Bought a 5045 E John Deere tractor with loader, blade, auger, mower deck, and trailer. Picked it up from Foster's in Hockley, Texas and transported it home to SW Colorado. I have had diesel utility tractors from 19 HP to 85HP, trucks, generators, and I have operated combines, haybines, choppers, forklifts, backhoes and skid steers for some thirty years, but is was my first brand new tractor ever, so you imagine my excitement. Shopped locally, but the closest I could come to a comparably sized/priced tractor with loader was in Utah, and it did not come with a trailer or other equipment, and it wasn't a JOHN DEERE. I figured it was worth the drive. I needed a larger tractor, as I help to maintain a one and a half mile lane (two neighbors pitch in when they are in town), and have been using a 19 horse power 40 year old tractor with a 4 foot blade spending some fifty hours moving snow one month last season while everyone else was out of town. The dealership was made abundantly aware of the proposed use (to move lots of snow), and the winter weather it would spend most of its time operating in. The salesman even talked me into upgraded wide ag tires ($500) extra because he said "all of his other Colorado customers loved them". I was hesitant because wide tires, like dual tires "float" on heavy snow. But they were on the tractor when I got there, and they seemed aggressive enough.

Got it home and couldn't get it started - Oct 29th, 13 degrees. Finally warmed up outside and it started, the mower was on, so I mowed for a while. Neighbor came by to check it out and noticed antifreeze pouring from the tractor. I checked, needed antifreeze, and figured when the presale service took place, they didn't get the cap back on right. But curious, I checked the rest of the fluids. Oil was very very low, hydraulic fluid almost didn't register. UH OH! Took it in to the local John Deere, yep, needed all fluids and had a stripped hose clamp. Gee, you would have thought presale service would have caught that, but I got a blank presale JD form. Foster's service manager claimed they did the presale service, but they never use that form?!? I live alone right now while my husband works toward retirement in another state. I figure it was a damned good thing that the hose clamp issue came up, because I might not have checked the other fluids until 50 hours went by, (per manual check) and I would have been just like another Hockley, Texas customer who is complaining of a faulty engine. Maybe he didn't get any oil either...

Home a second time, things seemed okay, but I still struggled to start the darned thing. I make a home for the mower and attached the blade, because we are getting into snow season. I help a neighbor move a little dirt, and smooth the drive to my barn. Still struggling to get the tractor started, so I called the local guys after damn near memorizing the manual re: cold weather starting. Turns out the nice folks in Hockley sold me a diesel tractor with absoutely NO preheat, no block heater, no glow plug, no exhaust preheat, nada. The exhaust preheat and block heater were only about $350, which I would have obviously paid for at the time of purchase, but the salesman failed to mention that preheat equipment on this tractor is optional. Not a single perso I have talked to, farmer, industrial user, no one has EVER heard of preheat being optional on a diesel, and nothing I was referred to by the dealer would have alerted me to that fact. Because of a bad snow storm I could not get the tractor to the local shop (A. it wouldn't start, and B. the road was treacherous with about a foot of snow, so I got to pay $95 per hour for a brave young man to lcate a shop truck with 4x4, come to the farm and spend 4 hours installing the equipment in 4 degree weather. Hockley won't even consider reimbursement for anything. Their arguement is that the salesman is from Houston where you don't need preheat, and the preheat equipment should only cost - oh an hours worth of work and some hundred or so dollars in parts, yeah, my bill was $820.

Ah, back to the blade, the pivot pin sheared off the second time I used it for snow -mind you not three feet of snow, but maybe half a foot of powder, fell off right in the middle of the road. I called Armstrong Ag/ Ag-Meier in Brenham, Texas, an they were glad to supply a new part and pay for the major strip and reweld. I figured the two inch steel pin must ave been poorly cast, or was brittle for some reason? Got the blade home, re attached it and set to plowing. Plowed like a champ, and was I ever relieved. Second wave of snow, and again I started early during the storm, because it was New Years, and I figured the neighbors would be busy with family. Have to admit I was on pins and needles worrying about "stressing" the new blade. It is a gravel road, but it is meticulously maitained in the summer by all the neighbors, so should not present such a challenge. Almost done, headed home and the pin sheared again. The mfg rep says he will try to work with me, but is only willing to refund what he sold the unit to Foster's for, and will not pay to ship it back to Texas. He could care less that a 54 year old woman had to wrestle the stupid 200 pound blade into the bucket in the middle of the road, in the dark, in a snow storm.

There is an old adage for this situation f----- but not kissed. I am planning to file a suit in Colorado if John Deere World and Ag-Meier do not come up with a workable solution. Time is running out for me, te is a new storm moving in. I do not want to file a suit, but any possible savings are slowly going right out the window because Foster's Farm and Equipment has to be the very worst dealership I have ever had the misfortune of buying from. All I want is reimbursement for the freezing service call, reimbursement of the cost of the blade, and to not pay some $300 shipping to get it back to Brenham, maybe a sum total of $2000 at most. You would think they would get a clue, that fighting a civil suit in COlorado is going to cost them alot more.

Hope this saves someone else the same issues.

PS, Foster's was loading a smaller tractor package when I picked mine up (and by the way I didn't even have to sign for the thing), they allowed the new owner to leave the lot with the same pieces of equipment strapped only with one inch nylon straps like you would use for furniture in the back of a pickup. They were amazed I brought chains, commercial chain tighteners, and six 1400 pound commercial ratchet straps to secure equipment. I saw two of the other man's little orange straps on the freeway entrance ramp, and hoped like hell he did not kill someone with flying equipment on the way home. Foster's is irresponsible, and I want everyone to know it.

Anyone interested in a class action?

To the site owners, there is nocategory appropriate for this complaint.