Main dealers fitters

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
My son is apprentice ag engineer and he goes around with the engineer in the van , he’s very lucky lad that he has some very good lads to learn his trade off.
It’s a great too learn off an experienced fitter but if he’s got his hands on a job to learn and it takes longer should the farmer be paying for that.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
friend had a fitter doing some jobs on his combine and was hinting about some out of hours work and was told that the company phones are monitored and msgs are also sent to another phone linked to the fitters phone. Service trucks have gps to see where they are at all times.
It wasn’t to try and do anything like that, I’d just accidently lost his number!
 

Hilly

Member
It’s a great too learn off an experienced fitter but if he’s got his hands on a job to learn and it takes longer should the farmer be paying for that.
They pay a less rate for apprentice , his dad had him half trained anyway , and if he’s on a job with a experienced man two pairs hands makes the job quicker so should the farmer pay more ?
 

2wheels

Member
Location
aberdeenshire
I didn't say the boss should buy the tools. I said I'd understand the rate they charge better if they were buyin the tools but the man getting £11/hr is
my son is workshop foreman, sole mechanic in other words, in the garage trade. his tools and boxes are worth the guts of 30+ grand. if he ever changes jobs he would need a 7.5tonner to shift everything.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
We had a fitter out from a main dealer last week He has been in the job for twenty years and told me he is leaving the industry after harvest . He had many reasons , pay being one but also the fact he did not feel valued or respected . He sited on example , on the dealers web site there is a "Meet the team" page where all the directors , sales and admin have a picture and a bit about them but there is nothing about the service staff
What he said got me thinking so tonight i've been on a few dealers web sites and very few have any fitters on there web pages It may seem a trivial thing and some fitters maybe don't want their face on the web site . But it obiously made this guy feel under valued and as he said we are the only one working evenings and weekends
It seems that some of the most important jobs that society needs are looked down on. How often do you hear on the radio about working in the office or the office party as though it the only place people work

what was he going to do instead ?
strikes me a lot of people feel “undervalued“ right now but I’m interested in what they will do that values them whilst still paying the mortgage ?
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
We had a fairly large breakdown a few weeks ago requiring a large cumbersome component replaced. The dealer is great and the fitter is spot on.

During the job the fitter said to the machines driver that we are about the only place they service who actively help them with repairs, be it running for parts, spare pairs of hands or shelter from the weather. Most either aren’t there at all or just stand/sit in cab and watch.

That would really get on my tits, struggling on my own in the rain whilst the folk who are stuffed without your expertise are sat snoozing in cabs with engines running or away home.

We often don’t help these situations ourselves.
How strange some people are...

Happily, I don't need fitters/mechanics on teh farm much these days, but I would be the first to be getting in teh way and underfoot and seeing what was going on.... And also being the second pair of hands on a big job ;)
 

Hilly

Member
I know main dealers seem to get a good kicking on here for their extortionate service rates but is it a money printing job that some seem to assume?
Yes and no some make a lot some don’t they will have their share of rates and headaches , anyone who employs another in this day and age deserves a medal anyway imo so if they do make a killing good luck to them .
 

Green oak

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Essex
Best bloke to get on with is the service manager. Get on with him and things get done a lot quicker. A mate one day sat in the service manager office. There friends . And a fairly big contractor with all one colour kit was ranting and raving down the phone to him. He was polite until he put the phone down. Then said f him. He can wait now. No one talks to me like that. Learned a lesson from that.
 

Hilly

Member
Best bloke to get on with is the service manager. Get on with him and things get done a lot quicker. A mate one day sat in the service manager office. There friends . And a fairly big contractor with all one colour kit was ranting and raving down the phone to him. He was polite until he put the phone down. Then said f him. He can wait now. No one talks to me like that. Learned a lesson from that.
Who would blame him ! Most folk would do the same .
 

Green oak

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Essex
Who would blame him ! Most folk would do the same .
The dealer I use there service manager use too be on the tools. He got my tractor up a running while the fitter was on holiday. After the fitter had started the job. But is still think main dealer £100 per hour is taken the p. When the fitter is on £20 per hour.
 

Hilly

Member
The dealer I use there service manager use too be on the tools. He got my tractor up a running while the fitter was on holiday. After the fitter had started the job. But is still think main dealer £100 per hour is taken the p. When the fitter is on £20 per hour.
It’s a big difference granted but , if the guy is on £20 hr it will be costing the boss a hell of lot more than that ! Then rent rates vans big overheads to take into account .
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
I had a conversation with a lorry driver the other day, he said there was 8 layers of management in there offices above him all shuffling bits of paper about. Yet they currently have a lot of unhappy customers (myself included) who were struggling to get goods moved!

Too many chiefs taking the glory while the Indians are ignored!
It's the same everywhere, the thing I like about the company I drive for is it is extremely lean and tight organisation. With virtually no fat.
 

Tubbylew

Member
Location
Herefordshire
It’s a big difference granted but , if the guy is on £20 hr it will be costing the boss a hell of lot more than that ! Then rent rates vans big overheads to take into account .
I'd imagine the maufacturers franchise payments and terms would be horrendous but I wouldn't know how that all works, doesn't mean the bloke with the oily hands getting the bollocking for the promises the service manager couldn't keep, should carry it all.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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

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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/
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