So here is my rant on Gov Planit

[garlar4]

So sorry but i had to make this post. Sorry if i sound like a whiny bitch but i have history with A number of Richie Brothers Companies and they all seem to be ran the same. Like Crap......

So in the past i have sold many pieces of equipment to many to count threw a number of Richie Brothers companies. The inspections were always the same and if they missed something and the buyer finds it we had a chargeback for it. This seems fair and even though some times i thought it was damage that happened at the site i just let it go.

So now i bought a HMMWV from GovPlanet, A proud Richie Brothers Companie now. The inspection only stated the crack in the hood, Leaking Transmission and an oil leak on the motor. I decided that since i was only 50 miles from where the unit was sitting that i would pick it up myself and drive it home. Upon arrival I checked the unit out. the oil was low, Transmission was low, and the bad tire i knew about. I noticed that the generator was surging from yellow to green on a consistent manner. My friend who drove me up was a mechanic and said it could be dust from setting causing it and could straighten out. so after crawling over the whole unit we noticed small traces of oil in 3 wheels and just assumed it was from the engine oil leak. it had no fuel in the unit so off to the gas station about 1/2 mile up the road. we got there and noticed an abundance of oil in the wheels. we decided to go down the street and eat some lunch and talk about whether to proceed or not with driving it home. When we arrived at the sandwitch shop the generator was in the red solid. we went inside and eat. when we finished we walked out and checked the hmmwv out. it would not start and had oil all over three of the wheels. So we ended up running up and renting a uhaul trailer and trailering it home.

we took it to a mechanic in my area who has knowledge of the hmmwv's due to working in motor pool in the army. He called me and said three of the wheel seals are blown out and had been for a while due to the amount of fluid missing and the amount that would leak out. He said the Generator was shot and had been needed replacement for some time as they dont just go out all at once in his experience. then he told me about the other leaks and what caused them. We also found the lights were nonfunctional ( Bad Switch box).

So I called GovPlanets Joke of a customer service who told me to contact my point of contact where i picked it up at. So I called Ken Who was my point of contact. I told him our finding and he tells me not a problem let me call the dispute manager and see what we can do to for you on this. after two weeks I called Ken back who said ya i talked to him and he said we can not do anything due to you driving it home. I told him i didnt that we ended up trailering it due to the issues. He said ohh ok well you need to call customer service and go ahead and tell them you spoke to me and that i said for you to call thim and file a dispute. So i did so.

Well now customer service refused to do so saying that there was already one filed and was turned down. I told them what had happened and they said well hold and let me call the dispute manager. after sitting on hold for 15 to 20 min they come back on and said well he is on the phone you need to call back. so i did and well nothing again. This time they took my info and said they would have him call me when he gets off the phone. Well that was monday. Must be one heck of a call he is on.....

Any how Just an FYI Gov planet will not stand behind their inspections on gov vehicles. If there is any Gov Planet people on here that can help me get this worked out that would be great. So far i have spent an additional $3K on this unit due to their lack in inspections and laziness. so folks some of us do good. others not so great. my advice look closely at the photos before placing a bid and try to plain for the unforeseen. As far as gov Planet giving you this contract over govliquidators was one of the feds biggest screwups i miss you govLiquidators.....

 

[simp5782]

There is a govplanet rep here on steel soldiers, have you tried contacting him? I have never any problem getting repairs paid for things that were reasonable and not on the inspection. You should have maybe went and previewed this truck before you bought it. Pictures do not show everything and previewing is encouraged. Especially on a beat up HMMWV. Do any of the pictures from the inspection show oil on the inside of the wheels? They tend to do an undercarriage shot of most trucks. Hub seal may have only been leaking for a short time period and not filled back up to the proper level to begin with? Your truck probably sat for a year or so since it's inspection. Atleast 5 months at the minimum so yes things can happen. Also yes these alternators will just go out on a whim. They get jumped off and jumped off for so long and with weak batteries they can toast the alternator.

Posting is probably suited better in the GovPlanet/Auction section and not with the HMMWV stuff since it does pertain to a govplanet issue and not a HMMWV issue.

Also never expect to recover a truck by driving it home. It is always cheaper and safer to just haul it home in the long run.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I have my own issues with GovPlanet, mostly because I failed to inspect my truck thoroughly in the dead of winter when I had it delivered to me with numerous things not noted on the auction. But if anyone can help you it's the rep on this site for govplanet. I was having trouble proving to my state that the sales tax was paid. He helped me sort that out with a letter. Never mind govplanet over charged the sales tax and the state won't refund the difference! Get a hold of him. He's a good guy.

 

[Kaz]

My issue was customer service people consistently contradicting the previous person I'd talked to and much of what they told me being incorrect completely (some of which I found out on my own the hard way). When I tell people who ask me about my HMMWV purchase one of the things I tell them is to assume everything CS says is wrong.

 

[PHasty]

garlar- IT was a helluva a phone call, and the fact that I was in and out of meetings every day last week. I told the CCA that was hovering over my shoulder to transfer you over to their supervisor since they are more experienced as to what is a legitimate claim. Just to set the record straight, since some may have not seem my initial post, I am the Post-Sale Operations Manager for GovPlanet. That means I am in charge of everything that happens AFTER the auction. The 3 main areas are EUC, SF97/Titles, and Disputes. In your particular case, this is the main reason why we (myself and almost every field inspector/yard manager/Regional Manager) strongly discourages ANYONE from showing up and driving off in their brand new to them 30 year old Government Surplus truck. Which ironically the yard manager that was there at the time told you. The one thing I tell everyone, and to set the record straight I retired from the US Army in 2013 after 22+ years with 4 combat tours and a few other deployments to Africa, Haiti, and other exotic places therefore I am not talking out of my 4th point of contact when I give advice or try to explain things, DO A COMPLETE BEFORE AND AFTER PMCS PER THE TM BEFORE OPERATING YOUR VEHICLE.

Anyone with any mechanical knowledge knows that seals shrink and dryrot when sitting for extending periods of time (in some cases these vehicles have been out of operation for over a decade). We DO NOT road test vehicles, depending on the size of the yard and location of the truck the inspector may only have enough room to put the unit id drive and pull forward 10-20 feet and reverse it back the same amount. We do this to see if the transmission engages in forward and reverse. This does not mean that you can jump up on the highway doing 50 MPH and everything works. Same with the generator, we state if the truck starts, needs a jump, or it needed to be jumped again after turning off. We do not put a voltmeter on the alternator to see if it is spitting out juice. Which is one of the reasons that Alternators are specifically mentioned in the terms and conditions as NOT being covered.

I would challenge anyone on here to tell me an auction site that allows a person to get in and test drive a vehicle before bidding on it. In fact the majority of the auctions I have attended won't even let you get in to see if it starts, much less crawl around under it to inspect everything. At the end of the day we are an Auction House, not a vehicle dealer. We do not offer a warranty on items that are won. We do our best to give a complete and standardized inspection report that covers the main (and normally most expensive) components and systems, do we miss stuff yes we do. In those cases where we legitimately missed something that was clearly visible, i.e. a large 4" by 4" hold in the block, missing half shafts, milkshakes in the crankcase, I have personally made sure that the buyer was taken care of through dispute resolution. Same thing applies to missing equipment, especially on HMMWVs and other EUC items because they sit on the yards for so long waiting for the EUC to clear.

I am sorry you had a bad experience, but experience you did gain. If you think you have been treated bad, or that we (GovPlanet) is unwilling to help or intentionally lead you astray on the condition of your truck, I am extremely sorry that you feel that way. I would hope that the several people that are on this forum would attest that I have bent over backwards to make things right for them, when the issue was actually legitimate.

On another note, you will never get a call back from me in regards to a dispute. However, you will always get an email. I am the only dispute analyst, and then Dispute Manager that has ever worked at GovPlanet. In the beginning when I was first hired (Nov 2014), I answered to the IronPlanet Dispute manager until I got my feet wet. I took over as the GovPlanet dispute Manager in April 2015. For the first 6 months, I personally contacted every customer that submitted a dispute by phone, however, too many times I had customers try to burn me by misrepresenting what or flat out lying about what we discussed on the phone. Therefore ALL dispute issues are now handled by email to ensure that there is no ambiguity or miscommunication about what the issue is, what the result of the review is, or what the dispute resolution is. I know that this is impersonal and email does not convey context, but it is the only way to maintain professionalism and ensure that the message communicated is received.

On a final note, I will share some of my numbers in regards to disputes (they will be approximate since I do not plan on looking for a new job anytime soon). So far this year we have sold around 11,000 items via the GovPlanet website, I have had a total of 140ish disputes submitted which is around 1%. Out of those 140ish I provided around 120 resolutions. I, and this number is specific, denied 19 disputes for not meeting the basic requirements that are set forth in our terms and conditions. Which means that 92% of the disputes I receive get some sort of resolution offered. To say in a public forum that we do not stand behind our reports is offensive and 100% inaccurate.

 

[owensexport]

I have had nothing but EXCELLENT service when it comes to
after sale issues handled by Phasty - Thank you for your help!

 

[garlar4]

So PHasty has come to the rescue me and him of been in talks after he posted the above comment on this I understand he is limited on what he can get done but he was able to get something done for me and I do appreciate all his hard work that he put in on getting it done as he put in the email to me he understood it was not what I was hoping to get but it was something also explained to him that if I knew he was the one everybody was talking about that was the rep that would handle the issues with the picked up Hmmwvs I would've contacted him directly in the beginning. He is a true advocate and I think that the brass over at gov planet needs to realize what an asset he truly is to their company.


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