I went out on a call yesterday, a 310B JD backhoe. This new customer called originally late last week right before I was leaving town.........he had bought a new injection pump, was wanting to install it himself, but didn't know how to time it. I asked him how he knew the pump was bad and he said the JD dealer told him that was more than likely the problem 
. I told him last Wednesday I would call him yesterday and make arrangements to look at it for him............after I told him to not touch ANYTHING until I looked at it........and NOT to even open the new pump packaging.
Back to my visit there yesterday. The first thing I checked was for power at the fuel shut-off solenoid.......of course there was none. Back traced to a loose connection at the ignition switch, corrected that and have power there now. I went to attempt the engine start and the cranking speed was wayyy to slow. Battery checked ok but it had two of the b*****d bolt on terminals that are worthless.......so I installed 2 new crimp on terminal ends and reattached to the battery terminals. Went to start the engine, rolls over about 4 times and fires right up. Sounds great for its age.
Now the look on this guy's face was priceless. He had told me that he had been looking for someone for the last 3 months to come look at this machine and couldn't find ANYONE. The JD dealer refused to check this for him as he didn't have an account set up there.........which is bullshit. All they had to do was pre-auth a credit card.....they just didn't want to help the guy out. I asked him how he got my name........he said the JD dealer told him to call me LOL. Sorry effing dealer we have here but that's another story.
While working on the machine me and him had talked quite a bit, about his background, the machine and how it works. Come to find out, this guy is a Vietnam Vet and the local commander of some chapter here in Eastern Oklahoma (He told me the name of it but I can't remember it). It was time for me to pack up and leave him with his problem corrected and he asked what he owed me. I was only there for 45 minutes so I told him I wasn't charging him for it. He wasn't having any of that.........so he handed me $60 and told me to take my wife out to eat on him.......I took it out of respect as I wasn't going to argue with him. I told him to take his injector pump back to the dealer and get his $2000.00 back..........and if they tried to charge him a restock fee to let me know. They may try that, but I feel if I call the parts manager, I can get him a full refund. He asked if I had any business cards, which I didn't and haven't had for quite a few years, but he has my number now. I think he would have given out a hundred of them had I had them to give. He even texted me last night with another thank you for helping him out.
It just goes to show you the type of people you can meet when doing your job. It's too bad the dealers have lost sight of that fact, and don't care.
. I told him last Wednesday I would call him yesterday and make arrangements to look at it for him............after I told him to not touch ANYTHING until I looked at it........and NOT to even open the new pump packaging.Back to my visit there yesterday. The first thing I checked was for power at the fuel shut-off solenoid.......of course there was none. Back traced to a loose connection at the ignition switch, corrected that and have power there now. I went to attempt the engine start and the cranking speed was wayyy to slow. Battery checked ok but it had two of the b*****d bolt on terminals that are worthless.......so I installed 2 new crimp on terminal ends and reattached to the battery terminals. Went to start the engine, rolls over about 4 times and fires right up. Sounds great for its age.
Now the look on this guy's face was priceless. He had told me that he had been looking for someone for the last 3 months to come look at this machine and couldn't find ANYONE. The JD dealer refused to check this for him as he didn't have an account set up there.........which is bullshit. All they had to do was pre-auth a credit card.....they just didn't want to help the guy out
. I asked him how he got my name........he said the JD dealer told him to call me LOL. Sorry effing dealer we have here but that's another story.While working on the machine me and him had talked quite a bit, about his background, the machine and how it works. Come to find out, this guy is a Vietnam Vet and the local commander of some chapter here in Eastern Oklahoma (He told me the name of it but I can't remember it). It was time for me to pack up and leave him with his problem corrected and he asked what he owed me. I was only there for 45 minutes so I told him I wasn't charging him for it. He wasn't having any of that.........so he handed me $60 and told me to take my wife out to eat on him.......I took it out of respect as I wasn't going to argue with him. I told him to take his injector pump back to the dealer and get his $2000.00 back..........and if they tried to charge him a restock fee to let me know. They may try that, but I feel if I call the parts manager, I can get him a full refund. He asked if I had any business cards, which I didn't and haven't had for quite a few years, but he has my number now. I think he would have given out a hundred of them had I had them to give. He even texted me last night with another thank you for helping him out.
It just goes to show you the type of people you can meet when doing your job. It's too bad the dealers have lost sight of that fact, and don't care.
