Arrogant Cat dealers

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!

Lashlander said:

Maybe he knows who you are!

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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.

farm_boy said:

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

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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.

CascadeScaper said:

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.

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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!!!