Another dealer trying to scam. LONG
- Thread starter WTA
- Start date
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mjarrels
Elite Member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2005
- Messages
- 2,837
- Location
- Virginia
- Tractor
- 1949 farmall, 1961 Fordson Dexta, 1986 Duetz Allis, 2001 Kubota.
I know this is not much help... but... life is not fair, I've taught my kids the same... the sooner you learn this the better off you are... I have had run ins with Co. that promise "whe will deduct the payment from your checking account"... yep, drained me dry and came back for more... (never again)... I just gave it up as a lesson in experience at the tune of about $700.00. Yep starts with a "C"... $12.99 a month and with a "sent you a E-mail" about our price change of "2.99 a minute" while loged on! Screwed me big time... Customer service... yep... none, but you could talk to many folks within the Co who do nothing!
mark
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Believe me I know how unfair life can be. I've been around a little. I tried to delete this post completely right after I wrote it but I wasn't allowed so I'll explain a little bit what happened.
Back in May my new tractor, that was under warranty started screwing up real bad. The dealer spent nearly 3 months fixing it due to their incompetence and finally blamed it on trash in my tank. That is just not possible. In short, right when the problem started I cleaned the tank myself and being an old Navy engineer I know what clean is. They also cleaned it on the second trip I think to their shop but the last time they cleaned it again so they say and they claim they found bugs in it. It's just not possible. When I cleaned it all I found was plastic shavings from the tank itself and some gel in the filters which I can not explain given the outside temp at that time was in the 90's.
Last week this poor excuse for a tractor dealer sent me a bill for a denied warranty claim. In the next to the last trip to them they broke several things on my tractor while trying to train a new mechanic. He stripped my fuel filter bleed screw, broke the AC adjuster bracket, left a hydraulic fitting loose which completely ruined a whole crop of alfalfa here and other things. Those are just the big ones. In the bill I just got they tried to submit the parts they broke for warranty payment and of course it got denied. I know how warranty works very well, I've worked at new car and tractor dealers as a mechanic myself since I retired from the service, about 13 years ago. They don't pay for things that don't fit the problem and they don't pay for things that the shop broke in the process of fixing the original problem. Now this dealer expects me to pay for it. It's not going to happen!
Also there is a price gouging problem I have with them. When I pointed out that the mechanic stripped out my bleeder screw they tried to deny it and said I had to pay for the new filter housing and they told me it was something like 130 dollars. It's only about 30 dollars every where else in the country. A lot of other parts got jacked like that on me before I wised up. Now I'm really ticked off and I filed a claim with the BBB against them yesterday.
Back in May my new tractor, that was under warranty started screwing up real bad. The dealer spent nearly 3 months fixing it due to their incompetence and finally blamed it on trash in my tank. That is just not possible. In short, right when the problem started I cleaned the tank myself and being an old Navy engineer I know what clean is. They also cleaned it on the second trip I think to their shop but the last time they cleaned it again so they say and they claim they found bugs in it. It's just not possible. When I cleaned it all I found was plastic shavings from the tank itself and some gel in the filters which I can not explain given the outside temp at that time was in the 90's.
Last week this poor excuse for a tractor dealer sent me a bill for a denied warranty claim. In the next to the last trip to them they broke several things on my tractor while trying to train a new mechanic. He stripped my fuel filter bleed screw, broke the AC adjuster bracket, left a hydraulic fitting loose which completely ruined a whole crop of alfalfa here and other things. Those are just the big ones. In the bill I just got they tried to submit the parts they broke for warranty payment and of course it got denied. I know how warranty works very well, I've worked at new car and tractor dealers as a mechanic myself since I retired from the service, about 13 years ago. They don't pay for things that don't fit the problem and they don't pay for things that the shop broke in the process of fixing the original problem. Now this dealer expects me to pay for it. It's not going to happen!
Also there is a price gouging problem I have with them. When I pointed out that the mechanic stripped out my bleeder screw they tried to deny it and said I had to pay for the new filter housing and they told me it was something like 130 dollars. It's only about 30 dollars every where else in the country. A lot of other parts got jacked like that on me before I wised up. Now I'm really ticked off and I filed a claim with the BBB against them yesterday.
I have seen all this stuff first hand myself. This is why I have a hard time letting anyone, fix anything for me, especially warranty stuff.
As far as the BBB goes, I would not get my hopes up that they will be able to resolve this for you. I know sometimes they get a resolution, but they have no real power. Unless they suddenly get religious, both sides state their case, twice, and it goes in the "unresolved" file. If they have had "unresolved complaints" against them in the past, yours will be joining them soon.
If that happens, hope they slip up and incriminate themselves in their statements along the way, and then, you can take legal action.
In the mean time I would make a journal, and record every thing that has happened, and has been said, as accurately as possible. You may need it it later, if this drags out.
As far as the BBB goes, I would not get my hopes up that they will be able to resolve this for you. I know sometimes they get a resolution, but they have no real power. Unless they suddenly get religious, both sides state their case, twice, and it goes in the "unresolved" file. If they have had "unresolved complaints" against them in the past, yours will be joining them soon.
If that happens, hope they slip up and incriminate themselves in their statements along the way, and then, you can take legal action.
In the mean time I would make a journal, and record every thing that has happened, and has been said, as accurately as possible. You may need it it later, if this drags out.
tallyho8
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2004
- Messages
- 4,532
- Tractor
- Kubota L4400, Kubota ZD326
I, also, do not believe that the BBB will be able to help you at all. When I first started in business I received several complaints with the BBB and tried my best to resolve all of them. Nevertheless, people who called the BBB to check out my company before dealing with me got very negative information.
One day the BBB sent my company an application to join. We wrote them a check and joined and never received another complaint in the next 30 years and always got very positive recommendations from them. All we had to do was keep our dues paid up.
The Attorney General's office usually has a consumer affairs division that may be able to help you.
One day the BBB sent my company an application to join. We wrote them a check and joined and never received another complaint in the next 30 years and always got very positive recommendations from them. All we had to do was keep our dues paid up.
The Attorney General's office usually has a consumer affairs division that may be able to help you.
I am hoping the BBB does some good. This dealer has a bunch of award plaques all over their wall from them I remember but when I look them up through the BBB there is no record. Weird.
They cost me a small fortune this summer though and I'm fed up. Especially after receiving the bill last week that was for parts they either broke or misdiagnosed. All the years I was a mechanic if I had replaced the wrong part or broke something on a customers machine then either I or the dealer ate the cost, not the customer. Also, If my tractor had been here and working I would have been able to make my annual payment for which I just got an extension on. I lost two custom farming jobs on other peoples properties too while my tractor couldn't get out of the shop long enough to do any work.
They constantly refused to give me receipts, copies of work orders, loaner tractors and anything else I asked for that normally a dealer would provide.
My biggest peeve besides missing so much work this summer was their denial of any responsibility in breaking certain parts and trying to blame it on me and also the price gouging. more than 100% markup on parts should be criminal as far as I'm concerned especially when there isn't another dealer within 60 miles like in this case. Thankfully, these days we have the internet to compare prices or I never would have known.
I am the same way about letting other people fix things for me normally. I do not like anyone else touching anything of mine for any reason. At first I had a good relationship with this dealer though. I thought. I actually trusted them until my tractor that I paid nearly 40,000 dollars for started dying and their mechanics were lost trying to figure it out. I discovered a lot about them in the time they spent working on mine. I have extensive diesel experience, also on transmissions, steam turbines and reciprocating engines, air conditioning and hydraulics. It's hard to get anything past me in any of these areas. They sure tried though and I was pointing out istakes they made along the way and offering my two cents when needed. Like when they had my injector pump rebuilt. I knew that wasn't the problem and told them so. It turned out I was right. I kept thinking it was the lift pump and said so but they wouldn't replace that 30 dollar part till near the end of the ordeal. I think it fixed it but after it was replaced it was given back to me with a stripped out bleed screw so it was hard to tell. They also left off a nut and stripped out one of the bolts on my injector pump that time. It only had three holding it on in the first place. The service manager actually told me that the stripped out one was designed from the factory so that in order to remove it you have to break it off. Yeah, I was born yesterday too. What really happened is they stripped it during the several times thy tried unsuccessfully to adjust the timing then instead of tapping the hole out they just forced a new bolt in to it. One with the wrong thread pitch. Basically cross threading the entire length of the hole so it would half way hold. Until the next time it was loosened anyway hopefully when it was out of their shop.
I don't know if I mentioned this or not yet but the last time I went to pick it up they had called and said it was ready. It wasn't when I got there. The mechanic was jacking the pump timing all over the place and ragging on my starter trying to get it to start. Almost right off I noticed that the two banjo fuel fittings on the injector pump didn't look right and I mentioned it to him. One is an orifice and one is full flow. He had them in the wrong places and the engine wasn't getting any fuel. This is the kind of mechanics they had working on my tractor. The service manager did notice that one about the same time as me though to his credit. I think he should have been personally doing all the repairs though since he seemed to be the only one with any kind of experience at all.
They cost me a small fortune this summer though and I'm fed up. Especially after receiving the bill last week that was for parts they either broke or misdiagnosed. All the years I was a mechanic if I had replaced the wrong part or broke something on a customers machine then either I or the dealer ate the cost, not the customer. Also, If my tractor had been here and working I would have been able to make my annual payment for which I just got an extension on. I lost two custom farming jobs on other peoples properties too while my tractor couldn't get out of the shop long enough to do any work.
They constantly refused to give me receipts, copies of work orders, loaner tractors and anything else I asked for that normally a dealer would provide.
My biggest peeve besides missing so much work this summer was their denial of any responsibility in breaking certain parts and trying to blame it on me and also the price gouging. more than 100% markup on parts should be criminal as far as I'm concerned especially when there isn't another dealer within 60 miles like in this case. Thankfully, these days we have the internet to compare prices or I never would have known.
I am the same way about letting other people fix things for me normally. I do not like anyone else touching anything of mine for any reason. At first I had a good relationship with this dealer though. I thought. I actually trusted them until my tractor that I paid nearly 40,000 dollars for started dying and their mechanics were lost trying to figure it out. I discovered a lot about them in the time they spent working on mine. I have extensive diesel experience, also on transmissions, steam turbines and reciprocating engines, air conditioning and hydraulics. It's hard to get anything past me in any of these areas. They sure tried though and I was pointing out istakes they made along the way and offering my two cents when needed. Like when they had my injector pump rebuilt. I knew that wasn't the problem and told them so. It turned out I was right. I kept thinking it was the lift pump and said so but they wouldn't replace that 30 dollar part till near the end of the ordeal. I think it fixed it but after it was replaced it was given back to me with a stripped out bleed screw so it was hard to tell. They also left off a nut and stripped out one of the bolts on my injector pump that time. It only had three holding it on in the first place. The service manager actually told me that the stripped out one was designed from the factory so that in order to remove it you have to break it off. Yeah, I was born yesterday too. What really happened is they stripped it during the several times thy tried unsuccessfully to adjust the timing then instead of tapping the hole out they just forced a new bolt in to it. One with the wrong thread pitch. Basically cross threading the entire length of the hole so it would half way hold. Until the next time it was loosened anyway hopefully when it was out of their shop.
I don't know if I mentioned this or not yet but the last time I went to pick it up they had called and said it was ready. It wasn't when I got there. The mechanic was jacking the pump timing all over the place and ragging on my starter trying to get it to start. Almost right off I noticed that the two banjo fuel fittings on the injector pump didn't look right and I mentioned it to him. One is an orifice and one is full flow. He had them in the wrong places and the engine wasn't getting any fuel. This is the kind of mechanics they had working on my tractor. The service manager did notice that one about the same time as me though to his credit. I think he should have been personally doing all the repairs though since he seemed to be the only one with any kind of experience at all.
Bird
Rest in Peace
I, also, do not believe that the BBB will be able to help you at all. When I first started in business I received several complaints with the BBB and tried my best to resolve all of them. Nevertheless, people who called the BBB to check out my company before dealing with me got very negative information.
One day the BBB sent my company an application to join. We wrote them a check and joined and never received another complaint in the next 30 years and always got very positive recommendations from them. All we had to do was keep our dues paid up.
The Attorney General's office usually has a consumer affairs division that may be able to help you.
You've got it exactly right. If you pay the BBB, they'll be on your side. I consider them a little better than nothing, but they really are almost as big a scam as the companies complained about.
MikeD74T
Veteran Member
WTA, Here's a second re: contact your Attourney General's office. There is usually a consumer protection division that is very helpful in settling these disputes. They absolutely know which laws apply & will initiate mediation if applicable and they're seldom intimidated by the other guys' lawyers. Make your tax dollars work for you. MikeD74T
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
been there, done that one also. dealer fixed something that was supposed to be done under warranty, blamed me for using bad fuel,etc, and basically held my stuff hostage until I paid them. I found the BBB to be worthless. I took it to the engine manufacturer who reimbursed me for the warranty work.
Bottom line is I will never use that dealer or recommend him to anyone.
Bottom line is I will never use that dealer or recommend him to anyone.
