I have finally come to terms with the dealer on the canopy I purchased with my tractor almost 7 months ago. As I previously posted, the "universal" canopy supplied with my tractor didn't fit the tractor. Specifically, the brackets that attach the canopy to the rops.
In one of my final calls to the dealer I was informed that the service manager that I had been dealing with these last few months was no longer with the company. In what turned out to be one of his last official acts, the salesman called and offered me somewhat less than I had paid for the canopy and they would come and pick it up. I chose to think about it over a weekend and had decided that I was not going to go for that. I wanted what I had paid-at least-but what I really wanted was a canopy that worked!
Long story short, I decided to visit the dealership and meet in person the operations manager in an effort to resolve this. The dealership is not just around the corner but 1.5 hours away.
Well, it was worth the trip. After meeting with the operations manager, I agreed to their proposal. The refunded all of the money I had spent for the canopy as well as me keeping the canopy. They had also collected the parts the service manager had taken with him and returned those to me as well. The mounting brackets were still in the truck that had been assigned to the service manager after he had picked them up over 3 weeks prior. So nothing had been (or likely would have been) done with them.
Fortunately, I have a good friend that is a machinist. Modifying these brackets or worst case making some new ones is not that difficult and he has the equipment to make that happen in a professional manner. This has always been an option, but I didn't think that I should have to deal with it.
While I'm satisfied with the end result, I'm still disappointed that the dealership didn't follow through and make the modifications to take care of the issue. I will say, that everyone from the get-go was more than pleasant and I feel like I continue to have a good relationship with the dealer. I would purchase equipment from them in the future although I hope that I have the tractor that takes me to the end.
Lesson learned on my part, is that in the future I will only pickup or take delivery of equipment that meets the sales agreement 100%. If I need to wait for a specific part or accessory so be it.
I've never has a tractor with a canopy. I hope I like it because its sure been an effort to get one!
In one of my final calls to the dealer I was informed that the service manager that I had been dealing with these last few months was no longer with the company. In what turned out to be one of his last official acts, the salesman called and offered me somewhat less than I had paid for the canopy and they would come and pick it up. I chose to think about it over a weekend and had decided that I was not going to go for that. I wanted what I had paid-at least-but what I really wanted was a canopy that worked!
Long story short, I decided to visit the dealership and meet in person the operations manager in an effort to resolve this. The dealership is not just around the corner but 1.5 hours away.
Well, it was worth the trip. After meeting with the operations manager, I agreed to their proposal. The refunded all of the money I had spent for the canopy as well as me keeping the canopy. They had also collected the parts the service manager had taken with him and returned those to me as well. The mounting brackets were still in the truck that had been assigned to the service manager after he had picked them up over 3 weeks prior. So nothing had been (or likely would have been) done with them.
Fortunately, I have a good friend that is a machinist. Modifying these brackets or worst case making some new ones is not that difficult and he has the equipment to make that happen in a professional manner. This has always been an option, but I didn't think that I should have to deal with it.
While I'm satisfied with the end result, I'm still disappointed that the dealership didn't follow through and make the modifications to take care of the issue. I will say, that everyone from the get-go was more than pleasant and I feel like I continue to have a good relationship with the dealer. I would purchase equipment from them in the future although I hope that I have the tractor that takes me to the end.
Lesson learned on my part, is that in the future I will only pickup or take delivery of equipment that meets the sales agreement 100%. If I need to wait for a specific part or accessory so be it.
I've never has a tractor with a canopy. I hope I like it because its sure been an effort to get one!
