Fair or unfair?

[Dan Maynard]

2 hours ago, Peter 1955 said:

safe to say I/we won't be dealing with them in the future. 

..which is what's really daft. Our local hire place for chippers and grinders are generally pleased to be told there's something wrong so they can get it fixed before it ruins the next hire. Consequently I've been there quite a few times over the years.

 

Your place reminds me of hiring a car from an airport - I almost always walk out of those places feeling like I've been done over even when I haven't.

[kram]

I'd say they are taking the piss, maintence and small damages should be accounted for in the hire price, grease and oil are standard maintence that they should be doing before/after each hire so its ready for the next guy.

 

I'd suggest he disputes the charges which may be easier if credit card was used.

 

[AHPP]

No express terms for grease and oil so you’re falling back on terms implied by industrial notoriety. Burning engine oil is definitely their problem. Fuel would almost certainly be yours (receive it full, return it full or pay £x/litre). Grease I’m undecided. I’ve never been asked to grease a digger when hiring. You expect them to do that before it comes out to you. Probably their problem unless it’s some kind of machine you’re meant to grease throughout the day. 

Switch is on you and bear in mind it might be a £10 part but a man had to find the right one, order it, find the card details to pay for it etc etc etc. £90/hour workshop rate sounds reasonable. Plus you could have gashed up the next day’s hire for it by breaking it. Special delivery for the part maybe. 

Were CPA terms incorporated?

 

Hiring’s miserable isn’t it. I nearly always look for a man and machine now. 
 

 

[Tree monkey 1682]

7 hours ago, Oldfeller said:

Timberwolf charge £100 plus for the switch, exact same switch is available for under £7 elsewhere, I wonder which one they fitted?

I have the same switch on my lathe.

 

I guess u mean that stupid plastic stop switch

[Tree monkey 1682]

22 hours ago, Peter 1955 said:

I felled some regrowth thorns for a customer, and burning them onsite wasn't possible. They were in a paddock belonging to someone else, I'd felled them from the dyke bank. 

Having decided that removing them with a trailer was going to take a long time, and be very unpleasant, so client and I decided to hire a chipper. At my suggestion, one was hired from a local company who he had an account with, due to them having taken over the clients from a company who were no longer trading. 

We got a Timberwolf 190 with a diesel engine, and it performed far better than the Greenmech Quadchip 160 we had used on a job for another client. 

So far, so good. Only problem was, when feeding it, a branch whipped round, and knocked the emergency stop button off the intake hopper. When I returned it, I told them immediately, and was told " oh that's no problem at all". 

Customer rang me today, and isn't happy. He's had a repair bill. £3.50 for the oil the engine used, ( in less than four hours ) £3 for a cartridge of grease to regrease the machine. Now the dubious bits- £100 for the stop switch, and £90 labour. Customer now faces a £200 bill on top of the hire charge, and is not a happy bunny.  I am not flavour of the month either, as you might guess. 

Have we been turned over, or is it par for the course? No contract was shown before hiring. The company is a big agricultural dealer, but the hire side is growing so fast that it appears to be run by a sort of " arms length " company. 

Your thoughts would be appreciated. 

Welcome to hire companies, its not the case of you've been done over ,its business, you broke it you pay for it...its probably that genuine parts have to be fitted in accordance with the hse policy and insurance. 

Have to take care of someone else's machine next time .shit happens 

[Oldfeller]

14 minutes ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

I guess u mean that stupid plastic stop switch

with respect, I don't consider an emergency stop switch "stupid".

 

 

[Tree monkey 1682]

9 minutes ago, Oldfeller said:

with respect, I don't consider an emergency stop switch "stupid".

 

 

Yes i do , its obvious its going to break off, chippers were perfectly safe before having stupid switches on them, when you had the a bar on the chipper that did stop,forward and reverse ... the stupid story was a bloke had long hair and got scalped by the chipper.

Chippers aren't dangerous the same way chainsaws aren't, its the people who use them 

[Mick Dempsey]

It’s not for them to source a generic part cheaper to help you out.

They phone the supplier of the machine, who sends the part, along with the invoice.

[Mesterh]

25 minutes ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

Yes i do , its obvious its going to break off, chippers were perfectly safe before having stupid switches on them, when you had the a bar on the chipper that did stop,forward and reverse ... the stupid story was a bloke had long hair and got scalped by the chipper.

Chippers aren't dangerous the same way chainsaws aren't, its the people who use them 

People make mistakes though. It's the reason that we have chain brakes and chainsaw trousers and boots. 

You make a mistake with a chipper and you've lost a limb at best. 

 

[Stubby]

13 minutes ago, Mesterh said:

People make mistakes though. It's the reason that we have chain brakes and chainsaw trousers and boots. 

You make a mistake with a chipper and you've lost a limb at best. 

 

Or ... Chipped up a plastic snow shovel 😀