Kioti dealer service call pricing...unreasonable?

[raxxter]

Hi all,

Sorry if this isn’t the correct forum for this question, but I’d like to know what others are seeing for an in-warranty service to the tractor’s location.

I purchased and took delivery on a new 2021 CK3510 HST about 17 months ago, so it’s still under the 2 year ‘bumper-to-bumper’ warranty. The nearest dealer is 63 miles from my house.
Two nights ago, at 351 hours, it threw a CEL with the codes ‘4881 F 30’.

I called the dealer to set up a service call, and was surprised to discover the dealer had changed their service policy to ‘promote their services’, and were now charging a $75 service visit fee (regardless of the type of work performed -either scheduled maintenance, warranty service, or out-of-warranty- with an additional fee of $4.25/mile round trip.
While my phone GPS says the dealership is 63 miles away, they claim it’s a 75 mile trip.

They are saying to come out, even if it’s just to perform a 'computer reset', I’m looking at:
$75 + 150 miles at $4.25/mile = $712.50 minimum.
That is unless, of course, I can find a way to bring the tractor to them.

I was shocked to find this out this afternoon, but then I realized I don’t have any direct experience to compare.
Is this typical? Are you all out there with Kioti tractors in the same boat, or is my dealer unreasonable?

Thanks.

 

[old and tired]

I had to bring my tractor to the dealer to get it worked on... even if it's under warranty. also about 65 miles away.

$4.25/mile does seem excessive... I would be done with that dealer, too.

 

[Citydude]

Hi all,

Sorry if this isn’t the correct forum for this question, but I’d like to know what others are seeing for an in-warranty service to the tractor’s location.

I purchased and took delivery on a new 2021 CK3510 HST about 17 months ago, so it’s still under the 2 year ‘bumper-to-bumper’ warranty. The nearest dealer is 63 miles from my house.
Two nights ago, at 351 hours, it threw a CEL with the codes ‘4881 F 30’.

I called the dealer to set up a service call, and was surprised to discover the dealer had changed their service policy to ‘promote their services’, and were now charging a $75 service visit fee (regardless of the type of work performed -either scheduled maintenance, warranty service, or out-of-warranty- with an additional fee of $4.25/mile round trip.
While my phone GPS says the dealership is 63 miles away, they claim it’s a 75 mile trip.

They are saying to come out, even if it’s just to perform a 'computer reset', I’m looking at:
$75 + 150 miles at $4.25/mile = $712.50 minimum.
That is unless, of course, I can find a way to bring the tractor to them.

I was shocked to find this out this afternoon, but then I realized I don’t have any direct experience to compare.
Is this typical? Are you all out there with Kioti tractors in the same boat, or is my dealer unreasonable?

Thanks.

If the tractor can move, I would rent a trailer and haul it there. A 14K trailer is $75 a day (24 hours) here to rent.

 

[grsthegreat]

I dont know of any dealer that would travel out to someones home for free, you have to bring tractor in to their shop, or pay to have it hauled. Even a new car has to be brought into a shop.

now, if under warranty, i wouldnt pay a dime for work.

 

[Gee Ray]

I don’t have your brand of tractor. But with most warranty work it is the owners responsibility to move the tractor to the shop.

The $4.25 per mile charge is outlandish. The $75 service charge for warranty work is kind of a moot point. The warranty charges should go back to the manufacturer not to the customer.

If you have the equipment to pull a trailer, you could probably rent a U-Haul and move the tractor for a lot less than $4.25 a mile.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hi all,

Sorry if this isn’t the correct forum for this question, but I’d like to know what others are seeing for an in-warranty service to the tractor’s location.

I purchased and took delivery on a new 2021 CK3510 HST about 17 months ago, so it’s still under the 2 year ‘bumper-to-bumper’ warranty. The nearest dealer is 63 miles from my house.
Two nights ago, at 351 hours, it threw a CEL with the codes ‘4881 F 30’.

I called the dealer to set up a service call, and was surprised to discover the dealer had changed their service policy to ‘promote their services’, and were now charging a $75 service visit fee (regardless of the type of work performed -either scheduled maintenance, warranty service, or out-of-warranty- with an additional fee of $4.25/mile round trip.
While my phone GPS says the dealership is 63 miles away, they claim it’s a 75 mile trip.

They are saying to come out, even if it’s just to perform a 'computer reset', I’m looking at:
$75 + 150 miles at $4.25/mile = $712.50 minimum.
That is unless, of course, I can find a way to bring the tractor to them.

I was shocked to find this out this afternoon, but then I realized I don’t have any direct experience to compare.
Is this typical? Are you all out there with Kioti tractors in the same boat, or is my dealer unreasonable?

Thanks.

Welcome to my life and the life of farmers and heavy equipment operators.
Just to have a dealer come out, install a $150 sensor, reprogram the tractor with a laptop and drive home is easily $1,000.

 

[jaydee325]

Considering the cost of doing business today, I don't think the cost estimate quoted by the OP is out of line for a field service.

Someone said that there should be no charge for warranty service work. That's not going to work for a dealer that needs to turn a profit. The manufacturer is only going to pay the dealer for parts and the labor they establish in their dealer warranty flat rate guides for the actual work. There is no dealer reimbursement by the manufacturer for pick up and delivery or field service expenses. In the case of remote field work described above, there is going to be a minimum of 2 hours driving time that the dealer has to pay the tech for. So, if a dealer dispatches a tech and does not get paid for non-warrenty costs, the dealer won't remain in business for long.

 

[mrmikey]

My thought would be whatever the terms of the warranty were at time of purchase. I don't think you can change the existing warranty terms once the deal has been made, wouldn't it just apply to new purchases?
I know I had bought, at one of our local stores, a rechargeable drill with a 3 year warranty. 1-1/2 years after that it burnt out and I took it back and they told me it only had a one year warranty, which it currently did. Luckily I had saved the receipt and a sales flyer with the three year warranty printed and they had to honour it.

 

[perrypower]

Considering the cost of doing business today, I don't think the cost estimate quoted by the OP is out of line for a field service.

Someone said that there should be no charge for warranty service work. That's not going to work for a dealer that needs to turn a profit. The manufacturer is only going to pay the dealer for parts and the labor they establish in their dealer warranty flat rate guides for the actual work. There is no dealer reimbursement by the manufacturer for pick up and delivery or field service expenses. In the case of remote field work described above, there is going to be a minimum of 2 hours driving time that the dealer has to pay the tech for. So, if a dealer dispatches a tech and does not get paid for non-warrenty costs, the dealer won't remain in business for long.

Yep, this is accurate. The dealership will have to pay a service call technician for all their driving time, not just the time they spend on the actual repair. Service calls are not cheap. Transportation is almost never covered by any manufacture's warranty, except in rare circumstances such as mandatory safety recalls, etc.

 

[deezler]

It's hard to blame the dealer for charging you to pick up the machine, but $4.25/mi is a bit much.

Do you have a truck that can comfortably tow 8000+ lbs? Take it there yourself, dont give them the satisfaction.

Any other dealers in your area?

 

[Hay Dude]

My dealers are all about an hours drive from me. They usually want $400-$500 to pick up or return anything hauled to their shop if I can’t fix it. I can easily just haul it to them-except for the 35,000lb large square baler. That’s either got to be fixed on site or hauled on a detachable.

Repairs get real expensive when they charge ~$1,000 just for pick up and return.

Thats why a trailer to haul my agriculture products and equipment is a no brainer. pay’s for itself in 1-2 years.

 

[Zmann.]

I am sure you looked into the code, I found this Related thread and this issues would not be covered if this was the cause

dtc 4881 F 30

On my Kioti Ck4010 with 417 hrs the CEL came on and a dtc 4881 F 30 is flashing on the hours display. The local Kioti dealer can't get to it at this time, so does anyone know what this error code means? The tractor still runs, but the rpms are limited. Thanks for any leads you can provide.

www.tractorbynet.com

worth looking anyway ,, My 2510 has been a great machine I was always unsure how warranty work would go but I am now not anticipating ever needing it

 

[nybirdman]

My dealer(Kubota) about 70 miles round trip has never charged me for warranty work period,pick up included.At least three times over the years.
The do charge for service calls,but reasonable;I think it was $75.00,

 

[sea2summit]

I think you guys complaining about the cost haven't considered the cost of offering a field service...

-Front desk recieves/processes the request for service lets say $15/hr and this is a half hour job...with overhead of management, office space, etc lets say this is $20.
-Service manager allocates work for the day at $30/hr. Insurance and other compensation the business is probably paying $37/hr. Lets say 10 minutes $3.
-Lets say this tech is making $25/hr. Insurance and other compensation the business is probably paying about $32/hr.
-150 miles round trip, in a tool truck with an moving average speed of 45 mph is 3.3 hrs, so $96 for the tech.
-150 miles in a tool truck at 12mpg diesel $5/gal is $62.50
-Maint on the truck lets say $0.05/mile, so $7.50
-100k truck and tools (I think this is a very low estimate) amortized over five years is $78/ a business day (how many days a week does it actually go on the road? If less than five this number increases dramatically)
-Insurance on the truck is probably $10/day (if it doesn't go on the road every day this number also continues to increase dramatically)
-Now the tech is on site at least an hour (arrive, meet, locate equipment, plug in computer, complete paperwork, write a receipt, say goodbye) another $32.
-It's a four hour job for that tech but it's likely most of his work for the day by the time he comes in, gets the job, gets the keys, gets back, takes care of the truck, gets back to the office so lets just give the job the rest of his day's wage (3.7 hrs) $111

So with my beer math the COST of the trip is: $453



-The business isn't trying to do this for free, lets say they need to make 20% so $93.

So overall right around $545 with my estimated costs...I'm betting most are low. So at the end of the day $700 seems close to "at cost" to me.

 

[jaydee325]

My thought would be whatever the terms of the warranty were at time of purchase. I don't think you can change the existing warranty terms once the deal has been made, wouldn't it just apply to new purchases?
I know I had bought, at one of our local stores, a rechargeable drill with a 3 year warranty. 1-1/2 years after that it burnt out and I took it back and they told me it only had a one year warranty, which it currently did. Luckily I had saved the receipt and a sales flyer with the three year warranty printed and they had to honour it.

Using a rechargeable drill warranty to compare to a tractor warranty is an apples to oranges comparison.

The warranty statement in the owners manual for my John Deere X584 states clearly that if you are within a 100 miles of a dealer, the owner is responsible to transport the tractor to the dealer or pay for a mobile tech to do the repairs or pay the dealer for the haul. If more than 100 miles, Deere will pick up those expenses or may authorize another repair facility that is closer to do the repairs.

As aways, the devil is in the details.

 

[dodge man]

A lot of it is how the warranty is worded. My guess is you are on the hook for those expenses. If the guy comes in a pickup truck, they cost per mikes pretty high. If a well trained mechanic shows up in a fully equipped service truck, which is often a bigger truck, that cost probably isn’t out of line. Still not fair from your point of view with it under warranty.

 

[azbinder]

When I was at the dealer (Kubota/NH), travel time and or equipment hauling was at the customers expense per the manufactures warranty. If we had someone in the area with a trailer at the time, we would try to make some type of accommodations. And at the current times, the quoted numbers probably are not too far off. Most dealership service trucks on built on an F550 style chassis and have a service body, crane, compressor, welder/generator. The truck I had was also set up with a hydraulic hose making system. Trust me, these trucks are not cheap to build or to operate.

 

[mrmikey]

Using a rechargeable drill warranty to compare to a tractor warranty is an apples to oranges comparison.

The warranty statement in the owners manual for my John Deere X584 states clearly that if you are within a 100 miles of a dealer, the owner is responsible to transport the tractor to the dealer or pay for a mobile tech to do the repairs or pay the dealer for the haul. If more than 100 miles, Deere will pick up those expenses or may authorize another repair facility that is closer to do the repairs.

Respectfully disagree.
My purpose was not to compare a $100 drill to a K$ tractor. My point was that the warranty for your machine should be what it was at the time you bought it not what it was changed to months after the fact.
You pretty much said what I was eluding to. The terms written in the owners manual are are what the warranty was at the time of purchase. In your example if the terms were changed a couple of months after you bought your machine to 50 miles I'm assuming your 100 miles would still be correct for you. Not being a lawyer I could be full of it .

 

[WinterDeere]

My dealer (Kubota) about 70 miles round trip has never charged me for warranty work period,pick up included. At least three times over the years.

Same with my Deere. They've come and picked up my newest machine twice, and returned it, without even any discussion of charges. Once was an actual repair, the other was to add an accessory that was not available at time of delivery. Not sure if dealer just ate the cost on transport, or if Deere re-imbursed them for it, but no one asked me for any money.

The dealership should be re-imbursed for travel, but if it's an in-warranty repair due to a manufacturing defect (aka "screw up"), why should the consumer pay for it?

Having said that, I'm sure it's clearly spelled out in the warranty statement, that the consumer is responsible for transport, yadda, yadda... doesn't make it right.

 

[jaydee325]

Respectfully disagree.
My purpose was not to compare a $100 drill to a K$ tractor. My point was that the warranty for your machine should be what it was at the time you bought it not what it was changed to months after the fact.
You pretty much said what I was eluding to. The terms written in the owners manual are are what the warranty was at the time of purchase. In your example if the terms were changed a couple of months after you bought your machine to 50 miles I'm assuming your 100 miles would still be correct for you. Not being a lawyer I could be full of it .

I respectfully Agree (LOL!) The terms of a warranty that was signed onto at the point of sale cannot be changed. But, in some cases of problems, the manufacturer may improve the terms and add some extensions or improvements.

We're on the same page.