Dealer service better???

Last fall I had to have a drive motor on my skid steer changed so I took it to the new dealer for them. When I picked it up and took it to my land to use it, I could hear the chain rattling against the chain case. It had to be tightened or all the adjuster bolts would break as soon as I did any heavy pushing. BTDT. I needed to move the heater out of the way to get at the adjuster. I ended up having to take the front panel, that the heater is attached to, off because someone there ground the screw heads flat. I put the screws in tight like that so they wouldn't vibrate loose. A big phillips screw driver or impact driver easily loosened them. I've only used the machine about 30 hours since I got it back and I just fixed a major hydraulic leak. I couldn't figure out where all the oil was coming from until today. They didn't properly tighten the hyd. oil filter! It has a diagram right on it that says finger tight plus half a turn. I reached in just to check and it spun freely. I turned it a little and I could see that the o-ring was partially pushed out of its groove. I didn't have a filter wrench with me but used a tie down strap to tighten it. I only got it turned about 1/4 of a turn more than hand tight but I could see by the label on the filter that is was turned more than a 1/4 turn further than it was when I first saw it. I replaced one hose with a rusty fitting that needed it, which is OK, but I had to buy at least 35 litres of oil to replace all the new oil I had lost because they forgot to tighten the filter. I realize it's a year later but I have never seen a properly tightened filter come loose. I've had them get tighter and have to be destroyed to get off but never get loose. I paid $2600 to get my machine fixed and then I have to fix their work on top of it and spend money and time to do it. Do you think it's worth the effort to go and tell them they screwed up? I was originally told it was about $500 for the labour to change the motor out but ended paying over $1000. $100 later in oil I've got it fixed but I don't think I'll go back to the dealer again. My machine is a 1994 with only about 3500 well cared for hours. No idea why the drive motor went south. What would you guys do? Dave

This problem is more common than you think. Allot of my old costomers (I worked on caterpillers for 15 yrs, until my back went south) They didn't want to pay $95 an hr to train a rookie. I am sure the fella working on your tractor was young. If i were you i would say something. That fella will never get any better if he doesn't see his mistakes. I think the problem is these youngins don't care anymore.They don't take any pride in there work. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. This is something that the young people do not understand.

I'd a hauled it back to the dealer and did some serious floor stomping..You paid for a completely fixed problem , you didn't get that..I had very few "comebacks" when I was a mechanic at the dealers..When there was a problem , it was handled..When I turned service manager , I checked every job that went thru our shop..Near zero comebacks after that..Also , when I figured prices [estimates], I stuck to them unless I got in touch with the customer to discuss another problem related to the original repair..You should at least inform them of the monumental screw-up..Don't let it go without talking to them..

When I had my own shop I got to redo many of the local JD dealers screw ups. They have peolple comeing and going all the time so it is a crap shoot if you get the one good one in a shop.
I work at a car dealer now in the parts dept. and just have to shake my head and walk away alot of the times at what I see these guys doing.
You can't give them any advice as they just look down on you as a parts guy.
I'd like to see any of these guys run their own shop like I did.

This is a fairly new dealer but they are also the Kubota dealer. I went to talk to the service manager, about the heater and drive chain, who used to work at Cat. This was a quite a while ago but he wasn't in because his dad or somebody had passed. I know an apprentice worked on my machine but the shop foreman/service manager is supposed to check everything over. Also, when I first picked it up, I could tell that they must have ran it for maybe 5 minutes at the most. How could I tell? By all the rubber they left in their paved but small backyard doing sharp turns with it. I was thinking I should at least tell them of my displeasure in their service. I even took the belly pan off to make it easier for them. Thanks for the replies. Dave

I'd send a letter to the owner, cc the service manager and the mechanic that worked on your machine, detailing the specifics of the defects in their work, you will probably never get a dime out of them for the corrective work you needed to do, but going on record with a detailed letter might hit home, that is if they care about their business. Phone call first and letter 2nd, might as well bust their chops a bit, sounds like really poor workmanship and lack of regard for sound repair work. I think it pays to speak with a service manager first, when possible, prior to a repair, (that is if the down time is not pressing because you need the machine)and see what qualifications or experience the person has that will work on your equipment. I've done it before and reserved their most suitable mechanic for the job they are doing for me, last time was a bunch of front end work by a dealer on my fwd f150, few thousand dollars worth, but everything on my list was done to the letter, I met the mechanic and appreciated his skills, he even solved a pesky check engine light that no one else could figure out.

There is no doubt about how things have changed, you really have to inspect your expect with these dealers today, change the way you operate so that if something goes down, you have alternatives in the interim, really have to get time on your side to deal with things, it can become costly and full of screw ups when you are pressed for time that involves a dealer to make the repairs, you are then at their mercy, ie; inexperienced or sloppy mechanics etc. It's nice to be able to do things in house, like the old saying goes, want something done right, do it yourself. Many times a good shop or outside repair service is well worth paying for, to shorten down time, that is if they can do things right, if not you have to do it yourself.

I wasn't in a big hurry and had to wait for over 3 weeks for the motor and then a few more days till it was ready. I really hope that running out of oil hasn't caused premature wear on other hydraulic components, or the wheel motors. An apprentice worked on it but I still had to pay full shop rate. This is OK as long as a journeyman checks the work as is supposed to be a requirement by the gov't. I try to do as much of my own repairs as possible but a wheel motor is more than I wanted to tackle in the field in case I had any problems with it. I remember they said it was hard to get the sprocket of the drive motor. I think the guy that worked on it had some difficulties and I was charged by the hour regardless of what I was told about the labour being around $500. Dave