Some thing happened this month that never before happened!!

The John Deere dealer that owns all the stores around me closed the local ( Cascade) location in Mid January. They where renting part of an old machine tool plant that was given to the local school district. The school had rented it to them for around 15 years. The school wanted the three tenants out so they can sell the building. So the JD dealer really did not close the store as much as they where forced out.

What this has done is I now have to drive 10 miles west or fifteen miles North. Which is not that far but it is out of my way. I do not get to either of those towns regularly. I have to have a reason to go.

So what is the "new" happening??? I never have gotten a Farm Plan account. I have always just had an open account with the JD store. That has had three different names over the years but still just a regular old open account. I had not gotten a statement around the first of the month an then I forgot about it. So I was in Monticello today and stopped to asked about the January statement/bill. The balance/amount due???? ZERO!!!! None of us used any parts for the dealership in the month of January. This would be me or the four boys. None of us bought anything from the JD dealer all month. That is the first time since I opened the account with the first dealer 40 some years ago, that we did not do any business with them.

The reason is simple, the Dealership, is no longer convenient. I bought things there that I could have bought else where but I usually just picked it up there rather than driving to another town to buy the item. This is really true on general shop supplies, such as brake/parts cleaner. I like the JD product and will keep some on hand but since I have to go to Monticello anyway there is a Farm supply store there that sells Gunk brand for about 20% less. Before I would balance the extra cost against having to drive to get it.

Then on OEM JD parts. There is a buying group that I have been a member of for years. I can buy JD parts for a reduced price through this group. The disadvantage is it takes longer to get parts and I have to buy a minimum amount each order. We also are using the internet more. I just got a lawn mower hood from an on line dealer for about $50 less than the local price delivered to my door. I am also a Stens dealer. I have often let my inventory get low and just bought local to avoid the freight cost and time lag. I now will just keep more on hand.

We will still be buying parts at the local dealerships but it will be more seasonal now. We will not hold up a machine in the field but if it is not a hurry then it is a different story. It is real easy to order stuff online delivered right to my door.

I am really surprised you still have that many dealers near you, they are about 30 miles apart here.

Same here in East Texas. Both of the closest John Deere dealerships are 30 miles away from my ranch, one in Athens, and one in Tyler. I play golf every Tues and go by the one in Athens so I just stop by to get parts and the same for Tyler. Both dealership had expensive updates with new facilities this year.

Tractor dealer?????? What is that???????? Long ways away from one here so most my parts are ordered online.

I am pretty fortunate here by Albert City when it comes to Deere parts. I have a Deere dealer 12 miles to the east, 17 To the south and 30 miles north. The one 12 miles away is in a town I do not do business in but the guys there are friendly and down home so that is where I go for parts. The other two are in towns I regularly visit but the dealers are so impersonal I just drive on by.

I have to spend a couple thousand on the planter this spring and for the first time ever I am not going to the Deere dealer for these parts. Everything I need on that planter can be obtained through the aftermarket for less money.

I have to drive 35 miles to the east or 40 miles to the west to visit a John Deere dealer. Doesn't matter much anymore. Slowing that aspect of my life down.

I have one 20 miles northwest and one 20 miles east. I go to the one east because he's the only individual dealer around. Don't know how much longer.

1 JD just up the street 3 blocks. Pal of mine used to own it. Sold out 4 or 5 years ago. They just bought a bigger building, moving 10 blocks east. No IHC, AC, or New Holland anymore.

I have a JD dealer on an I-80 Interchange about three miles from my house and shop. The next two closest are 20 miles south and 30 miles north. A Case/IH dealer about 4 miles away on my side of town. Next IH dealer is 30 miles west.

Both the Case/IH dealers are under the same ownership, and the JD dealers are three of thirteen under the same ownership. About the only reason I have for visiting a dealership is the closest JD dealer is also a Stihl chain saw dealer.

fixerupper: There is a big difference in the friendliness at these dealerships. I hate the fact that we lost the one here. The two parts guys where TOPS!!!!!! If I had any issues they were taken care of quickly and to the best they could.

An example of the difference, I did have a parts warranty issue on a fuel pump. The return spring broke on it so it would not pump. It was only hours old. I took it to the store to the west of me. It took me 45 minutes to get another pump and get on my way home. The parts manager had to talk to the service manager to make sure it was covered under warranty. Then the service manager had to come and talk to me to make sure I had checked everything out before returning the pump. Hecks fire it is a $42 item!!! Not a $5000 rebuild job!!! The Darn spring broke, you could feel it when you worked the pump by hand. I put a pump on off another tractor and all was well on the one I was repairing. I should have asked him if they were going to cover my half days labor checking everything else out because I thought hat the "new" pump could not fail!!! At the Local store I would have handed it to the parts guy and he would have got me a new pump. Time involved maybe 10 minutes. IF he could not have warrantied it he would have called me later and told me. Not this talking to me like I KNOW nothing about the darn system crap.

I could go on but there is getting to be fewer reasons for me to be brand loyal anymore. Crappy local service looks to be in my future with the two closest stores.

Ten miles, Fifteen miles that's just a trip to town. Tractor dealers are all 40 miles away in any of five or six different directions.

What gets me is how poor there attitude is anymore, the company I work for has 2 deere tractors both were bought at a dealership that was absorbed by a muti-store dealership they act like we are a bother to them to get service or parts. Parts guy won't hardly talk to you, not unusual to wait 10-15 minutes before he even acknowleges you are there.

Our two nearest JD dealers are 40 and 60 miles away. Its been that way for 60 years. So I don't feel sorry for anybody that has to drive 10 miles "out of the way" to get to their dealer.

If I needed a JD dealer there's one 10 miles south west, 20 miles north and about 25 miles east.

Used to have a JD dealership in 4 towns in a row.

Got bought up into a 20 dealer dealer.

They started closing down several, probably the right thing to do with the farm ecconomy but still not easy on folk.

Anyhow only 2 out of those 4 are open now, the two farthest of the 4.

My Green friends used to tease me about having to go an hour for parts for my Silver combine.

But I'm in a triangle of three independent Silver dealers, each has overlapping parts inventories.

Now my Green friends have to deal with the mega Green dealer, as far away as my Silver dealer, and frequently the part they need is actually off on one of the other 15 locations they have.......

They don't tease me any more.

Paul

greenenvy: I DO NOT want you or anyone to "feel sorry" for me. The larger picture is that we lost a GOOD dealership that served our needs well. The flips side is that I now do not feel much "love/loyalty" for the dealer group. I will even add JD to that too. We are responding with our business/money. That is a vote that we control. Between myself and my sons we usually would have bought a pretty good dollar amount of parts from the local store. Since the dealer group owner decided NOT to even try to keep the store open we have decided to show HIM the same amount of concern. I feel that the dealer and JD both arrogantly feel we farmers/customers will drive to heck and back just to buy green. So our business is open to anyone that wants to give us better service. So for the last month or so that has been with other businesses other than the local dealer group. Some after market and some OEM from dealers that seem to value our business.

There is one independent dealer that I have traded with. He was glad to set us up with an open account and ship us parts. Even Machine down direct ship. The funny thing??? This dealer is over 400 miles away. He called me PERSONALLY to thank us for our first order. He will be getting what business we can send his way.

I have a JD dealer 3 miles from home. Wouldn't buy a washer from them. Another dealer 20 miles away and one 45 miles away Both are great and will ship to me if I have time to wait.

y'all are lucky if i have to go get parts other than lawn mower stuff its a 140 mile trip out here lawn mower stuff is closer only 70 miles , thats one way miles

SHEESH!, What are you complaining about? That's practically in your front yard.

Even though I live in a rural farming community, my NEAREST John Deere dealer is 146 miles in one direction, or 173 miles in the other direction. Just a tad bit FAR to go for parts.

Hi JD
I can believe what you say about the BS with that pump, our local green dealers are the only ones that are allowed to know anything. If I phone there with part numbers and serial number breaks when parts change, they get mad as I know as much or more as they do with a couple of the kids there. I can read online parts books and be ahead of the guys in the store. Sometimes I have had customers get update alternator kits the guys in the shop never get the pulley spacers right, so I go online and figure it out from parts pictures. why can't they do it right they should have that information and more besides available to.


If I phone NH and give them the same parts info they are happy it saves them work. A couple times the parts pages in the dealers have been down and I got the pictures and numbers printed I got my parts as they could tell they were in stock. the other customers had to wait as they didn't have the info they needed. If I call caseIH/ or the valtra dealer same thing. with the case guys I have known the oldest guy for about 16 years, he will just say "come round the counter and drive the computer yourself". I can find the parts just as well as he can within the system, if he's busy.

It seems some dealers love it if you can sort this stuff and help them do their jobs quicker, JD just seem to think they are above and better than anybody else, Their mechanics are just as bad in this area as parts guys. One guy told me I'd never fix any tractors in this area go get a job for someone else. His business failed He now works for Deere and is pretty bitter I still work in my shop, he's not the only one like that either there L.O.L

I can see where Onefarmer's YT member map is going to be fun. When Dr. Walt said he is that far from a JD dealer, I wondered where that could be? Why, Pahrump, NV, of course! Everywhere in Nevada seems to be a zillion miles from anything.
But it sure seems like a city of 36,000 with some farming in the area could support a JD dealership.
By the way, Walt, were you aware that Pahrump is the largest city (geographically) in the US?

I wonder if anyone on this site works for JD or a dealer or knows someone higher up ? If so I hope they print all of this type of discussions out and try and send it to corporate ! They NEED to see how upset their customers are with the service they are now getting.

JD, I guess we are lucky here in Indiana. I have two MF one JD and a CIH with in 4 miles from home place. If I go south to other farm I have one NH, one Kubota and another JD with in 11 miles. The same dealership has the 2 JD's

Hi, dealerships are like people. Some are easier to deal with! Ed Will

Just for discussion our nearest Deere dealer is 20 minutes away with them having another branch being around 20 minutes away in a different direction. There is another single location Deere dealer that is about 25 minutes away. I kind of wonder what that dealer's future will be now that farmers are not buying like they were a couple of years ago. This dealer had spent on buildings just a couple of years ago, too. Anyways, we have a good working relationship with both with most of our business going to the first mentioned dealer. I have called that dealer for tech support for things over 30 years old and they are very professional about helping versus grumbling about not trading it in on something new.

NH is the closest and they have good people in parts and sales. The personalities clash between me and the manager there so it creates a layer of resistance when buying. I just worry that at some point the good guys will be gone from there and then I really will be stuck. The nearest competing NH dealer does not really cater to farmers as they push backhoes, skid steers, and compacts due to a nearby city market.

CaseIH is problematic as their nearest dealer is about 25 minutes away so I have to pass the other guys first. The people are not terrible to work with but they just do not seem small farmer oriented and the prices are clearly take it or leave it in nature whether it be whole goods or parts. A competing CaseIH dealer is over 50 miles away.

We are mostly JD starting with when dad was young the nearest JD dealer was under 10 minutes away. They closed quite a number of years ago because the owners wanted to retire with nobody to take their place. The building was outdated and in a poor location to grow which did not help. IH was within 10 miles in two directions then the merger with Case closed one and the other combined with the multi-location Case dealer a decade later.

I hate how this site is formatted. It seems I have to double return to get paragraphs to stand alone. This is the only site I have this problem with.

10 mile and you complaining.become a dealer of some sort yourself and you will soon realize how EASY it is to deal with the public . besides parts are always shipped to you door if you choose been that way for years.

Now imagine having to drive at least 40 miles to get to one,then being treated like a red headed stepchild and given the wrong part every time,without exception,and you know why there's nothing green and yellow left around here but a room full of toys and memorabilia.

I'm not saying this in a sarcastic way,I'm saying it with warm feelings in my heart toward you and in my mind,I'm giving you a big pat on the back,you finally get what I've been saying all along. I commend you for the realization.

It was 1991 when our local dealer was told that they weren't on Deere's Master Plan and wouldn't have their contract renewed. Two or three years after that,another one 15 miles in the other direction,that was being mismanaged right in to the ground was told the same thing. It only took you a month to come to your realization. I gave the two stores 40 miles in either direction 10 years to get to know me and give me decent service before I threw up my hands and walked away. Boy,haven't I taken a heck of a beating for that decision though? When I found an Agco dealer that treated me like family,well,I think you finally understand that now don't you?

John Deere, or any such manufacturer does not really care about you as a customer. Oh, they want to have their products appeal to the ultimate buyer, but their primary concern is bottom line profits. And, they will ruthlessly do whatever they deem necessary to that end. They have ways of determining which dealers are profitable for them, and those who are marginal at best are severed. 60 years ago there were 5 IH dealers within a 20 mile radius of us. All of them were forced out, and now the nearest dealer is over 50 miles away. This has been true of all major equipment manufacturers, and it has simply been the trend for the last half century. If you have more than one dealership in less than 50 miles, count yourself very fortunate.

Doesn't matter what color machine you have around here. Hour drive, hour back. Just to find out they didn't stock it cause of the age of unit. I stopped by the big boy Jd dealer 120 miles south of me to ask about finding a 4450 MFWD. I have a White 2-135 MFWD I would like to trade. I was told IF they took a 4450 on trade it wouldn't even get unloaded off the truck. It would go down into Indiana to a dealer who has big auctions and could move something that old. Dealerships are about big business, not taking care of small financially stable farmers with older machinery. When the blood bath starts and some of the big guys fall and banks start to feel the hurt maybe my business will look better.

John Deere pulled out of town in 1980. It is possible to farm without them.

Local deere dealer Is of no help, I have been told to look it up online. One time I had the parts guy ask me what the part number was for the part I wanted LOL
Went 35 miles north to old dealer I had three people helping me What a difference.

The trouble is rrlund is that AGCO just is not a player in this area. Second tier equipment an poor parts and service. I fI switch brands it would be to CIH and that more than likely is not going to happen.

ztrmower: I worked on the other side of the table at JD dealerships for right at 25 years. I know the business on the other side. That is the issue. The Company JD has a whole bunch of managers that have never lived through a down turn like the 1980s. The older guys have retired. The new guys have been selling equipment like hot cakes. So they do not under stand how deep this down turn can get to be. I can well remember time at the dealership where YOU loved a parts only guy that paid his bill on time. I will take 25% profit on parts all day long.

I don't blame you. If the New Holland dealer was closer,that's probably where I would have gone. Their head salesman is a local guy who I used to buy Holstein bulls from when we were both milking cows. Heck of a nice guy as are all the rest at that dealership. Just too long a drive. Nearest CaseIH dealer here is a good place too,but about six miles beyond Deeremart. The parts gal there worked at the old Oliver/Case dealer right close by and it's like a reunion when I go in there too. It's just that the Agco dealer was as close as any Deeremart and was way more than glad to have my business.

At least now you understand why I switched.

It kinda sounds to me like rrlund is just really hard to deal with... :wink: (that wink means I'm just kidding for all of you who know differently)

We have been all JD since the barn fire of 1950 took everything else. Back then, there was a hardware store 5 miles away selling JD and in the same little town an Oliver/MM/White dealer, now Kubota. Grandpa bought local. He also sold a few Deeres he laid his hands on right after the War, a story for another thread.

My neighbor is almost all IH, the red dealer was about ten miles from us, but they have been gone since the 80s. Their #1 parts guy now works for the closest Deere dealer, one of 16. I was there today, at one point all three counter guys were helping me, they were all very interested in my project. Gary will even bring parts to my place on his way home, if I would need it. The owner of the original local store was even behind the counter today, working on some planter gears for another customer. He and one son still work there in Sales and overall management, I guess. The neighbor agrees, when there are seven green dealers within an hour and only one red one, for a true farmer (not like me), you need to weigh that help during planting and harvest season. I can survive if broken down, it's not my livelihood.

I can't see how some of you drive to the dealership not knowing if the parts are there. The computer parts system is quite easy to navigate, I order overnight or at least check the availability at the closest store first- they will transfer daily from another for free. In fact, this dealer is trying to increase internet sales, they appreciate every order, especially for stocked parts, no effort or time on their part at all!

"It kinda sounds to me like rrlund is just really hard to deal with..."

That's what I always get accused of ain't it? LOL

I'm such a miserable old coot to get along with. ROFLMAO

Multi JD owner dealership 10 blocks from my house. They bought it from a single owner a couple years back. Great to work with parts guys, although they've had some turnover in that dept. I only work on and restore garden tractors, but they are always helpful. I do buy some restoration parts online. Most of the time it gets to me just as quick and for a lot less money. But I try to support the local dealer when I can.

Irv

Boy,don't I know all about that. One of my last dealings with Deeremart involved a cracked sleeve in a 1020. One of the members on here told me to be sure to take the engine serial number along because there were three different sleeves for those.
I took the engine serial number,tractor serial number and even the sleeve. I told the parts guy the difference,gave him the serial numbers and told him to be sure to order the right ones. I told him to drop ship it,I'd rather pay the shipping than drive back there. When they come the next day,wrong ones.