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poor customer support

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-21          74645

Kubota's customer support stinks.
I have e-mailed them twice with a
warranty question. What do I need to do
to register ? if anything?
Well the first e-mail was sent 11-11 03
I just recieved my response. "Call the
dealer and ask if they registered the sale."
I included all info with my e-mail ser.# mod. etc.
Don't you think they should have been able to
answer me? Took two months to tell me to call the dealer.
I am glad it wasn't something important. Maybe I should
of went green or blue.
"Perhaps this should be in the Hostile bin"


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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2004-01-21          74646

I imagine that it would have been difficult to handle your call any worse, but with respect to warranty...
In most instances you do not have to register to be covered by a standard warranty. It is good to register so that if there is a recall that they can notify you, but many people don't register to avoid spam lists and their warranty is still legally binding on the company. You should keep any documentation (bill of sale or delivery receipt) to show when you got it. When registering it is a good idea to read the Privacy Policy of the company. ....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2004-01-21          74648

It's pretty much useless to send emails to JD's customer support department too. They answer quickly, but the answer is always "call your dealer". They could save money by installing a "call your dealer" auto-responder and eliminate the customer service rep. As far as warranty goes, though, they sent me a letter and a hat thanking me for the purchase so I assume my tractor is registered. But AC5Z0 is right, you don't need to register to bind the warranty. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-01-21          74649

Based on a bit of experience dealing with Kubota (see my pic. # 6) maybe I can offer the following pointers.

First and foremost, call the dealer, calmly & politely explain the situation/question/concern and ask what they can do to help.

If you're not happy with the response then ask to speak to the Area Rep., again politeness goes a LONG way, it's hard to turn down a pleasant person, but easy to hang up on a grump.

Finally, as a last resort, call (not email) the factory, it is hard to ignore a live person, email is a click away from the Recycle Bin.

Finally, as a bit of bargaining power, remember the following points;

- never lose your calm cool manner, let alone your temper.
- ask the person if they think the situation is fair.
- if they say yes, ask them if they would still think it's fair if it was THEIR machine.
- ask them if anyone else has this problem, if they say yes it's not just you, if they say no you may be able to catch them in a lie, which is more good leverage.
- call another dealer and ask them, some dealers are more willing to do things than others.


Best of luck. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-21          74652

What their e-mail said is," that if dealer registered the sale then I'm on file". I just thought that with my ser.#
and a few key strokes, and less than a minute of their time,
they would have tried to confirm it was indeed on file.
It's a poor business practice and a negative first contact
with a new customer.
I am not surprised just dissapointed.
When we have an occasion to bring our new Honda accord in
for anything,we get a call from the dealer and a survey from Honda asking if we were 100 % satisfied.
If the dealership gets anything less than all 5's on a scale of 1-5, they are somehow penalized.(according to the dealer)
Even GMC gets back to me in 24 hrs, on my 2001 piece of Junk!
....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2004-01-21          74656

On the one occasion I've had to use Deere service to swap some tires around I got a survey form from JD asking a bunch of questions about the experience and quality of service. Not sure if Kubota does that or not. ....

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Vetcor
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 8 Nothreastern North Carolina
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2004-01-21          74657

I sent e-mail to Kubota on a problem with BX23. They got back to me in about 9 days, and said to check with dealer --but it sounded to them like it was assembled wrong. I thought I did good to get a guess out of whoever answered the mail. It turned out to be an adjustment that the dealer showed me how to fix when I stopped in. It was very minor fix, so I was okay with that. They don't seem to put much effort into e-mail or their web pages. The BX23 is still not on it. Man, it would be great to get get parts right off the net. Mercury does it that way with outboard parts and credits a nearby dealer (you choose) with the sale. ....

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lamarbur
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 93 Ma/Ct state area
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2004-01-21          74660

I had one issue with my Mahindra, and that was the 511 Bradco hoe didn't have enough hydraulics to operate it correctly. A few e-mails to Texas at Mahindra's office, calls to the selling dealer, and wait of 3 weeks (I agreed to the wait) and the dealer installed a newly designed PTO pump and hydro tank system. Now the hoe operates awesome. The experience with Mahindra actually went quite well. THey listened, thought it over, and reacted to my complaint, total time to fix, four weeks.. ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2004-01-21          74661

Grinder, these companies don't always have a easy way to get information from one area to another. I highly stress to all of our customers to contact us first and let us set-up the contacts to find the answer to the problem. They do get a lot of calls that they shouldn't have had to get. There are times our service people can't get to the help we need because they are helping someone change there oil, yes they do get those calls! ....

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gauthier
Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 148
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2004-01-21          74666

Grinder,sorry to hear of your trouble. I have always had great support from northern on my chinese nortrac. My service contact even sent me pictures of the deer he killed and big crappie he caught,we are on a first name basis. You lose some of that with those big companies I guess,don't worry though,those jap tractors are pretty good now adays. Richard ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-21          74673

Art
I respectfully disagree. I feel that a company of this size
and sales figures they post, should have the best customer support system on the net. We are talking about a fairly
expensive product. The cost and convienence of doing business via the net for the consumer should not be overlooked. But then again we are probably being rerouted
to India.
....

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Abbeywoods
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 110 New England
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2004-01-22          74688

Having owned an L35 I can say there were moments when I saw "Kubota Red," and thought some very bad thoughts. The dealer was arrogant and standoffish in nature, especially if he knew I shopped elsewhere for supplies and attachments. Now that my wife and I have given the L35 to her niece, she and her husband have no trouble with service at another dealership on the other end of the state. Don't trash the manufacturer, it often boils down to a matter of attitude at the dealer, and how you both perceive each other can be worlds apart. Have you ever really read your Kubota warranty? If not, you will be surprised at what they are not obligated to cover. And you are right, customer service reps will usually just send you back to the dealer. If things get really absurd and you feel you have been hurt by a lack of action, then a note to your attorney general, most states have e-mail, might get some results for you if they get involved. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-22          74689

I think a lot of their shortcomings could easily be
corrected with an improved web site, to handle ?s
like mine and even simple repairs and service.
oil changes etc. Seventy days to respond to an e-mail
is a bit much.
If they don't want or can't deal with e-mail, they should
not invite them.
No big deal as I don't expect to much trouble,as I believe
it is one of the better machines made.
Chock it up for a negative, as far as buying out of state. ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2004-01-22          74691

Grinder, they are doing all that they can at this time to improve systems. I do believe yours might have gotten lost. I had a customer call to ask about there getting a B-7510 to us after the introduction. I told him it would be at the end of December or the first week of January. He called the company and they responded with what I'd told him and followed up with a call to me and I to him within less then 48 hours of the call. They are one of the fastest growing companies in this buisness and every buisness get's growing pains. The US is different for them then there used to but they are learning fast and paying attention. They do believe they are not doing it right and continusally looking for ways to improve. The bulk of the customers I have want to work with the dealer not the company as the dealer is the one who has to work with the company in your behalf. It is frustrating for us when we do have a problem and we can't get through because there lines are full with calls that should be handled by dealers as that is the way the company is set up. Sometimes we wind up with machines torn apart with no info to help with this and it does cost us money for the delay as we have technicians standing around with full bays and not able to move on. For your question as to the warrantee it is done automatically when the dealer pays for the tractor. I know people need assistance from time to time but I wish they would go to the dealer first for there information. We continually find that customers are contacting the companies for information as it does filter back to the local dealer. You will be recieving an inquiry as to the performance of your tractor several times at different times and that would be a good place to bring it up as they are reviewed by Kubota as well as your dealer who sold it to you. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-22          74726

Art
Thank you for the info. ....

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wbowhunt
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 207 West Virginia
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2004-01-22          74758

I think that this thread is good point to re-enforce the importance of your dealer when you go to buy a tractor. If you don't get along with your dealer, who are you going to go to for support? The COmpany? If the Company tells you to go back to the dealer, then what? Saving a little money going out of state to get a better deal, can end up costing you in the long run. I am not saying not to shop around and get a better deal, Just to keep in mind that when it comes down to the bottom line and you liked you local dealer, but his price was a couple hundred more because you had to pay tax or just because they had to ask more to pay their bills. This is something to remember. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-23          74777

I agree to a point, in my case the price difference was 1400.00, to me that is a lot of money. I have found a local
dealer who has no problem providing service.
I still think Kubota needs to pay attention to their web page,It's sub par at best. ....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2004-01-23          74808

Grinder, you do have a good point but all will never be perfect as when they do catch up to today, it will be tommorrow! ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-23          74853

I don't mean to knock you or the machine Art.
I hope it isn't coming across like that.
Just wish they had a better web site.

....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2004-01-23          74866

I seriously believe you got lost as I stated before. They have been good about making contacts. I do believe that they are on the slow side with getting new information on the web site but many of the companies I deal with are like that. jd has stuff up before it's off the drawing board and I do appreciate them for that. I didn't hear you complaining about me but I do see more and hear more from the other side of the fence and I do know they are trying to keep up with the systems they have. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-01-23          74870

Noted.
Thanks for your imput. I do respect your opinion.
and enjoy reading your helpful response to everyone. ....

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