Watkins Tractor & Supply Co.

"Always get my parts here eric is great help"

"It is nice to go to a place where they know what they are talking about. Ask a question, and they give you an intelligent answer. Not like Home Depot."

"In Short: My experience with Watkins Tractor turned out to be an ongoing nightmare of incompetence, excuses, insults, finger pointing, charging for unnecessary parts, and even being billed for hours above a promised labor cap. Then, after the job was finally “completed”, Watkins refused to take accountability or reimburse for, multiple parts that were damaged or lost as a result of their mechanic’s failure to properly re-torque bolts they had removed and replaced during the job. The Specifics: After 15 years of problem free use, the mid mount mower on my 2007 Kubota BX24D would run fine for about twenty minutes, then for no obvious reason, the blades would quit turning. Once cooled off, everything would run fine again, but only for about twenty minutes. When not working, I disconnected the mower drive shaft coupler from the front PTO and found that even when engaged, the PTO was NOT TURNING. I took the tractor to Watkins to have them repair whatever was going on with the PTO. When I went to pick up the BX, the service writer said that they had found the belt for my mower deck was bad and causing the problem. I asked mechanic for an explanation of how a bad belt could cause the PTO to not turn, even after the mower was disconnected from the PTO? His reply was: “I can’t answer that, but I’m 99.9% sure that the belt was the only problem.” That response didn’t make sense, but I’m no mechanic, so I paid my bill and trusted he knew what he is doing. When I got home, the mower only worked for about 20 minutes and failed. I called and spoke to the owner of Watkins. After explaining the troubleshooting I had previously done and symptoms I had observed, the owner agreed the problem was likely in the transmission/PTO not the mower deck, but assured me I would be fairly compensated for the unnecessary parts and labor from my bill. I took the BX back to Watkins and this time the mechanic replaced the clutch plates, but the PTO still failed. The service writer said they needed to go back and look further, but assured me, they would NOT be charging me for any labor beyond the 12 hours they had currently worked. Eventually they found and replaced bad seals in the transmission and got everything working. When I arrived to pick up the BX, the service writer had already gone home so they said she would call me the next day to get my payment. I went home and mowed for about 2 hours with absolutely no problem. The next day, I got a call from the service writer. My bill came to just over $2,200. I made the payment by credit card over the phone, but there was a problem with Watkins’ computer, so she said she would email my invoice later. The next time I mowed, the mower suddenly started rattling and banging, like I had ran over something. I found all four bolts from the right side tension pulley had come loose and were lying on the mower deck. The pulley itself was also damaged from the incident, and the plug bolt for the gear box was missing, releasing oil all over the deck. Obviously, the mechanic that had worked on the mower had failed to torque all of the bolts. I called Watkins, and sent them a photo of the damage and also reminded them I had not yet received my invoice. The service manager called back saying that the mechanic wouldn’t have had any reason to removed the pulley, so any replacement parts would be my responsibility. Evidently, she felt that after 15 years, all four Pulley bolts (as well as the gear box bolt plug) just happened to loosen and come apart, for no reason, at the exact same time... My invoice finally arrived and I was overcharged $220 for two additional hours of labor beyond the 12 hour labor cap they promised. I was also charged $154.50 for clutch plates, which were unnecessary. I was never reimbursed, as promised, for my initial $507.50 payment (for parts & labor never requested or needed). Finally, it cost me just under $100 (on-line) to replace the missing and damaged parts their mechanic failed to properly torque. All totaled Watkins still owes me close to $1000. NEVER AGAIN!"

"Excellent customer service! Answered all our questions, and had practical knowledge and experience to share. I'm looking forward to putting my new toy to work."

"Had the chain link fence hardware I needed. Helpful staff. Much cheaper than HD L's or even Amazon!"