I'm sure that many of you have experienced the arrogance of some Cat dealers, but until recently I had no frame of reference. Well not any more my friends. Let me tell you how a little $50 item really PO'ed me off:cussing and is the reason that I will never buy anything from this particular dealer again. I won't name any names to be civil. :angel It had been a few years since I had purchased a Cat Performance Handbook. I think the last one I got was Ed.33 That edition was purchased at the local dealer and it went something like this.....I went in and asked for a CPH, the parts guy said "we don't have one" and I asked if he could order me one. He did and a week later I went and plopped down $40-$50 what ever it was. Let me tell you how the last trip to the same dealer a few weeks ago to buy the 36th edition. I go in and ask for a CPH. The guy behind the desk looks at me something like this I had to explain to him what it actually was!! About that time some smart *ss salesman/manager.....whatever he was......comes out and says "we only get a few of those a year and we don't have anymore to give out. Who are you with anyway?" I told him that I wasn't looking for a handout and that I was looking to buy a CPH. He then proceeds to tell me that "they have really went up in price. They are about $400-450 these days!" I said "really, that is funny because I bought one from THIS dealer location three years ago for 50 bucks." They then tells me well our cost is $350. At this point I realize that this jerk is being a wisenheimer and I turned around and left. I contacted a good friend of mine at a different Cat dealer (very far away) and ended up getting one for free. He told me that this guy was smoking some really good stuff to come up with prices like that for a CPH. Sorry to vent here, but it has been a long time since I have walked into a place and looked like I had stupid written all over my forehead. The sad thing is that this guy is actually selling tractors to people. :idontgetit
You should call CAT Corporate. Theres a Scag mower dealer up here that refused to service scag mowers purchased from another dealer, so the machine owner called corporate, which then contacted the dealer and threatened to pull his licence to sell the mowers. Now I'm sure Cat wouldnt do anything like that, but they should say something because that dealer is representing their company and is putting a negative appearance on Cat.
Maybe he knows who you are!
I guess that is my point....he didn't know who I was and treated my like I was an idiot. If I came in wearing a Kiewit, Cemex, Old Castle, Lehigh etc etc shirt it would have been a different story.
Seems like there is a dealer everywhere that is like this. We have one in Michigan. Not Cat, But Deere, Komatsu and a few others. I wont say the name but it is contained in the sayings we have about them. When it comes to sales, ******** In Sales. Ive heard a few stories about these guys when it comes to sales. One is a friend of mine who wanted to buy a backhoe trailer. Went and saw the salesman. Salesman said he would call with a price. Guy never called back. Their other nickname is ******** In Service. Heard plenty of stories where companies running a mixed fleet get bullied. Ive heard plenty of stories with guys and their backhoes. A lot of guys run a few different brands of backhoe. Some of these smaller guys have been told if you buy a Cat your backhoe will sit waiting for service here. If we have a customer that is loyal to us that needs service yours will sit while we work on the other one.
Hope this is a thread Mr. Mason can take a look at and not ignore. I think certain individuals in Cat Corporate realize that there are two phenomena going on: 1) Cat's getting greedy on prices and dealers are feeling the squeeze 2) Cat needs to look more closely at the little guy However, with all the new product and business revamping blah blah blah going on, I think certain issues have gotten lost in the forest fires... and as a result, there's finger-pointing all over. But there's just too much at the moment. At some point, I think the majority of Cat Corporate will realize that there's some nasty wars against Cat in certain ways -- crappy machines, crappy quality, crappy attitudes, crappy crap -- and they'll swing around. At least... that's my sincere hope.
Really would like to agree with you guys just to keep this going but..... I went to the local dealer in winnipeg manitoba and told them I wasnt sure what I was looking for and I was using it on my old international TD9.What I was looking for was the fitting for the rollers so I could lube them. I got news for you he didnt know exactly what I wanted either- but he got another parts man who said the number off the top of his head. Both of these guys were friendly and professional with just the right amount of joking about my poor old international. Sorry guys they were really good. That said dont take ****from ******** get the manager involved or as the others say call corporate.
I agree with the others here that if you feel you are being mistreated at the dealer that you speak with the branch manager or go to corporate. My dealer bends over backwards to fill my needs and all I own is a skid steer with a few attachments I bought from them.
I've heard of a lot of these problems with dealers. But so far the ones I've dealt with have been most helpfull and I don't own any Cat equipment. The only thing I ever buy is parts, not only do they supply my parts they help with service tricks and tips. I wish all dealers were as willing to help as our local guys are. I'm sorry to hear your local dealer is not up to snuff. As others have stated go over thier heads and complain about them it can't hurt anything.
Well I'm certainly glad that the picture isn't as gloomy as the one I painted!
my dad started in the underground biz in 47....cat never thought we were "big enough" to waste their time with us....guess what? there'll never be a piece of cat equipment in my inventory as long as i'm involved with the biz....funny, they see how our business has grown over last 20 yrs, and the salesman calls occasionally when he sees a new piece of iron on a jobsite, asks why he wasn't given the courtesty to demo one of his....hey, i hold a grudge a loooooooooooooong time. i'm not big enough for cat
I think the worst part is when they just blatantly lie in your face. A mate of mine bought one of the first 301.8C mini-ex on the west coast. It had a problems left an right. Cat fixed it eventually, new gauge console, wiring harness, drive motors, hydraulic pumps, idlers....I think the frame is original Anyway, some months later I'm at a trade show and the Cat stand has the new 301.8C on display. I know the salesman from the dealer and know that he was involved with my mates lemon, but he doesn't know who I am. I wander in and strike up a conversation about the new C series. In chatting away I casually ask if they have had any dramas's, breakdowns or warranty issues on the dozen they had sold...."Not a single one" was his reply. ointhead I wonder if they think we are all stupid...or they are just stupid....but as well stated here on HEF...you can't fix stupid. I also wonder if they realise how much damage they cause when they do stuff like that. If the guy had of admitted they were having some problems with one particular machine in the new series then I would have a) know he was being honest b) put it down to the reasons its not always best to race out and buy the new model. c) given him a shot at the 3 tonne mini-ex (Yanmar) I bought a few months later:cool2
I hate dealers that play games or wont srevie you unless your a multi million dollar operatoin
I can honestly say Carolina Cat here in charlotte treats us like gold, so does James River Equipment (John Deere). And even Briggs Equipment (CASE) The dealer we have had problems with were volvo. They laughed at me and my partner when we were going dealer to dealer looking to purchase our first new mini ex. They looked at us like we were stupid when 2 high school kids asked for a demo. Now here we are a few years later with 7 trackhoes.
It's strange that Cat seems to be getting all the bad publicity. Up here, we deal with NC Machinery out of Wenatchee, WA and the branch is awesome. NC is statewide, so I don't have dealings with their other branches, but the service we've recieved from our local dealer is excellent. The Deere dealer, however, is not as good in my book. When we were shopping for an excavator, I called the Deere dealer 3 times for a price, got the run around and figured if it was that difficult for them to sell us a machine, how could they possibly service future needs? We went back to Cat for our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th machines.
I have had more problems with service than anything, I could go on and on but don't want to bore you, lets just say the local dealer will never see another machine of mine.
In new england you have 1 cat dealer only to deal with Milton cat http://www.miltoncat.com/locations/Pages/OurLocations.aspx . Generally they seem ok but at times you get the sense of take it or leave it attitude.
And I talked to the NC Equipment in Seattle (Tukwila? Don't remember off the top of my head, but it's on Interurban, just north of 212 St.), and had the same experience. And again experience from Gregory Poole, Altorfer of both Urbana and Peoria, and from Patten Tractor. But there are certainly bad apples, and it's those, I suppose, that I hope can step up.
Yeah, Tukwila is their headquarters in WA. I wave NC Machinery's flag, they are the best in Eastern WA. Pape gives them a good run for their money on the westside, though, and Modern the Komatsu dealer is doing well too. Pape is a joke in Wenatchee, Cat is the obvious choice but it's good that we recieve excellent service after the sale as well as having a great sales rep. And I won't turn a blind eye to the fact some Cat dealers across the US and Canada probably don't give the same service that we recieve. That isn't Cat's fault. Well, maybe it is to some extent for not stepping in and making changes, but like others have said if those dealers are selling equipment left and right, corporate isn't going to change much. I still think these dealers should deal with the small guy, too, and that's how we get treated.
Some places it's almost like the Cat dealers are a cult! LOL! But all in all in my lil area of NC, we get good service from G. Poole Cat and RW Moore for our Deere stuff. We used to have a local JCB dealer too... their gone.. too bad. Now have to go to LOw Country in Ga to get ALL those electrical parts! hehe. Anyone see the new Ring Power Cat place in Jax, Fla yet? WOW!!!
Zeigler Cat treats us real good, especially the parts and service guys in Fort Dodge. Now Altorfer in Cedar Rapids, they're all a bunch of jerks.
CAT Arrogance Flourishes in OHIO You guys think you got it bad? Here in Ohio, the CAT Dealers prices are higher than CAT Dealers in neighboring states like Pa and In. Now that's ARROGANT! I'm in the aftermarket parts business and, on occasion, I have to pick up some odds and ends to fullfill a customer requirement. We aftermarket guys are pretty resouceful and normally have a copy of CAT's MSRP's shortly after release. I can tell you for fact that our Ohio CAT boys sell at prices higher than the CAT MSRP. NOW THAT'S ARROGANT!!!
What really gets me is you have to buy a new machine from the cat dealer in your territory. You can goto another dealer but they must sell the machine at the price your dealer is asking. I can understand protecting the dealers but they have you over a barrel if you are a little guy when it comes to negotiating price. That is my only dislike of the cat system.
I went into a Cat dealer about a year ago to get a CPH, and the guy at the desk tried to give me the line "we don't generally give those to customers". Now I was in a hurry at the time so I didn't stand there to argue the point, but who other than the guys buying or in my case running their equipment would need a handbook?:beatsme Now granted, I'm not in any way responsible for the purchasing of equipment where I work, I just run the stuff. I want a CPH for my personal reference to improve my skills and knowledge of what I do every day. Seems like a practical reason to get one to me Anyone else ever get this line?:Banghead
here in portland oregon we have only one cat dealer, halton tractor they a great place to buy parts. but only if you talk to the right person, some of the people there could not find there @#& with both hands! there feild service is dam good never any trouble with that. the shop service is another story after they "rebuilt the turn table" in our 320 and they a week or so later all the bolts fell out and the house dam near fell off. i call up the service shop and ask them what they were going to do about this the guy told me it would be 2-3 weeks before they had someone who could come out and look at it and see it they could fix on the job or if it needed to go back to the shop.the last straw was our 1000 hp wood grinder, it went in for a warranty repair and they told us it needed injectors so we said ok just do it and call when your done. so a week goes buy and nothing, i call them up and he says yeah it was done 3 days ago but we cant find the computer code so it wont run. the best part was i once again i ask what they were going to do and they guy looks me right in the eye and says well i dont know what to do about it. at that point i told the owner of the company what was going on and he took care of it. he used to ONLY run cat equipment and truck engines but now we run john deere and hitachi equipment.
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums equippartsdir! :drinkup
I've never had much dealings with Cat, Milton does have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, from what I can see. I will say this, after seeing the issues my father has had with the new KX080 Kubota excavator and the complete lack of service from Kubota corporate, I won't be buying anymore there. They are the same dealership that I bought the POS Cam Trailer from. On the otherhand, I love my Takeuchi, but the salesman has moved on to a Komatsu dealer. He has always been good to me and others I have sent to him, so a Komatsu may be my next machine. Service is paramount in my book. You can throw all the facts and figures about size and sales around that you want, but without service you have nothing.
I'm a parts reseller specializing in surplus CAT parts. I've dealt with almost every CAT dealer mentioned in this thread. My experience has been good, but I'm usually selling THEM parts so maybe they're a little nicer to me :cool2 Most of our interactions are over the phone and pretty short, however, I do deal with the local dealer N.C. Machninery frequently. I deal with one guy at the Tacoma store and he's excellent. Everything I order goes through him, or else it seems to get screwed up. I hate going to the parts counter in Tuckwila/Seattle half the time they can't find my paperwork and the other half they have to ask 3 differnet people to find the parts.
That sucks you had bad experience with cat. I have had great experience with the local case dealer where I live so far. They have been really helpfull each time I have gone in, and I usually go in asking some fairly simple to them questions. Sometimes it still hurts to walk into a case dealer though, I was brought up strictly on John Deere stuff!
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums NW Crawler! :drinkup
. . . funny how they always come a calling when they're about to lose a big deal . . . other than that, they don't get-it, they seem like they're just there for the pay-check, and have no interest or clue how to keep their own customers happy. - I've had more contractors call me directly and tell me this.
Sounds like the general problem with arrogant dealers are the.... dealers not the manufacturer's. In my neck of the woods Thompson Tractor (Cat) is very good with sales, parts and service. I know my salesman personally, my old salesman is now the sales manager, and they treat me like I just bought a new D11T. When I was looking at a larger hoe, I demo'd a 325DL and a PC300, side by side. Both machines were close in performance and my operators after running each one 8 hours, chose the Cat. The real deal was the Cat was $50K cheaper. Easy decision. My Cat dealer can actually get Komatsu parts cheaper than I can get from my Komatsu dealer.:beatsme Although I do not own any Komatsu iron, we have serviced/repaired Komatsu machines we borrowed before, compared the prices and Cat was cheaper. Deere dealer, well......... You can fit the whole local Deere dealership, including the yard where the new equipment is parked, inside just the Cat dealers parts and service warehouse. I have actually met a local Deere salesman - once. Volvo dealer, heck I don't even know who sells them here. The Case and Kobelco dealer is OK, just don't go to the parts counter. ointhead Bobcat - well I have not been happy with the quality of the Bobcat products in the last few years but my dealer takes care of warranty items and sometimes questionable warranty items. I still run 1 MTL, 1 Skid and 1 mini-hoe - all Bobcat, for now. If I need a part for one of my Cat's and they don't have it locally, you can get most any part within 24HRS. They have trucks running from the Atlanta distribution hub twice a day. It really all boils down to your local dealers attitude towards sales, parts and service. From what has been posted, it seems like it is a regional dealership issue.
Well lately I have had some experience with our CAT dealer. I know we are a big customer of theirs but I would have to say I am impressed with their service. My track loader is just out of warranty by a few months. I have been having some engine problems and they went back on warranty and fixed it up. For free mind you, and I got a sexy little Cat airfreshener. They also answered a service call in 2hrs for warranty work on a 385 on our site. Granted I do have to complain because they sent my track loader back without stump pans (bottom skid plates), leaving my travel motors, oil pan etc. exposed.
Good Luck We've had a realy good luck with our Cat dealers. Done business with 3 of them and it's been about 95% good compared to about 75% with other brands. Dids have trouble with 1 guy at a Cat dealer and talked with manager and was fixed on the spot. That hand book should have been a no brainer - that guy should be fired - AMEN. That's one of the best tools there is to sell a Cat machine.
I know what yall mean , one is 3 hours away , regardless of what you bought from them they treat you like you bought a fleet of 797B's , the other which is 2 1/2 hours away you get treated like you stole a fleet of 797B's no matter who you are or what you bought
The sales manager for CAT in my area is a really nice guy. They were at a trade show and I stopped to talk to them, even though I'm young he took some time to talk to me and gave me his business card for the future.....
All Dealers react to customers differently not to mention you may get different service from different people within that dealer.
I contacted our local C@t depot about parts for my oscillating bucket which I understood was C@t, poor chap didn't have a clue where to even start looking. He was very polite and professional and we chatted about the options. 2 weeks later I had managed to get a part number for the bucket from the original owner. BINGO. Within minutes the parts guy had the drawings on his computer ( we had a laugh down the phone about how old it must be as he had not come across scanned images on C@t parts files before). 24hrs later the required parts were at my door. I was that impressed I rang and thanked him for the service. :drinkup
finnings halstead i phoned finnings on a friday afternoon 3 ish for some sprocket hub bearings for my 1962 D4c ,the required parts were at my nearest depot (slough) for 8am saturday :notworthy cant really knock that sort of service cheers graham
Cat dealer experience While in alberta had no experience with cat they were not interested on sending anybody outside the city. Even the sales guy were not interested on going out to make sales. Wajax ( Hitachi ) were out at the drop of a hat and the same with Strongco ( Terex ). However in Newfoundland the only choices are Cat and Deere and the dealer and parts network are good but in Nova Scotia I am again running in that Arrogant Cat dealer attitude again. Komatsu is a good dealership here but that is because the big show in town runs all Komatsu gear (1 year and it is traded) but neaver dealt with break down and that is the real proof on a dealer.
I was just at a dealer today (not Cat) and was asking about a used piece of equipment....didn't have what I wanted but asked if he would take down my number and call because he told me they got machines in trade fairly often. He looked at me and said he doesn't have time to be looking through a list and making calls to people. I told him if he was too busy to take my money that I'd look elsewhere and walked out.
should of asked for the sales manager
My Father was a road mechanic for 30 plus years with a caterpillar dealership, The first thing he tought me was the customer was always the most important and second they are all good when they run and they are junk when they don't!
Buddy, Its getting worse now too, Theyre closing the Toronto parts warehouse and theres going to be no more overnight parts. 2 days from York to halifax. May as well buy a volvo or Kobelco. We spent about 4 million or more a year at Atlantic Cat and its a pain to get anything done. I dont even deal with our salesman anymore, Just go right to the office to the sales coordinator for prices ands demos or such. Bought 2 50 ton rock trucks a in the last year and you wouldnt know it by the service we get. We own 3 excavators that arent Cat, But the other 22 pieces of equipment are cat. The worst is the 108.00/hr service department thats all apprentices and have a hard time not redo-ing there work!
are you with ACL
I would have to admit there are many dealers charging more and more, but the techs are not getting any better. Or they have a revolving crew which is always having to learn from the old timers in the shop, which in turn takes more labor hours. :beatsme
I just purchased my first Cat (D6K) from Mustang in Bryan, Texas, and they have been real pleasure to work with. They are first rate and have given us the same level of service as their big clients. I had a few bad seals on my diagnostic ports (no big deal), and they had a road tech on site within a few hours of my call. I must say that they treat us far better than our Case tractor dealer (30 years as a client) just up the street. It's a shame that it seems like most others are not being treated like they should by Cat dealers.
Nope, Conrad Brothers. Know lots of ACL employees though.
Deal alot with conrads, magazine hill blastwall last year, QE2 this yearand I am sure there will be more as time goes on this year. Did you guys get your ne 769's
Were getting 772s, the new centre cabbed 50 tonners. Bought two so far. have a couple 769Ds up for sale if anyones looking. You must be with an engineering firm are you?
yeah ADI, no body has heard of them until I say nolan davis.but I use to work for brycon, Doug Beohner and even Dexter's
Would love to try the center cab, But I think the visability would be better in the old 773, what is the cab noise like, with sitting on top of the engine, I have noticed a new sterling in the tandam fleet, don't know the old fellows name but he always says hi or waves,
Centre cab is nice. Very quiet in the cab, actually too quiet cause you cant hear the excavators horn when your loaded. And yes, we Got 2 new sterlings this year, 2 last, and one the year before, all the drivers are getting up there so that could be anyone LOL.
Ha Atlantic Cat Oh god,Atlantic Cat is the worst,bunch of high school mechanic students can do better work on major repairs and warranty work than those clowns,sales personal are like talking to brick walls. Wajax seem to have the best service that I can see,Federal equipment isn't bad either. Any of you guys had any experience with Strongo yet?
When I was out west I dealt with strongco they were good the only problem we had was the terex trucks were overheating all the time, took the bonnet off to keep cool but they were persistant and found the problem. I was talking to the owner company here and he just bought a 700 and 400 volvo and he is happy enought with them that he said he might change his brand. he is demoing one of their graders now.
What problems have you had with Atlantic Cat murray83? Did you buy anything from them? It always seemed to me that they treat there old customers better then looking at new ones...
Bought nothing,I worked with the Irving group and they run Cat equipment on most operations but they're buying more and more Deere equipment as of late due to poor service and foul ups on warranty jobs they "promise we'll be there tomorrow sorry about the last 3 no shows" kinda deals. Expensive parts,bad service,and sales personal who could care less who you are is great for business,hate to see how they treat smaller operations after seeing how they treated the Irvings I think the Sussex sawmill still hasn't got a bucket for the 980 they were promised 2 years ago lol. Still will always be the hardcore Cat guys out there so I doubt they really care.
Strongco wasnt to great years ago, but theyve come back pretty strong. Ive heard lots of good things about them down here in dartmouth. Lots of Volvo hoes around. As far as Atlantics service, Your right, its all Kids, in dartmouth shop anyways. Martin Marietta is having a hell of a time with redos from the rebuild shop.
If I had a big operation like Martin I think I would let it be known at the dealer that they will be backcharged for lost productivity due to their incompetence and poor service. Equipment is purchased to make a profit. Dealers need to be held responsible for their actions.
If I had a big operation like Martin I think I would let it be known at the dealer that they will be backcharged for lost productivity due to their incompetence and poor service. Equipment is purchased to make a profit. Dealers need to be held responsible for their actions.
"Legdoc If I had a big operation like Martin I think I would let it be known at the dealer that they will be backcharged for lost productivity due to their incompetence and poor service. Equipment is purchased to make a profit. Dealers need to be held responsible for their actions. " I agree, but the Cat guys are only there for there paycheck just like many people today, Nobody wants to do whats best for the company anymore:beatsme
Am I hearing right someone with Irving giving crap over Atlantic Cat over bad Customer Service. This should be a wake up call to Hewitt the owners of Atlantic Cat It must be Worst than I thought. Hey I am on the sidelines now a days I do not work in the industry directly, so I do not directly deal with them anymore, so I am out of the loop.
I'm not employed with the group anymore but I'd say them buying some Deere equipment is as you say the "wake up call" to Cat even seen some rented Komatsu gear there as well Round here Kobelco excavators are taking over Hitachi/Deeres are a close second same as more and more Komatsu and Volvo loaders over Cats.