Trying to understand the issue with service

[dwomble1]

The warranty issues I completely understand and yes if it is something of that magnitude I do have the capabilities to haul the tractor to a dealer/service tech. If the company were to go out of business wouldn't the warranty become a moot point? I'm thinking (could be dangerous) but with a Yanmar engine parts are easy to find and if RK no longer supports a tractor divison and a major overhaul was needed could this be accomplished by a dealer/service tech of TYM being that RK are just rebranded?

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Diggin It]

if RK no longer supports a tractor divison and a major overhaul was needed could this be accomplished by a dealer/service tech of TYM being that RK are just rebranded?

That's a question that has been posed a few times but hasn't been answered yet. I would imagine only a TYM official would be able to do so, but probably wouldn't want to as long as RK was viable.

 

[Diggin It]

Found out something today that may not apply to other areas. At least in my case the TYM dealer is also a Stihl service center and does some other brands too. As a result, they are the local warranty service center for Lowes, HD, RK and a few other stores. Based on that, they figure they will be servicing RK machines also. Nothing certain yet since our RK won't be getting tractors for a while.

 

[3gunr]

Found out something today that may not apply to other areas. At least in my case the TYM dealer is also a Stihl service center and does some other brands too. As a result, they are the local warranty service center for Lowes, HD, RK and a few other stores. Based on that, they figure they will be servicing RK machines also. Nothing certain yet since our RK won't be getting tractors for a while.

where are you located

 

[Tennsawdust]

The warranty issues I completely understand and yes if it is something of that magnitude I do have the capabilities to haul the tractor to a dealer/service tech. If the company were to go out of business wouldn't the warranty become a moot point? I'm thinking (could be dangerous) but with a Yanmar engine parts are easy to find and if RK no longer supports a tractor divison and a major overhaul was needed could this be accomplished by a dealer/service tech of TYM being that RK are just rebranded?

Thanks for all the feedback.

If for some reason RK collapsed and warranty was no longer available a TYM dealer could certainly work on it for you. I'm not sure how they do the engine warranty. I've seen some where the engine was warrantied by Yanmar itself. In any case, anyone who can work on Yanmar engines (which many brands use...) should be able to get parts and repair the engine. I'm sure one of the reasons RK specified the Yanmar engines is that they are basically the industry standard and parts are widely available. That should take a great deal of worry out of the buying decision.

 

[RustyT]

Dealer? What are these dealers you speak of? You mean the places that toss a few tractors out front for a while and then drop them to sell something else?.

Or the long established business that was shut down by corporate consolidations?

Seen both happen around here many times with tractors of many colors. As well as cars for that matter.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I am loosing more and more confidence in the dealers all the time.

I went to a local JD dealer, that had been bought into a group. Newly remodeled showroom, with each "associate" having their own station, as opposed to a long counter.

They didn't have the fairly pedestrian hydraulic fitting I was looking for. Plenty of Toys and JD nail clippers though!

CLEARLY, they don't have a clue what I, the customer value. And it's not a fancy dealership. So no, I feel no obligation to support them if they are so stupid, blind and insensitive.

Watch them hire consultants, and pester their customers with surveys, to find out how to "improve" their business, and sadly, they still won't get it!

 

[RK Tractor Guy]

We will do the best we can to support our customers. We put our name on the tractors, no dealer has or can do that, they are selling someone else’s tractor. When we decided to launch RK Tractors in April 2017, we did so after we determined that when we do this, we do it for the long haul. The only thing that matters to us is meeting the expectations of our customers. No other way to put it.

 

[RustyT]

God I hate those bean counter dealerships! All gloss and show, no parts of substance. Give me an oil covered good ol boy everyday. At least they usually knew the tractor models and most common problems.

 

[rngrrymd]

I've busted on RK and RK Tractor Guy for specs/lack of specs/inflated abilities provided or promoted on their tractors in other threads but long term I don't think warranty is going to be an issue with Rural King. The company has been in business since 1960 and I don't think they are going away anytime soon. They are also legally obligated to provide the warranty they advertise whether they provide it or they have to go thru 3rd parties to do so. Now if something happened to TYM who manufactures the tractor and TYM went out of business then that would be bad because it would create a parts availability issue on the tractor side but not the engine side (Yanmar). I don't think TYM is going away anytime soon, either. They make tons of tractors for other brands and they purchased Kukje/Branson just 2 years ago which gave them access to engine building as well as increasing their footprint.

Rural King's biggest challenge at this point is getting qualified service techs for their tractor stocking stores and having dedicated sales people with knowledge of the industry and the equipment and keeping those people long term in a retail sales environment vs a wholesale tractor/equipment environment to sustain long term tractor sales. Most likely they are head-hunting service guys from the wholesale side (have to offer sufficient pay and benefits to bring experienced techs in) but are they paying enough to keep sales people in place on the retail side? The margin on these tractors is low so that limits what RK can pay out as well. Working hours in the range of 7-5 M-F and 8-2 on Saturdays with no Sundays and higher pay is a very tempting draw for the now trained retail person to jump ship and go to the wholesale side of the tractor/equipment business. If you do some research online RK does not have a good reputation for what they pay their employees or for giving proper training. Only time will tell. The smartest thing RK is doing right now is slowly rolling out the line which gives them time to fill all those positions as needed and adjust their program/procedures/training if they need to.

Disclosure: I have no stock in RK or TYM