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How would you handle this?? I am steamed!

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fastline

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I have hay in a field about 20mi from me. Have a tractor there that I keep to load and such. Told a guy two days ago he could go check out the hay. Don't hear squat from the guy so I emailed him to ask if there was something wrong with the hay.

He said I picked up 3, let me know your address and I will send a check... I asked if he used the tractor because it has had oil pressure issues I am concerned about......crickets......


I am beyond ------ right now that someone would get in someone else's tractor and use it without even a phone call!!! Now I have to drive all the way out there to check on it and take the F'n keys out (they were hidden in the tractor by the way) and go hide the tractor......
 
I guess I would have done the same as he did. You didn't tell him not to use the tractor, in fact you left it there at the hay to load with. You should have made it known there was a problem with the tractor.
 
I guess at this point I would find some way to disable the tractor to avoid any future unauthorized use.
Could have been worse. Someone could have stolen/gone for a destructive joy ride if it was that easy to get it going.
 
Well, This is a controversial subject. I personally know the owner of every tractor I've ever driven, so I know if it will cause a problem if I use it. I do feel, that since you gave him permission to be there without you, you also indirectly gave him permission to use your nearby, clearly there for that purpose tractor. If I were in your situation, I would have either moved the tractor or made it clear that he wasn't to use it. I think I would have checked the oil, and used it if I were in his shoes, too.

I'm thinking chalk this one up as a lesson learned, assuming there is no damage. But, I would have called to let you know that I loaded some hay and am sending you a check...

I know you don't like it, but, bottom line, you should have met him there. -Andy
 
I had pretty much the same thing happen except he left the tractor sit out in the middle of the field out of gas. I don't know if he ran it out or syphoned it after he was done,but about all you can do is be pizzed and get over it.
 
Huh, I am surprised by the responses. I am headed out directly to disable it in every way and lock it down. I guess I came from the school of "ask permission", not "it is yours to use unless otherwise specified".


Keep in mind, this is NOT someone I even know.
 
(quoted from post at 16:00:56 12/19/13) I had pretty much the same thing happen except he left the tractor sit out in the middle of the field out of gas. I don't know if he ran it out or syphoned it after he was done,but about all you can do is be pizzed and get over it.
Click to expand...


Well, I guess to be blunt, if he blew it up, it will be in court before you know it. I have emails to prove he had authorization to "look at hay", not drive a tractor. I don't really see how someone can think these two are related. You just don;t go and use people's equipment without at least asking. We'll I guess I am that way.
 
It only takes a screwdriver to start a 1175 case tractor. I agree that your customer took liberties that he shouldn't have, BUT he did tell you that he took 3 bales. Why diden't he have your contact info???. You need to make apointments and be there when the customer says he will meet you there. How many trips do you expect a customer to make to buy 3 bales of hay from you??
Loren, the Acg.
 
I know how you feel, but is it really worth getting
upset over? He could have gotten you to travel 20
miles two ways for three bales, or, in a perfect
world, yes, asked your permission first. But, if
you you want to nix that stuff in the future, wire a
kill switch into the battery ground to disconnect
the battery where it won't easily be seen. That
will also keep the kids from messing with it.
 
I agree that he had no business using the tractor, or for that matter loading the bales unless is was agreed that if he liked them he would take them on the spot. Sounds like he has different "boundaries" then us. Merry Christmas
 
He contacted via email. I called, he called back. We have contact info established. He asked to go look, I told him I cannot come out but he is free to "look". two days AFTER he looked, I contact HIM, only to find out he use the tractor and took 3 bales. In my book you don;t do ANY of that without a phone call...


As well, the keys were well hidden in the tractor and there is a master switch. The shifting is tricky and I have zero doubt he sat there for 30min trying to make the tractor work. No call? Yeah, I call negligence in this case.

Just amazing me the balls of some people. Glad I did not leave a building open. He might have grabbed a beer too.

Make it known that I did not "no show" here. He knew I was not coming and understanding was to look.
 
I treat folks the way I want to be treated. I never would have used that tractor without asking. I own enough mechanical stuff that has little issues, quirks, secret starting tricks etc... heck, the EJECTION SEAT may be rigged ON! But I also would not leave it there with keys anywhere near it.
 
I guess that the point I was trying to make, is that I do not give permission to someone I don't know to be on my property, especially without my presence, period. I would have met him there to check out the hay. Obviously, there was a misunderstanding as to the purpose of his trip. He wanted hay, you wanted him to "look" at the hay.

Yes, he should have called to let you know he wanted your hay, and wanted to use your tractor to load it. Once again, I would have been there.

Now, another strange but related thought, are you really worried about someone else using your tractor, or are you worried that because you know it isn't right it could have broke on him, because the way I understand it, you're using a known problematic tractor, that is likely to break on you at some point. Just a thought. -Andy
 
Bad decision to let him ever even go look unless you were there as it usually ends up not being good.How do you know he only took 3 bales? Or when he tells others they'll be coing to help themselves.I have a place about 40 miles from where I live the tractor I leave there is impossible to get to with something like a rollback and I never leave a battery in it.
 
I wouldn't use a hammer I didn't own without asking first; but that's just speaking for myself. I'm struck by the 3 bales. Since you didn't know him, either he showed up with a means of hauling 3 bales of hay he hadn't seen OR he made a return trip to load. If the second case then I would expect he had the opportunity to contact you.

That said, I don't think you have much option except take him off your Christmas card list and do no further business with him. Sorry. I've been in your shoes too.
 
Hmmm....Sounds like you should just shoot him.

You need to take a deep breath and say....the tractor still runs, he took 3 bales, this is a good lesson in making sure that I disable the tractor so no one uses it.
I know a guy that is a shyster and would have done all that, and syphoned off 1/2 the tank to put in his truck and took 6 bales and paid for 3. (no it aint me)
 
I'm with you. If he hurt it he should pay. In my case,when I confronted him he said it ran out of gas right there. I sure thought it had at least half a tank of gas and like you,I didn't tell him he could use it or go get hay any time he wanted it. He was supposed to come and get me and I would load it. The tractor had been up in the barn at the farm where the hay was lined up out in the fencerows. But,he paid for the hay and denied syphoning the gas. Wasn't much I could do but tell him not to load his own again.
 
I would never run another persons tractor without
permission, even with permission would be very
hesitant unless I knew the person well. Taking
the key out is a good practice, but most tractor
manufacturers have a standard key, Deere, Case,
NH, etc. I carry most of em in my pocket, no
problem there. Even if you don't have a key, a
screwdriver, wrench or piece of wire will still
get the job done. You pretty much have to be
there to keep crap like this from happening.
 
If be ticked off too! I wouldent do that to someone without
premission first. Funny story, I worked for an outdoor power
equipment store, the sold atvs snowmobiles lawn mowers ect.
One day the boss sent the driver and me to pick up 2 not
running snowmobiles. The truck was a 2wd with a 16 foot
trailer. We get these junks loaded up and driver can't get out of
the owners driveway, because of the ice. i see a ford 1720
tractor like mine sitting there with the key in it, of course being
the kind of guy I am I wouldent touch it. We leave trailer, go
back to shop and get the drivers 4x4 truck, pull trailer out hook
it up to company truck and drive back to shop. I tell the boss
about the tractor like mine sitting there, but I dident touch it. 2
days later the boss talked to the customer, told the guy the
story, owner said it would have been ok if the guy used my tractor!! Lol
 
I would never use someone else's equipment without contacting them and asking for permission. I have been around too many junkers in my day that all have quirks and I as a user need to understand them.

As you said, you only gave him permission to look at the hay to see if he wanted it - nothing else. Even if he had his own way of loading it, he should also have contacted you right then to let you know he was taking 3 bales. At that point he would could have asked you if he could use your tractor to load them.

What I would do: If you know for a fact that he used your tractor to load the hay then once I got payment from this fellow then I would never do business with him again under any circumstances - I would let the hay rot away to nothing first. Hiding the key on most of those old tractors does little. I frequently used the pointed end of a pair of finger nail clippers to turn the switch on our tractors back in the day as most we had back then we did not even have the proper key for.
 
I saw a sign the other day. Rules for Grandpa's stuff. 1.
Don't toutch it. 2. Don't move it. 3. Don't get it durty. 3.
Don'teven look at it. With these rules everyone should
stay out of trouble.
 
The guy stole the hay! You had not agreed on a price,you told
him to look at it then he stole your tractor to load it. I would be
mad too.
 
Funny I ran into this thread today..
I was working on a boat today and while I was waiting on the customer to show up to start the engine.. I checked the oil.. didn't even touch the dip stick.. I refused to allow him to crank it w/o filling it up first.
 
I am cooling off a bit but sounds like some people understand my position. What if I left it there because it overheated from a blown hose or what if I was in process of ANY repairs.


Never the less, I went and moved it, locked it down, and put a log chain on the door. It would never criminal out but a real criminal would zero clue how to start one anyway. They just want the battery and fuel.
 
He is going to send you a check? Based on what? Half of what you were going to ask? And he did not know where to sent the check so that tells be he wasen't going to. He did not buy it so he actually stole it and you should be filing theft charges with the law. Then you knew it was bad and if there are any dammages could add vandelisim charges.
 
We sell some hay. If we leave a tractor there I would assume they would load it and not bother us. It is just steel. People matter things don't. Vic
 
who is this guy... a brother in law ? your father? your brother?
some ting not make sense here.
don"t think stranger would do that!
seems to me he knows ur tractor.
 
if you're gonna play farmer then you need to act like one. you told him to go look at it. he did and decided he wanted 3 of them and loaded them with the tractor sitting there. 2 whole days later he offers to send you a check. i see no problems here.
 
"What if, What if, What if"

You're getting worked up over nothing.

I bet you'd be on here pissing and moaning about the same person wasting your time if you went with him to look at the hay and then he decided to not purchase anything.

Get a check for the hay then forget about it.
 
Through the years I've been around so darned many farmer tractors that have a certain quirk only the owner knows about. There's the lever that is about to break that the owner knows about but you don't so you pull it a little harder than he does and it breaks. Or it locks in gear if not shifted a certain way, or a brake goes over center if it's used, or the loader won't come back down if it's raised past a certain point or, well use your imagination. That's why I will never even step up on another person's tractor without talking to him first. Jim
 
How did he know if he wanted them without negoiating a price, just guess that you would take what ever he offered you that was perhaps 10% of what you were going to ask but you might have come down the 10% from your asking price..If it was a car you would not take it after looking at it without knowing what the price was and then say you will give him XX number of dollars and his XX number is one tenth of the actuall value of that car. No different. He is a crook and needs to be treated like the one he is. If you did that to me the law would be after you very fast for the theft of the hay as you had not priced to you yet.
 
Very possible, Would also do that with machinery to see if it would be something I could use. Just would depend on timing needed and location.
 
hay is listed online so he knew price. He is closer to it that me and was understood that I could not be present that day but he was free to look and make sure it was what he wanted.

I guess some think it is ok to just grab some bales and wait until "I" contact them two days later to tell me they took 3 bales.
 
I wonder if you hadn't called him if he would of ever called you and told you about the 3 bales ?????

In todays wacky world he could of ran a tractor he had no permission to run and if he hurt himself you would of been sued into bankruptcy.
 
(quoted from post at 19:32:45 12/19/13) He contacted via email. I called, he called back. We have contact info established. He asked to go look, I told him I cannot come out but he is free to "look". two days AFTER he looked, I contact HIM, only to find out he use the tractor and took 3 bales. In my book you don;t do ANY of that without a phone call...


As well, the keys were well hidden in the tractor and there is a master switch. The shifting is tricky and I have zero doubt he sat there for 30min trying to make the tractor work. No call? Yeah, I call negligence in this case.

Just amazing me the balls of some people. Glad I did not leave a building open. He might have grabbed a beer too.

Make it known that I did not "no show" here. He knew I was not coming and understanding was to look.
Click to expand...

Well, how far did he have to drive to look at it? At lease he was honest to admit he took 3 bales and would send you a check. Heck, he could have said, yeah, I looked and I'm not interested. Next time you went out there, you'd find missing hay and no way to prove it was him.
 
I am beyond ------ right now that someone would get in someone else's tractor and use it without even a phone call!!! Now I have to drive all the way out there to check on it and take the F'n keys out (they were hidden in the tractor by the way) and go hide the tractor......
Click to expand...

I'd be mad as well.

You don't use someone else's equipment with out permission whether you know how or not!

I was trying to tow out a guy that had gotten his dump truck stuck one time (bring us a load), I failed first attempt, went with pickup to get another chain to put the tractor in a different place farther with better traction. I got back 5 mins later and found he had tried himself to pull it, tractor was moved and ignition left on, if the tractor wasn't going to pull with me driving it, it wasn't going to pull any different with him on it. I was not happy. Now, no real harm done, the guy was a competent operator, but permissions and boundaries come into play here.

As far as everyone else saying "this is not a problem", I suppose it wouldn't be a problem if someone came over and raided your fridge and was watching your TV when you got home, after all, that is what the stuff is for.

You can bet if he got hurt he'd sue you!
 
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