Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers - Buyer beware!

[GeauxLSU]

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...

[DieselPower]

Sounds like it's time for a lawsuit for false advertisement. Maybe even the mention of a lawsuit might scare them into making thing's right for you.

[LoneCowboy]

All auctions say buyer must inspect, all bids final, blah blah blah.

It sucks, but 10 minutes of getting wet would have saved you 1000's.
You won't melt.
I'm sorry, but there is only one person at fault here.

[dirtworksequip]

Auctions are always "AS IS,WHERE IS" You are ultimately the one that made the choice to buy. You can't blame anyone but yourself. Sorry that it didn't work out for you,but thats life.

[dgl24087]

Auction companies are also not usually the owners of the items, they are just selling on consigment. They also depend on the owner to provide the information of the object, usually have the disclaimer that they are not responsible for errors in the listings, all items presumed to be accurately described.

[Z-Michigan]

While I agree with Brian and dirtworks in general, this is a really big discrepancy that changes the value of the item. It's like advertising a V8 and actually having a V6. Assuming you don't want to keep the gear tractor, you might want to consult a lawyer (licensed in the state where the auction took place) and see if this invalidates the auction sale. In anything other than an auction it would - but I am not an expert on the law for auction sales.

[GeauxLSU]

This was/is my first tractor. I wouldn't have known the difference by looking at them. The POINT is they take proxy and internet bids (as well as live in person). How in the world are you supposed to bid if you can't rely on the BASIC description? The year model you could mistype, the model number you could mistype. To literally spell out the transmission which you made it a POINT to put in the basic description and it just so happen to be the most expensive advertised and the least in actuality? Yeah, they have the verbage down to cover their rumps. It's what they do. What a great business. "We have no liability, at all, whatsoever." I actually asked the guy if I had done an internet bid on a tractor and it actually turned out to be a pickup truck if he'd be giving me the same line, he said "Yes."
Of course I'm left holding the bag. I guess I just conduct and expect others to be conduct business a little different. That whole "treat others" thing I suppose.
The purpose of my post is exactly as it says. If you deal with them, since they are worldwide, buyer beware. Apparently the description means absolutely nothing. I'm not quite sure why they publish catalogs at all. They should just say "We're selling some stuff. Come figure out what it is and see if you'd like to buy it."

[redlevel]

Geaux, this is a tough crowd, ain't it? I always heard bought experience is the best kind.

My brother and I bought a piece of equipment at auction once; he did the bidding and I just stood back and watched. At one point, they tried to make him bid against himself. I hollered at the auctioneer, asked him to point out who had upped my brother's previous bid. No one had, of course. They passed it off as a mistake, but I wondered how many times that day they had gotten an extra 50 or 100 bucks on an item. They were really sort of po'd that we had caught them, but my brother and I were both big old strong boys at that time, so they didn't say much. You have to cover all the bases when you are buying stuff at auction.

Your Tigers did a job on the Irish. Congratulations.

[dirtworksequip]

At auction its up to the buyer to determine what is actually up for sale, reguardless of the description. Knowledge of the serial number would have told you a lot of important info about the tractor.You where just buying a pig in a poke. Auctions are like buying from a used car salesman. Ya just know he is streaching the truth. He's going to build up the item to get top dollar,because his take is based on a percentage of the total sale.

[GeauxLSU]

Geaux, this is a tough crowd, ain't it? I always heard bought experience is the best kind.

Your Tigers did a job on the Irish. Congratulations.

I tried to get someone more knowledgeable than I to accompany me but during the week, it's a lot to ask, but being such a large company I assumed.....and of course I needn't say more. Yep, like I said, life's tuition payments. Just giving out a free internet correspondence course in the hopes I may save others from that same tuition payment.

Thanks for the comment on the Tigers. It was nice to watch. I'll refrain from beating up on the Irish. They got enough of that in the Superdome.