Never buy another Kubota

[hawkeye08]

The OP would not be out any more renting a trailer twice to take it to the other dealer than to the one locally. If his tractor had been sitting there available (at the dealer), they would have worked it in for service, warranty or not. If it is not there and the OP is asking for when they will come and get it, I would say that is pretty fair. When we have nothing else to do, we can come get your tractor and fix it and then return it to you, but as long as we are busy, we won't be wasting time for something that warranty does not cover (the transportation to and from dealer).

I can also put this in bold or caps or italics, but I choose not to. My statement is not open for argument either, period.

 

[devildog1]

Gee, wonder if there will be a problem now just because I wrote in Marine Corp Green?
DevilDog

 

[arsenix2001]

Gee, wonder if there will be a problem now just because I wrote in Marine Corp Green?
DevilDog

Well I dunno if green is covered under TBNs warranty. :laughing:

 

[crazyal]

Sorry but you made a classic mistake. Because your tractor was not at the dealer it was not in line to be worked on. Secondly because you didn't buy the tractor from the dealer you can't expect to get the extra benefits that you would have gotten if you had. You have every right to be upset but those tractors that came in before you could have been people who bought from them before.

In a prefect world it would be first come first served however in the real world you are a few bucks worth of warranty work while those other tractors could have been thousands in profit over the years. Or those other tractors could have belonged to farmers who can't afford to be down for even a day or a construction company that has a crew waiting to get it back. The thing is you just don't know.

Calling Kubota isn't going to get you far. If there's 6 tractors needing work then there are 6 other people in the same boat as you yet they got their tractors to the dealer. In your eyes you think Kubota should be more helpful to you. In Kubota's eyes they need to balance out what they can do across all of the people needing work.

I feel for you but I also think you've compounded your mistake by going to a non Kubota shop for service. The seal shouldn't have failed. A good dealer wouldn't just swap it out but would take the time to make sure there isn't a bigger problem. Maybe the shaft on your subframe is bent or otherwise damaged. Now you've had (if I read your posts correctly) someone else fix it it's going to be harder to get Kubota to repair it if after next winter you find it leaking again.

I understand being frustrated and treated poorly. I think a dealer somewhere has done so to almost everyone. Try to take a step back and see it from the dealer's point of view and accept that they are human too and can make mistakes. Maybe they thought it was nothing more than a minor leak so they didn't place a high priority on it.

Anyway I think you've got a great tractor and in time this will turn out to be just a "thing of the past".

 

[ultrarunner]

Some manufacturers take warranty work/customer satisfaction very seriously and reward dealers that excel... I have no idea as to Kubota policy.

You can't make someone work on your equipment if they are willing to suffer the consequences...

Perhaps this Dealer just doesn't want your business?

The only way I see for you to proceed and set precedent is for you to deliver your tractor to the Dealer... either it is repaired in a reasonable time or it isn't.

It would be suicide, Franchise wise, for a Dealer to act contrary to the Franchise agreement.

As stated... your expense to transport your tractor might make it worthwhile to forgo warranty covered repairs in some cases.

I have ruled in a warranty case where an automotive Dealer refused to accept a vehicle for Service... the Dealership was days from being closed... the customer had the work done independently and I awarded the cost of the third party repair to the customer during arbitration.

The Customer did everything right and was just a victim of circumstance... in other words... the customer provided the opportunity for the Manufacturer through the Dealer to perform.

Good Luck... you never did say or I missed what your out of pocket cost totalled.

 

[banjodunn]

G'day I have read through this with interest as I work for a small dealership over here thatwas once MF now NH,Kioti and several others. While i do not agree with that the OP should be fobbed off for a month he must realise that unless the machine is unmoveable then warranty will only cover work when the machine is delivered to he workshop, If you read the fine print then you will prob find also that if the trans has to be drained to replace the seal then the cost of the oil will not be covered by warranty!!

I hate doing warranty work as it pays on an average 1/3 of my normal rate, does not cover any travel ( Yes i do go out to those jobs i can fix onsite, i think my customers appreciate it), and it usually ties me up for a couple of hours filling out forms and arguing with them over why it took so long ( some manufacturers will tell you it only takes 10 minutes to change a seal but not allow the 1 1/2 hrs it takes to get all the other s%$t to get to it!!!). This is why we need to make money when we sell a machine as murphy's law is you are going to have trouble with something

As others have said hire a trailer and take it in there ( maybe you could drive it in there) and i think you will have better luck


Jon

 

[Baldyonthehill]

Sorry that I stirred up a bunch of name calling and misinterpretations. I have not stated every word of every conversation because of time/space and I hate typing. There is absolutely NO way I would expect a dealer to come and pick up and return my tractor without paying for his time. My first conversation with the local dealer ended with the service man going to call me on a pickup date which did not occur.

When I purchased the tractor I was in the process of building a house here but my wife and mailing address was still at our house we occupied while I was working. I suppose technically either place could be called my residence as I was living in our shop part time. This was and is a mute point, so I left it out.

Prior to purchasing a tractor, I spent many hours researching this site for info to determine the size of tractor needed, which implements I'd need as well as buying advice. The purpose of my original posting was twofold: vent my frustration at Kubota and warn others that could be caught in a similar situation.

The service rep at a different dealership, the one the Kubota service manager told me to take the tractor to, is the one that suggested I get it repaired at a local repair shop as his charge for time on the road would be more than the repair itself. He also told me of many issues his dealership had to handle because of the local dealership here.

The lessons I have learned from this are many, not the least of which is to better determine the quality of service available from a dealer when one is new to an area would be to contact the service department at other dealerships of like brand in the vicinity.

After cooling down some, I know I would buy another Kubota only if the local dealership had the same reputation as the one I purchased this tractor from. They sent a mechanic 65 miles to repair a hydraulic valve issue for one of my friends, no charge, even though his tractor was out of warranty.

Oops, this might cause someone to be confused again. I fully expected to pay for the hauling of my tractor as required. That wasn't an issue. The local dealership charges less for pickup than what it would be to rent a trailer.

Now the good news. The owner of the indepentent repair facility will be picking up my tractor in the morning no charge. He does not live far from me and said it'd be no issue to pick up and return my tractor. This is wonderful service that I never expected. He will be checking for the cause of the seal failure and said that bearings sometimes go out of alignment because of the stress from a front mounted snowblower. That's not good to hear because we get many feet of snow and I have 1 1/2 miles of road to keep clear for my neighbors and me.

I'll post again when the repair work is finished to answer those that are curious. It is amazing what has been said by some but put away the swords. This is a great place for knowledge and wisdom. Let's keep it that way.

 

[Alan L.]

The face of a manufacturer is the dealer, and if they screw it up, especially after attempts to bypass the dealer, then that is on the manufacturer.

 

[arsenix2001]

I hope its a quick fix and glad you got it worked out, theres always a bad apple in the bunch... Sometimes its easiest to toss it out. Sounds like you have a good plan either way. Yeah... Guess it got quite opinionated, all in good form, almost. :laughing:

 

[devildog1]

Hope all goes ok with your repair and look forward to hearing about the repair and cost.
DevilDog

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

...wow. there is a lot here about very little.

With some experience in this area, I think I can explain whats happening. There is a period of time between April and June where basicly everyone wants their stuff looked at now. A dealership can not possibly staff heavily enough to meet this demand without having all their staff sitting around come winter time with nothing to do. So you keep an average level of staff on hand and when these peaks happen you have to push off some people who have an issue thats not preventing them from working. This sounds like one of those senerios to me... that, or maybe the service mananger is just an idiot... I don't know.

As for those blaming Kubota... I think thats nuts. Do you call Ford because its too inconvienant for you to get your truck to the dealer? Its not their issue until a dealership fails to provide whats legally required of them.

 

[jonyyuma]

True enough,, I only have one Kubata dealer in 4 around here, that I won't visit.. They are not user friendly....but they still have a loyal clientel,and sell a lot of equipment.

 

[PapaPerk]

Ummm.... buy what ever you want. But don't judge a company based on one lousy dealer. Because we're not judging Kubota based on one grumpy customer!

 

[boggen]

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EDIT: I didn't realize there was another page worth of posts!!! until i saw update. *talk about uth oh*
please ignore this post.

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This note is to vent some steam as well as warn anyone considering the purchase of a Kubota. When I went to take off the front snow blower, I discovered the seal around my mid PTO was leaking. No sweat, I thought, since the tractor is under warranty. How wrong I can be!

The local dealership has been blowing me off for over a month. I have called the western area service manager, Phil Ingram, numerous times but just to get his answering machine. The only time he was courteous enough to return a call, he told me to take the tractor to a dealership further away. By the time I paid to rent a trailer to haul the tractor to the other place and factoring in the fuel for my truck, I could have a local tractor maintenance shop repair my rig.

If Kubota won't force their dealerships to do warranty work then why should we support their product? I have liked my tractor and the only prior complaint I had was the super sensitive seat switch that won't let my wife drive the tractor most of the time.

Hopefully others haven't experienced this poor quality of service.

honestly do not know all details.
if you have not already hauled the tractor some place else. check with some other nearby tractor repair places, and ask if they would be willing to do warranty work and how long it might take them. ((you may not get a straight answer if at all the time, more so if parts need to be ordered))

as far as rep stating what he did, perhaps to him, you sounded like you needed and wanted your tractor back in good working order quickly so you can use it. and for you it was worth while to haul it some place else.

if ya not happy recall the dealer and rep and let them know just that. that ya need to get the tractor back in good working order. and ask them what needs to be done to get to happen.

time lengths, hey, folks make mistakes, order wrong part, or mishap some place along the lines for a part. i have had to wait a 3 weeks myself for a belt. each time (3 different belts) wrong size, dealer was doing job, just that things were not lining up. and old belt was to worn out and stretched and no numbers to go off of. heck i looked right at computer screen and say yep, looks right each and every time along with the dealership.

pending on things at shop and what the shop primarly handles, the repair you want may take a large area out of the shop due to larger tear down / heavy parts needing to take apart.

people are people, ya piss them off, and they will take there time. ((never piss off cooks, when you will be eating there food, ya never know what snot or other parts of bodies or like done to the food))

regular folks will be regular folks, haul something in / drop something off, only make a few comments and take off, and not a lot of phone calls or info to give the persona call back. till comes in "long time later" mad for taking so long.

people quite and new employees come around. newbies make more mistakes than others that been there a while.

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i realize ya want tractor fixed, all i can say is keep at it. ya a month seems pretty long for a tractor to be fixed. but been there done that, and it is just not tractors, computers, to other things.

keeping your cool, and having a face to face and just asking what is going on and why is it taking so long.

 

[davcog]

Was @ a local dealership that sells both Kubota and JD. Overheard a conversation concerning warranty work on a machine purchased @ a big box store. Don't know what position the guy making the statement holds @ the dealership but he basically stated "We are obligated to do warranty work on a machine regardless of where it was purchased period. However, we reserve the right to set our priorities. Commercial use costomers, dealership customers and then box store purchases." I have not purchased anything other than a few linch pins from this dealer so do not know their reputation for service. Bottom line as someone else said you have to "shop" for the whole package, machine, sales and service.

Oh and no mention that corporate HQ has been contacted. If HQ doesn't hear from the OP how can they remedy what sounds like a poor dealship and an incompetent area representative. Unfortunate but some times you have to go to the top. Military folks would understand the chain of command concept.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

About all I am reading here is that Kubota owners are more loyal than Deere owners.

Kubota dropped the ball on this one fella's. I would be p.o.'ed.!!!! Kubota should have stepped in and said...This guy's tractor gets fixed today. Period.

Just admit it like the Deere guys do.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Kubota dropped the ball on this one fella's. I would be p.o.'ed.!!!! Kubota should have stepped in and said...This guy's tractor gets fixed today. Period.

Just admit it like the Deere guys do.

Um.. no. Its not anyones places to dictate what happens in our shop, or anyone elses. I don't need anyone telling us how to do our jobs. If we fail to do that, its our fault and no one elses. If we give bad service is not anyone elses fault or responsibility to fix it. Aren't we all for personal responsibility?

 

[dodge man]

I'll weigh in on this one.

First off, I don't see where the OP did anything wrong. He didn't buy local, but when he bought, he had two places. The dealer shouldn't care or may not understand why he bought it somewhere else.

Second, some dealers sell a lot of different equipment. My local Kubota dealer also sells Case stuff, a lot of the big ag stuff. I can see where during certain times of the year, the get over whelmed with the ag stuff. My dealer has a seperate guy that works on the Kubota stuff, so thats how they solve that problem. He called them several times, each time they were suppose to call back and didn't. Whats he suppose to do, drive the thing down there and put it through the front window of the showroom? That sounds like what he would have to do to get them to respond.

Third, a month is too long, and they could have done a better job of taking care of him. They may have just been busy, or they may have been blowing him off on purpose, we don't know. His poroblem doesn't make Kubota a worse of better product, but like others have said, the dealer is the face of Kubota for him, and they let him down.

 

[houstonscott]

I guess I am just an old German, but, why is the PTO seal leaking, that would concern me allot. More than the dealer issue. Was it a poor design, poor materials, improper assembly, doesn't give a warm fuzzy for Kubota.

HS

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Um.. no. Its not anyones places to dictate what happens in our shop, or anyone elses. I don't need anyone telling us how to do our jobs. If we fail to do that, its our fault and no one elses. If we give bad service is not anyone elses fault or responsibility to fix it. Aren't we all for personal responsibility?

You are absolutly correct. And, yes I am all for personal responsibility.

However, in the op instance, who is he to turn to if his warranty work isn't getting performed.??....IMO, that falls directly on Kubota's shoulders. And, if Kubota ignores him, who does he turn to then.??...A lawyer.??

I mean, if you are dealing Kubota's product, don't you have to answer to them on occasion.?? I would think yes.

In this case I would be ripped at the entire chain of command.