As an individual owner/operator shopping for excavators & skid steers, I have become increasingly frustrated with the non-responsiveness of most equipment sales people. I find that most of them really don't know the machines they are trying (?) to sell, & when you ask for real technical information or a detailed quote, in writing/email, I wind up waiting for days...or weeks..., or get told that that kind of information is not available.
What's wrong with this picture...?? Aren't sales people supposed to want to sell equipment?? Why do they look not busy, complain about lack of business, & then not follow-up promptly with what you ask for?? Are they lazy??
As a retired civil engineer & computer systems manager, I've always had a low opinion of most sales people. But, you could usually work around them by finding a better sales person at another vendor who handled the same product. Likewise with buying a car or truck. But equipment dealers typically cover a huge area, so that finding another dealer for the same brand that is reasonable convenient is usually not possible. So, you're stuck with a non-responsive dealer/sales person & have to rely on the OEM for information.
But I find that the OEMs are not much better. Most have flashy websites that are full of random pictures & sales BS, what I would call "fluff" or "empty calories". They are short on useful sales info (like specifications, machine pricing, detailed option descriptions & pricing) & on technical info (like operating manuals, shop manuals, parts illustrations, service bulletins).
In my opinion, the OEM's are NOT customer or owner friendly. Yes, they are the in the business of making & selling equipment, but they should NOT be in the business of selling information about that equipment. If they made information about their equipment more readily available, I think it would encourage sales. And in this day & age all this information could - & should - be available on-line - & for free.
I have checked the web sites of the principle OEMs for availability of typical sales & technical info. I offer my findings in the attached chart.
Info Availability from OEMs.pdfI would welcome any comments or changes. And referring to the chart, I would offer some observations:
• The ONLY OEM that offers operator's manuals on-line & for free is GEHL. What an enlightened approach!! But oddly, their on-line availability of specifications is limited.
• New Holland & John Deere show a lot of green (relatively customer friendly). Deere goes further by selling operator & shop manuals on-line, but NH's parts illustrations & ordering are easier to use, I think.
• Case should be virtually the same as NH, given their CNH link, but many of Case's on-line tools don't work.
• Bobcat is making progress in the right direction, but some of their on-line parts tools don't work.
• JCB's on-line availability of information is dismal...their specifications download doesn't work. Oddly, their overseas websites are better.
• Cat probably has more info available than most, BUT it's only available thru their subscription SIS program. I would welcome some enlightenment on the SIS program (who qualifies, what it costs, & what info is available).
