This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

[Zewnten]

The misc charges getting added to bills is ridiculous. Honest specialty shops are the way to go.

 

[AllDodge]

Just thought of something, could be CAT doesn't have a selection to just do the rod, so they select the entire cylinder. Would still be bad if that was the case

 

[Junkyard]

That same dealer used to break the nut loose, swap seals and re-torque for the cost of the seal kit. I’d even get them to break stubborn nuts loose….for free. The times they are a changin!

 

[John C.]

Labor charge is what I would expect. It's the charges that are out of line. The misc hardware charge is suppose to be a percentage of labor only. It appears they charged it against the entire job. Supply charge? Bench charge?

I know you don't have time to do it but I might let your customer know that some negotiations with that service department are in order. Chances are some flunky in the service office is just doing what they were told and the higher ups would just wait to see who complained. They will adjust when the noise levels rise and the utilization rate in the shop drops.

 

[Welder Dave]

Maybe the Cat dealer knows who the cylinders were for and their maintenance, or lack of, just needlessly spending money. It's worth questioning the charges. That's beyond ridiculous. I think it's possible who ever wrote the invoice wasn't told the cylinder rods were already removed so charged for complete cylinder rebuilds.

 

[Vetech63]

Here is the invoice. At least you can see the bs! What I believe they should have done is told me if they had a flat rate to do the cylinders. It would have given me the option to go another route.

 

[John C.]

I don't know any franchised dealer that flat rates anything anymore. At the same time, they didn't put down a figure for the hours charged to the job. I know there are hours in the system and that they can pull them up. I suppose I would make them do that.

 

[Welder Dave]

Is their labour rate well over $300 or even $400/hr.? I had a hyd. shop replace seals on bare rods and they charged an hour labour each. The cylinders were for the 4 in 1 bucket so similar type of cylinders. Even if a shop polished the rods it shouldn't take hours to replace seals. I'd have thought the cylinder bench is required for the job and included in the labour charge. Maybe a slightly higher labour charge but not an extra $100 per cylinder.

 

[mg2361]

Here is the invoice.

Does that come with or without the vaseline?

 

[Vetech63]

Does that come with or without the vaseline?

I didn’t feel good leaving there so I’m assuming not!

 

[63 caveman]

WOW! I don't expect something for nothing but charges like that boil my blood.

I had the opposite thing happen to me on a stubborn cylinder. Took it to a new shop for me because it was New Years Eve only shop I could find open. It was a 3 hour drive and I didn't get there till 4:00 PM. He fixed me right up in 1.5 hours @ $80.00 per hour for a total $120.00! The guy had the best bench I have ever seen, handed him $500.00 and a big THANK YOU! Wish his shop was closer I would never do them myself again!

 

[Truck Shop]

Not much different than the medical/health care/hospital industry. Every item used or was in your room
before you got there is put on the tab. But a shop charging bench time that's over the top.

 

[DMiller]

Last hospital stay for me was covered insurance but I saw the bill
Overnight a dinner meal and a breakfast. NO Meds taken but dressings changed, $750 overnight with meals noted as included, automatic misc charge of $200 and still charged $150 for the tape and gauze pads used, about $12 at Walgreens. Will not ever get below $1k at the hospitals.

My ‘copay’ for the 45 min eye surgery was $245, I had already paid $3500 for the lens.

 

[John C.]

Not much different than the medical/health care/hospital industry. Every item used or was in your room
before you got there is put on the tab. But a shop charging bench time that's over the top.

Got a MRI scan a few month ago on my shoulder. The scan was one price, included the technicians and the supplies in one bill. The doctor to read the scans though was another bill. The shop charging bench time? It's a question to ask now before using a shop.

 

[DMiller]

Had scans for neck and shoulders done back in December, still getting odd bills for his doc, that tech and already paid the bills for MRI and CT thru Insurance.

 

[cfherrman]

Go to mdsave.com to get prices on medical procedures. I don't have insurance so shopping around is critical. I got a MRI for $420 and a epidural shot for $970. I called a few places and it was x2-x3 or more.

 

[Vetech63]

I was told yesterday that the new "lease" equipment will be pm serviced by the dealer. I don't know if that is short term or the full lease term.....but I can tell you that it didn't hurt my feelings.  They have used dealer pm service in the past, but I had a few issues with it. A lot of the time they had to be notified of when something needed serviced.......but with no one checking them regularly, the services would still run past and sometimes by a ways. I know sometimes when called for pm service, it could be a week or 2....even more in some cases, before they would get to it. I'm curious to see how this will work out moving forward. Some of the equipment had the Deere Trax and they still ran out. I also wonder if they have the personnel to keep up now days.

I don't remember how the service worked back in the day. I can't remember if dealer supplied pm service was customer charged each time or was that an absorption by the dealer as part of the lease agreement? Someone enlighten me on how that is done these days. I am thinking it was done both ways depending on the type of lease it was.

I haven't got any help in what equipment they have is being terminated on the leases. There is a lot of equipment in the yard currently and I have no idea if I am supposed to be servicing this stuff and making repairs or not. A call to the main super yesterday didn't reveal anything.........he didn't have the time at that moment to enlighten me. I will have to check with someone on each piece in the yard now. That will be a pain in the ass for sure and slow things up again.

Just another day..........

 

[DMiller]

Sounds to be becoming evasive, I would start scaling back on anything voluntarily performed. This sounds a bit concerning. All the lease services I worked for or with had specific language that if machines got too far out of service value, the client would be responsible of advanced damage charges.

 

[John C.]

The Deere dealer here charges for the telematics. The lease can be structured on a cost per hour basis with the maintenance costs factored in or the maintenance costs can be add charges. Around here the Deere dealer put the monitoring into the hands of their product support reps who whined that they didn't have time to do that and go out and meet customers and sell parts and service. That's kind of why it all fell apart some years ago. I don't know what they are doing now.

In my experience the biggest problem is scheduling the PMs with the production people. They won't shut down or even let someone know when a machine is sitting and won't schedule anything outside of hours when they are going to get charged the overtime. All of them are spoiled little kids that won't give up a toy so they can prove they have power over someone else.

 

[mg2361]

The Deere dealer here charges for the telematics.

JDLink subscription is included in the purchase price of the machine and is good for 3 years. After that, the customer has to continue the subscription if they want to keep it.

Around here the Deere dealer put the monitoring into the hands of their product support reps who whined that they didn't have time to do that and go out and meet customers and sell parts and service.

We now have a full time individual (as well as most Deere dealers now, because it is Deere mandated) who performs machine monitoring and advising customers when any codes of concern pop up (rental, lease or customer machines) or informs customers when a service is needed (rental and lease machines, or customers on the PM program). Of course this only applies to machines with a current JDLink subscription.

I can't remember if dealer supplied pm service was customer charged each time or was that an absorption by the dealer as part of the lease agreement?

That depends on the contract. Most of the machines leased here require the customer to be responsible for the services. Some (very few to my knowledge) are written into the agreement and we are responsible to see that they get done.