My Experience with Summit Tractors

[svbhvman]

Post removed by OP.

The CEO of Summit called me and I agreed to take my post down and give him an opportunity to correct the situation, If it is not fixed within two weeks I will put the post back up.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

 

[Tinhack]

Sounds like the place is run out of someone's garage.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I'm disheartened. If the contact information was the problem the post could have been edited.

If I were an *******, I might suspect Summit, and advertiser here, may of asked for your thread to be pulled.

If I were an *******.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

While there is a separate sub-forum here Summit Tractors Forum it seems to be moderated by summit? Which is also an advertiser here ...

While there will probably be more views with it placed here ... It might be better to have the thread over there ... Although probably most tractor owners, or possible new tractor owners wouldn't even see it over/down there ...

I hope the OP can get this straightened out, and made right for his loss.

 

[svbhvman]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

I bought the 54 inch grapple with the backhoe and it arrived quickly. I live on eleven heavily wooded acres and have used it to clean up brush and move felled tree logs around. I was surprised by how easily it handled some of the larger logs.

 

[svbhvman]

I'm disheartened. If the contact information was the problem the post could have been edited.

If I were an *******, I might suspect Summit, and advertiser here, may of asked for your thread to be pulled.

If I were an *******.

That was my thought exactly. I purposely didn't repost on the Summit forum because of that and the fact that this post was to inform potential buyers of how I have been treated by Doug/Summit. In all fairness the guys in tech support have been wonderful but the company can only be as good as its leadership.

 

[4get gto]

With all the time them saying they would make it right pretty much without any argument and then ignoring you doesn't say anything good about how they do business.
The promises they made will come back and bite them.

 

[Panik]

So with all this happening, have you had time to use the tractor for anything else?

They look like nice tractors.

Not quite, originally the U.S. corporate office was about 15 minutes from my house and located in a bit of funky industrial complex. They moved to a different location in my area not too long ago.

What I find interesting is when they first arrived in the area they had some partnerships with local big box stores to sell their tractors out front with all of the other "powered" yard equipment like mowers and log splitters and such. Interestingly those displays have been slowly disappearing around town. Also interesting is that none of the local, actual tractor dealers (inclusive of gray market dealers) seem to be carrying their line.

Doubt it will ever happen, but I would be curious to better understand why. Looking at the equipment packages in person the tractors all seem well built (over built in some ways) for their size and the pricing for the options are pretty amazing.

<Note: Don't have a dog in this fight... while I would love to trade my Bx for a slightly larger, more powerful tractor I'm certainly not in a financial position where I would do that with any brand currently>

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

They do seem.to be much less present here and elsewhere online

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

I think I saw one on display at Runnings in St. Cloud Minnesota a couple months ago.

 

[WM75Guy]

I hope Summit makes it right for you as Home Depot doesn't look to be of any help. From looking at the Summit website, it appears Home Depot no longer sells Summit tractors. For locations to buy under Home Depot it says "Coming Soon". The locator map doesn't list Home Depot as a search option. In Texas Atwoods is the only purchasing option. Only 5 of their 20 locations shows to have one in stock, although you can order one online. Makes me wonder if Atwoods is going the route of Home Depot.

 

[shooterdon]

Thanks for sharing. Having been a CEO, if your story is true, (not saying it isn't but we are only seeing your side) then the company is toast. Once the CEO makes a commitment he must follow through even if he loses money on it.

When I looked at getting a smaller tractor, Summit was not even a consideration. A great price is not that great if you cannot get dealer support and parts when you need them. Summit did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling on the prospects down the road.

 

[tacticalturnip]

If anyone is genuinely interested in the machine, but has concerns about the brand, look into Solis.

You may or may not have a local dealer, I do. The machines are not particularly Big & Tall friendly, but they seem well built. Solis also seems to be really popular with the small tractor crowd in Europe.

 

[G31]

Went to my local Tractor Supply today and I saw two Summits for sale out front. It reminded me of this post, and why people always warn others not to buy from a big box store.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Went to my local Tractor Supply today and I saw two Summits for sale out front. It reminded me of this post, and why people always warn others not to buy from a big box store.

Same with the TSC next door to my office. One of them has a leak underneath.

 

[JTKub]

If anyone is genuinely interested in the machine, but has concerns about the brand, look into Solis.

You may or may not have a local dealer, I do. The machines are not particularly Big & Tall friendly, but they seem well built. Solis also seems to be really popular with the small tractor crowd in Europe.

Solis dealers do seem to be hard to come by, but I wonder if they're able to get parts and be willing and able to work on Summit units.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Solis dealers do seem to be hard to come by, but I wonder if they're able to get parts and be willing and able to work on Summit units.

You know what, I'm going to ask the local dealer. Obviously they wouldn't do warranty work, but outside of that I don't see why they wouldn't want the business. There would be Summit specific items, but mechanically they're the same, and even the sheet metal would probably fit, color aside. I don't remember if the loader is different, it probably is.

 

[svbhvman]

10/9/25

Update.

The installer has had my tractor for two months this week because Summit has failed to send required parts for the installation of the backhoe. Last Thursday I contacted someone with Summit/Sola, not sure which because his email was a Sols domain, who assured me he would overnight the missing parts. Seven days later and the parts still have not arrived. Also, I reached back out to the person I spoke with last week and he will also will not return my inquiries. You might suspect that I have been unreasonable but I can share the emails that I sent and they were absolutely professional in nature and tone.
I am felling some trees this weekend so this morning I called the installer myself and they are returning my tractor tomorrow ... without the backhoe.

 

[deezler]

Aaargh, dangit that sucks. Summit tractors still has the banner ad atop this site. If they are spending money on that, one would think they are actually serious about building their brand.

A single shared customer interaction and experience like this one goes a LONG way to influencing others to avoid the brand.