In April of 2017, my husband and I purchased a L2501 kubota tractor from Ridge Equipment located in Sebring, Florida. At time of contract, Dan M. Franklin President of Ridge Equipment took a $500 credit card deposit and Ridge Equipment requested an additional CASH deposit of $8,000 with a 0% interest loan from Kubota corporation.
My husband and I refused to hand over cash, so we went to our bank and got a cashier's check so that we had a paper trail. We felt very uncomfortable, as the salesman stated he needed to make a monthly quota and would back date the sale on the contract to reflect it so that he got credit and he also could offer Kubota cash matching credit provided with left $500.00 deposit on a credit card in which we did on the write up of the contract.
Our first tractor payment was in June 2017, however the delivery of tractor was delayed from ridge equipment, numerous excuses were given as to why the first payment was made and we did not have tractor yet. Delivery of our tractor came in July 2017. By then we had made three payments to the Kubota credit corporation.
The tractor ran for about a month, until the day my husband tried to lift a pile of sand and the tractor began to choke, blow out black smoke and the engine automatically began to run backwards. The gears became difficult to maintain and placed back into a safe mode. Tractor was immediately turned off and my husband called Ridge Equipment and spoke to the owner - Dan Franklin who said he would pick it up and bring it to his shop as it was under warranty and thankfully we paid for Kubota insurance. Mr. Franklin picked the tractor up on a monday in August 2017 and kept it for 4 weeks.
During this time my husband still was making payments on this tractor and we didn't have it in our possession but 4 weeks. Mr. Franklin contacted my husband and told him thankfully we had insurance on it, my husband reminded Mr. Franklin that the tractor at that time had less than 10 hours on it and it should have still been under warranty. Mr. Franklin agreed to the warranty and told my husband he had Kubota warranty service pay for it. When it was time to pick up the tractor, while sitting in Mr. Franklins lot, it was all dismantled in several areas, we brought it to his attention and questioned him about it, he told us he was not aware of these items not being connected. He asked one of his service techs to go out into the lot with us and there he reconnected the items.
My husband questioned Mr. Franklin and asked him if he had changed the air filter, being that the engine ran backwards and blew black sut into the air filter, he had told my husband that he had changed it, when my husband raised the hood, we found out that the air filter was not changed out. Brought it to his attention before the tractor left his lot. My husband was so disgusted at this time, that he loaded the tractor and brought it back to our farm.
When it finally arrived to our farm that day, my husband started the tractor, engaged it, to only find it running slower and sluggish, the bush hog began to tremble and shake, black sut began to blow out of the engine once again; AND the engine hours had increase to 17 hours. immediately my husband called Mr. Franklin for an explanation as to what was wrong with the tractor and why so many hours were on the tractor. Mr. Franklin talked in a circle and told my husband he had taken the entire engine apart and couldn't find the reason why the tractor ran backwards in the first place, then also went to tell my husband that the tractor came into his shop at 15 hours not 11. My husband was once again furious by this point.
Our tractor sat in our barn from Sept 1 to Sept 20 in that time we had Hurricane Irma, who flooded our farm property and high winds ran through our barn, knocking a board on top of the hood of the tractor leaving a large dent in it. My husband called Ridge Equipment once again to come pick up the tractor, Mr. Franklin couldn't get a truck and trailer out to our property so we had to load it and bring it in. It sat on Mr. Franklins lot for an additional 8 weeks. Every time my husband called in to check on the update of the tractor, Mr. Franklin stated he was backed up from the Hurricane and hadn't gotten to it yet, but promised he was going to put it on the front line the next morning. Many mornings had come and gone, and still had not gotten to it.
In the meantime, both my husband and I contacted Kubota credit satisfaction and told them what was going on, the Kubota insurance division kept sending us documentation that they needed to be filled out with pictures of the damage to the tractor. I myself contacted Mr. Franklin regarding the Kubota insurance division requesting documentation and pictures of our tractor and he told me that he was taking care of it, not to worry.
Those items were never taking care of by Mr. Franklin. My husband called Kubota credit satisfaction every other day until they passed our name and information to the Kubota Corporation executives, who in turned listened to my husband, that we were paying for a product that we did not have in our possesion but for four weeks, how it did not operate new, and that it was at the dealership more than we had it in our possession. That it was supposedly worked on for warranty issues, we were told they were corrected to only find out by second opinion, that the engine was never broken apart and repaired. We finally had taken the tractor away from Mr. Franklin's dealership and brought it to another Kubota dealership two hours away in Fort Pierce, Florida. We paid that dealership $250.00 insurance deductible for them to give us a second opinion as to why the tractor was not operating correctly. Within two hours of delivering our tractor to that dealership is where we got confirmation that Mr. Franklin had billed the Kubota warranty division but did nothing to our tractor.
My husband once again called Kubota corporation, and spoke with Josh Sears, who is supposedly the District Manager for the Southeast division Franchises. He had nothing to say, and quite frankly has done absolutely nothing to helps us rectify the situation. All he told my husband and I that he would make a few telephone calls and see what he could do. He eventually told my husband that Kubota corporation would cancel our finance contract, refund the payment money we sent and immediately we had to return the tractor to the Dealership and in return Ridge Equipment dealership must refund your down payment.$9,500.00.
The tractor and the equipment was all turned in on November 16, 2017. Mr. Franklin told my husband and I that he had no communications from the Corporate office to return any money.
Going on 4 months now, calling Kubota corporation every day, calling our attorney's everyday, speaking to corporate executives from Kubota corporation everyday, trying to get our down payment back from the dealership and NOTHING!
Now it is December 2017 we thought we were finally making lead way, a gentleman by the name of Dominique Green who is in the cancellation division contacts us to update our status of getting out money back from both Kubota credit corporation and the dealership Ridge equipment. He shares with us an email sent from the Headquarters of Kubota to Mr. Franklin of Ridge Equipment, that he must immediately return, refund $9,500.00 back to us by December 15, 2017, which was last friday.
Mr. Franklin contacted my husband and told him that he was not returning $9,500 that he had sent a check in the mail for $ 7,300.00 that was all he was willing to give back, regardless of what corporate had told him.
My husband contacted our attorney who immediately sent a demand letter requesting for the $9,500.00 explained quite harshly and briefly that Mr. Franklin has committed fraud and that we are willing to go to court and pursue.
Mr. Dan Franklin of Ridge Equipment in Sebring, Florida knowingly and willfully sold us a defective product, who now holds not only our product but our money too. The establishment and the gentleman that owns/runs it does dirty business. I hope the word gets out to all consumers "buyer beware" of this place, products are deficient not worthy of buying.
Ridge Equipment Co., Inc. Reviews
In April of 2017, my husband and I purchased a L2501 kubota tractor from Ridge Equipment located in Sebring, Florida. At time of contract, Dan M. Franklin President of Ridge Equipment took a $500 credit card deposit and Ridge Equipment requested an additional CASH deposit of $8,000 with a 0% interest loan from Kubota corporation.
My husband and I refused to hand over cash, so we went to our bank and got a cashier's check so that we had a paper trail. We felt very uncomfortable, as the salesman stated he needed to make a monthly quota and would back date the sale on the contract to reflect it so that he got credit and he also could offer Kubota cash matching credit provided with left $500.00 deposit on a credit card in which we did on the write up of the contract.
Our first tractor payment was in June 2017, however the delivery of tractor was delayed from ridge equipment, numerous excuses were given as to why the first payment was made and we did not have tractor yet. Delivery of our tractor came in July 2017. By then we had made three payments to the Kubota credit corporation.
The tractor ran for about a month, until the day my husband tried to lift a pile of sand and the tractor began to choke, blow out black smoke and the engine automatically began to run backwards. The gears became difficult to maintain and placed back into a safe mode. Tractor was immediately turned off and my husband called Ridge Equipment and spoke to the owner - Dan Franklin who said he would pick it up and bring it to his shop as it was under warranty and thankfully we paid for Kubota insurance. Mr. Franklin picked the tractor up on a monday in August 2017 and kept it for 4 weeks.
During this time my husband still was making payments on this tractor and we didn't have it in our possession but 4 weeks. Mr. Franklin contacted my husband and told him thankfully we had insurance on it, my husband reminded Mr. Franklin that the tractor at that time had less than 10 hours on it and it should have still been under warranty. Mr. Franklin agreed to the warranty and told my husband he had Kubota warranty service pay for it. When it was time to pick up the tractor, while sitting in Mr. Franklins lot, it was all dismantled in several areas, we brought it to his attention and questioned him about it, he told us he was not aware of these items not being connected. He asked one of his service techs to go out into the lot with us and there he reconnected the items.
My husband questioned Mr. Franklin and asked him if he had changed the air filter, being that the engine ran backwards and blew black sut into the air filter, he had told my husband that he had changed it, when my husband raised the hood, we found out that the air filter was not changed out. Brought it to his attention before the tractor left his lot. My husband was so disgusted at this time, that he loaded the tractor and brought it back to our farm.
When it finally arrived to our farm that day, my husband started the tractor, engaged it, to only find it running slower and sluggish, the bush hog began to tremble and shake, black sut began to blow out of the engine once again; AND the engine hours had increase to 17 hours. immediately my husband called Mr. Franklin for an explanation as to what was wrong with the tractor and why so many hours were on the tractor. Mr. Franklin talked in a circle and told my husband he had taken the entire engine apart and couldn't find the reason why the tractor ran backwards in the first place, then also went to tell my husband that the tractor came into his shop at 15 hours not 11. My husband was once again furious by this point.
Our tractor sat in our barn from Sept 1 to Sept 20 in that time we had Hurricane Irma, who flooded our farm property and high winds ran through our barn, knocking a board on top of the hood of the tractor leaving a large dent in it. My husband called Ridge Equipment once again to come pick up the tractor, Mr. Franklin couldn't get a truck and trailer out to our property so we had to load it and bring it in. It sat on Mr. Franklins lot for an additional 8 weeks. Every time my husband called in to check on the update of the tractor, Mr. Franklin stated he was backed up from the Hurricane and hadn't gotten to it yet, but promised he was going to put it on the front line the next morning. Many mornings had come and gone, and still had not gotten to it.
In the meantime, both my husband and I contacted Kubota credit satisfaction and told them what was going on, the Kubota insurance division kept sending us documentation that they needed to be filled out with pictures of the damage to the tractor. I myself contacted Mr. Franklin regarding the Kubota insurance division requesting documentation and pictures of our tractor and he told me that he was taking care of it, not to worry.
Those items were never taking care of by Mr. Franklin. My husband called Kubota credit satisfaction every other day until they passed our name and information to the Kubota Corporation executives, who in turned listened to my husband, that we were paying for a product that we did not have in our possesion but for four weeks, how it did not operate new, and that it was at the dealership more than we had it in our possession. That it was supposedly worked on for warranty issues, we were told they were corrected to only find out by second opinion, that the engine was never broken apart and repaired. We finally had taken the tractor away from Mr. Franklin's dealership and brought it to another Kubota dealership two hours away in Fort Pierce, Florida. We paid that dealership $250.00 insurance deductible for them to give us a second opinion as to why the tractor was not operating correctly. Within two hours of delivering our tractor to that dealership is where we got confirmation that Mr. Franklin had billed the Kubota warranty division but did nothing to our tractor.
My husband once again called Kubota corporation, and spoke with Josh Sears, who is supposedly the District Manager for the Southeast division Franchises. He had nothing to say, and quite frankly has done absolutely nothing to helps us rectify the situation. All he told my husband and I that he would make a few telephone calls and see what he could do. He eventually told my husband that Kubota corporation would cancel our finance contract, refund the payment money we sent and immediately we had to return the tractor to the Dealership and in return Ridge Equipment dealership must refund your down payment.$9,500.00.
The tractor and the equipment was all turned in on November 16, 2017. Mr. Franklin told my husband and I that he had no communications from the Corporate office to return any money.
Going on 4 months now, calling Kubota corporation every day, calling our attorney's everyday, speaking to corporate executives from Kubota corporation everyday, trying to get our down payment back from the dealership and NOTHING!
Now it is December 2017 we thought we were finally making lead way, a gentleman by the name of Dominique Green who is in the cancellation division contacts us to update our status of getting out money back from both Kubota credit corporation and the dealership Ridge equipment. He shares with us an email sent from the Headquarters of Kubota to Mr. Franklin of Ridge Equipment, that he must immediately return, refund $9,500.00 back to us by December 15, 2017, which was last friday.
Mr. Franklin contacted my husband and told him that he was not returning $9,500 that he had sent a check in the mail for $ 7,300.00 that was all he was willing to give back, regardless of what corporate had told him.
My husband contacted our attorney who immediately sent a demand letter requesting for the $9,500.00 explained quite harshly and briefly that Mr. Franklin has committed fraud and that we are willing to go to court and pursue.
Mr. Dan Franklin of Ridge Equipment in Sebring, Florida knowingly and willfully sold us a defective product, who now holds not only our product but our money too. The establishment and the gentleman that owns/runs it does dirty business. I hope the word gets out to all consumers "buyer beware" of this place, products are deficient not worthy of buying.