dealer bill for fitting new fuel line on JD 130r

[Jon Boy]

Watching a mechanic sit there waiting for his computer to start and then waiting for it to connect to the internet then wait for it to connect to the tractor then deciding the computer didnt start properly as it is not connecting to the tractor properly and then do it all over again ..... all while we are paying $110 an hour for this ,that gets a wee bit frustrating after a while.

 

[Flatland guy]

I use 4 or 5 different dealers none of them put their hours on a bill it really annoys me. The guys that fix my milking parlour do, if more than one fitter is required each is on the bill separately for the hours they are on the farm.

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It annoys me too, they itemise everything else, but when it comes to labour do not put the total hours in( e.g. 2 hours 20 mins ) etc. Always makes me feel they have got something to hide, if they were being honest should have no problems explaining for accurate timekeeping. I mean the vans will all have trackers/telematics for health and safety, lone worker protocols at these firms surely, so can easily justify the actual time period.

 

[icanshootwell]

It annoys me too, they itemise everything else, but when it comes to labour do not put the total hours in( e.g. 2 hours 20 mins ) etc. Always makes me feel they have got something to hide, if they were being honest should have no problems explaining for accurate timekeeping. I mean the vans will all have trackers/telematics for health and safety, lone worker protocols at these firms surely, so can easily justify the actual time period.

As i pointed out, the farmer thinks the clock stops when they leave the farm, but it stops when they get back to the yard and have a clean/tidy up.

 

[Adeptandy]

Main dealer close to me has stopped mechanics taking parts to a job even if you give them an idea if what it needs, not sure if it’s to keep s better track of parts or to save the cost of the parts department booking stuff out and back in again

 

[Sid]

Let's make it easy for the mechanics

Take the loader off a loader tractor when it comes to service.
Engineer was here on Monday servicing tractor and he said it was much quicker and easier to service but very rare to have the loader off.

Don't wash the tractor ,pisses them off when a tractor is dripping wet!

As i pointed out, the farmer thinks the clock stops when they leave the farm, but it stops when they get back to the yard and have a clean/tidy up.

Perhaps that's why you don't get an exact time as farmers would argue that the mechanic was only on farm for an hour and forget the hour spent getting prepared, sourcing parts,tools, and tidying up, disposal of oils, waste, unused parts back into store etc

 

[stevedave]

If the fitter goes from yo to another farm do they charge you for leaving and the other customer travel too.
Knock off the travel back to the dealers it is no concern of yours where he goes after he has finished your job.

 

[TripleSix]

Big bills hurt...

Do it yourself if you can do it cheaper...

Or get an independent in who may or may not be able to access relevant technical data...

Running a workshop with staff and vans is prohibitively expensive.

You'll spend at least £4k per man on training and tools each year before you start with vans, fuel, wages, f**kups, rates, tax, bills.

Just because your farm appears to cost nothing to run doesn't mean other businesses do - no wonder agricultural wages are poor

 

[jondear]

It is expensive but main dealers have no option but to charge all the time out.When travelling back to base he can’t work on anything else,in an ideal world that time is booked to the next job but not always possible.This is one of the reasons we run the brands we do closeness of dealer.

Never want a dealer more than 10 miles half an hour drive away !Big reason for choosing the brand's we do!

 

[jondear]

Watching a mechanic sit there waiting for his computer to start and then waiting for it to connect to the internet then wait for it to connect to the tractor then deciding the computer didnt start properly as it is not connecting to the tractor properly and then do it all over again ..... all while we are paying $110 an hour for this ,that gets a wee bit frustrating after a while.

Yes and it needs an update so sat there waiting for it on slow 4g connection! Another reason to have warranty I suppose !

 

[hintonroadhero]

If the fitter goes from yo to another farm do they charge you for leaving and the other customer travel too.
Knock off the travel back to the dealers it is no concern of yours where he goes after he has finished your job.

I agree with you to a point,.. but the return trip is hidden in the undeclared labour cost surely? I liken it to a taxi ride I had from town to our rural property .....a journey of about 50kms that took about 25 mins.....along the way taxi driver was declining new fares the whole way...charged me $112... I thought blimey that seems a lot.. but of course he had to drive back a minimum of at least 40kms before he could get a new fare?... I guess the same logic applies if the mechanic has to drive back to the dealership if there are no other jobs in the locality? Methinks there's a lot to be said for fixed price servicing and breakdown cover based on hours. Interestingly, when I ordered my new Toyota in June it came with the option of fixed price servicing for 4 years at $300/year.. seemed a good deal to me!

 

[Surgery]

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 plus vat...

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 plus vat...

Is it the main dealer who has taken On half the country from oxford?

 

[TripleSix]

Sometimes I'll sort a faulty lawnmower out in 10 mins, then feel bad charging them £20

But if they'd taken it into a local workshop it would've been minimum of £40+vat....

 

[Steevo]

Watching a mechanic sit there waiting for his computer to start and then waiting for it to connect to the internet then wait for it to connect to the tractor then deciding the computer didnt start properly as it is not connecting to the tractor properly and then do it all over again ..... all while we are paying $110 an hour for this ,that gets a wee bit frustrating after a while.

I had similar once. Watching a mechanic drill a hole.....with blunt drill bits was painful! I ended up offering to go back to the yard to get mine in order to speed things up - I could probably have bought a Snap-On drill bit set for the amount of money that hole cost to drill. Wasn't too impressed.

Trouble is if I'm paying £100/hr, the mechanic only gets 15% of that or so.....and has to buy his own tools out of that. They are there to help you out.....but I don't think they realise exactly what they are being charged out at and that someone is paying for every minute of their time. 10 mins stopping at a shop to pick up a £5 lunch is nothing to the man in the van, but ends up costing the customer over £15 and they don't even get to eat it!

I think the other part of the trouble is the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and the men in vans run rings around them. Happens with all men in vans - once had Western Power Distribution guys turn up to do a job, finished the job, sat around for an hour drinking tea, and when I spoke to them about it they said there was no point phoning up telling them the job was done because they'd be sent straight to another one. They know how to play the system, and those tricks are shared around all the vans.

The trouble is the customer ends up paying for it all, the dealer still gets to charge for every hour - it's just a case of which customer pays for it.

 

[Steevo]

It annoys me too, they itemise everything else, but when it comes to labour do not put the total hours in( e.g. 2 hours 20 mins ) etc. Always makes me feel they have got something to hide, if they were being honest should have no problems explaining for accurate timekeeping. I mean the vans will all have trackers/telematics for health and safety, lone worker protocols at these firms surely, so can easily justify the actual time period.

As i pointed out, the farmer thinks the clock stops when they leave the farm, but it stops when they get back to the yard and have a clean/tidy up.

Perhaps that's why you don't get an exact time as farmers would argue that the mechanic was only on farm for an hour and forget the hour spent getting prepared, sourcing parts,tools, and tidying up, disposal of oils, waste, unused parts back into store etc

If they have nothing to hide, there is no reason not to put it on. Farmers may not be happy about it, but at least they would be being honest and up front about it rather than hiding it.

P.S I don't think they are hiding it - it could just be the way the software they all use is designed and nobody has made the effort to itemise the times in the notes i.e. Left yard at 09:00, arrived at farm at 09:33.......[job notes]......Left farm at 10:17, Returned to yard at 10:42 to book in parts. Job closed down at 10:51.

 

[Steevo]

Big bills hurt...

Do it yourself if you can do it cheaper...

Or get an independent in who may or may not be able to access relevant technical data...

Running a workshop with staff and vans is prohibitively expensive.

You'll spend at least £4k per man on training and tools each year before you start with vans, fuel, wages, f**kups, rates, tax, bills.

Just because your farm appears to cost nothing to run doesn't mean other businesses do - no wonder agricultural wages are poor

It's the old example of buy retail, sell wholesale.

I don't begrudge a dealer covering their costs and having a margin, just like my local car garage does. It's the travelling that makes it hurt because that can double or triple the costs - 45mins to farm, 45mins doing job, 45mins back to yard.

The difficulty is that commodity prices are out of kilter with the high cost systems we have dreamed up in this country, because governments want inflation kept as low as possible. Net result, goods imported, liability (for carbon footprint, health and safety etc.) exported.

 

[startinghandle]

the broken stud could have been prevented if the nut was heated first

 

[Steevo]

Never want a dealer more than 10 miles half an hour drive away !Big reason for choosing the brand's we do!

I think you are lucky to have a dealer so close. We seem to be in a slight dealer blackspot here - all brands are 45mins to 1hr away, one in every direction. Sure many have it worse than that though.

Had a belt gone last week. NH didn't have one at any Gloucestershire depot, had one in Wilts or Herefordshire - got it sent from Daventry was at dealers before 8am. Frustrating that they didn't carry any stock locally, but was impressed they could get stock quickly. Just wonder what the express delivery will cost....

 

[Boysground]

If they have nothing to hide, there is no reason not to put it on. Farmers may not be happy about it, but at least they would be being honest and up front about it rather than hiding it.

P.S I don't think they are hiding it - it could just be the way the software they all use is designed and nobody has made the effort to itemise the times in the notes i.e. Left yard at 09:00, arrived at farm at 09:33.......[job notes]......Left farm at 10:17, Returned to yard at 10:42 to book in parts. Job closed down at 10:51.

I don’t have a problem with being charged for the work, I’m employing the dealer to do something that I cannot do myself, don’t have time to do or most likely is a condition of a warranty. I just get frustrated that I see a price for every individual o ring but not the price of the guy doing the work.

I guess it’s the dealers way of reducing phone calls from farmers complaining about how long it takes to do a job. I don’t think it’s right and should be changed. As I said before my dairy engineers tell me the hours and have a fixed rate call out. Why can’t everyone else.

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[Steevo]

I just get frustrated that I see a price for every individual o ring but not the price of the guy doing the work.

So true!!!!

 

[tullah]

Why shouldn’t the dealer charge return travel time. The mechanic could be working in the workshop at full rate instead of travelling - it’s not their problem you are so far from the dealer. Bottom line is they are a main agent and not a charity - if you are not happy then just don’t use them. If any mistakes were made you should have asked for a quote before engaging them, and / or transported your tractor too them - but then that involves time and even more expense to you with a recovery / low loader.

Leave tractor at dealers and you have no idea how long they are on the job. Snookered both ways