Sorry for my delayed response. I will try to answer your questions as best I can with no excuses.
Question 1: “If your hubby was able to fix it himself, why didn't he do it in the first place?”
This was the first baler I have ever bought. I have never owned or operated a baler before in my life.
Bottom line is that at that time I was inexperienced with balers.
I believe that a dealership may be the best qualified and authorized place to have your equipment serviced and/or repaired.
The mechanics/technicians have the technical training, knowledge and “hands on” experience to repair your baler.
They are knowledgeable about certain parts/systems that need to be checked that the owner may not be aware of.
Once I received the operator’s manuals, I studied each page and familiarized myself with the operation, maintenance, and lubrication of the baler.
I will offer an example: When a person has never used a computer before and buys their first computer, if they have a problem they usually return it to the retailer where it was purchased or another computer retail store for either help or service. Most new owners will not try to repair the computer themselves.
Sometimes the old saying “if you want something done right, do it yourself” does not apply; certainly in my situation of never owning or operating a baler.
What I have learned and have taught my students is “Inexperience can be cured; stubbornness and pride are self limiting”.
I have no experience working on a baler; however, after dismantling the automatic tying mechanism, cleaning it, replacing the “farmer tech” with original parts, and adjusting it following the instructions in the operator’s manual, it worked fine. Only missed ties on the right side of the first two bales, but was able to readjust it and correctly tie the third bale.
My opinion is to let the professionals work on my equipment, watch, listen, and learn from the professionals, follow the instructions on operation, maintenance, and lubrication provided by the manufacturer, then do the maintenance work myself only after I know how to do it correctly and safely.
Question 2: “Why would you expect a dealer to grease your machine, aren't you capable of doing that yourself?”
I will refer to part of my answer to Question 1.
A dealership may be the best qualified and authorized place to have your equipment serviced.
The mechanics/technicians have the technical training, knowledge and “hands on” experience to service your baler.
They are knowledgeable about certain parts/systems that need to be checked that the owner may not be aware of.
I had tried to remove bearing caps to check the wheel bearings and repack with new grease.
Rather than destroy the bearing caps, which I could not figure out how to remove, I asked the dealer to check and repack the wheel bearings.
Once I received the operator’s manuals, I studied each page and familiarized myself with the lubrication requirements of the baler.
Since the dealership did not grease the baler as I asked, then it was up to me to determine how to do it right.
I removed every grease fitting, cleaned it with a rotary brush, soaked it in penetrating oil, made sure grease would go through it, and reinstalled it.
All guards were removed, chains were cleaned thoroughly with penetrating oil, and chainsaw bar and chain oil was brushed liberally on every chain.
All the bars were cleaned and sprayed with WD40 to prevent additional rust and wear on the chain links where the bar is attached.
Everything worked fine; no broken chains, no overheated bearings, no grinding noises from the gearbox, no u-joint failure, no worn sprockets, and best of all the baler did not catch on fire.
Over the years I have learned that oil and grease is cheaper than worn out or broken parts that result from intentional owner neglect.
Question 3: “Maybe they knew what they were in for and decided to bail instead of having to deal with a constantly disgruntled customer.”
Before we took the baler to the dealership, I talked with the owner over the phone and discussed what I wanted done to the baler. With any piece of equipment that I own, I always call and ask the sole proprietor or commercial business if they can do the repairs, if they will do the repairs, and when they can do the repairs.
When we took the baler to the dealership, the owner that I had talked with over the phone made out the work order of repairs/maintenance that we requested. We basically asked that he make any repairs necessary to get the baler “field ready”.
I did not expect them to “test” the baler to see if it would make a bale of hay. That would have been an unrealistic request in anyone’s book.
I did expect them to hook up the hydraulics to a tractor, raise and lower the tailgate, and raise and lower the pick up.
I even suggested that I would bring my tractor and test the tailgate and pickup; he assured me that both worked fine and that hooking up to my tractor would not be necessary.
I asked about the automatic tying mechanism and was assured that it was working. I probably should have asked to see the tying mechanism hooked up to a battery and tested with the remote switch. Truth in the old expression “Hindsight is always 20/20”.
So at this point we left our other baler to be serviced and repaired and took the other baler home.
In my opinion customer service is an attitude and behaivor that is conveyed by a “service provider” and perceived by a customer.
If the service that I am requesting is not available or not provided, then please let me know up front and save both of us some valuable time.
If I am not happy with the service, I can either complain or just do business with someone else in the future.
Many years ago when I was a banker, I learned never to prejudge a person based upon their appearance. Just because a person did not have several thousand dollars on deposit did not indicate their “true” wealth. I can recall at least one of my customers that ultimately became a millionaire after loosing virtually all of her possessions.
Since an employee, not the owner, at this particular dealership prejudged us based on our previous volume of trade, he plainly indicated to my wife over the phone that our business was not valued.
It seemed unusual to me that when I went to speak with him personally in his office, that his “tone” changed when dealing with a man instead of a woman. Years ago someone once told me “Mr. Howell you have a way of telling someone to go to H*** in such a way that they look forward to the trip.” To this day I am not sure if that statement was an insult or a compliment.
Bottom line is that I am not really a disgruntled customer as you have prejudged me to be. I just do not trade where my business is not welcome.
Back in the day when I was a law student, we were told by one law professor that there are at least two versions of the truth. I have just presented my version of the truth in this particular situation in answering your questions.
You have probably heard the old expression “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.
Last Spring this old dog learned a new trick – how simple it is to grease a baler.
I agree with you 100% that a baler is simple to grease.
Hope this answers your questions. My email is open and phone number 972-860-8307 is available if you have any other questions.
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