Went to start an old backhoe- International 3600 A with a 6cyl.- 282 non turbo Machine needed some glow plugs. Called one of the local dealers got threw to parts - told the person what I needed - Parts man says "Well I would have to get a book to look that up"! I was taken aback then asked if did have the parts dept.- he assured me I did I then asked if looking up parts was not part of his job! He then puts me on hold for a while comes back and says he can not find parts book - I should call back later
Sounds like he sure went the extra mile for the customer. What a b*****d.
I would have to wonder what should be expected in that situation. The machine is probably twenty years old or more, International has been gone since before 1990 as I can recall, nothing was on computer back then and nothing was put on computer since then. The parts dealerships have been bounced around for years and you think someone might be able to pull a part number off the top of their head? I would think you were lucky to find a dealer that would admit to carrying the line little lone try to help you. To top it all off, International was one of the worst manufacturer's for making and stocking spare parts for any of their machines. There is a reason they no longer exist. Good Luck!
just be glad you arent trying to find parts for a chinese tractor you bought off ebay
our local Cat dealer here in Portland oregon has some of the worst parts people i have ever delt with. i went in there one night about 7:00 pm. gave the night parts guy the part number for what i need, he then told me it was not a cat part.So i went out to the truck and got the bag from the part that i needed and to it in to him, and told him this is the bag it cam in and it says Cat right on it and there is the number. so once again i was told it was not a cat part. So the next day i went to the local deere dealer and bought a set of Sure Grip controls for the machine, and have not had any trouble with them.
As it turns out the other local dealer was willing to look up and has them in stock - Shortly after I got back from second dealer , first dealer called about another order - when I mention this -they looked up and also had in stock I should add this motor was in serirs of engines that is quite common - in both const. and farm equip.
John I expect a parts person to look up a part not complain abot how much work it is.Second place had a guy until his retirement, who new every part on Int/Dresser dozers back to the 40s - he would be at the counter hollaring out part num. and bin loc. to two to three parts pullers Other than the excav. made by Yumba ( I think- frenh made anyway) These two dealerships pretty well had in stock whatever you needed - if not there supply system worked pretty good - They also tended to make Cat parts look inexpensive
Don't let it get you down Welder....just pee on it and walk away.:lmao
Not down - just surprised -Co is run by two brothers , one still goes out on service calls.Both put in 6 or more solid days a week- also they are very generous with service/repair inform. so I try to buy from them when practical
Well John C, I don't know about the international dealers in your neck of the woods, but most of those I dealt with had a pretty good stock of parts and International had an excellent system of factory warehouses around the country that the dealers could draw from quickly. Caterpillar learned a lot from their early competition with International regarding parts distribution and it made them stronger for it. What really killed International was a guy called Archi McCardle (not sure name is spelled correctly) He was the CEO that decided that International could crush a strike by it's union workers and he eventually refused to even talk to the union. He was also International's last CEO I believe, as the company could not keep going even after Cat bought the Solar Turbine division away. Some dealer friends of mine cursed him roundly and often for a long time. They hated J.I. Case with a passion. Glad you got the parts you needed OneWelder.
Here's a pretty good story on what you posted surfer-joe... and it's a long one. It's from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Harvester_strike_of_1979–1980 His name was Archie McCardell... Died July 10, 2008 (aged 81). OCR
I would imagine he expected the man to do his job without complaining, that he had to get out a parts book. Then I guess he expected that once the guy actually put him on hold to play with himself that he expected him to find the parts book and put the playboy down. But I guess in your opinion the guy should have just continued to play with himself (which it seems he did) since the equipment isn't brand new.
You Bet cha ! In the past when tmes got tight, all kinds of old equip. comes out of retirement- and sells for a prem.
Very interesting OCR. I didn't remember the details, but I lived at the time in a small town in west central Illinois and the strike was a topic of keen interest with everyone living there as many worked at the IH or Caterpillar plants. The contractor I was working for at the time did a lot of site ex for the manufacturers in Peoria and the other factory towns in Illinois. McCardell was on the leading edge of the modern trend to overcompensate upper corporate management with extra large salaries, stock bonuses, cheap loans or outright grants, and other expensive perks that had nothing to do with performence either company or personal. The board of directors at IH were also guilty of blindly following bad advice of one set of advisors instead of doing their own research and voting their own minds. Other than the fact that IH did not mislead people as Enron did, they were a modern precursor of corporate disaster. One other note. In early 1980 I worked for a time at US Steel, and Bethlehem's Steel's Gary Works. US Steel's facility was very old, yet the company had made efforts to clean up and modernize the plant. They were in fact, in the process of tearing down four blast furnaces that had been built in the 1880's. Bethlehem was a very modern plant by the standards of the day. One day my boss called me and some other management folks into his office and told us we were going over to Wisconsin Steel's plant in South Chicago to look at the possibility of bidding on the slag contract there. Great, we were all excited at the thought of more work, so off we went. Well, our excitement turned sour as we entered the Wisconsin Steel facility. The plant, which had been owned for years by IH, had recently been purchased by some outfit out of California, which was why we were there looking at the potential for the slag processing. You talk about the feeling of going from one dimension into another, that's how we all felt. It's as though we had stepped back in time fifty years or more. Everything was almost exactly as it had been originally built. I don't believe there was a single unbroken pane of glass anywhere excepting the office building. A grittier, dirty looking, run down place would have been hard to find, though I had been to some places in Detroit that would have run a close second. There was little to no modernization at this plant. They were still using the original furnaces and much of the work was performed by hand. I began to look for horse-carts, and there were in fact, still a couple of steam-driven dinky engines working, moving dilapidated rail cars along the plants many miles of crooked tracks. I don't know that we ever saw a smile among the plant's workers, other than the new management team folks in the office, and on our tour guide as he blithely drove us around in an old International Travelall that was mostly a collection of rust and patches. We all took a look and made our notes, then made our way back to our office at Bethlehem's plant. Our general manager then told us to type up our views and submit them to him the next day. Just from what I had seen, and had heard in speaking with various Wisconsin Steel workers, my comments were mostly negative, as I learned later, most others were as well. Our company owner and his team made their own evaluations, then came by and spoke with all of us before going back to Detroit. It seems that the new owners were not just looking for slag processors, they were looking for partners too, people with actual steel making experience and expertise. My company also had very deep pockets, a fact I'm sure was duly noted by the owners of WS. It wasn't too much later that we heard thorough our company grapevine that WS was shutting down and that we were not going to get involved in any way. Sure enough, it wasn't a week and that's what happened. It was done in a very poor manner, no warning to employees at all. The various union workers at both US Steel and Bethlehem and many other steel and iron plants around the region spoke of going out on strike in a show of solidarity with their union brothers at WS, but it never went beyond just talk. Wisconsin Steel was a prime example of maximizing profit at the expense of not maintaining and modernizing plant equipment, bringing in new methods, and upgrading technology. The entire rust belt of the upper Midwest is full of examples. The real wonder is that so much of this was still in production in the eighties and nineties, and I'm sure there are some places left that look way out of place. International's story is exceptionally interesting and I recommend the book: 150 Years of International Harvestor, by C. H. Wendel.
Gentlemen, I worked for one of those International dealerships years ago and it was one of the better ones at that. The parts people there were first rate but the system they were using appeared to have been built by a third grader. You could order the number in the book and get anything but the right part. Usually you spent multiple phone calls and more than a week in down time for the part and then found out it was still wrong. You usually got charged the freight for all wrong parts on top of that. I also remember a strike in 1980 by the International factory workforce. The atmosphere leading up to the strike was very contentious and it showed in the workmanship of the products. We sold a Hough 90 with log forks to a customer and a week later it came back with the boss for the left side boom cylinder broke right off the bottom of the loader frame. I scarfed out what was left of the boss and found a huge unwelded hole with pieces of scrap metal just dropped in there. Our shop forman thought that was funny as hell when I pulled it out in one piece and laid it on his desk. The service manager didn't think so and called in the factory rep. He laughed harder than our shop forman. From that day forward I never saw anything from that company that would recommend it as something that anyone could make money using. The quality of their work force from the top on down was certainly lower than many if not most of the lessor brands I have dealt with over the years. The reaction of your initial parts person is about the average of all International dealers I have had anything to do with. Since Komatsu has taken it over it has been marginally better. I do have a problem with your title on the thread. "Dealerships" is a pretty broad brush to paint with indicating in my mind that all dealerships are the same. One could make the same assumptions in saying "Contractors", "Loggers", "Farmers" and so on. There are slobs in every business. I don't accept that kind of treatment without making sure the guy's boss finds out about it. If you want it to change you should gripe about it to someone who can do something about.
I do have a problem with your title on the thread. "Dealerships" is a pretty broad brush to paint with indicating in my mind that all dealerships are the same. One could make the same assumptions in saying "Contractors", "Loggers", "Farmers" and so on. There are slobs in every business. I don't accept that kind of treatment without making sure the guy's boss finds out about it. If you want it to change you should gripe about it to someone who can do something about. John- apparently not the only one with a brush My typing skils are limited and I edited my first post more than I realized- - I should have added more details Both dealerships have had fairly recent contact looking for me to "swing a little more their way". Second dealership had asked me to give them a call on any old const. parts, as they gave up the Int / Dres const. equipment and still have alot of stock. They remain a Case / Int farm dealer. When I called second dealer after first Dealer - Second dealer parts guy listened to my spiel of make -model -motor- and so forth, to bad - we do not sell parts for that anymore and hungup! I then called back and explained to him this series motor was used in a lot of farm equip. and could I speak to his boss- Funney thing I was put on hold & before the boss took over first guy came back on phone informing me they had 2 complete sets in stock. First Dealers parts boss called me latter in day about another parts order, and he was informed- and then informed me that they stock them if I still needed them. I have a very long relationship with both dealers, and consider them both to be good- But both had a lazy clown representing them on the phone- yet both had been looking for more business This has been a very long winded post to say Do not come around looking for more business pointing out their good service to me - and then give me the run around. So yes I do say dealerships- either fix or replace a poor employee- do not have them on phones as sales
they suck
Thought provoking and intelligent.
Actually I thought it was quit articulate. I mean how many words do you need to say they suck. Yea maybe he could explain his reasoning, but in a nutshell I have to agree.
dealers We have the same attitude in our parts guys in south africa,it's a huge effort to look for a part. I sometimes wonder if they have forgotten what there job function is!!!
Ah yes - the "extra mile". I bet you that the guy looking for the glow plugs for the 25-30 year old machine has never been into that dealer to buy so much as an oil filter from these guys. I bet he has never set foot in the door of the place. Of course since he needs those glow plugs he is the most important customer of the day. The other guy that is in there and has bought 30 pieces of equipment is not worth paying attention to. It never ceases to amaze me when owners tell me that I should be bending over backwards to find some obscure part for an ancient machine, and also that "they are all the same". Really? You sure? 100% sure? Tell me then, if they are all the same, why are there more than 25 different part numbers for injectors for a Cummins 8.3? Just for fun? How mad are you going to be if I just gave you a set of injectors for a 200hp machine when you should have had 400hp injectors? What if I gave you a fuel filter that was rated for 20 microns when you needed one for 5 microns? As for the guy needing the glow plugs for that old 3600A cornbinder - those parts books were never offered on a computer, you had to look them up using micro film. I have the film in front of me, but I cannot view it as my film viewer is broken - no one supplies parts for these old viewers that were last made in 1985 or so. :bash
Partsdude or should I say dud? you seem like a real ass and someone I don't think I would like to do business with. I don't care if it is someones first or thousanth visit, your there to provide parts. But in your way of thinking the only ones that matter are the ones that spend alot of money with you. I have bought parts from many places, most when there busy have asked if I could hold or can they get back to me. Which isn't a problem. But when some butt wipe like you feels that I haven't spent enough money to deserve the proper service, guess what I don't deal with them anymore.
Just remember sales department sells the first piece of equipment and service and parts department sell all the rest.
Partsdude you and John apparently feel older stuff should run for ever - if some minor thing needs to be replaced -scrap em! Opening a book is a lot of work- in this case books are below comp. term. Cat has its CLASSIC PARTS John Deere has put most if not all of its old equipemt cat. online A lot of Int. parts are readily available from Dresser/Dresta & IH/Case The local New Holland/ Ford trac. Dealers Have a lg. stock of Ford 9N - 2N - 8N Parts - The newest of the N series is 56yrs. out of production, well before these dealers were in business. Apparently some think this profitable, which means I am not the only person buying parts for old equip. as I am sure this was not done just for me. Should you have any further doubts do a parts search for ford 8n parts - the first page or two will be co. with some variation of that as there name To your statement "he is the most important customer of the day" if I am not they should take down there sign"You are our most important customer "
This is off subject,a little.Imagine that but my cousin works on a bunch of the old Ford 9n and so fore. There is a place i believe in Ga. that has started making aftermarket parts with the old Ford factory molds.So there must be some people that think there still is a market for old machines. He is retired and can't keep up with repairing the old Ford tractors.Last time i talked to him he had like 8 machine to do and people still asking when he can work on theirs. By the way he is a great mechanic,that helps !!!!!!!!:usa
good and bad I worked at different brands and I have seen the best and the worst of employees I worked as a supervisor to find employees that went out of there way to help the customer and those that went and hid out in the restroom when a customer came in the door at quiting time. product color made no difference but as a general rule I allways liked farm kids in general work didnt scare them thanks the BIG D