Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromKayleigh G

  Date: 03/16/2023

  1 star

  Kayleigh G

  Date: 03/16/2023

  Bought a used tractor Feb. 2022 and it is now March 2023 and the tractor has motor and transmissions issues, and is dead in the water. This tractor was sold with but we were not aware of until we brought it in for service elsewhere as the people at Orchard Hill just telling us tricks to the tractor. There should be no tricks. When trying to discuss the bill we received for servicing the tractor we tried to get Orchard Hill to pay it as they made us wait about 3 weeks for the tractor as we paid for it to be serviced and it never was. No fuel filters were changed, no oil change nothing. They lubed the fitting and washed it, to make it look good. Never buy anything from them. Not to mention they rush you on everything.

  Orchard Hill Farm Equipment

  Date: 03/17/2023

  In response to this review. This customers invoice date was Jan-19-2022. She purchased a used tractor. Had her eye on one we had and bartered for a better price. This was during a high point of the covid supply chain times and most essential business' were extremely pressured and things were in high demand. This was not a time for barter, as things were going into bidding wars. This customer went into details about a loved ones health problems and the owner here had some sympathy for the customer and gave a LOT of money off the tractor. During this crazy time of Covid demands, we had to have a process in place to keep things fair with all customers. We are a small family run business of 34 years and we only have so many employees. At times we had 20 or 30 people in line waiting for their equipment to be ready to take home. This customer was no different. Agreement to purchase, then , by date the invoices get prepped. Our used equipment is and has been sold for many years, with no warranty on used equipment. You will see in 34 years there is not even one other complaint about used equipment being junk. This " no warranty policy" is clearly told to every customer who is looking at used ********************, and it is again circled on the invoice and disclosed one last time when the customer arrives to pay any final balance and before they take possession of equipment. The customer then signs the agreement stating so. We certainly take caution on what we get for trade-ins and what we sell for used equipment. Often times we refuse things due to condition.There was no payment of any kind for service to be done on this tractor prior to sending it to the new owner. Did it run through the shop here? Yes. Some customers want equipment NOW and turn down our inspection, but this customer wanted the normal process. This means you wait in line for the equipment to be looked at here before it leaves. What will we normally do during this inspection on used equipment? Well we check all functions, test levers, pto, three point hitch, mid PTO, check all fluids, change oils if needed, top of fluid levels, test antifreeze, etc. This is not anything that has an additional charge. This is our normal routine here for all used equipment. No charges for this. We do this because we want to make sure equipment goes out in working order. Customer did not pay extra for full service. If anything seems odd, we dig deeper into why. Again this is used equipment and is not made to be new. Used equipment is used with normal wear and tear. This particular tractor ran strong, Functions as it should. Did we touch up paint? I would say yes we did. If there are scrapes and any raw metal showing we like to brush those spots and touch them up to prevent corrosion and such. Did this tractor get a full paint job? no. There was something mentioned about washing a fitting and greasing? almost as if we did something in a sneaky way? Well I bet the whole tractor was washed, greased and touched up. We send things out looking clean.The tractor went through our normal shop process for used equipment and was sent out ************* with all functions working. Customers are always allowed to have an outside mechanic take a look at the equipment if they wanted to. This was not requested by the customer.All customers get an hour of time where our employee goes over functions, service recommendations, tips and hits. Customer is given paperwork, grease gun, fuel additive and other things to take care of the tractor. At this time the no warranty policy is again mentioned on used items, and customer is asked to sign that invoice that states no warranty on used equipment, acknowledgement.Not long after purchase ( maybe a month) we got a call saying the tractor had a hard start. Not uncommon on a cold night for Diesel tractor. We gave advice about cold days and diesel engines. I believe they had a jelled fuel filter. Again it has been a year and we talk to hundreds of customers per day. We get at least 5 calls in a day about this, even on brand new tractors...whenever there is a cold snap overnight.This problem was solved with some coaching from the phone. Then a number of months went by and the Husband I am assuming, came in for advice about hooking his backhoe back up that he had removed at home. When removing these attachments, you must be aware of how the hoses get recoupled and such in order to put the attachment back on. We gave him advice of how to put it back together. Again no charge for our techs time on the phone to resolve a problem for them. This was not a mechanical problem with the tractor. It was advice of how to put back together what was removed by the customer. Not sure if these are the "tips or quirks" that were mentioned in the review, but this is just normal use of farm equipment. If you remove an attachment you must remember how to put it back on. We helped them with that. No charge.Recently over a year later, we got an email from this customer about buying some hydraulic couplers/ fittings/ Blown hose, for this tractor. We advised her to buy them direct from the manufacturer to save the middle man in which she did. The couplers or fittings were changed at home. I believe they were changed by the owner but not quite sure. We then got an email saying " since we changed the loader fitting we cant get the loader to work". Again when you remove hydraulic hoses, you must tag them to do the reassembly in order to know how it goes back together. A video was sent of the tractor running ( and sounding normal) and the loader sort of deadheading, so it was clear something was assembled wrong.At this point the customer called another dealer to help them figure out the problem that was created.The tractor ended up at another dealer to help them with the hydraulic plumbing of this tractor.Shortly after we got an email stating the tractor is dead, they were sold a tractor with a blown motor AND transmission! Customer states the tractor is dead and worth nothing. Mind you it has now been ********************************************************************************* transmission issues. After being brought in to a dealer for a simple, self inflicted hydraulic plumbing problem, this dealer has done a compression check and full transmission evaluation? Does this sound correct? Told her she overpaid for this a year ago and the tractor is worthless. She wants me to pay her bill at the other dealer. I have not yet seen a bill or any diagnostic reports that were done on this tractor and why? Customer asked for a copy of her sales invoice from us and we sent it to her. same invoice she was given at time of deposit and another copy at time of payment and pickup.She then asked for a call from the owner in which he did call her. She mentioned the bill we need to pay. The owner asked what kind of bill? Are they putting a new engine and transmission in the tractor?No they are not. Again I have not seen the bill, but I was told it was for a few thousand dollars? Would this be for pick-up and delivery to the other dealer? fixing the hydraulic plumbing problem, changing oil ( its due by now a year later), new filter, and delivery back to the customer? ** asked again about the tractor being junk? And they reply was that the tractor runs as it did before and is being returned to her. Customer states that the other dealer told her we sold her a tractor with a blown motor and transmission over a year ago? How can they determine the condition of the tractor one year ago? To say it was sold to her like this is crazy. They did not inspect the tractor then. It appears the tractor is running just the same as it always did, but we were told it was " dead in the water" and " worthless, and they have a loan they cant pay etc. Our records show the tractor was paid for in full with a check. No loan here in house.Something does not sound right here.So on one end we have a customer who has been happy with their tractor up until they changed a hose/ coupler and then had a problem from that. They bring it to another dealer and it is suddenly junk with catastophic failures? We are asked to pay a bill that we have not seen. Then we are told the tractor is being delivered back home to her and runs as it always did. She wants to see us in court, and we have been there for her since she bought this. I can see she may have had a few frustrations with the tractor, but certainly nothing we caused or sold her. In the end her 'dead in the water" tractor had no engine repair or transmission repair done and was sent back to her working as it did when she brought it to them to fix the hydraulic plumbing problem. It is more common for a frustrated customer to post a negative review, but if we had a way to post the hundreds of extra positive reviews we get by email, word of mouth, ********* etc, it may offset the few who had frustrations often out of our control.