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View Full Version : I need to VENT......



WYRD
04-09-2007, 02:47 PM
So last month I rented a scissorlift for one of my jobs on a Friday. Had my Employee pick it up around Noon and take it to the jobsite approx 1 hr away. My guys work 6-2 so by the time the lift got out to the site it was time to pick up. Sometime over the weekend the lift grew legs (less the controller) Monday morning at 6AM my guys call me. I tell them to call the police and make a police report. Around 8 the police get there and make the report and I call the rental company to let them know and my insurance as well. All goes well and claim gets filed yada yada.
My ins co is doing a apprisal of the lift (which is a 2002 with 125 hours on it) and they come back with 8 grand or so, cool right? I give the rental co a call and let them know and they say I should get an invoice in the mail. I wait and I get two, the first is for 1 day rental(which pisses me off anyways cause I didnt get to even use it but ok I will pay it) the second is for the replacement of the lift and its over 18K dollars!!!! so I call up the rental company and they say that it is in the fine (and by fine I mean microscopic) print that I am responsible for the Manufactuers LIST price. Now for those of you who dont know what LIST price is, its the price that something would be sold for if you could ask whatever price you wanted assuming there was no competion. (To put it in prospective BoatsandBlondes was asking LIST price for his Hallet.) I called around and I can buy a brand new lift for 11k dollars or so wich means the rental company which deals in volume could problaby buy it for 7 or 8 thousand.
Bottom line I have to pay 10K out of my pocket and the rental company is gonna make out bigtime by getting 18K dollars on a 5 y/o piece of equipment that is only worth a small portion of that, not to mention all the rental money that has already been collected!!!!:mad: :mad:
not sure who the bigger theif is, the one who stole the lift or the ones profiting from it:confused:
I have a meeting with my Attorney tommorow:idea:
Thanks for letting me vent

LAFD
04-09-2007, 02:49 PM
wow definitly a bad situation. hopfully everything works out for you.

LGCDEVIL
04-09-2007, 03:06 PM
Get 2 or 3 quotes for new lifts from other companies. Pay them the average of the quotes. They don't like it they can take you to court. An $11k lift brand new is probably half that in 5 years. The 8 grand from your ins. company sounds more than fair. BTW, they should have to produce their original invoice for what they paid for the lift.

Ziggy
04-09-2007, 03:09 PM
Check the rental companys yard, it might be in there. ;)

dumbandyoung
04-09-2007, 03:12 PM
man this sucks..
Im in a situation I want to vent about too. Its just the more i think about it the more it pisses me off.
. hahahaaha!! is that guy still trying so sell his hallett for a million dollars or whatever.

WYRD
04-09-2007, 03:19 PM
Get 2 or 3 quotes for new lifts from other companies. Pay them the average of the quotes. They don't like it they can take you to court. An $11k lift brand new is probably half that in 5 years. The 8 grand from your ins. company sounds more than fair. BTW, they should have to produce their original invoice for what they paid for the lift.
These are all points that I will be bringing up to my attorney, along with deducting the MSRP of the controller off the price:idea:

H20 Toie
04-09-2007, 03:45 PM
You are missing the point here, have your insurance company deal with them, yes you will have to pay for your decuctible or just buy a new one get the money from your insurance company and give them the new one.
also check out that you are not liable for the time it takes to replace the unit

H20 Toie
04-09-2007, 03:47 PM
also keep all you paperwork straight and write it off your taxes.

Redneck
04-09-2007, 03:50 PM
that sucks good luck

LGCDEVIL
04-09-2007, 03:51 PM
I wouldn't spend a nickel on an attorney until they haul you into court.

WYRD
04-09-2007, 03:54 PM
You are missing the point here, have your insurance company deal with them, yes you will have to pay for your decuctible or just buy a new one get the money from your insurance company and give them the new one.
also check out that you are not liable for the time it takes to replace the unit
Thats the other crappy thing, my insurance on equipment rented from another company reimburses me and will not deal with the third party I already tried that route. They also only pay on the ACV not the replacement value which seems fair except the rental company will not accept ACV or replacement value they want/demand Manaufactuer List Price MSLP:eek:
I am meeting with my attorney tommorow and should have a better idea of what rights I have;)

WYRD
04-09-2007, 03:57 PM
I wouldn't spend a nickel on an attorney until they haul you into court.
I have him on a monthly retainer already so I will not pay him additional monies unless we go to Litigation:)

HefeRaton
04-09-2007, 04:12 PM
What rental company is it? Scissor lifts walk more than any piece of high reach equipment. My rep told me that they are the hardest to recover, but they are actually putting lo jacks on them.

meaniam
04-09-2007, 04:15 PM
damn i think a judge would throw out the claim. you can not profit from a loss. i belive everything would say to be made whole agian

gramps
04-09-2007, 04:17 PM
Check the rental companys yard, it might be in there. ;)
That's worth a bump. I'd check out some other job sites also.

Hustler
04-09-2007, 04:54 PM
Who's the rental company? I rent ALOT of lifts and I will make sure we dont rent any from this company.

Scream
04-09-2007, 05:00 PM
damn i think a judge would throw out the claim. [/b]you can not profit from a loss[/]. i belive everything would say to be made whole agian
Wow, this is very poetic. It may be correct however. A judge may find in your favor, but a contract (rental or otherwise) is a contract.
The law doesn't care that you can't actually read the fineprint. Keep careful notes on your negotiations with the rental company, who you talked to, when, what was said and agreed to. It may come in handy. I would steer clear of them in the future as well, sting me once, shame on you...sting me twice, shame on me.
Scream

Mandelon
04-09-2007, 05:00 PM
I think if you sent them what your insurance company pays, they would likely accept it. It will cost them a few thousand to sue you. Probably not worth it if they will be ahead anyway.
Sounds like bullshit to me too. :mad:

rivrrts429
04-09-2007, 05:10 PM
Let me know if I can help. I am a rep for a large national rental company here in So. Cal. It doesnt sound right that they are charging double what the insurance company quoted, but on the other end the rental company will typically not go off the insurance company since this ways in the insurance's favor. Who is the rental company:D I've dealt with this same situation many times before and my feeling is whats fair for the company and whats fair for the customer. Both are at a loss. The last thing I want to do is try and make money off of someones misfortune. Kinda ruins that whole "Integrity" thing, plus your less likely to comeback. People do business with who they trust. Looks like you'll be hunting for a new vendor if they hold strong so who will be the big looser in the end?

racecar.hotshoe
04-09-2007, 05:16 PM
Did you pay for the Damage waiver if so read it you might be ok.

rivrrts429
04-09-2007, 05:29 PM
Did you pay for the Damage waiver if so read it you might be ok.
sounds like he had his own insurance which would probably discard the damage waiver.

WYRD
04-10-2007, 07:58 AM
The company is Sunbelt Rentals and yes my insurance certificate was sent to them when I opened my account so they waived the damage waiver. Right now I am trying to get valid quotes on a JLG 1932 lift, they stopped making that lift model and replaced it with a 1930 model. Thanks for the advice I will use what I can and hopefully not have to pay out of my own pocket (less my deductable) Just found out the 1932 had a list price of 13,600 + Tax so that is far from their quote of 18,100(tax inc.). They will not give me their invoice on the lift and neither will JLG so I have no way of knowing exactly what they paid however my feeling is it was far less and they are trying to profit because of verbage used in their fine print, seems like I should be able to prove that fairly easy. One thing for sure I will no longer use them for any of our rental business.

Deano
04-10-2007, 08:57 AM
The company is Sunbelt Rentals
Those guys are idiots. I'm still looking for the sales rep that drives the white tahoe that ran me off the road in Corona last year. The company I work for was spending about 100K with them when it happened. They wouldn't tell me who it was so they lost all our business. United is happy.
Sounds like they are bending you over, good luck.

Baja Big Dog
04-10-2007, 09:12 AM
Very few forms of life lower than rental companies! Been burned too many time by these bottom feeders.
Your problem.....you signed the contract, no judge will throw this out of court, because you signed the contract, and accepted the terms they stated.
Best of luck and hopefully enough folks will put the word out that Sunbelt is not the folks to do business with.

shrek
04-10-2007, 09:23 AM
18k for a 19' Scissor is not right.
I will sell you an 2007 for around 11k........we can drop it off to them with a big bow on it.
Saying that we are all bottom feeders is a little rough.
I am a Branch Manager for United Rentals..........let me know if I can help.
I can at least write you a quote on a new one, to stick in their faces.
PM me if you want a quote to help your case.
Shrek

justfloatn
04-10-2007, 09:27 AM
Sunbelt sucks! We have kept equipment on the job and forgot to call it off too many times to count. All of the other companies work with us, CAT, United, NEFF. Not Sunbelt. And if we have a rain day and try and down it, they show up and haul it off. Then I have to wait and pay for redelivery when it stops raining. The rates were good, the equipment is new, their operations suck!

Run_em_Hard
04-10-2007, 09:35 AM
Shane, if you need me come down there and handle these people let me know. There are a couple people that I know down in Hisperia that can sure make these people backoff:devil: :devil:

WYRD
04-10-2007, 09:38 AM
Very few forms of life lower than rental companies! Been burned too many time by these bottom feeders.
Your problem.....you signed the contract, no judge will throw this out of court, because you signed the contract, and accepted the terms they stated.
Best of luck and hopefully enough folks will put the word out that Sunbelt is not the folks to do business with.
Thats the thing though, I nor did any other officer of the corporation sign the rental aggreement, plus it was not disclosed at the time of rental that their policy is different then the industruy standard. Just spoke with my attorney on this and I have a pretty strong case should they prusue it. :)

WYRD
04-10-2007, 09:38 AM
18k for a 19' Scissor is not right.
I will sell you an 2007 for around 11k........we can drop it off to them with a big bow on it.
Saying that we are all bottom feeders is a little rough.
I am a Branch Manager for United Rentals..........let me know if I can help.
I can at least write you a quote on a new one, to stick in their faces.
PM me if you want a quote to help your case.
Shrek
PM sent

shrek
04-10-2007, 09:40 AM
I just checked, and 2002 1932E2's are selling for around 3500-4000......FYI.
Shrek

WYRD
04-10-2007, 09:43 AM
I just checked, and 2002 1932E2's are selling for around 3500-4000......FYI.
Shrek
That what I found as well, my insurance quote of 8K seem legit:idea:

rivrrts429
04-10-2007, 11:28 AM
Very few forms of life lower than rental companies! Been burned too many time by these bottom feeders.
Your problem.....you signed the contract, no judge will throw this out of court, because you signed the contract, and accepted the terms they stated.
Best of luck and hopefully enough folks will put the word out that Sunbelt is not the folks to do business with.
Being burned is usually the result of shopping for cheapest price;) I deal with people all day long who are the cheapest price chasers and then call me to pull their fat out of the fire when their rental company tells them "sorry our equipment broke but we cant be there until tomorrow." That right there cost them huge money. I say do your research and really drill into whats important to you in a rental company and I'm willing to bet that its service, then align yourself with a rental vendor that speaks the same language. Alot of what this thread is about could be avoided if people truly knew who they were doing business with. just my .02:D :D :D

Mardonzi
04-10-2007, 12:59 PM
I'm a P/S for a large GC (600 mill last year) on a project in Valley Center. Between us and our subs, we have spent well over 200k in rentals over the past year. After reading this, I will be sending out a Team Memo through our company informing them of Sunbelts practices.
Thanks for the heads up!

WYRD
04-10-2007, 03:53 PM
I'm a P/S for a large GC (600 mill last year) on a project in Valley Center. Between us and our subs, we have spent well over 200k in rentals over the past year. After reading this, I will be sending out a Team Memo through our company informing them of Sunbelts practices.
Thanks for the heads up!
It did catch me off guard, seems like I am in the wrong line of work if they get away with this:D