Marc

Thanks Easy Lift Guy, but I hope to not get that far, personally I think a reasonable offer would be to reverse the finance and provide us with a machine which is more akin to what we want as they currently have one on demonstration doing the rounds this machine would be new and less likely to go wrong until our machine arrives. To make matters worse in the year and a half since ordering the machine the model has undergone a facelift so essentially ours is of a previous gen, although I do know the facelift is fairly minor. We are also in contact with the manafacturer and am awaiting their response. Hopefully the dealer representative on here reads this and does the right thing in bringing the demonstrator to us to us, or our at the very least organise the mobile fitter to come and make good our loan machine.

Good point, it does work now they replaced the disintegrated bearings, 5 year old fuel filter, new starter motor and engine protection, runs like a dream for such an abused bit of kit really. It just needs some... erm legal requirements sorting which is my concerns with the up coming contract, it only takes a health and safety audit and we could potential get chucked off site that would be worst case but I do not want to run the risk. The supplier has photos of the issue I emailed them over a month ago. We carried out the repair to get us out of trouble as they couldn't get a field fitter out quick enough, so they have been aware that we have bypassed the emergency stop buttons for over a month now. But hey our machine will be here "soon" Beginning to think that I need to be more assertive.

Good will, and good faith in them to deliver, even after the managing director threatened to pursue me for hire costs for the loan machine and against our own machine. There also exists no other alternative at this time. The finance company are fully aware of the situation and have been for a while, the supplier assured them as they have me that the equipment will be delivered soon. I am venting here, also stressed and concerned we have a big contract to start in Jan the current loan machine is not fit for this job. I must also make clear our situation is not representative of how supply usually goes about from this dealer and is quite possibly an exception and I in no way mean to defame their reputation but feel that going public may cause action "soon" and by that what most of us would consider as reasonably "soon"

Yes it requires an IVA which is currently being dealt with, and is the reasons for delay. The IVA process was started in April as apparently the person in charge of our build hadn't realised it required one. I informed the finance company in July about the situation after the dealer threatened to charge us hire on his un fit for purpose loan machine. We decided to give them a fair chance to deliver as they assured me it was only "weeks away" but that was from the IVA test and providing it passed. We are liaising with the finance company now to reverse the finance, the initial deposit made in August 2015 will remain and when the machine is fit to be delivered the finance will be started again less the offered discount. And yes it's big and special to us, the issues surrounds engine option pushing weight up something unforeseen at the time. We only want supplier to do the right thing, and arrange finance on delivery less agreed discount. Initially they wanted to pay us this sum on delivery which makes me suspect they knew all along that the finance started contrary to what they said, trying to account for a cash payment into the account is difficult.

We still have and own our old chipper (which makes them trying to charge us hire for it more insulting) but that's the point we looked to upgrade to help us efficiently tackle our growing work load. Our part ex is currently moth balled in the corner of the yard with grass growing out of it, why should I pay our fitter to get it up and running when we have paid for and own a new machine. The other issue is, there is no other option but this piece of kit and that dealer it is the best you can get. The finance is going to be reversed, but I am worried the dealer will become difficult which is causing me more stress. The service has been good and the field engineers are first rate, but the mechanical breaks downs shouldn't of happened and they cost us as a business. I have been asking questions on part of the build that aren't to standard which I have seen in the photos of our kit and all I hear from them is how it will cost them to sort it. I don't really care how much it costs them, we occasionally lose money on jobs that's just how things go.

I am after some advice regarding a piece of equipment purchased back in August 2015 with a delivery date of November 2015. For unforeseen reasons at the time the original delivery date could not be met, so we waited very patiently until An eventual delivery date of April 2016 was given, on this date it was discovered that the piece of equipment was still not fit for use. For the failure to deliver again a good will gesture was made by offering approx 7% off the price. Unknown to us at the time the finance agreement which had been in place had started even though the equipment had not been delivered. When this was raised with them they were also unaware (which in hindsight I feel is a lie) and assured me it would be stopped and that our equipment would be delivered soon. The finance was never stopped, in fact the finance company had not been contacted. I informed the dealer the delays could be as much as a year with the type of issue they had with our equipment, they assured me it wouldn't take that long. They did eventually source a loan machine but this was not offered willingly and took repeated request resulting in me threatening to pull out of the deal back in July. The machine provided was barely fit for purpose, unreliable and didn't perform as expected, when I complained and again mentioned I would pull out of the deal I was by email precisely as the office closed for the weekend and told if I pulled out I would be charged hire for the loan machine and for the machine we wanted to part ex (even though we still owned it!) leaving me seething all weekend. That was a few months ago in July, its December 2016 and still no date for delivery its unlikely to be this year maybe not even Jan 2017. The loan machine has continued to be unreliable, with collapsed bearing, starter motor failed, engine protection failed, now the emergency stops have had to be passed to keep it running among other faults with this machine, this has cost us in downtime and the associated losses involved. We have a large contract starting on the 9th of January 2017 where this piece of equipment will be vital and at present it is not road legal, with safety functions by passed, so we run a risk using the piece of equipment on site. All the while the equipment we purchased and owned yet have never seen depreciates in our asset register and we continue to make finance payments for something we haven't got. What would you do? I have 2 days left at work before taking a long overdue break, normally I would work over Christmas. When I am back we are straight into multiple big contracts with a valuable piece of kit missing essential for these works, and its stand in possibly not up to the task.

To be fair, if you Jenson is serving you well I'd leave it and save the pennies for a better machine. And the golden rule with eBay on these purchase is give no money until you've seen it in person and checked it's legit.

I've used a couple, not a massive fan of them bit of a pain to use, if I recall right it could be prone to blocking between the rollers and flywheel which is annoying when it happens. The companies I worked with that used them never had issues with spares etc which is important. If the price is right it does the job. I know one of the companies ended up trading theirs in for something a little better, so I'd look at one as a stepping stone to something better in the long run.

Once it starts the issue usually gets worst, mine go like that after a year or so and I change them every 2 years and replace harness every 4.

To be fair your the only reason I have not gone insane, just feel bad I never offered you a coffee when you dropped the loan chipper off you looked like you needed it, but like me your here at stupid o'clock on a Friday thinking about work.....

I was told otherwise (happy to forward emails), I did have a very long overdue update today and have now been told of the changes made.

Nice and it has Ali mudguards thought you guys no longer fit them to stop people from standing on them. Did try to call earlier Dean guess one of us had a bad phone signal. To be honest not really interested in the 915 at present just want our 1390....

That site looks so nasty it makes my skin crawl, bit like those nefarious pop up websites that try to sell you something. First impressions, quickly closed it down in case it tried to give me something.

I would expect a good labour only contractor to earn 40k plus a year, but you got to be good to get that.

Indeed, cannot see the point what advantages over a JCB 3CX that will be far better machine on site with readily available parts. It is cool though...

Rare for a reason.

A Zillon is rated as life support, would you want this as primary attachment at the end of a branch? An ART positioner which I use is a work restraint lanyard and doesn't in my eyes make a life support

Good stuff Ben.

I used to do a lot of fine reductions where my lanyard would never of been an acceptable secondary tie in point, I only used it as a work positioning aid to allow me to cut with both hands and prevent pendulum swing. Subsequently my whole thought process around climbing is that my lanyard is a positioning aid only. Also consider the standards lanyard devices are built to, Art Positioner is a good example would you ever use this as a primary climbing device? Side D's are also not suitable primary attachment points, to me the concept of a lanyard is not based around being a suitable second life line and is purely a supplementary anchor. This is not to say I am right it's just my thought process and it's served me well.

Would you trust you lanyard to always support your full weight if you climbing line was cut? Keep in mind you would probably drop into it, in most instances unless round something substantial your going to be in for a bad time. Your only reliable tie in point is your climbing line, protect that at all costs.

That is not a second tie in point with the exception of spar work, it's a work positioning lanyard to enable you to get into a suitable work position.

Don't think I have ever used a secondary line in 15 years, use my lanyard a fair bit mind so I can position myself in a way that I can make a cut safely. My thoughts are if it makes you feel more comfortable to have a second bridge then go for it, if you feel happy and comfortable with the equipment you are using then generally you will be more relaxed and safer. If your concerned with cutting your bridge well my initial comment I didn't want to be blunt but serious consideration needs to be in regards to you work positioning which is key to everything.

A second bridge can be handy, I've seen guys use them for carrying a heavy saw as whilst top anchored it will be supported by your climbing line. As a back up I fail to see the need. I would not be concerned about loler either as it's not the primary life support it should be considered as an accessory attachment point.

Whatever feels comfortable, I don't believe any harness can legitimately claim they are ergonomic.

That's a good point although I always think of Forsts as Jensons. Also what about Bandits small chippers are they anything like their bigger chippers? Wonder if you have to wait over a year to get hold of one of those.