Kioti Responds.....KL120 & KL130 Loader Problems

[MessickFarmEqu]

Its been two months since any updates to this thread. Anything new?

 

[IslandTractor]

Actually, it has been over three months since Kioti's announcement that they were working on a fix. No further news. I called my dealer last week and they have heard nothing since early June.

I trust there will evenually be a fix but Kioti still seems not to have learned any public relations lessons from this episode. A little update from Kioti would be nice. If they don't care enough to contact the customers at least they could keep the dealers up to date on where things stand.

(And, while Neil does sometimes troll, in this case the question is justified)

 

[4sarge]

I own a Kioti and very glad that I made that purchase. My DK45s had a mechanical (engine-fuel injector) problem and it was repaired thru the Kioti warranty.

It was not a cheap warranty fix, the tractor was repaired and returned within 24 hours. My selling dealer (Wallace), offered to drive to my farm and make the needed repairs if necessary and offered any and all support to get me going. Even though, I didn't buy it from the closest dealer, but (the closest dealer-Holtsclaw) he gladly made the warranty repairs and it's running fine. I hope that I don't have any more problems but it's a mechanical entity and problems will surely arise.

What I dislike is that this thread seems to have caused a divide in the posting Kioti members/dealers on this forum and folks who do not own a Kioti or sell other competing brands keep giving it life. I do not think (hope) that Kioti is going away. I stopped reading this forum for awhile and still to this day do not eagerly peruse the forum posts. It's a shame, many great ideas and information are shared here. I never would have bought my Kioti if I hadn't read this forum.

I have bought HD's (AMF), Toyota's, Honda's, Mazda's, Kawasaki's when they were going thru their infancy or change of ownership and have had my share of difficulty with them all. All of the previous mentioned companies survived and have continued to thrive. Kioti will be here tomorrow much to the chagrin of the NH, Kubota, JD, etc dealers who wish they were gone. If needed, I would buy another Kioti tomorrow and do not fear the lack of customer support, the disappearing dealers or the lack of warranty repair.

Now that said, I do hope that this loader issue is resolved to all's satisfaction but being of the real world, do not think that will be the case.

That being said, the usual disclaimer applies, other than owning a Kioti, I haven't any other affiliation with them. My only wish is to see the Kioti Forum return to a state of semi normalcy. If Kioti indeed has a warranty repair issue, then by all means, "hold their feet to the fire" in court until it is resolved and let the judiciary decide. I've been there, done that and it works.

Good Luck to All and Happy Kioti-ing

 

[IslandTractor]

Sarge,

I agree with you. If my CK20 TLB fell into a sink hole today I'd be at my dealers doorstep tomorrow morning to buy a replacement. These are excellent tractors. The beef I have is with the slow customer service/engineering response from corporate Kioti, not with the tractor or my dealer. I am surprised that Kioti, which seems generally to be a fine company, has allowed this FEL thing to hang over their (and our) heads for so long. And, I am surprised and disappointed that they have not communicated more openly about the "fix".

Messick's question was clearly self serving (Neil is a Kubota salesman for any newbie reading the thread) but I'd have to agree with him that we haven't heard any developments from Kioti for over 3 months. That is a pretty long time. I cannot imagine it takes over 100 days to design, build and test a repair kit and even if it did Kioti could keep us better informed about when to expect the repair program to be rolled out. I just don't understand a good reason to withhold communication. What will happen to someone who has a loader purchased in August 2005 who detects cracks only after Kioti finally publicizes the problem? Is their one year warranty finished or will they be covered? Kioti doesn't need to have the repair kit ready to ship in order to inform us about repair polices and warranty issues such as that.

To summarize, I don't think this thread is about poor quality or bad tractors at all. I think it is about poor corporate communication more than anything.

 

[MikePA]

Messick's question was clearly self serving (Neil is a Kubota salesman for any newbie reading the thread)

It's these kinds of comments that cause problems.

Neil simply asked a question. It's your attempt to discern motives that defines it as 'self serving'.

If Neil's posts in any thread come off as self serving, then the participants of that forum, including the Kioti forum, are smart enough to do a little 'research' on Neil, assuming his screen name and signature don't give it away, and determine he's a dealer (of more than just Kubota tractors) and weigh his comments appropriately.

This same 'problem' occurred in the Kubota forum many years ago when some people became the self-appointed defenders of the Kubota reputation. Any slight, or perceived slight, and they twisted the thread into a flame war.

It's one thing to correct facts that are wrong. It's humanly impossible to discern motives. Letting people's posts stand, or fall, on their own merit will go a long way in 'keeping the peace'.

 

[IslandTractor]

Mea cupla. Though I did think I was being polite to Neil and was actually agreeing with him for a change.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Mea cupla. Though I did think I was being polite to Neil and was actually agreeing with him for a change.

I also thought your response was reasonable when taken in the context of the entire post you wrote. But, since today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and since your post did not contain any pirate talk, you deserve to walk the plank Aarrrh!

 

[rback33]

I also thought your response was reasonable when taken in the context of the entire post you wrote. But, since today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and since your post did not contain any pirate talk, you deserve to walk the plank Aarrrh!

*LMAO* leave it to u Bob....

 

[rico304]

It's these kinds of comments that cause problems.

Neil simply asked a question. It's your attempt to discern motives that defines it as 'self serving'.

If Neil's posts in any thread come off as self serving, then the participants of that forum, including the Kioti forum, are smart enough to do a little 'research' on Neil, assuming his screen name and signature don't give it away, and determine he's a dealer (of more than just Kubota tractors) and weigh his comments appropriately.

This same 'problem' occurred in the Kubota forum many years ago when some people became the self-appointed defenders of the Kubota reputation. Any slight, or perceived slight, and they twisted the thread into a flame war.

It's one thing to correct facts that are wrong. It's humanly impossible to discern motives. Letting people's posts stand, or fall, on their own merit will go a long way in 'keeping the peace'.

I have to say that when Neil posted his question I was glad to see it. I had been wondering for a while now, but didn't dare post because I didn't want the replies that he got. It isn't trolling, many people are seriously just wondering what happened to this problem. Nobody said anything else that I read. Basically, how are our TBN brothers doing with their problem.
Thanks for that Mike. It's good to throw your statement in every now and then to keep posts going in a forward motion. ( I'm not playing saint, I've been known to be a little fiesty at times. hahaha)
Lets just not assume people are out to start something. This was a two post day here, 1. "what's going on" & 2. "no word yet".
I'm not sure where the rest came from.
ANYWAY, hope that Kioti comes up with a fix soon. At least it is something that doesn't force you to put your tractor up until the fix is complete.

 

[4sarge]

Sarge,

I agree with you. If my CK20 TLB fell into a sink hole today I'd be at my dealers doorstep tomorrow morning to buy a replacement. These are excellent tractors. The beef I have is with the slow customer service/engineering response from corporate Kioti, not with the tractor or my dealer. I am surprised that Kioti, which seems generally to be a fine company, has allowed this FEL thing to hang over their (and our) heads for so long. And, I am surprised and disappointed that they have not communicated more openly about the "fix".

Messick's question was clearly self serving (Neil is a Kubota salesman for any newbie reading the thread) but I'd have to agree with him that we haven't heard any developments from Kioti for over 3 months. That is a pretty long time. I cannot imagine it takes over 100 days to design, build and test a repair kit and even if it did Kioti could keep us better informed about when to expect the repair program to be rolled out. I just don't understand a good reason to withhold communication. What will happen to someone who has a loader purchased in August 2005 who detects cracks only after Kioti finally publicizes the problem? Is their one year warranty finished or will they be covered? Kioti doesn't need to have the repair kit ready to ship in order to inform us about repair polices and warranty issues such as that.

To summarize, I don't think this thread is about poor quality or bad tractors at all. I think it is about poor corporate communication more than anything.

Maybe it's a language/culture thing with the poor communication - America to Korea/Korea to America. I had a warranty problem (actually dealer negligence) when Toyota was in it's infancy here in the USA. I sued them both (no charge to me) and the end result was all of my money back for the purchase of a Land Cruiser. I bought Ford instead, just because of the problem with American Toyota. The real problem was that the Toyota rep in America was too lazy to do his job or thought that I would just go away. If your loader is damaged beyond repair or doesn't work as advertised, then by all means seek legal relief. Kioti will get the message.

Thru no fault of yours, this thread seemed to develop a life of it's own with the various Dealers/reps and the non Kioti Owners. I'm concerned about my TBN brothers also but you don't find me posting in the NH Forum or the JD Forum about problems or potential problems with those brands (and they have them).

Funny story - when I was looking to buy, I looked at NH and Kubota. The NH dealer in my town didn't seem interested in selling so I looked at Kubota in the next town. The Kubota dealer also owned by family (son) of the NH dealer and he told me the 50 reasons NOT to Buy a NH. They supposedly were not on bad terms just wanted me to know and I feel that he was sincere. The Kioti just had more features for the $$ or I would have bought the Kubota.

Messick's question was clearly self serving (Neil is a Kubota salesman)

Maybe it's a Kubota thing

Our local JD Dealer is NO longer in business - They now sell Cub Cadet. It does happen even to JD.

My original post was not to incite or raise the Kioti Brand Flag but to let you know that Kioti did stand behind my warranty problem and a dealer who did not sell the tractor to me stood behind it and repaired it within 24 hours and that there are legal remedies for your problem.

I hope that this problem is resolved to your satisfaction, anyone with a similar loader problem chime in and the concerned competing dealers and non Kioti owners stop fanning the flames for whatever reason. I don't post in their owners forums.

And Yes, I'm probably an a** (the wife would agree) but I looked forward to reading the Kioti posts and sharing the information prior to this issue. It's just not the same anymore.

OK - I'll walk the plank now, a day late - story of my life " a day late and a dollar short"

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I have to say that when Neil posted his question I was glad to see it. I had been wondering for a while now, but didn't dare post because I didn't want the replies that he got. It isn't trolling, many people are seriously just wondering what happened to this problem.

Thanks guys. I hesitated to ask knowing that there would be a few people who would respond like that, but frankly I'm starting not to care. I was curious just like everyone else and wanted to know.

 

[turbo36]

If you go back to the beginning of this adventure you will see it all started with Highbeam asking what he should do about a shoddy repair job on a cracked loader. I was one of the early "non-Kioti " owners that urged him to seek a replacement loader and I got flamed by a lot of thin skinned Kioti owners for suggesting it. I have no opinion on Kioti because I don't own one or care to own one but when a fellow TBN member solicits advice I will offer it. I didn't give up my right to an opinion because I own a "Brand X" tractor.

 

[4sarge]

If you go back to the beginning of this adventure you will see it all started with Highbeam asking what he should do about a shoddy repair job on a cracked loader. I was one of the early "non-Kioti " owners that urged him to seek a replacement loader and I got flamed by a lot of thin skinned Kioti owners for suggesting it. I have no opinion on Kioti because I don't own one or care to own one but when a fellow TBN member solicits advice I will offer it. I didn't give up my right to an opinion because I own a "Brand X" tractor.

We absolutely agree Kioti owes whoever effected a fix to their satisfaction or a new improved or non defective loader. And I never flamed anyone for suggesting a fix or course of action. If Kioti doesn't step up to the plate then one or all as a group should file legal action to force them to do so. I don't have the time (must be working to hard) to read all of the forums and offer advice but I do own a Kioti and have experienced a warranty repair.

I like TBN and would hate to see it diminish because of friction. I do know that it seems that the regular Kioti (actual owners) posters are absent and I have seen other forums go by the wayside because of less. Take this any way that you want but the intent of my post was to be constructive not flame or rehash old unresolved problems.

If thru a design flaw, poor workmanship or poor quality material this occurred then Kioti needs to fix it. All of the forums and Internet blogs in the world will never force them (Kioti) too if they do not so desire. I also know that other tractor manufacturers also have problems - I have read the threads.

I don't work for Kioti, get monies from Kioti but I do actually own one and if that is a flame so be it So. I'm willing to let this rest but I do want to see the affected Kioti Owners problems resolved to their satisfaction.

 

[IslandTractor]

Just for the record, Kioti has acknowledged the problem and indicated they would be fixing these loaders under warranty. They issued a statement to that effect back in early June. Messick's question was simply asking for an update and my posts reflected annoyance at Kioti that they haven't been communicating on this matter since early June. The issue is just Kioti's poor public relations/communications, not anything else at this juncture.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Sarge,

Thanks for posting. Well said.

It's Obvious, for the majority of us, any new news on this issue will be posted here, when it becomes available and doesn't need constant rehashing.

Your thoughts are appreciated and well received.

Don

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Hey has anyone heard about.....

Just kidding.

 

[higgy]

I also know that other tractor manufacturers also have problems - I have read the threads.

It is interesting that you keep saying this. No one has disagreed that other have problems. We talk about them all the time, here on this site. In fact in each forum most people would tell you, don't buy x model it is not as good, etc.

However, we are a collection of like minded people. What happens today to you may happen tomorrow to me. Therefore we read and learn how things go with other manufactures, what tactic gets their attention, how to approach the subject.

Do not think, crap, higgy owns a dirtpikcer brand and he must be thinking his is better, not the point. We ALL hope this works out.

If any brand can be held to the fire to fix a problem by the owners by pressure, we should remember that tactic and use it again when needed, no matter the brand.

My 0.02

Dane

 

[Dargo]

I also know that other tractor manufacturers also have problems - I have read the threads.

Absolutely amazing. Please share which ones. I sure wouldn't want to buy one of those!

 

[4sarge]

I also know that other tractor manufacturers also have problems - I have read the threads.

It is interesting that you keep saying this. No one has disagreed that other have problems. We talk about them all the time, here on this site. In fact in each forum most people would tell you, don't buy x model it is not as good, etc.

However, we are a collection of like minded people. What happens today to you may happen tomorrow to me. Therefore we read and learn how things go with other manufactures, what tactic gets their attention, how to approach the subject.

Do not think, crap, higgy owns a dirtpikcer brand and he must be thinking his is better, not the point. We ALL hope this works out.

If any brand can be held to the fire to fix a problem by the owners by pressure, we should remember that tactic and use it again when needed, no matter the brand.

My 0.02

Dane

Dane - You missed my point or I'm not clear. I'm concerned also but as as an actual Kioti Owner who may potentially be affected by an adverse Kioti warranty decision. Evidently, according to IslandTractor Kioti has stepped up to the plate, just very slow in there proposed fix time. The affected owners have more patience than me in this particular situation but I do thank you for your concern as a non Kioti owner for what happens to your fellow forumites. Not enough good deeds and thoughts in this wacky world that we live in.

I also know that other tractor manufacturers also have problems - I have read the threads.
Well Unless I can't count and that is a great possibility, I only see that particular quote in this thread.

I'd also like to see the problem resolved to the satisfaction of the actual Kioti Owners who are effected by this not to the satisfaction of the seemingly interested JD owners, Kubota Owners and the NH Dealer (who'd I'm sure would love to sell one of them French Blue ones to anybody) who keep giving this life and stirring the pot.

If you are not one of them, I owe you an immediate apology

And I too also think that this is a great forum full of like minded people wishing the best for their fellow tractor owner/users and to those true of heart brethren, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Corporations listen to economic or legal decisions not web site popularity contests. Believe me, I've been on the wrong side of those Corporate unpopular decisions more than I'd like to admit

Kioti is a Korean Company and I doubt many Koreans are reading about our thoughts and concerns. It is true that the few remaining Kioti dealers who admit to reading this forum may convey our thoughts and sentiments of disdain over the slow Kioti response to Kioti Corporate but I'm afraid that will fall on deaf ears

Thanks to all concerned who have responded to our dire Kioti plight but things seem to be in hand and I'd like to see the Kioti Forum return to the normal confusion as before

Now, let's see how many non Kioti owners and NH salesmen respond - it is an interesting world that we live in

Hi Ho Tractor, because I'm outa here

 

[higgy]

Wow, and you got my point... through the ramblings and misspellings in my last post!

Anyway, you are correct, it is not a small online community of tractor nuts that will make a company do anything.

I would not like to be in the position that these folks are in. Put good ideas in on how to bring pressure to bare here and we can all use them to help.

Being around like minded folks is fun, in my case a bit hard to find, but fun non the less (pity the pore bloke who has a mind like mine).

Dane