A U.S. judge on Monday said Deere & Co must face claims from crop farms and farmers that the agricultural machinery maker has unlawfully conspired to restrict services for maintenance and repair.
So … what part of that has anything to do with a farmer getting screwed when their equipment breaks down and they’re locked out of effecting a repair they’re more than capable of doing?
When they’re racing time and the weather waiting on an overbooked repair tech that can get them in at their convenience a few days from now, and charge an arm and a leg for the pleasure? Who’s liable to tell them they need to bring it to the shop 50+ miles away?
Sure: they could buy another brand … that doesn’t work as nearly as well. That’s not compatible with the $500k+ of JD equipment and attachments they already own. That isn’t well supported in their region.
Farmers aren’t pissed because JD is preventing them from doing stupid shit. They’re pissed because JD is using every anti-consumer practice in the book to extract as much money as possible from a captive market and fucking them at the same time.
warranty
Warranties don’t cover damage from abuse, misuse, and user modifications already.
YOU CAN BUY ALL THE PARTS YOU NEED TO FIX YOUR TRACTOR.
The person you’re replying to is absolutely correct. The only thing you can’t do is legally modify the firmware on the controllers because that is usually done to bypass emissions controls. There are 10,000 page manuals supplied by Deere to diagnose and repair every part of their machinery. I have used them many times. I have never taken a tractor in to a Deere dealer to repair for any other reason than “I don’t have time to deal with this right now”.
Jesus, the misinformation on this subject is depressing, as is the willingness of people to accept it without a hint of critical thinking or research.
The only thing you can’t do is legally modify the firmware on the controllers because that is usually done to bypass emissions controls
We are talking about basic access to the software in a way that allows diagnosing and repairing problems.
Every major part of a tractor is computer controlled and “smart”, and because of that JD locks the owner out from accessing diagnostic information or swapping parts. Doing so requires hooking up a laptop with JD Service Advisor – which isn’t available to anyone apart from JD service techs.
The GPS module (or any other “smart” part) died and you want to swap it with an identical spare you have on hand? Tough shit, you need to call a tech to hook their laptop up before the computer will accept the new part. Want “trouble codes” to diagnose a problem – too bad, you don’t have JD Service Advisor to pull them. Fix a problem and want to take the tractor out of “trouble mode” … nope.
As for “modifying firmware”: the firmware controls everything. You can’t use 3rd party parts, and you can’t even use older (but still working) John Deere parts that are “unsupported”.
Jesus, the misinformation on this subject is depressing
Yeah, by people that have obviously never touched JD equipment.
So … what part of that has anything to do with a farmer getting screwed when their equipment breaks down and they’re locked out of effecting a repair they’re more than capable of doing?
When they’re racing time and the weather waiting on an overbooked repair tech that can get them in at their convenience a few days from now, and charge an arm and a leg for the pleasure? Who’s liable to tell them they need to bring it to the shop 50+ miles away?
Sure: they could buy another brand … that doesn’t work as nearly as well. That’s not compatible with the $500k+ of JD equipment and attachments they already own. That isn’t well supported in their region.
Farmers aren’t pissed because JD is preventing them from doing stupid shit. They’re pissed because JD is using every anti-consumer practice in the book to extract as much money as possible from a captive market and fucking them at the same time.
Warranties don’t cover damage from abuse, misuse, and user modifications already.
YOU CAN BUY ALL THE PARTS YOU NEED TO FIX YOUR TRACTOR.
The person you’re replying to is absolutely correct. The only thing you can’t do is legally modify the firmware on the controllers because that is usually done to bypass emissions controls. There are 10,000 page manuals supplied by Deere to diagnose and repair every part of their machinery. I have used them many times. I have never taken a tractor in to a Deere dealer to repair for any other reason than “I don’t have time to deal with this right now”.
Jesus, the misinformation on this subject is depressing, as is the willingness of people to accept it without a hint of critical thinking or research.
We are talking about basic access to the software in a way that allows diagnosing and repairing problems.
Every major part of a tractor is computer controlled and “smart”, and because of that JD locks the owner out from accessing diagnostic information or swapping parts. Doing so requires hooking up a laptop with JD Service Advisor – which isn’t available to anyone apart from JD service techs.
The GPS module (or any other “smart” part) died and you want to swap it with an identical spare you have on hand? Tough shit, you need to call a tech to hook their laptop up before the computer will accept the new part. Want “trouble codes” to diagnose a problem – too bad, you don’t have JD Service Advisor to pull them. Fix a problem and want to take the tractor out of “trouble mode” … nope.
As for “modifying firmware”: the firmware controls everything. You can’t use 3rd party parts, and you can’t even use older (but still working) John Deere parts that are “unsupported”.
Yeah, by people that have obviously never touched JD equipment.