very poor business men
Thought I would give an update on the guys from Iowa Truck & Equipment in Knoxville, IA.
As some of you may know from reading my posts in a thread started by another AS member, I bought a couple of bucket trucks from these guys a couple of months ago. Initially, I thought I got a pretty good deal and thought that Jody, one of the owners was pretty decent to deal with. I had called him as well as his right-hand-man, Eric, a few times previous to buying the trucks to get the full scoop before making the plunge. They said both trucks were both 'road ready' and that I 'would not be disappointed'. Well, things went down hill once I went to pick up the trucks at their site in IA and I was disappointed. Here's what I ended up with...
1) One of the trucks had lights that did not work, worn out parking break that would not hold, hydraulic leaks and oil leaks (all repairable) and a wobbly dual that was not mounted correctly. I spent over $1k getting the truck road legal and safe to drive. We're lucky we made the trip home safely. Other than that, the truck worked great and looked good. My problem with the truck is that I should not have had to spend $1k to get it in the shape that Jody represented it to be. Jody agreed to pay me $500 - half the cost.
2) the other truck had what we thought to be a leaking head gasket. upon further inspection once we got it home, we found the head to be cracked. After finding a replacement and getting it all back together along with a few other minor repairs (just to get the truck legal and safe to drive), I have spent $3k on this truck.
3) Initially, when we told Jody there was a leaking head gasket, he agreed to pay half of the repair which was estimated to $1500. Along with the $500 for the first truck and $750 for this one, Jody was to send a check for $1250. It took two weeks and several, several phone calls from me to get the check sent but I did finally get it and, barring any more problems had felt that this was a fair solution to the problems I was having even though i still wasn't thrilled about having to pay $1250 out of my own pocket for the repairs.
3) The problems really started when we found out that the head was indeed cracked and needing to be replaced and that the repairs were going to run more money than I had originally thought. When I called Jody about the head, he said he would 'take care of it'. These are Jody's famous last words. He never took care of it. I had to call several several more times just to find out that he had never really looked for another head and was just stringing me along. When I told him that I had found a replacement, he refused to pay any more than the initial $1250 citing that 'our deal was a deal' and that was that. So, I had to pony up the additional money for the head myself and it took me three weeks longer than it should have to get the truck back together because Jody kept stringing me along by telling me that 'he would take care of it.'
4) The material handler jib on the second truck was missing the jib pulley (or sheath) which allows you to run the rope through the jib for rigging. Without the sheath, the jib is useless. Jody strung me along for over a month telling me that he had 'taken care of it' and one should be coming in the mail to me. He quit taking my calls when I would try to follow up and find out where it was. In short, he never followed up on it until finally, after a month, he sent me a part that was completely wrong for the truck and useless. I ended up buying the part myself which didn't cost that much but, it's that fact that Jody said 'he would take care of it' and didn't - all the while stinging me along and making me wait on him that really broke the camel's back.
5) Jody's cell phone voicemailbox is always full so you can't leave him a message. Then, he simply doesn't take your calls if you have a beef with him. His customer service simply sucks and he is a very poor businessman. There were numerous opportunities for him to 'take care of it' on these trucks and make me satisfied with my purchases and he chose money over customer service.
Is my beef with Jody over the money - NO, not necessarily. I still feel that I got two decent trucks for a decent price - even with the repairs that were made and considering that Jody did refund me $1250 toward the repairs. So, what's my beef with him? His customer service sucks! He either lied about the condition of the trucks in telling me that they were both road ready and that I would not be disappointed with them or he has no clue about the condition of the equipment he is reselling.
Either way, I believe that Jody is misleading clients when he is saying that his equipment needs no repairs and that you won't be disappointed - only to find out that that is not the case. I was disappointed - not in the trucks themselves but in Iowa Truck and Equipment's indifference towards me aftere the sale. My opinion is that, if Jody is going to sell equipment with defects, those defects should be disclosed before the sale is completed - especially if the customer personally makes an inquiry about such. And, if the guys at Iowa Truck and Equipment are oblivious to the condition of their equipment and honestly do not know what works and doesn't work, they certainly should not be telling buyers that they will 'not be disappointed' because how do they know?
They should be honest and tell buyers that they have not fully tested the equipment to know how it works. If they say they do test the equipment, then why would I be suprised by having to spend $4k to fix them up? There shouldn't be any surprises - just open communication and honesty.
Yes, there are other businesses that operate just the same way as these guys. As you may recall, a guy named Harv in MI also makes his living by misleading buyers. So, why do I buy equipment sight-unseen if I have had bad experiences with guys like this - well, because I have also had very good success with buying from some very decent, honest people. Unfortunately, Jody and the crew at Iowa Truck and Equipment, IMO, are not honest. They are in it for the quick buck and do not value their customers.
These are the facts of my experience with them. I am not advising anyone to either NOT DO or TO DO business with them. I am simply letting you know about my experience with these guys. It was not entirely bad. I have two trucks that are good bucket trucks. However, I have now spent more money than I planned on spending because of the initial condition of the trucks before I ran them through the shop to get them in good working order. If I had known prior to buying them that I would have to stick $4k total into them to get them in good working order, that certainly would have influenced my decision - especially on the purchase price. I'm sure that Jody probably knows this which is why I was not informed of the defects as I should have been. Jody and the guys at Iowa Truck and Equipment owe me another $2750 bucks to set things right. However, as I've said before, my beef with them is not solely about the money - it's about the crappy customer service that Jody gave me during the last month of my trying to resolve these various issues with him. He simply wrote me off and quit taking my calls and even started stringing me along with lies about 'taking care of it' when he never did.
I've said my peace. Sorry about the long post.
scott
