PSA for customers

[92U 3406]

Maybe a bit of a rant but seriously some folks in the office as well as some supervisors need to hear this.

If you call in to enquire about renting something, please do not say that you'll call back later to confirm if you'll take it or not, then not call and just show up to pick it up out of the blue. It may not even be available anymore or it may take an hour or 2 to get it ready. At least a couple hours notice goes a long way in making sure everything goes smooth and efficient for both parties.

If a shop tells you your equipment will be finished and ready for pickup at noon the next day, don't tell your employee or contracted trucking company to be waiting at the gate before the shop opens to pick it up. If you were told noon, its probably still in pieces at 7:00 am. The truck sitting there in the driveway won't get the machine back together any quicker.

 

[John C.]

Totally agree, nothing busts morale in the shop like some A hole grand standing about how a machine has to be done in two hours with six more hours of work to do. Machine gets done and customer doesn't show up for two days.

 

[92U 3406]

Totally agree, nothing busts morale in the shop like some A hole grand standing about how a machine has to be done in two hours with six more hours of work to do. Machine gets done and customer doesn't show up for two days.

Or the boss wants you to skip your breaks to get the guy out of the yard.

 

[JD955SC]

Totally agree, nothing busts morale in the shop like some A hole grand standing about how a machine has to be done in two hours with six more hours of work to do. Machine gets done and customer doesn't show up for two days.

I damn near drug up the other month because the support rep and my boss wouldn’t leave me alone while I was trying to get a dozer done. Bothering me every 20 minutes, literally.

Or the boss wants you to skip your breaks to get the guy out of the yard.

oh my above tale? I was rolling home on the road at 4:30 on Friday when the boss called me to tell me he needed me to work Saturday to get it done. Couldn’t decide this earlier that afternoon of course.

which then pissed off my wife who got mad at me about it.

like I ******* WANTED to go in on Saturday to handle it.

 

[crane operator]

oh my above tale? I was rolling home on the road at 4:30 on Friday when the boss called me to tell me he needed me to work Saturday to get it done. Couldn’t decide this earlier that afternoon of course.

When we have weekend work, I always see if anyone wants to work (some guys want/need the money). And I don't ask the guys to work, if I'm not working already, or one of them wants to do it.

I think to many bosses think "they have to work saturday- I need them". When actually the overtime stuff is voluntary. Because actually, Monday morning is voluntary also.

I can get bent around the axle a little when I have equipment down, and work to do. But in the big scheme of things, it really doesn't matter if my machine gets running saturday at 2:00 or on monday at 2:00. Stuff breaks and the guys who collapse into a rage aren't great customers anyways.

Some of our work has to take place on weekends, just for access reasons, but I try to limit the disruption to the guys as much as I can. I turned down a walmart night job a couple weeks ago, just because we were busy and it was a long ways away, and I didn't want to wear my guys out.

 

[92U 3406]

Another great one is when a customer brings in something that's 25+ years old, obsolete and then gets upset at you when it can't be fixed because nobody makes any parts for it anymore.

 

[JD955SC]

Another great one is when a customer brings in something that's 25+ years old, obsolete and then gets upset at you when it can't be fixed because nobody makes any parts for it anymore.

or it’s a very broken POS and they don’t have the money to fix it. I’ve been down that rabbit hole before. Other places apparently don’t have an issue with turning down the bs jobs but we do

 

[92U 3406]

or it’s a very broken POS and they don’t have the money to fix it. I’ve been down that rabbit hole before. Other places apparently don’t have an issue with turning down the bs jobs but we do

We'll put an honest effort into tracking down a supplier but sadly sometimes parts just don't exist for some of these older or offbrand machines.

 

[crane operator]

Another great one is when a customer brings in something that's 25+ years old, obsolete and then gets upset at you when it can't be fixed because nobody makes any parts for it anymore.

Most of my equipment is in the 20 year old range, and I do have to get creative sometimes in repair.

I guess in the cranes, I just can't justify the cost of the new stuff- its just so expensive. And I don't want the huge payments- I would rather buy parts.

 

[92U 3406]

Most of my equipment is in the 20 year old range, and I do have to get creative sometimes in repair.

I guess in the cranes, I just can't justify the cost of the new stuff- its just so expensive. And I don't want the huge payments- I would rather by parts.

I get the impression that you know parts could be hard to find and don't ream out the shop/parts department because they don't have everything sitting there in the warehouse waiting for you at all times.

 

[crane operator]

I very rarely get anything from a dealer. The "crane" dealers are all 4-5 hours away, and they don't stock anything. So I try not to put my repair issues onto anyone else- its my equipment, so its kind of my problem to get it put back together.

I have a good hydraulic shop, a good truck parts shop, and a few other decent parts places, and usually between them and some creative thinking I can band aid stuff back together.

I will throw one "dealer" in this conversation. Liebherr is amazing. The parts are $$$, but they always have it and their guys know what they are doing. I've got a serpentine belt on a 20 year old rig that nothing gates makes will match. The tensioner doesn't allow a lot of belt length variance, but liebherr had the belt and it was on my doorstep the next day.

 

[JD955SC]

I very rarely get anything from a dealer. The "crane" dealers are all 4-5 hours away, and they don't stock anything. So I try not to put my repair issues onto anyone else- its my equipment, so its kind of my problem to get it put back together.

I have a good hydraulic shop, a good truck parts shop, and a few other decent parts places, and usually between them and some creative thinking I can band aid stuff back together.

I will throw one "dealer" in this conversation. Liebherr is amazing. The parts are $$$, but they always have it and their guys know what they are doing. I've got a serpentine belt on a 20 year old rig that nothing gates makes will match. The tensioner doesn't allow a lot of belt length variance, but liebherr had the belt and it was on my doorstep the next day.

We had someone who worked for Liebherr on the construction side. It was actually annoying as hell as he would never shut up about how Liebherr did things but from what he was saying the company was very intensive on training and running things well.

we don’t have a Liebherr location here, it’s all field service they ship parts either to the technicians house or the customer.

 

[crane operator]

I (knock on wood) haven't had to get a liebherr tech to my one liebherr crane. And its so complicated and it intimidates the heck out me electrically- but they have been able to walk me through on the phone- every issue I've had with it.

I talked to link belt dealer last week and got the "well unless we've got a tech there with his hands on it we can't really say too much" b. s. If you can't tell me on the phone what I need to know- I'm talking to the wrong guy on the phone.

I've been looking at another bigger All Terrain crane, and there's no doubt in my mind if I get one, I'm buying another liebherr. Their customer service is simply outstanding.

I might think differently if I was in St. louis or kansas city where there was a grove all terrain dealer with a trained tech 10 minutes down the road. The truck cranes aren't near as complicated, so I don't care if they are a grove or linkbelt, but I really would struggle with buying any big all terrain other than a liebherr, simply because of their customer support.

That said, I just put a alternator on from liebherr that cost me $1,500, but they had the stupid thing on their shelf. My link belt had a hyd. cooling fan die- and link belts answer was "no longer available", and it was a captured part # from parker.

I'm happier with a outrageous cost for a available part, than I am with a "NLA" response. Because the NLA means I'm going to have to jack around and make 4 trips and a bunch of phone calls to find what I actually need from other suppliers.

 

[92U 3406]

I had an interview with Liebherr's crane division years ago. They seem to be very strict with who they hire. Had a good conversation with the man and he told me that he'd like all applicants to have had a year or two of experience working on cranes before he'd take them onboard.

 

[Zewnten]

Interesting Crane Operator, do you call Liebherr directly or dealer. The Liebherr dealer in Denver, Power Screening, is useless. Don't get me wrong the loaders were beat to hell and poorly taken care of, but when you put your tool down and short out the whole pre-heater system and then act like nothing happened well...

 

[crane operator]

Liebherr direct in the crane division. There's a liebherr dirt dealer a hour away, but they don't deal with the cranes. All the cranes are direct service, from factory trained guys.