John Deere dealership rip-off!

[Deputy347k9]

On Thursday past the deck belt on my X740 John Deere mower went. With little time to spare I decided to drop the mower off to my local John Deere dealership. This is the very first time I have used this particular dealership since we relocated from the State of Maine. Name of this John Deere dealership is "Eastcoast Equipment located in New Bern NC. I was told the mower would be ready on either Friday or Monday. This morning (Monday) the dealership telephoned us at about 0900, "mower is ready" it only needed a belt!

Arriving the dealership which is about 40 miles away I went inside to pay the bill. When the service representative said that will be $302.15 I like to drop a biscuit in my pants! Please explain this invoice! "Well the belt was $81.93 and it took about two hours or work, labor was $202.95! Looking at the bill I asked, "what is this extra $11.00"? That is a dealership extra cost for working on mowers, it should have been more but I cut it for you!

I never felt so cheated in my life! I have actually changed this belt once early on and it took ME one hour for the job!

I paid nearly $14K for this diesel mower and have never been charged any extra amount because it was a mower? To me this is very unscrupulous. Unfortunately Eastcoast Equipment has all the local John Deere Dealerships. Over the past thirty years I may not of registered in the top of John Deere customer list but I can tell you that I could have purchased at the very minimum THREE nice homes with what I have spent with John Deere.

I have purchased several John Deere tractors, mower conditioner, bailers, rakes, fertilizer spreaders, several lawn mowers, several Gators and much more. Because of this one dealership this will end now. You can take advantage of me once, it won't happen a second time. Over the years I could have saved money by purchasing from other makers but as my father I was loyal to John Deere. A dealership turns around and treats me like this?

I would very much like to vent and say exactly what is on the tip of my tongue but that would not be very gentleman like.

Larry

[DIXIEDOG]

They sure like to nail you when you need repairs. It's insane to pay that type of labor rate when you see how many minutes of an hour are actually spent working on your equipment it gets worse. I saw the 4 person collaboration on one tractor when I was picking up my Gator.....first guy was working on it and needed help so he grabbed a guy off another job....then they got a third and fourth to try to figure out how to do it....weird thing is nobody clocked off....my paperwork took 10 minutes to complete and have me on my way....they were still scratching heads when I left so 3 people were getting hosed by $90 an hour while their tech was thinking about someone else's repair. It's crazy to think that 10 minutes matters but just 10 minutes is $15 per person so it adds up fast.

[Bunky]

I figured most places would use the generous "shop manual" time.

I had to take my car into the Lincoln place and paid $5 for an ATC fuse!

[Deputy347k9]

As long as the worker has your piece of equipment the clock is running! I once use to think, "how nice of them to wash my mower", then I realized I was paying very dear for that washing. If it take the tech 15 minutes to wash the mower then that equals $25.00 when charging the customer $100.00 per hour. They don't ask if you want it washed they just do it, who will know the difference! Frig them!

Does anyone know how I can make an official complaint with John Deere?

Larry

[Upper5Percent]

For:

Residential and Commercial Equipment (for Residential and Commercial applications such as walk behind mowers, riding mowers, commercial mowing equipment, Gator Utility Vehicles, and Compact and Sub-Compact Utility Tractors, and websites for these products)

Phone: 1-800-537-8233

March - September Hours:
7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (CST) Monday - Friday and 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (CST) Saturday
Closed Sunday and Holidays

October - February Hours:
7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (CST) Monday - Friday and 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (CST) Saturday
Closed Sunday and Holidays

[Dane]

The shop rates for three aircraft maintenance shops I know (2 in NC one in FL) are less than my local Deere dealer. Who knew fixing a tractor could be less expensive than an airplane. Now that I think of it I should take my green equipment to the airport for repairs. The oil filter would be safety wired and there would be a mechanic's signature in the machine's manual next to the description of the work performed.

[DIXIEDOG]

The worst is when you bring it in and it's not something they've done before...you're machine is their learning aid. Worst part is with Gators they don't see many back for repairs around here because they aren't too popular so there are a lot of jobs they haven't tackled yet.


Except for the clutch they can change the heck out of them like they've done it weekly since birth

[Deputy347k9]

I am still fuming over this matter. To charge a customer a "premium" just to work on a mower when they are a John Deere dealership and sell them daily! Of course there is nothing posted in the store regarding any extra costs. I only saw it when questioning my bill! This gimmick just cost "John Deere" a very loyal customer. Never again will I purchase a piece of equipment from John Deere nor use them for any type of service.

I will contact John Deere and voice my opinion, I am quite sure it will fall upon deaf ears.

Larry

[Bunky]

The shop rates for three aircraft maintenance shops I know (2 in NC one in FL) are less than my local Deere dealer. Who knew fixing a tractor could be less expensive than an airplane. Now that I think of it I should take my green equipment to the airport for repairs. The oil filter would be safety wired and there would be a mechanic's signature in the machine's manual next to the description of the work performed.

Maybe that is why xcopterdoc went to John Deere? LOL.

[Z15]

OEM and dealer philosophy is to treat the customer as a hapless victim to be exploited.