Caterpillar Inc Troubles

[farmerboy2003]

Sorry if this post starts out a little lengthy but thought guys out there should be aware of the problems I am having with Cat.
I own a Fabtek 546 forwarder that was built by blount, who was bought out by Cat. Last year the ring and pinon went out on the rear axle (which is a Naf product) I went to my local repair shop to have it repaired they took care of ordering the ring and pinion from Fabco (cats parts forestry division)
10 days later parts show up, they were wrong, 2 weeks later after many phone calls it was discovered it had a prototype rear end and the ring and pinion would have to be made in Naf plant in Germany, (through this whole ordeal I could not talk to either blount or Naf on any of this because i am not a dealer)to make this shorter i will just tell you it took 3 months to get these parts.
Now comes my lattest episode, about the first week in august the rear end went out again, turned out threre was a chip in pinion gear, I called Fabco and told them I needed ring and pinion they said they would get it ordered and call me back with when i should get it (they told me last time they would have more than one built) they called me back 3 days later guess what It has to be built in Germany again! I guess some one was mistaken about building a extra set. So they tell me 5 to 6 weeks to get parts, so i figure I should have them by middle of Sept, called Sept 1 they told me Oct 5.
In the mean time I call Cat ceo Jim Owens and leave him a message about my problems, he turns my message over to Rod Beler vice pres of parts acquisitons who calls me 1 week later, and tells me he will look into my problem and call me back, that was one month ago I guess Cat dosen't care about the little guy.
Both Ponnse and John Deere said if I had one of there machines they would find one for me to use while they get parts for free. Guess I need to find a new machine and it won't be a caterpillar.

 

[Deereman]

Hate to hear your problems. Sounds like alot of wait time and broken communication. I don't know where thats at where your from but maybe you can get in with the local deere dealer and give them a shot. If you need any help in finding one just let me know!!

 

[farmerboy2003]

No broken communications when the top guys of a major corporation won't call you back when they say they will. But just heard from the parts guys today parts should be here by next wensday. He said they will not carry parts on hand for that differential because it is a prototype, also said cat tecnacial support would not call him back to see if rear end could be upgraded. Poor communitcations even within cats own ranks.
Ill be stopping at Nortrax tomorrow on my way to a logging show in Grandrapids MN, they have a couple Deere forwarders, ironicaly that is were we bought the Fabtek.

 

[texascadillac42]

No offense to you at all, but if you think Jim Owens is going to personally handle your parts situation, you are dreaming. I am honestly surprised you were able to just call Cat HQ and ask for Jim Owens, and be transferred right to his direct line.

Also, Rod, who is in charge of parts acquisitions is not in charge of getting parts for an individual customer. You have to remember that both of these guys, and plenty of people below them are looking at a MUCH larger picture than just an individual customer, especially in an application such as forestry.

Did you buy the machine new?

Also, if the rear axle was a prototype, how is it Cat's fault that they can't get the gears for it? Being a prototype rear axle, its lucky that they were able to make you a new set of gears without too much trouble.

Who have you talked to at Blount and Naf when they told you that they couldnt help you cause you werent a dealer?

 

[farmerboy2003]

No offense taking, I was also supprised that I was able to leave a message for jim ownens, but as far as expecting jim owens to care about my problem when you have tried all other options you go to the top, as for Rod my only complaint is that he never followed up on what he said he would do which was to call me back and let me know what he found, he did say that it was his job to make sure there were parts for this machine.
This whole process has been going on since last year, tried getting info from Naf on if the rear end could be upgraded (would have been easy to find out if they would have talked to me) but they woudn't. Called blount they said to have my cat dealer check into it, which I guess they can't figure out acording to Fabco parts.

As for looking at the bigger picture any corporation or buisness thats forgets that the individual customer who owns just one machine is as important as the customer who owns 100 machines will suffer (most 100 machine customers probably started out somewhere with one machine)

Through this whole process all I wanted was information to me able to make a decision on what to do with this machine!

 

[JAK5]

I have a contact for NAF who was trying to sell us NAF bogies about a year or two ago, if that is any help.
No matter what CAT should be able to take your serial number and be able to track that machine and all the components on it ... with out any excuses. I know nearly all gearing is made over seas these days and the lead times are terrible. But there should be an up grade that could be installed to replace the prototype parts. Ironically, when Fabtek was started it had nearly all John Deere components and Fabteks were nromally sold at Deere dealers. Now CAT bought everything switched most everything to CAT and nobody can parts or service either corporation. The horror stories I hear from Ponsse are that the parts have to come from Finland and costs are out of this world. I know a guy that runs (3) Ponsse sets (harvester & forwarder) and his repair bill is nearly 2 grand per week to keep them going. He cuts 75% hardwood and they just don't hold up.
For whatever its worth that's my 2 cents! Pick the lesser of the evils....

 

[texascadillac42]

Yea, a year is a long time to be dragging anything out on a machine that is needed to make money.

Did you buy the machine new?

The only reason I ask is because sometimes manufacturers sell prototype machines to dealers, or individuals but with an agreement that parts and support may not be available. I have run into this situation with a Dresser roller.

If the history of the machine is unknown then perhaps it was originally sold with some sort of "no support" agreement. Good luck with the machine either way, if Rod is indeed in charge of the parts then I would continue to call him.

 

[farmerboy2003]

we bought the machine used from nortrax as a repo, I know the machine wasn't sold to them with any stipulations, also found a machine in wakefield machine that looks to be the same machine as mine, called them and got serial # and gave to Fabco to see if it has the same prototype rear diff also gave them my serial # (fabco parts guy is going to see if he can get tech support to come up with a upgrade) in the mean time I should have all parts to put mine together by this weekend, be nice to get back in a production machine again instead of the Valmet I have been leasing.

 

[GeoffD]

Who were you talking to at your Cat dealer? Sounds like maybe your dealer is at fault for not pushing Caterpillar. The wait time is wrong however, the dealer should have done more to try to Help.

 

[marcosabatino]

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