Homier Farm Pro Help

[Wayne_Freeman]

I took my busted 284 front axle to the nearest Farm Pro Dealer who recommended I would be better off purchasing a new axle rather then trying to repair the differential box and axle. The axle arrived a week later(yesterday) and it was obvious when uncrated that this axle was not new but had certainly been used. I spent the afternoon retightening and replacing pieces from my old axle onto the one sent from Homier. I mounted the axle before realizing this axle does not rotate properly and exhibited the same symptoms as the old axle. I pulled it back off of the tractor and pulled the differential cover to reveal the spider gears in the axle from Homier have several broken gears. I have been trying to reach either my dealer or Homier since yesterday. The dealer will not return my calls and Homier Farm Pro has kept me on hold for three hours this morning. Does anybody have any contacts with either Poor Man's Tractor in N.Augusta SC or Homier Farm Pro in Indiana? I will be glad to keep you posted on what kind of customer service solves this problem. You can e-mail me at wfree@hotmail.com.
Wayne Freeman

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

I was never able to get in touch with Homier Farm Pro today but continuously cycled through their answering service. A dealer gave me another non toll free number that did exactly the same thing. Anyway, I sent them a detailed e-mail at 3PM this afternoon and pleaded for a return phone call. As of 7PM tonight I have received neither a return e-mail or phone call.

My local Farm Pro Dealer never returned my call but I did reachhim at 3:30 today. He said he was talking to Homier Farm Pro and promised to call me back. As of 7PM tonight no response.

Tomorrow is another day! Hopefully, somebody will step and and do the right thing. I have informed Homier Farm Pro that this saga was being posted on two popular web sites for all my comrades to see. Stay tuned for chapter two.

 

[bluechip]

Wayne,
Was the email you copied me from Chad at Homier at 1:44 pm not a response? his direct extension was also included. Chad is the guy who can help you out.

Sorry the alternate number I provided wasnt any better. I thought it was a way around the customer service phone room directly to the Farm Pro tractor division. Guess it was just a way for you to be on hold on your nickle instead of theirs.

Anyway my advice is to call Chad tomorrow, I am sure he can make good on the axle for you, especially since he gave you his direct extension.

Just for the record, I am not the dealer who sold this tractor or the axle, just trying to help a fellow TBN member if I can. I'm sure this will all work out soon.

It is no secret that it is difficult to communicate with Homier at times, that is why I always recommend working through a good local dealer whenever possible, handling these communications is how we earn our keep.

 

[Harrygoodwrench]

Wayne,
I was hoping Bluechip was online but alas not. I'm sure Chip could help in straightening this out. he has always gone above & beyond before thats why he has such a good reputation.
Don't dispair, we will get this done. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Regards, Harry

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

The e-mail I received from Chip was a response to a question regarding a pricing issue which I have not made public. I had no clue this would be faster then holding on the phone but that is the way it turned out. That e-mail only requested a price quote for a front axle. However, as soon as I got the e-mail from Chip I called his extension, got his recording and left a message for him to return my call which has not happened yet. Beleive me I am going to make every effort to give credit where credit is due and very slow and cautious about discrediting any business or person. I am still hopeful for a fair and reasonable resolution which will be made public.

 

[bluechip]

Wayne,
I think you ment to say you called Chad not me, right?
Chip

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

After a long frustrating day yesterday I got my Chip's and Chad's confused. Chad Lakes with Homier Farm Pro is the person I called. Maybe today will turn up some positive results which I will be more then glad to share!

 

[SevenCorners]

Wayne,
You have really been through the ringer on this one. My hats off to your persistance.
Is this SOP for Homier? It seems to me like really bad customer service. So few companies really practice what they preach.

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

This morning shortly after 8AM I received a call from Butch Michaelson/TSR with Homier in Indiana. He was very professional and we had a lenghty conversation. To make a long story short I simply stated that a new front axle was purchased and a new front axle should be what I receive. My machine has been down almost two weeks and I requested that if a new axle could not be shipped today then a refund was in order and I would seek an alternate source. Butch has promised to call me back this afternoon with some resolution. He also requested pictures and lucky enough my digital camera is charged up.

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

Here is today's update concerning my front axle replacement. Butch Michaelson/TSR with Homier Farm Pro requested pictures of the new front axle I received. I sent several photos with detailed explanations outlining what was missing on the new axle and what it looked like as well as the broken spider gears in the differential. I will attach one of the pictures with this update. Later in the day I was requested to send a picture of my old axle and the new Farm Pro axle side by side. My old axle was still in three pieces but I complied immediately. I also insisted that shipping me new parts was not acceptable because I purchased a new axle and that is what I expect to receive. If I would have felt competent to repair my old axle I would have ordered parts a long time ago. Around 3:30 PM this afternoon, Butch Michaelson/TSR with Homier called me back and explained what they were going to do to solve my problem. First, a truck will come and pick up the faulty axle I received last Tuesday. Once this axle arrives back at the office in Indiana and processed, a new axle will be sent back to me. It took a week to receive the first axle so it appears I am two weeks off before receiving the part to fix my tractor. I politely ask why a new axle could not be shipped today or why the truck could not deliver the new axle and pick up the old one at the same time. The answer was that is not the way we do these type transactions. I did request a name and number of the person who made this decision to personally plead my case but got no further. I also tried e-mailing the salesman Hal posted but got undeliverable address back. If anybody has any words of wisdom please pass them along. Otherwise, I will continue to try and call a higher power at Homier or if the weather breaks go fishing.

 

[johnk]

I'd tell them you're contacting the attorney general in the state and the local trouble shooter at your news......... Enough is enough....Just my opinion......Good luck.....

 

[jeff_jeff]

so - within 24 hours of being contacted about the problem the company agreed to replace the part at no cost....what exactly were we going to report to the Attorney General again??????

 

[Soundguy]

It may not be criminal.. but it sure is sloppy work on homier's part. Considering this has already been goin on for a week+, and it was a waranty issue right? you'd think they would be a little more sympathetic and eager to please. After all.. if you paid for a new axle.. and they shipped you an obviously used one.. and it was broke to boot.. that would make for some unhappy feelings I would think.

At the GC I work for.. we've changed parts vendors before, over less.

Soundguy

 

[jeff_jeff]

Soundguy, I agree with you to some extent, but:

Jinma has to be about the cheapest tractor made, and Homier is about the cheapest of the Jinma dealers...they obviously are not going to be putting a lot of money into customer service. If they actually manage to get the problem resolved in a few weeks, I'd say that was pretty good

Jeff

 

[bluechip]

Whoa, this has not been going on for a week, it was a week shipping the axle assembly. The defect/error was not discovered til yesterday.
Short summary: The poster went to a local Farm Pro dealer for help with the axle problem on a JINMA (not a farm pro, which I know is sort of like a square being a rectangle but a rectangle is not necessarily a square, but I think this is an important point).
The dealer arranged for Homier to ship an axle assembly to him and when it arrived and installed, it was found to be a defective unit That brings us to yesterday.

Communications with Homier by telephone are not the greatest, at times they are terrible and it is a weakness in their organization. After two years of doing business with them I have found them to be very interested in doing the right thing to get their customers going, once you get ahold of someone that is... I usually get a returned call within 8 working hours or less, quicker by email.

So before everyone jumps in and wants to condemn Homier in this situation please keep in mind:
1. they were willing to ship a major sub assembly to someone who had not purchased a tractor imported by them.

2. They had a unit in stock to ship (would have been sweet if it was a GOOD unit but it was probably pulled off of a parts tractor and was presumed to be good). I doubt there are just a lot of these complete front axle assemblies sitting on the shelves of the various Jinma importers as brand new never on a tractor units.

I suspect that they either were the only one to have a unit OR had the best price.

Anyway, Wayne has told us he will keep us all informed of the facts and so we should give Homier a chance to correct their error, which was shipping the defective unit.

I can understand Waynes frustration, and there are some other issues concerning dealer mark up and such that he has excersized discresion in making public, but I do think perhaps he was a bit early in taking this issue public, just my opinion, and just to clarify for those who may not already know, I am a Farm Pro dealer (I have answered some questions by email from Wayne on this matter but it was a dealer near him that sold him the axle)

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

Bluechip is right on most of this and I must say he has been a big help to me in diagnosing this problem and trying to get it resolved as has Tommy over at Affordable. I am trying my best to stick to the facts and very reluctant to point fingers or badmouth anybody. Here is just a couple of details.

When I discovered my axle had damage in the wheel hub and the differential box it was apparent this was going to require in my opinion an experienced mechanic to do the repair. You can see an early post where a fellow member offered to sell me a new axle he purchased and never used. I considered the price and decided to find the nearest servicing dealer willing to look at my axle and estimate repairs before purchasing a new axle. I did check a couple of places we all know to ship the unit off but when you consider shipping, hourly shop rate and parts that was approaching the cost of a new unit. Anyway I phoned the nearest Farm Pro dealer (100 miles away) and explained exactly what my situation was. He said to bring it up and he would have a look. I took it up the next morning to the dealer and after examining the broken axle he went inside and looked up the price for a new one. I felt better about purchasing from a dealer with a physical address and location I could drive to eventhough I do not own a Farm Pro tractor. I had taken my parts manual along and the dealer assured me they were identical. I thought Farm Pro would welcome our business whether we purchased from them or not. The axle was ordered on Tuesday February 8th and arrived Tuesday February 15th. Tuesday evening I thought something with the new part did not feel right and after e-mailing Chip and Tommy for advice I dropped the axle back off the tractor, removed the differential inspection port and could readily see three stripped gears. That is when I began to make phone calls and try and resovle this problem.

In my opinion our forums share information for numerous issues including this one. The objective is to help each other out and make the Jinma community better. Hopefully when this is all said and done that will be the case.

 

[bluechip]

Wayne,
maybe I didn't choose my words right. I so not want to give an impression that you should not have gone to a farm Pro dealer for help. It is obvious your dealer welcomed your business. It is not unusual, I have had Agri Cats, Jinmas, Work Traks, and even have a Shenniu in my shop at present. Of course we deal in Jinma and KAMA as well as Farm Pro so we may be a different than most, and I will be the first to admit that not all Farm Pro dealers are qualified to work on every brand (or any) Chinese tractor.

I don't want to make it sound as if it was Homier's error to sell to you, their error clearly was sending a part that shouldn't have been sent.

These posts tend to develope a life of thier own, Soundguy's comment even painted this as a Farm Pro tractor warranty issue and some have taken the position already that Homier has commited some crime worthy of attention of the attorney general! For that reason, I think it is prudent to try to work things out before airing the issue publicly. You can see how these posts have ripple effects that may not be justified in every case.

Basically I was trying to say that this situation only became a problem for Homier when they made a attempt to help solve your problem, one that did not initially involve thier product. They goofed and now it is reflecting poorly on thier business. Hopefully for everyone, they will make the exchange and redeem themselves very soon.

 

[Durbob]

</font><font color="blueclass=small">( Wayne,
maybe I didn't choose my words right. I so not want to give an impression that you should not have gone to a farm Pro dealer for help. It is obvious your dealer welcomed your business. It is not unusual, I have had Agri Cats, Jinmas, Work Traks, and even have a Shenniu in my shop at present. Of course we deal in Jinma and KAMA as well as Farm Pro so we may be a different than most, and I will be the first to admit that not all Farm Pro dealers are qualified to work on every brand (or any) Chinese tractor.

I don't want to make it sound as if it was Homier's error to sell to you, their error clearly was sending a part that shouldn't have been sent.

These posts tend to develope a life of thier own, Soundguy's comment even painted this as a Farm Pro tractor warranty issue and some have taken the position already that Homier has commited some crime worthy of attention of the attorney general! For that reason, I think it is prudent to try to work things out before airing the issue publicly. You can see how these posts have ripple effects that may not be justified in every case.

Basically I was trying to say that this situation only became a problem for Homier when they made a attempt to help solve your problem, one that did not initially involve thier product. They goofed and now it is reflecting poorly on thier business. Hopefully for everyone, they will make the exchange and redeem themselves very soon.
)</font>

Not to hijack this thread, but since you mentioned Shenniu Chip. What were you impressions of it? There is a guy here in Ohio who sells them and i wonder how they stack up against the other Chinese brands.

Thanks, Durbob

 

[thegreatrandini]

Just wondering how old your tractor is? Was it under warranty? Did you check with the dealer you bought it from? Do you drive it in 4 wheel drive alot? Do you drive on hard or semi firm surfaces in 4wd? Also you may want to send your old axle out to be repaired and then you would have a spare!!!

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

Front Axle Replacement Update. It's Friday February 18th and right before lunch Butch Michaelson with Homier Farm Pro called and then faxed me a return shipping form. I prepared the return axle for shipping and at 4PM this afternoon Overnight Express picked it up. It sure is nice to have some good news for a change! Hopefully, the turn around time to send me a new axle will be short.
The answers to the questions above are right here
:http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/.../579863/page/1/view/collapsed/sb/5/o//fpart/1