A little miffed

[ddbackhoe]

My dad and Harry Truman said 'the buck stops here'. Every employee of a dealership IS the dealer. Ultimately, the owner of the store is 100% responsible for hiring, training and firing. No excuses. A customer should not have to track down the manager or owner to get basic things handled. A competent manager follows up with those things as a part of their job.

This is where a big piece of corporate retail america is disappearing. Who is the owner? When you have car dealerships buying tractor dealerships, being managed by joe slob its predestined to become ugly.
In a car dealer scenario, you have the techs working for a shop foreman who reports to the service manager, who reports to the operations manager, who reports to…
All retailers (in my area) have a new universal “sorry bout that” as a coverall for any issues. Customer service is pretty dismal anymore but as long as people accept it and dole out their cash, it will be ok.

 

[Hodado]

Don’t think I’d buy the department store version of a Deere

 

[Septis]

Not sure about now, back when Lowes started selling JD they were licensed by JD made by another manufacturer. But that was years ago.

 

[NUTTERDW]

So my wife and I decided to buy a new lawn tractor, a John Deere S140. The closest Deere dealerships are all pretty far away. And they are all owned by the same company. Anyway, I contacted the closest one and got a price over the phone. However, the salesperson needed to work up a quote. I heard nothing for about a week. Then the person called me, apologized for the late quote, clarified a couple things, then crickets. So after nearly another week goes by I look again online for the same S140. I find it for sale assembled at Lowe's and Home Depot, not in a box like the Deere dealerships offer. Closer too. By a lot. And $250 less.
I know, it's not a high dollar purchase compared to other offerings from John Deere. But now I'm waiting two weeks for a quote that over the phone is already $250 over what Lowe's and Home Depot are offering and the thing comes in a box. Not assembled like the other folks.
Maybe I'm just too low dollar. But how can they expect me to even look at them for other purchases if they are already charging me more for something that I need to put together. Am I wrong? Is a dealer gonna be that much better if I have a problem than Home Depot or Lowe's? If they can't even put the thing together but still charge me nearly 10% more because they are a dealer?
Anyway, I realized today that the dealer decided that I'm not worth the money to even give me a quote, especially since I have been completely polite and even enthusiastic about the upcoming purchase, but still haven't received the quote that the salesperson told me I needed to purchase the S140 lawn tractor.
So, I'm a little miffed that I spent the time emailing and talking to a John Deere dealership representative and still have not received the quote necessary to buy a machine from a Deere dealership. Even though I'm only spending a lousy $2799.00. Tomorrow we will be spending our money at Home Depot or Lowe's.
Eric

Several years ago my son and I went to our John Deere dealer and walked around in the rain to pick out a 50 horsepower tractor we were ready to purchase. No salesperson ever showed up. We went in the showroom and sat there for half an hour and people would walk by but never offered to help. WE bought another brand and have been very happy with it!

 

[tacticalturnip]

Not sure about now, back when Lowes started selling JD they were licensed by JD made by another manufacturer. But that was years ago.

Nope. Deere has always made them; Deere sold them under the Scotts and Sabre brands prior to, and alongside the initial L series.

They're made by Deere and always have been, and the 100 series sold at Lowes is no different than the 100 series at the dealer. They're also to be warrantied by the dealer.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Nope. Deere has always made them; Deere sold them under the Scotts and Sabre brands prior to, and alongside the initial L series.

They're made by Deere and always have been, and the 100 series sold at Lowes is no different than the 100 series at the dealer. They're also to be warrantied by the dealer.

manufactured by, made them, assembled them from other sources, subcontracted, outsourced, final assembly….
Not sure I’d want to hang my hat on any one as being the definitive answer

 

[tacticalturnip]

The engines come from Briggs, the transaxles from Kanzaki, this is nothing new in the market.

The machines are still made by Deere at the Greenville, TN plant. They've never come out of an MTD or Husqvarna factory, I don't know what more you want.

 

[boatmoter]

So my wife and I decided to buy a new lawn tractor, a John Deere S140. The closest Deere dealerships are all pretty far away. And they are all owned by the same company. Anyway, I contacted the closest one and got a price over the phone. However, the salesperson needed to work up a quote. I heard nothing for about a week. Then the person called me, apologized for the late quote, clarified a couple things, then crickets. So after nearly another week goes by I look again online for the same S140. I find it for sale assembled at Lowe's and Home Depot, not in a box like the Deere dealerships offer. Closer too. By a lot. And $250 less.
I know, it's not a high dollar purchase compared to other offerings from John Deere. But now I'm waiting two weeks for a quote that over the phone is already $250 over what Lowe's and Home Depot are offering and the thing comes in a box. Not assembled like the other folks.
Maybe I'm just too low dollar. But how can they expect me to even look at them for other purchases if they are already charging me more for something that I need to put together. Am I wrong? Is a dealer gonna be that much better if I have a problem than Home Depot or Lowe's? If they can't even put the thing together but still charge me nearly 10% more because they are a dealer?
Anyway, I realized today that the dealer decided that I'm not worth the money to even give me a quote, especially since I have been completely polite and even enthusiastic about the upcoming purchase, but still haven't received the quote that the salesperson told me I needed to purchase the S140 lawn tractor.
So, I'm a little miffed that I spent the time emailing and talking to a John Deere dealership representative and still have not received the quote necessary to buy a machine from a Deere dealership. Even though I'm only spending a lousy $2799.00. Tomorrow we will be spending our money at Home Depot or Lowe's.
Eric

usually the ones you get from John deere and spend over $4000 on are commercial duty, the ones you get from lowes & home depot are not,one of the differences is the spindle shafts on the home depot ones are 5/8 inch,the commercial ones are 3/4 inch. I bought my 1993 JD 320 hydro used 7 yrs ago off craigslist,18 hp Kawasaki liquid cooled with a hydraulic deck lift. I give $1300 for it and had to replace the radiator screen & side panel trim,they were missing. the 1993 JD 320 went for $5300 new @ JD in 93. I coulda got one from lowes but I wanted a tank

 

[stephenh]

When I was shopping for my 1st tractor, I had no initial preference for brand, I was in need and had only ever used a Ford when I worked on a farm as a young guy. Figured out Ford was now New Holland, no dealers near me, so I stopped in a John Deere dealership with financing already approved by my credit union. I wanted, I figured, something in the 30 Hp or so range, knew nothing about JD products except many farms I passed seemed to have them.

No salesmen available, so the manager himself guided me out onto the lot. I had told him what I wanted, etc., and he took me straight to this weird, crazy-stupid Chinese import that was so terrible [even though brand new] I thought he was just kidding around. It was a big toy or lawn art or something. He said, this will work fine for you and is about a quarter the cost of a JD tractor in your size range. He really pushed this thing. I finally gave up and left, as he never even took me over and showed me a JD. Crazy.

Next stop was Kubota, about which I knew pretty much nothing except they were orange and also saw a bunch of them around various farm sites. The sales people were all absent that day, so the owner of the place dealt with me. In about an hour, I had made a deal. Since then, I have purchased two more tractors from them.

Couple weeks after my debacle at the JD place, I stopped back in there to get a couple gallons of chainsaw bar oil. I had noticed it half-price for a name-band oil on my first visit. Guy at the counter said, hey, you were in here the other day, did you find one of our models to fit your needs? I said, well, no because the manager never would show me them, he was stuck on this Chinese POS. The guy said, Oh hell, he is stupid-stuck on getting rid of that thing, crazy!

Moral, listen to the customer, don't be stupid about it, and maybe, just maybe, you'll sell all sorts of stuff. Besides my Kubotas, I have also purchased most of my related attachments from the same Kubota dealer.

 

[olenjohn]

So my wife and I decided to buy a new lawn tractor, a John Deere S140. The closest Deere dealerships are all pretty far away. And they are all owned by the same company. Anyway, I contacted the closest one and got a price over the phone. However, the salesperson needed to work up a quote. I heard nothing for about a week. Then the person called me, apologized for the late quote, clarified a couple things, then crickets. So after nearly another week goes by I look again online for the same S140. I find it for sale assembled at Lowe's and Home Depot, not in a box like the Deere dealerships offer. Closer too. By a lot. And $250 less.
I know, it's not a high dollar purchase compared to other offerings from John Deere. But now I'm waiting two weeks for a quote that over the phone is already $250 over what Lowe's and Home Depot are offering and the thing comes in a box. Not assembled like the other folks.
Maybe I'm just too low dollar. But how can they expect me to even look at them for other purchases if they are already charging me more for something that I need to put together. Am I wrong? Is a dealer gonna be that much better if I have a problem than Home Depot or Lowe's? If they can't even put the thing together but still charge me nearly 10% more because they are a dealer?
Anyway, I realized today that the dealer decided that I'm not worth the money to even give me a quote, especially since I have been completely polite and even enthusiastic about the upcoming purchase, but still haven't received the quote that the salesperson told me I needed to purchase the S140 lawn tractor.
So, I'm a little miffed that I spent the time emailing and talking to a John Deere dealership representative and still have not received the quote necessary to buy a machine from a Deere dealership. Even though I'm only spending a lousy $2799.00. Tomorrow we will be spending our money at Home Depot or Lowe's.
Eric

I’ve said it before. If a dealership is not welcoming and following up to your inquiries, walk away. Poor customer service sends more buyers to competitors than pricing.