Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers - Buyer beware!

[MikePA]

I also realize that auctions are buyer beware and auctioneer assumes no liability but what happens when you buy an item that is "stolen"? Does the auction house still have no liability? Just wondering. Bill C

In the case of tractors, or other items that don't have a title, how would the auction house know?

 

[Soundguy]

Some items have a certificate of origin, and then of course, there is the spec sheet from the bill of sale. I have all of thet kind of paperwork for my tractors i have bought from dealers. ( I guess if ya buy used you may not have this..e tc.. ) Still.. not to hard to look up codes to find out what a tractor is.. or at least came from the factory with..

Soundguy

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Anybody ever use them?
Bought a tractor from them (basically new 15 hours) and it was raining like crazy that day so inspection was not practical. I figured it was new, if it made it to the auction block and looked good, bid away. It did. I did, and paid top dollar for the item as advertised. 2005 Kubota L3130 HYDROSTATIC drive. Well long story short, it's NOT hyrdrostatic. Not even GST. It's simply a manual.
After a few calls and eMails, let me see if I can translate their response, "Go pound sand." This was my favorite direct quote though "If we made it right for every customer who bought an item that we inaccurately described, we'd go bankrupt."

Another of life's tuition payments I guess...

I LOVE going to auctions. I've bought dozens of old tractors, trucks, farm equipment, even one house at auction.

A good close friend of mine is an auctioneer. I've known Donny for 40 years. I'd trust him with my life.

That said, I'd NEVER in a million lifetimes trust him with my MONEY at an auction.

EVERY auction I've ever been to opens with the usual threats regarding non-payment, bad checks, ect, then they go into the disclaimer speech of no liability/no warranty expressed or implied/sold "as-is and where is"/we are just selling the items NOT representing the owner/seller in any capacity OTHER than as sales agent on the sale day. No one can "dis" their responsibility for negligence, but their pre-sale rant does clear the auctioneer of ANYTHING other than running a fair auction. (FAIR AUCTION..... Now there's your basic oxymoron.)

You MIGHT get some satisfaction with a lawyer and a trip to court. I like the idea of setting down with the seller, a rep from the auction service, you and your attorney, and a description (sale bill) furnished before the sale AND a statement from a dealer listing what options/standard equipment you actually bought. Let the auctioneer have a chance to make it good. Maybe they can re-sell the tractor at another auction. Then it's a matter of finding a fair and equatable settlement of who pays the difference.

In general, any auction firm that's been around for a while has gone up against claims like yours. They know their position. They also know their best course of action is to deny, deny, deny. In most cases, people just grow tired of battling them and just go away.

Good luck,
Better luck at the NEXT auction.

 

[Champy]

Two more comments on this debate.......

1 - If you were buying this same tractor (tool, boat, trailer, etc...) from an individual who had simply placed it out at the road with a for sale sign - how would you be complaining about it now?

Would you be going back to his house to complain and threaten a lawsuit (or not)? The auction house (in my opinion) is simply a representative of the seller who has chosen not to sell it themselves because the auctioneer provide greater services; more viewers; higher prices; etc.....


2 - I will never bid on EBAY for anything over $1000 EVER AGAIN. I bid (and did not win) on a tractor for $16.5k, it did not sell because it never met the Reserve price, and then I somehow received 15 (FIFTEEN!) separate fake emails from various scammers pretending to be the original seller offering a "second chance" purchase price of $16k; $15k; etc...."just send me a certified check and the tractor is yours". How they got my email address is EBAY's fault, and I thankfully noticed some errors in their letters that alerted me to this fraud. Once you bid on a high dollar item, you are immediately being targeted for greater levels of disception than could possibly occur just buying a tractor you actually did see and touch.

 

[dirtworksequip]

I had bought my JD 3520/cab off eBay. It had 7 hours on it. It was a legit sale. I corresponded with the seller before the sale ended. After I picked up the tractor and had it home about a month later, some scammer was running the same tractor with the same pics as the original seller had. The original seller contacted eBay and they closed the auction. Lots of scammers and lots of honest sales. You just have to do proper research to determine what the truth is.

 

[Iowachild]

"Good judgement comes from experience.Experience comes from bad judgement."

And man do I have a lot of experience....................................

 

[dirtworksequip]

Me too. I must be way over a million and headed for two!

 

[indianaEPH]

Thanks for posting this GeauxLSU. While I have always been skeptical of all descriptions of merchandise such as "excellent condition", your situation should put us all on alert that even the fundemental description of what is being sold needs to be questioned.

I think you got ripped off, somewhat. You still have a good tractor at a good price but your not satisfied because it is not what you wanted.

In my oppion RB auction house is not trustworthy, based on how they treated you. The fact that most of them behave the same way does not justify it. Buyer beware is right!

 

[aesanders]

2005 KUBOTA L3130D 4X4 UTILITY TRACTOR 50000 Nov - 2006 USA-GA 15,000 USD

3 cyl diesel, 24 hp, hydrostatic drive, LA723 frt end loader, 3 pt hitch, 2 hyd outlets, PTO

This add in itself would make me inspect the tractor more carefully.
24 hp is more like a b7610.

The KUBOTA L3130D is the gear model that you got, so it is accurate and fully states the tractor you bid on.

hydrostatic drive. Like Bleedgreen stated this could be in refernece to the steering.

LA723 frt end loader---Does it actually have this loader or the 500 series?

2 hyd outlets---Is this accurate as well. Do you know what this is.


Final Advise from me: If you are a tractor newbie "DO NOT BUY FROM AN AUCTION COMPANY" unless you are 100% sure of what you are bidding on. Have someone that knows the items you bid on. From my experiece with auctions, their are numerous mistakes on many descriptions. I go to all the woodworking equipment auctions I can find and the auction companies know very little about the equipment for the most part. You have to know what it is that you are looking at prior to bidding. I come accross mistakes all the time.

 

[GeauxLSU]

This add in itself would make me inspect the tractor more carefully.
24 hp is more like a b7610.

The KUBOTA L3130D is the gear model that you got, so it is accurate and fully states the tractor you bid on.

hydrostatic drive. Like Bleedgreen stated this could be in refernece to the steering.

LA723 frt end loader---Does it actually have this loader or the 500 series?

2 hyd outlets---Is this accurate as well. Do you know what this is.


Final Advise from me: If you are a tractor newbie "DO NOT BUY FROM AN AUCTION COMPANY" unless you are 100% sure of what you are bidding on. Have someone that knows the items you bid on. From my experiece with auctions, their are numerous mistakes on many descriptions. I go to all the woodworking equipment auctions I can find and the auction companies know very little about the equipment for the most part. You have to know what it is that you are looking at prior to bidding. I come accross mistakes all the time.

24hp is the HP of the PTO on the HYDROSTATIC model of this tractor. (It's 25.5 on the gear model). That was one thing I checked beforehand and another reason it appears, as advertised, to be the HST. Not all literature stated 'D'. Yes that is the model loader it has on it. Can't tell you if it has both outlets but I've seen other models (of L3130) advertised that way as well.