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| First, I won't disagree with you that AGCO may have some high priced parts in their system. But I do think it is wrong to imply that AGCO is any worse than CNH or John Deere in this respect. I'm certain there are plenty of high priced parts within those respective company's parts systems also. I guess I've really given them the benefit of the doubt because it is too easy to be an "armchair quarterback" and tell them how things should be run. Again, JD and CNH aren't perfect either. You don't have to look too hard to find horror stories about backordered parts or even unavailable parts with them either. That's the parts business. When you look at the shear number of parts that AGCO is responsible for across all of its brands (especially relative to the number handled by JD and CNH), it is truly remarkable that they even have available or offer what they do (granted, sometimes a part seems pricey, but it is still available as they are under no legal obligation to offer parts beyond a certain point). AGCO is a success story and, while they don't do everything perfectly or how we think things should be done, until you're on the inside and are responsible for making those (often difficult) decisions and for keeping the company successful, I do not know that it is fair to condemn the company. I can understand and appreciate the emotions involved here, but hey, look on the bright side: AGCO is still an American owned company with some of the richest and proudest heritage in agriculture. Just be glad that the Italians (Fiat) don't own AGCO as they do CNH.
And as for the Challenger dealer network, this is the nature of business today - it is part of AGCO's growth strategy to improve the company's distribution and to make its products more accessible to more people. (Yeah, that whole MF branded Hesston equipment idea had me scratching my head too - still does, but it doesn't change the fact that Hesston hay equipment is still the best you can buy). Again, the same thing is happening all across the country with the CNH and JD dealers. The larger dealers are taking over the smaller ones, often closing and streamlining locations. You can read on here just about every week where someone's local JD or CNH store has been acquired by a larger conglomerate, and usually these acquisitions and consolidations are done with the blessing or even strong encouragement of the big manufacturers. Similar to what is now happening on the automotive front with GM and Chrysler handing down all of those contract cancellation letters just last week. Now I'm not passing judgment on whether this trend is good or bad, only stating the fact that it is happening and is NOT exclusive to AGCO. | |
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Why I hate AGCO
