves the chance to make something right, and it is how they handle it, not the initial problem, that will set them apart.
Your dealership seems to be admirable.

In my case, they didn't deny that the incident had happened- the employee pointed it out the next morning, when I came by to pay my bill. But, they wanted to repair the hood themselves. I insisted in having the shop that had just painted the truck look at it. They determined that it would be better to put a new hood on, instead of trying to straighten and bondo it. The tire shop owner (his son is the one who dropped the tire) told me that he would pay for bondo, but not a new hood- he said that my truck wasn't worth the money to put a new hood on. The truck was worth much more, but I pointed out that this wasn't his choice- his responsibility was to return my truck in the condition that he had received it, not dented and repaired. He refused to pay, so it became a hard life lesson, and I've never graced their doors again. They are now out of business.
I wasn't upset that it had happened, and I gave them ample chances to make it right. I was upset that the owner (not the son- he felt very bad about all of it) refused to do what was reasonable.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Its great you had everything sorted out. The dealer is doing a stand up job.

 

[85Hokie]

I was actually in awe, he looked over the pictures, called the parts department ordered the HST fan and both hoses. He
I left the dealership satisfied, and hopefully will remain that way once the work is completed. They owned up to the shoddy workmanship, and realized the problem was because of just that. I'll report on the progress next week.

Bearskinner,

glad the conversation went the way it should - and the dealer "saw" their mistakes. A dealer like that will stay around a little longer than those who do not see the ways of their mistakes.

It is nice to know that there are dealers out there that do business the ol' fashion way!

 

[lugbolt]

Don't know your equipment, or any other details, but when I was working at a dealer, it wasn't uncommon to install an accessory...grapples were one that stood out...and the accessory was an aftermarket supplied deal. Lots of times (with the grapples that we sold-all of them), either there were NO installation instructions, or poor instructions, no parts, source-your-own pieces, all they would give us was the grapple, or whatever accessory. In a lot of cases we had to make due with what we had in stock-which wasn't much to be honest (tiny dealer), and the salespeople had already told the new owner to pick it up at X time...not leaving us with enough time to get it done correctly. We didn't make hoses either, so if a hose was short or wrong fittings, we had to make a trip over to the local hose place and have one made. It was 15 minutes to the shop, 15 back, and usually 5-10 minutes to have the hose made. You get the idea. Had done a 3rd function valve on an M59 at one point, we got the valve and some wiring and nothing else...no fittings, hoses, nothing. It was a Kubota kit. Owner was coming in from out of STATE to buy, expected install time (according to Kubota) was 2.5 hours. We spent that much just finding hoses, not counting fittings, adapters, and actual installation. Needless to say, owner wasn't happy, I was highly PO'd as a tech (you know...us techs are just grease monkeys), it was not a good deal at all. Nobody wins in situations like that.

I've been on both ends...the receiver of bad service and the giver of bad service, but after the years I've personally put into helping folks, I've learned that there is ALWAYS an underlying cause.

 

[bearskinner]

I have the tractor (14, BX25D) in the shop up on the lift, so I could really check it out. The "kit" for the 3rd function from Land Pride, which is all part of the same conglomerate of company's, looks very complete. It's just the way the hoses were routed and not tied down securely, that caused all the issues.
There is clearly enough room to have run the hose INSIDE the frame rails, ( I put my hand thru the opening) instead of looping under the frame in harms way, then hiding it under the skid plate so it wasn't noticed, bad idea number 2. One hose was flopping around loose under there and has marks from the driveshaft and several very deep cuts and abrasions from the pedal bolts also, both of which would have eventually destroyed the line also.
Not trying to beat the dead horse about this, and I am upset with myself for not removing the skid plates and "inspecting" the installation 20 hours ago! I was so excited about using the Grapple, and naively expected the Dealer Install to be perfect. I'm sure things will be different this reinstall. I will certainly look it all over with the tech here before it's buttoned up and skid plates reinstalled.