JD grapple/bucket prices?!

[therealmelissa]

I'll bet you could save some bucks by not getting the floating tine pallet forks. I've heard most people don't like them anyway.

So why the name change from Markham to Gator?

Hello I can help answer that question for you, my name is Melissa Markham and me and my husband Allen Started/owned Markham Welding in 2000 until 2009 when we decided to sell it to Christie Loflin-ex wife to Cliff Loflin owner of Mid-state attachments, aka Piranaha attachments, aka Wildkat attachments and so on. We sold it to Christie with the agreement that as long as the doors were open we would have jobs. I was the (so-called) office manager and Allen ran the Burney 10. Until maybe 2 months ago when she decided to show up at the office and fire both of us, I still haven't gotten an answer as to why except she did say she sold the company to uncle Larry, still haven't seen any real proof of that, considering her new business cards she picked up 3days later stated her as the owner. I may sound bitter, I am. I still get phone calls from my old dealers begging me and Allen to start up again, I still get phone calls and texts from my old customers that they have wronged in some way. So yes I am upset. Me and Allen spent 14 hour days, my children missed events because I was at the shop, we busted our butts building that company on integrity and honesty and making sure that our customers where treated as family no matter what was going on. We always made sure that no matter what you guys were taken care of. Now I get phone calls from people telling me how long a lunch I'm taking. So for the record I, Melissa Markham no longer work at Gator and Markham Welding closed the day we sold to her. So please don't fall for the Melissa is out to lunch or on vacation. Because when we sold to her we sold our quality, customer service and attachment knowledge. I am so sorry to all of you and as my personal opinion there are other companies that are matching her product and advertise very competitive prices too. You don't have to buy from her because it was once Markham.

What to ask for when ordering attachments for your tractor or skid steer.

1- What type of cylinders? AMERICAN MADE? Repackable? Warranty? You do not want a cylinder not made in America, in my opinion they just don't hold up as good.
2- True Weight you need to make sure that its not to heavy =any good salesman should know this without hesitation.
3- Thickness of steel? First quality or third? You need to know this because when metal is placed on the Burney to cut if it is not first you can have anything in that metal sheet from bolts or uneven thickness.
4- Actual pins and bushings? WITH COUNTER SUNK GREASE FITTINGS? You need this because this is a key part to the life of your grapple.
5- Parker New Style coupler or Pioneer? Again any good office help will know all this about their product. You guys helped me design and build my products for Markham so anyone else should know theirs.
If you ever have questions about any attachment let me know, I'll help the best I can.

Just remember every salesman or woman will know each and every product inside and out that they sale without hesitation, and will be proud enough to offer all that information without a prompt!
Sincerely, The Real Melissa

PS this is for informational purposes only, as i no longer work for Gator, I can only go on phone calls and conversations that people have had me in private, all this is here say you believe what you want to.

 

[therealmelissa]

Maybe Bambi needs to be re-named gator-girl? :laughing::laughing:

Here i'll help with that. visit her public facebook page- just cut and paste this in your browser you can see the very professional gator crew! Enjoy.

Facebook

and one more thing and I will not beat up this up anymore, Julie stated that Allen worked FOR Christie at her previous company False, Allen was her Partner in that business, yes I know, we were stupid, that is another topic all together.

We did not approach her she approached us to sell, I think jokingly at first, but we decided to. We were tired, the children were tired, and yes the economy did hurt us some months but we always pulled through it and Markham was still growing every day,and she needed a job after the divorce and we wanted to come in and leave it when we left.

Her firing us was hard, I think harder because I considered her more family then friend or boss. I think maybe the biggest problem was that although we had sold out to her, the vendors, and customers and dealers still wanted to deal with us and didn't give her the respect and attention she felt she deserved as the new owner, but I thought that was what she wanted, not to be bothered, so I tried to still handle things the same way I always had, sometimes it wasn't to her agreement sometimes it was. Christie is so hot and cold, I always felt I knew her better then myself, She surprised me, and not only hurt me by her actions but she hurt my family, my children. I hope she never has to feel what I have felt these last weeks, the worry is enough to kill you. Things I never had to worry about until recently, Christie will still carry on as usual and blame everyone else around her when it all goes wrong. Its been a mess and again I'm sorry for having to leave it the way we did.

 

[Angelus]

[/COLOR]
I am so sorry to all of you and as my personal opinion there are other companies that are matching her product and advertise very competitive prices too. You don't have to buy from her because it was once Markham.

Melissa,

I hate to hear that you guys went through all of that. As a small businessperson myself, I understand first hand pouring your heart and soul into your product. I wish you the best with whatever your future holds.

Can you name some of the "other companies" that you mentioned in your post? It would be helpful to me and others I'm sure. Thanks.

 

[therealmelissa]

Melissa,

I hate to hear that you guys went through all of that. As a small businessperson myself, I understand first hand pouring your heart and soul into your product. I wish you the best with whatever your future holds.

Can you name some of the "other companies" that you mentioned in your post? It would be helpful to me and others I'm sure. Thanks.

Thank you, I normally don't get so sappy but enough is enough and all you boys know what happens when a woman starts to lose it.:confused2::laughing:

Yes, Loflin Fabrication phone @ 336-859-4333 ask for Danny, they have always been super to me and Allen when we were in the streamline.. they are a little higher then others but so is their knowledge and service and quality. If your main thing is price price price and not so much anything else Wildkat I hear have been matching all Gator pricing and in some cases beating that price, I can't in good faith name their quality because when we where Markham, they weren't a threat, meaning I never had to get close and personal with their products to compare the quality. So this would be all on you. I can't remember their number but have a website watch the spelling. Please let me know if i can help further.

 

[mjncad]

Here i'll help with that. visit her public facebook page- just cut and paste this in your browser you can see the very professional gator crew! Enjoy.

Facebook

Decent looking; but not hot enough to replace Bambi's picture and name.

 

[Angelus]

I looked at Loflin. They seem to have only very heavy skidsteer grapples in the 700# range and up. Couldn't find any prices, but these wouldn't be the best for CUTs anyway because of the weight.

Wildkat does have a lightweight grapple. Narrowest "normal" width is 66", but can be "special ordered" down to 45". The weight seems to be in line with the Gator. Price is $800. But Melissa didn't exactly give Wildkat a ringing quality endorsement.

I also found this: Ranch Rake | Grapple Rake | M&M Engineered Products. They have a youtube video too. Looks pretty good to me. They are sized as 3', 4', or 5'. The Ranch Rake 4' is 375# compared to the Gator 4' at 385#. I called about the price: $2150 MSRP. But you have to order through their dealer network.

Then there is the Everything Attachments root grapple. Narrowest is 60". Weight is 472#. Price is $1800.

 

[jgrreed]

As I've been made well aware that this type of thread is often deleted, and members involved are banned from TBN (don't want that - I just made the back porch!!) I am going to respond to only the points I see as valid. I'm going to do it calmly, and without sarcasm.

WOW JER! Need some anger managment there. Sorry that I offended you and your friends Allen and Melissa.

Julie, those words were not written out of anger. I've thought this though for many weeks. There was some sarcasm, which caused me to lose some credibility I'm sure. I'm sorry for that. The remainder of it is fact.

As far as the buyout, why do you think there was one. DO you think that things were so well with them that they just wanted to sell their company one day? I am not questioning their knowledge, yes they were great at understanding the product I was simply stating they came to Christie to buy this company.

The details of buyouts, and kickouts, are not my business. What is my business however, is ensuring the quality of characters that I am giving my money to in exchange for a product, and the quality of characters that I put my name and reputation on the line for when I recommend or vouch for them.

Again I did not intentionally lie to you. I was told that the tires were considered an hazarddous material and CONWAY told me that. We are not frieght dealers here so if we were misinformed I apolozize. It became to big of an issue that we did not have time to deal with. Not clear on why you insisted to ship with us when your rate was already better than ours. What you dont realize is we were in negotiations for our frieght companies about our FAK's which had not been correct with the Markhams. Thus yes it could have been wrong and I only passed along the info that ConWay provided me.

I disagree. The tone of the messages you sent to me were very clear that "you were right, and I was wrong", even after I questioned you on it. This will be a "he said, she said", but I think the overall tone of your word has been clearly declared here.

The fact that the 3pt hitch attachment you made for me didn't work was a BIG issue for me, and you helping me with the shipping quote was to compensate for that.

The rate that I've been able to get through other, more helpful means is roughly 1/3 to 1/4 of what you, or I, were able to get. That's why I wanted your help, because it saved me money Julie, about $600.

Thanks, just for the record, Nina is Christie's daughter and is very intelligent!

To clarify, I said Nina is very nice. I have no idea how intelligent she is. She definitely has some problems taking directions regarding shipping. What Nina does clearly have as a tremendous positive in life is that she's at least willing to try. I can't say the same about Christine and yourself, right now.

Nina, please keep up your positive attitude and helpful nature, it'll take you a long way.

I will get your refund to you as soon as you respond to my email I sent you.
I am not here to argue with you and we will do what is needed to get you satisfied if you will just let me know your preference. Refund or you can call me personally.

I will give you and Christine credit that you certainly don't give up on trying to reach a satisfactory result for me. I know that sound like a contradiction to what I said above, but just throwing money back at a customer that was looking forward to a quality, functioning product, is poor form. I set myself up with a drag harrow just to use with the 3pt attachment. Now, now aerating my pasture will not cause any deaths, but I still paid, and I deserve the right product in a timely fashion. I guess what I'm saying is that your willingness to 'make it right' is there, but it's pretty shallow. You can't just throw money at problems all the time, you'll eventually run out.

As I've said several times before, what I want is an attachment that works. That's why I ordered it, and paid in full for it. We'll hopefully be able to work something out here.

I did sign the former from Christie and all of us here at Gator. We are only trying to make it right and dont feel your being fair by slamming us on here for future customers just because your unhappy with a specialized piece that we are trying to make right for you.

I trust that Foggy has clarified the problem with constantly signing off as a different person. Reading and responding to someone else's email account is also a very bad practice for reasons of confusion, and confidentiality.

You weren't trying to make it right until I said something on here Julie, this is what got your attention. I emailed, you acknowledged that, and chose not to respond.

"Slamming" is a spectrum. When it's done for no reason, with no fact, and no backup, it's bad. What's gone on here is more "Truth-revealing". My friends on TBN, your potential future customers, deserve to know what's gone on IN IT'S FULL AND TRUTHFUL FORM.

You guys keep hanging on calling the 3pt attachment 'specialized'. I did not ask you to fabricate a tail rotor linkage for a helicopter, all I asked was that the holes for the 3 pt top link be moved out 1/2", and the ball hitches be placed lower so that it could actually be used to move a tongue style trailer. I did send a clear sketch, I checked my outbox yesterday and resent it to Christie. I don't know what else to say on this.

Funny after that entire comment you still want our 3 point hitch.

It's not funny. The 3pt attachment is a clever idea, and I wanted it in september so that I could aerate and rake the 15 acres of pasture that I just bought at the same time before the snow came.

It is clever, but it's nothing that many, many member on here couldn't whip up in an evening. Even I might be able to to it over the course of a week.

I bought it from you because you offered it at a price that justified in my head saving 10 or so hours of my time, and having it done with Markham quality rather than Jer quality.


I have said my bit. I will only pipe in on this topic from now on if there is an untruth told that needs clarification. If there is an untruth, I'll be all over it like a dirty shirt. I will not have any of my friends go through what I have had to.

We'll chat later about getting me a new 3pt attachment.

-Jer.

 

[jgrreed]

Thank you, I normally don't get so sappy but enough is enough and all you boys know what happens when a woman starts to lose it.:confused2::laughing:

You haven't lost it, you're defending yourself. Good for you.

2- True Weight you need to make sure that its not to heavy =any good salesman should know this without hesitation.

What should the weight of the grapple and snow blade be?? Mine sure make my tractor front heavy, which maybe is what I should expect, but in light of the monster weight of 3pt #2 that I was sent, I have my concerns. If my grapple and blade are a couple hundred pounds heavier than they should be, that's an issue.....

-Jer.

 

[Don87]

I agree and I have sent Jeremy a private note letting him know all I want to do is make it right. Wether it be a refund so he can move forward or another try to get it right. I am open to either. I have no hard feelings and really have came in on the back end as I was some of that new Sept 2010 staff so before that I cannot really make an educated guess on all the ins and outs of the situation. But I can keep my emotions out of it and keep it professional. I know we all can. Everything is good and I really do enjoy being on here. I AM learning loads of information! LOL Some I am not sure I even need yet!
Thanks beepington! Have a great day!

Julie-Gator Girl

You already stated that you refunded his money, this post says different.

 

[Don87]

06-09-2010, 12:47 PM
Replies: 15
Gator/Markham
Views: 1,801
Posted By gatorgirl
Gator/Markham

Hello Boys, I hope all of you have been well. I have missed our chats about attachments. Just giving you a heads up, We are now Gator attachments at Markham Welding. I still work the office and...

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^^^^
Yeah.....well I beleive THIS was Melissa. NO? And lotsa office names and pics have been offered up. But then....I'm easily confused.

When I first saw that post, I thought it was Melissa, and I believe, IIRC, it was signed as Melissa. BUT, I didn't think it was written by Melissa.
I should also add that I've never talked to Melissa, and I have no Markham or Gator attachments.



But if ya'all go back over the posts(carefully), you'll see quite a few 'discrepancies' in 'gatorgirls' posts.