What is the trick to getting access to this? I went to my local dealer's website, filled out a lengthy form, and the very last question....what was my account number. Of course I didn't have one so all of the information was lost. It turns out that I need to fill out a very detailed credit application so I can get an account number. All I really want to do is browse online and pay with a credit card. I'm going to fill out the credit application but seeing the posts here on HEF I get the impression that it should be a lot easier than this.
You should be able to set up a cash account with your dealer fairly easily. This will allow you to have an account set up and be able to use Partstore.
You give them some details, they give you some access. There has to be some checks and balances in place, you could work for the opposition!!
I have a charge account w/ my local Cat dealer, and I filled out the online form as soon as Parts Store came out. It took a few days to get approved. When I got approval, I looked around some, then it was a couple months before I wanted to use it. I only have 2 Cats, and have parts books for both, so I usually just call and order what I want. When I tried to use it, I found my access was canceled due to inactivity. I called and reactivated it, but have since just quit with it, since having to call to get it reactivated every time kind of negates the advantages.
Thanks for the input guys. Mitch, I also have a parts book for my one CAT but I do just about everything else online now and find it more convenient and accurate. If a wrong part is ordered it's my fault and not a number error over the phone plus I can check the prices and shop around a bit if necessary. Not that it matters if I buy online or not but the Alban dealer is right next door to where I work. This location closed to the public a few years ago but it's still staffed for service work and they have a 24/7 drop box where I would pick up the parts that I order.
ARRRRGGGG…..after all of the hassle I was denied an account “because of my credit history”. This kind of freaked me out because I have never been late with any sort of payments in my life. It has been 3 years since I looked at my report so I thought my identity had been hacked and I was expecting the worst. Everything was fine with no negatives and I even saw where the dealer had accessed my report so I know there wasn’t a mistake. I have been trying to contact the person who signed the letter to find out the reason but no one will call me back as of yet. I filled out the credit application as an individual; do you think they just don’t want to be bothered with small potatoes? It was so easy to get setup at the John Deere site. All I had to do was to show my face at the dealer one time so they could verify who I was and didn’t have a stolen credit card.
After much poking and prodding I finally got the credit manager to return my calls. Oh I’m sorry…..we sent you the wrong letter. Your credit is fine but we don’t give accounts to individuals. To me, the real meaning of that statement is that I can not generate enough sales and we don’t want to be bothered with you. One of my pet peeves is how people treat other folks according to status and money, so I’m on a mission now. I wish I was the owner of a huge construction company in disguise so I could let them know why I’m not buying any more CAT equipment. I got to looking at different CAT dealers across the country and I noticed that some of them don’t ask for an account number when signing up for the online parts store. So my question is, have any of you folks been able to sign up to the online parts store without having to set up a credit account? I don’t need or want a credit account as I use credit cards for everything.
I guess I am spoiled with our local dealer, they go out of the way to help - my salesman even sends me job leads, which of course benefits him too in the end but he doesn't have to do that. Anyway, I don't know if Thompson Tractor requires a credit account to set up the online store. There is a branch a couple of miles from the shop so I just go over there to pick up parts. I like to build a relationship with the parts guys as they can really help you out and save you money. For instance I needed a muffler for my 953 recently. The stock replacement muffler was $800, however Cat offers a "classic" version that was $350. The classic was lighter and of course a lesser grade muffler but I can buy 2 classic mufflers for one "original". If you are talking to a parts guy that doesn't know you, he might not go the extra mile to find the alternatives. Just a suggestion but make up a company name as a DBA, you would still be an individual owner/operator but with a company name. The company name wouldn't mean anything as you are still "operating" as an individual. Just a suggestion.
I had a similar problem with my underground sprinkling system. I had a Weathermatic system partially installed by a sprinkling contractor and finished it myself. When I needed additional parts to extend the system, the local wholesaler would sell parts "retail" to individuals. That company went out of business and the new "wholesaler" would not sell parts retail to individuals. My contractor told me that he can send customers to the counter to pick up parts for him and the customer can pay cash. When I told him my problem, he said call them, use my company name and say you're sending in the customer to pick up parts and he's going to pay for them, don't bill the company Used that method for a few years. Now the Toro wholesaler picked up the Weathermatic line and they run a very nice retail desk
I wouldn't mind doing that CM but the closest parts counter is off a ways in a direction I never go in. I would have to take time off work to get there during business hours. The general public has access to the classic parts list but no pricing. It takes me forever to make decisions so I would like ponder at my own speed about pricing and availability without having to make quick decisions standing at a parts counter or bothering people over the phone. A very nice girl who takes care of the online parts is still looking into a way to give me access, but not order, which would suit me just fine.
Well, they have no problem with selling parts to individuals. I'm trying to get access to their online parts system. The John Deere system is open to the general public and I thought CAT would be also.
Cat online parts system? having the same problem. Emailed local dealer and the reply was we must have an approved credit account to even have *access* to the online parts diagram. His explanation was once you are logged into the system, you can order parts - so you must have an account. Funny, since JD and several other mfg. are able to give access to online parts documentation without having an account, and parts can be ordered with a credit card. We just blew a pump in a JD 555G with about 10k hours on the original worn out transmission, found a broken ring gear retaining screw stuck to the magnet in the tranny oil drain plug. Dealer quoted about $16k just for the tranny. Pump used to be available for a few hundred bucks per side, but now is a one piece assy. for $3500, and not even priced steering clutches yet - SO owner says scrap/sell the old machine and buy something else. That's how I started the online search about CAT parts - since a local guy has a nice 1990, CAT 953 LGP for sale, but has some oil leaks (gallon engine oil leak per day) and I wanted to price some gasket kits etc. and get an idea of what it costs to maintain this machine. If it's this hard to get information/parts, I'm wondering if we even want to try CAT equipment. JD is easy, so is Ford, Komatsu. Bobcat is still a pain, but we have paper books for that. I didn't want to spend $300 in docs for a machine we might not even run. I wouldn't mind spending a few bucks for a download cd, but those don't seem to be available. I have seen links to downloading a complete copy of the SIS system (a few years old) but it's around 70 GIG (the equivalent of 12-13 full DVD's of information) and would require another hard drive in my computer plus going through all the setup, which I might do eventually, and there is a fee to the site for downloading that too. As huge a company as CAT seems to be - it baffles me why information is so closed. Had a friend that was a mechanic for this same dealer, but he got laid off a few years back and doesn't have access to the system anymore.... Any one else had success getting into CAT SIS without paying and having accounts?
I had the same experience, but have had good luck with my PSR (parts and service rep?) I'm a nobody to them and he throws me 10% just for asking. So i just call him. I know what you mean though, it would be nice to browse the system. ken
I am learning my way through the Cat online parts system. What I have found out is I have a much greater respect for the guys at the parts counter looking through the diagrams trying to find the part because at least to me, it can be frustrating. Over the last couple of weeks I have used the system several times. This morning I found the part #'s for the parking brake switch on my 533 compactor, two electrical blocks that engage and disengage the parking brake. Finally I found the two parts I needed but I didn't order it online as the availability said "contact dealer" and I needed an ETA on the parts as the roller is down in the middle of a parking lot we are trying to finish. I called my local branch and talked to one of the guys I know to find out if they had the part and where one was at. Luckily both were at the main branch so I sent the better 1/2 to pick them up and we had the roller running this afternoon. So basically I streamlined the process by finding the part numbers myself but still resorted to the old fashioned method of talking the parts guy.
I gave up in February after they stopped answering my e-mails. wmshooke, I bought new parts and service books from this dealer when I got my machine so it's not an information problem. But I'm very online oriented and really like the shopping cart idea and being able to compare prices new vs. classic, shop tools, supplies, and so forth without bothering people over the phone. I have a seperate shopping cart at Deere for items that I will eventually purchase but are not needed for the machine to run. Just stupid little perks that make online shopping so nice. I thought I was making progress with them but the credit thing was a stopper. I suggested giving me an account with a $1 credit limit so I could use the system but have to fax or call my order in, which is fine by me. I thought they liked the idea because the next day I was asked to send a list of my machines. After about 15 seconds it occurred to me that this could be a bad thing too. So I sent them my super long list of (1) 955 track loader, complete with year and serial number to make the list look longer and that is when they finally pulled the plug on me. Back when I first started this adventure, I was informed that they would have a working credit card system by the end of the 1st quarter so I need to get back on this and see where I stand. Unfortunately, I think I have been blackballed because of my extensive list of equipment. I am.....however.....on their e-mail list now because I was invited to a customer appreciation luncheon.
By all means go to the lunch. There will be PSSR's there and you can hit them up, as well as sales people that may one day want to sell you another machine. Some of those guys can help get you setup, where as the credit department is picky when it comes to setting up customers. The sales guys can badger them into helping. If nothing else it would be worth the trip just to gripe at someone about why you would rather own Deere over Cat lol.
Well... I finally got to play with an old DVD version of 2009 SIS, and the repair section info seems to work ok, BUT when I try to find a part by searching for something simple like hydraulic valve, relief, etc. it continues to find nothing. Working on a 20Z 953 with weak lift power, trying to figure out which relief valves are suspect and the part numbers - AND this DVD version of SIS doesn't seem to include these parts. Is that typical, or are they simply no longer available...??