I've been waiting a long time to post this! I'm not going to name names, but if anyone wants to know, just ask. Anyway, I'm from Alberta, Canada, and bought my first bucket truck this last Spring stateside, to complement my other chip truck, in my tree removal business. In March I flew to West Chester, PA, and bought a truck I'd seen at an online used equipment dealer, and toward which I'd made a non-refundable $5k deposit, based on the pictures, details, and seller's phone promise that it was fully inspected and "work ready". The total price was $40k USD. To be fair, the seller did pay my airfare from Alberta to PA, as he promised. Firstly, when I arrived from the airport, the seller didn't even make eye contact with me as he shook my hand. His yard looked like a scrap yard. Then I saw the truck, and my fears were confirmed. As it turned out, nothing except the emergency brake and heater worked properly (according to mine and Alberta commercial vehicle inspection specifications). It looked and acted sorely neglected, and I was sorely disappointed. It felt as if it had come on a flatbed straight after an auction (since it had all the rusty spots spray bombed over), and was flipped for a profit. So, it was a choice between forfeiting the $5k, or repairing it when I got it home. It never made it out of the state before the engine lost so much power, I had to pull off the highway. I limped it to North Dakota where it finally failed completely, and I had to have it towed to the border, then to Regina, Saskatchewan to the nearest dealer. It sat there for 3 months while it was repaired to make it roadworthy, to the tune of an extra $20k CAD. My season got real busy after that, with an early snowstorm in September, breaking about half the trees here, still sporting full leaf canopies. Finally, after I had a chance to sit down and call the seller about my adventure, he replied he had made an honest deal, and I had bought a truck at fair value that was indeed work ready at the time of purchase. I told him at the beginning of the conversation that I was going to post my experience, as a warning to others following me, about purchasing a bucket truck, because, here in Canada, $40k USD will buy a lot more bucket truck than I received there. He replied that he would set his lawyers onto me for defamation of character. So, I then called a lawyer's office in PA, asking them what constitutes defamation there, and the upshot is that the offending party would have had to not be served notice, being "privileged" about the situation, plus that the content be false. So, I come clean, and I have all the bills and old parts here to back up my story. I'm not interested in defaming anyone, and it's not overly important to me to even post the seller's name and company - I just want to warn others ahead of me to beware of what you're purchasing for the money you're expecting will buy you a certain amount of quality, before you commit yourselves.
That Sucks!
Ha. Based off the locstion, pretty sure i know who it is. He has a rap sheet of complaints, its a shame people dont type the company name into google before they buy something. Theres plenty to read that would make you steer clear.
Too bad.
If the truck was "fully inspected" and work-ready, could you not have asked for the DOT inspection report? Or worse case taken it into a DOT shop and get it re-approved before you headed down the road??
**I realize that you were far from home and in a foreign country :D, but I feel like you may have gotten the SHORT end of the stick.
Sorry to hear...must be maddening!! Stinks when you trust someones word, only to get burned. What comes around goes around-he'll get his. Kharma backlash!!!
Post his company the more people who know the better off they are.
Sorry to hear.
QuoteSo, it was a choice between forfeiting the $5k, or repairing it when I got it home.
Should have followed that gut feeling and hiked for home.
But I'm not sure I understand how you felt a $5k non-refundable deposit was in your favor. The cost of a a plane ticket to PA would have been cheaper for an inspection trip.
But live and learn, and for you it was a tough one.
Is this truck up and working now, or some hopes that it can be someday?
This Forestry Forum would have been a good place to seek help with the purchase very early in your dealings, as well as Google.
Hope things are looking up for you.
Share the name via PM if asked to.
Last spring was looking for a SP7015 grinder they had advertised,when i called a fellow named Joe said he was in the field and would call me right back,never did.I never called him back either figuring he was a man of his word.Looks like he did me a favor.
I can understand you 're pi$$ed off, but what I don't understand is why you buy a truck in PA when you say you can get more truck for 40k in Canada. Anything special on this one ?
I too have bought stuff on the phone out of Quebec, eastern Ontario, Ohio, Michigan but it was always in the 4-6k range and paid in full before it went on a truck. But still it's very clearly that i am taking a chance on a certain piece of equipment.
A truck witch you wanna drive home might be a bit of a different story but again, buying online and not from a local dealer we all know, has some risk involved. I have to admit that things not always have turned out the way I hoped, ;D ;D but I also made some decent deals. I just keep my mouth shut and live and learn.
I don't care what anyone says this man is a crook and a liar. He is no better than a common criminal. I always say what goes around comes around. Something bad will happen to him someday. I have seen too many Dupont mechanics in my life. Any time I see fresh paint on something for sale I run the other way. Sorry you had such a bad experience.
Red flags all over the place. ::) You bought a truck unseen out of the country, paid a hefty non refundable deposit, accepted what was obviously a junker and attempted to drive from Pa to Alberta without a mechanical inspection. Sorry man, I know you are pithed but IMHO you set yourself up while the seller laughed all the way to the bank. Bucket trucks are plentiful at Canadian auctions and used equipment lots, what was so special about this one?
Quote from: sawguy21 on November 20, 2014, 10:35:55 PM
Red flags all over the place. ::) You bought a truck unseen out of the country, paid a hefty non refundable deposit, accepted what was obviously a and attempted to drive from Pa to Alberta without a mechanical inspection. Sorry man, I know you are pithed but IMHO you set yourself up while the seller laughed all the way to the bank. Bucket trucks are plentiful at Canadian auctions and used equipment lots, what was so special about this one?
X2, thanks sawguy you saved me a lot of typing ;) I've made some stupid choices because I wanted something, but I only blame myself. $5000 is a lot of dough to deposit on something site unseen. There's really no point in posting the name of the business or individual, there's a thousand more just like him waiting for anyone who will let go of their money too easily- caveat emptor, is that the saying?
When I was younger I would never think of ripping someone off and never would have thought that their was people who would. Then I went out into the unfortunately real world. :-\ sorry to hear about your truck!
I learned few lessons the hard way too.
Sucks every time.
JJ
Around here the deposit may well have paid for the whole thing.....Welder included
Sorry to hear about the bad deal.
http://charleston.craigslist.org/hvo/4767660548.html
Sean P