i will be interested to hear what durally thinks about the software and how it compares to the cat, assuming he gets one with the latest update.
I'll let you know if I ever hear back from them. I am assuming it is someone from corporate who called me at first as they were from many states away. They called from a restricted number and I didn't answer. Left a voicemail which I thought I saved but must have deleted. So I called the local dealer assuming they were the ones who called. They were very confused it seemed and through phone tag gave me about 3 different people that were supposed to be the person for my territory. The repeater in our shop was broken at the time so I missed a lot of calls. Never did get ahold of anyone. Awhile later the restricted number called again and I answered. He took down some info but didn't seem to know much about SSL's. He said someone locally would follow up. Haven't heard anything since. Dealer must know about the program though, its advertised on their big sign.
I know they are "new" around here, so I still give them the benefit of the doubt for being so disorganized. Doesn't change how the machine itself is, but does influence a purchase decision. One of the main reasons I like dealing with Cat is their extreme level of organization. They have been around for a long time though and had awhile to perfect their system.
From reading wally's post and talking with the guy on the phone, I get the impression that these are not serious demos. Just some time to drive one around the dealer lot. I told the Bobcat guy the same thing, I'm not interested in a machine we can't demo for a couple days doing real work with the real operators. Me driving it at the lot doesn't mean a lot and I'm not rounding everyone up just to go down there and drive it around. That was what got Cat's foot in the door to begin with, an actual serious demo that gave you more than enough time to get a feel for things. At the time Cat stopped out I was not interested at all, but they offered the demo and I'm always open to trying something. Even then I was still leaning towards Bobcats and not because of any sort of influence from the Bobcat dealer. To me both machines we good, but Bobcat had foot controls. I reached out to Bobcat for a demo and pricing, was told they do not do demos even on used machines(of course that story is different if you ask them now). I'm sure if I would've tried someone else, or pushed harder I would've gotten one, but why? Why should I work for the dealer when another one is working for me? In a way I reached out to Bobcat and Cat reached out to me. Had the tables been turned I am 99% certain you would see Bob in front of the Cat in my pictures. Without a doubt. Like I said though, to me both machines were equally good in their own ways, one dealer was willing to work for business, the rest were not (well our NH dealer was good, but the product wasn't). It left an impression, and they got the business.