dealer bill for fitting new fuel line on JD 130r

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Full apology time I have just checked and my Kubota dealer puts the time worked on the invoices.
For those of you in the area it won’t be a surprise that it’s Howard’s at Devizes. Top guys.

Bg
 

jondear

Member
Location
Devon
Full apology time I have just checked and my Kubota dealer puts the time worked on the invoices.
For those of you in the area it won’t be a surprise that it’s Howard’s at Devizes. Top guys.

Bg
Visited yesterday on a road trip for a Massey .What a place!!
The Massey graveyard out the back is epic !
Certainly tapped into a market . Africa is taking all the old classics!
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
It sounds like we are extremely lucky to have Smallridge Bros who cover Cornwall, always happy to discuss bills if over priced and if it happens usually it communication error, always dam good service and well trained fitters. We used them for non JD kit to.
Iv had Dave come out befor to sort an issue on a vehicle before during silage, get back to the machine later on to find tractor sorted and the rest of the feild raked up. All part of the farming community here.
 

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Visited yesterday on a road trip for a Massey .What a place!!
The Massey graveyard out the back is epic !
Certainly tapped into a market . Africa is taking all the old classics!

They are top guys, have recommended them a number of times on TFF. Nothing is a problem for them.

It’s a hell of a business with all the MF tractors. I sold them a 565 with a seized gearbox we lifted it on the truck with a loader, it was used for parts on other tractors

Bg
 

Timbo

Member
Location
Gods County
Had a bill for a cracked fuel line from the common rail to cylinder no2, knew it wasn't a small job. John Deere 130R.
Firstly I've been charged for a fitter to look at exactly the problem I described and to order parts but luckily as passing no traveling, wouldn't moan about that alone.
The next lot I've been charged for call out and travel back? never been charged for travel back, is this normal? Our nearest dealer is 1hr away.
Had a few issues with a broken stud in the manifold that they drilled out but snapped an easy out in there, and had to do a return trip and again another here and back with the new manifold. Is this a mistake snapping the easy out or 1 of them things?

If anyone familiar with this job thinks a bill for 1700 plus vat is excessive?
Labour is near on 1200, rest parts. Just seems a lot for a small cracked fuel line that cost 57

Technicians, not engineers is the root cause, and the dealer has to charge accordingly to balance the books + some margin to cover all the staffing and costs you dont see.

Dont get me wrong, i use my jd dealer- they provide excellant service, but when i do need them to fix a tractor or jcb , they get a full run down of the issue, a partial diagnosis if i am able, and the machine presented, clean & dry such that the guy can easily access the area in our workshop with use of the equipment he may need to help him.
 

Bullring

Member
Location
Cornwall
Leave tractor at dealers and you have no idea how long they are on the job. Snookered both ways
That is true, I’m sure they stretch out jobs to make it pay better, I had a damper plate go so main dealer done it, charged me 40 hours, since then I’ve used an ex trained main dealer mechanic who left dealers to go on his own and he said 20 hours max to do that job when he stripped gearbox for another fault which is basically the same job, one is 30 per hour the other is 100.
 

B R C

Member
Arable Farmer
Surely labour should be by the hour and travelling should be by the mile. The hourly labour rate should be covering faffing about at the depot etc and there there wouldn’t be any extras on travelling like stopping to get lunch etc. Very transparent and it would at least build some trust into the way things are done.
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
One issue dealers have with billing is that many mechanics are slapdash with recording stuff, even down to the milage and minor parts used. However, the milage out should be at a rate that covers, say, half the cost of the milage back, or all of it at cost, not at an inflated rate.
Remember that everything the dealer and mechanic has and does plus the overheads, time sweeping up and cleaning the van has to be paid for. Rates and insurance and so on. There is only one source of income to pay for it all. That's you and me, their customers. We pay for the whole shooting match down to the last washer used and the paint used to cover the workshop walls, to their Christmas dinner.

In return, of course, the customer expects an efficient service from well trained, fast, mechanics that are well equipped and with stores well stocked with all fast moving parts with the minimum of 'next day' nonsense and certainly no extra charge for next day delivery from the major full line brands.
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
My son says Claas reckon on £100,000 for the three years it takes to train up an apprentice. It would be easier to take on trained mechanics but they aren’t available. They’ll need to get it back plus .
 

jondear

Member
Location
Devon
My son says Claas reckon on £100,000 for the three years it takes to train up an apprentice. It would be easier to take on trained mechanics but they aren’t available. They’ll need to get it back plus .
That's why they have to commit after training or pay back what its cost to train them !
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
My son says Claas reckon on £100,000 for the three years it takes to train up an apprentice. It would be easier to take on trained mechanics but they aren’t available. They’ll need to get it back plus .
That is being a bit disingenuous on Claas's part, because the apprentice will actually be earning money for the business while training to at least cover his or her cost of employment and training. Even if they start off learning and actually cleaning and polishing tractors for resale and doing pre-delivery inspections, if well supervised and conscientious, they are earning their keep, because someone has to do it and that someone needs paying. Not all have got what it takes off course and it is at this early stage that much of the chaff is, or should be, sorted from the wheat.

The thing is, a skilled mechanic does not have to work at a tractor dealership. With talent and a work ethic they could work anywhere, including car dealerships where they work exclusively indoors in a comfortable and clean, well paid environment with generally less demanding work and regular hours.
 
Last edited:

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
That is being a bit disingenuous on Claas's part, because the apprentice will actually be earning money for the business while training to at least cover his or her cost of employment and training. Even if they start off learning and actually cleaning and polishing tractors for resale and doing pre-delivery inspections, if well supervised and conscientious, they are earning their keep, because someone has to do it and that someone needs paying. Not all have got what it takes off course and it is at this early stage that much of the chaff is, or should be, sorted from the wheat.

The thing is, a skilled mechanic does not have to work at a tractor dealership. With talent and a work ethic they could work anywhere, including car dealerships where they work exclusively indoors in a comfortable and clean, well paid environment with generally less demanding work and regular hours.
This is what I’m told. I think it’s not the making tea, sweeping the floor and fetching cigarettes type of apprenticeship more the German vocational type of training that many people on here seem to like the idea of.
 

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
Surely labour should be by the hour and travelling should be by the mile. The hourly labour rate should be covering faffing about at the depot etc and there there wouldn’t be any extras on travelling like stopping to get lunch etc. Very transparent and it would at least build some trust into the way things are done.
It certainly should be at a different rate. Nurses,doctors and alike don’t get paid to drive to work. Farm contractors our here will travel fifty plus mile with a tractor and baler to a decent size job but still only charge by the bale. Welsh mechanic here has been fixing stuff for twenty years after getting fired for moon lighting from case ih dealership. He made a great living as a one man band and is unbelievably fair. Will source parts from every country possible to save the customer money if time permits. Recently got me the guts of a turbo fir 380 pounds from the uk. Local cat dealer was 3195$ for the same part. He even fitted it while wife made dinner fir us all.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top