I purchased a LS 4040 Tractor from Mike’s Repair Service. The tractor was brand new and fully covered under the warranty. After a few months of owning it, I noticed a small hydraulic leak on the right side loader ram hydraulic cylinder. The leak was coming from the welded joint. I also noticed hydraulic oil leaking from the right side rear differential. This was due to a lack of sealant at the manufacture I contacted Matt from Mike’s repair and told him about the problems. He stated that is was warranty items, and that it can be fixed. We discussed the cost of him coming from his store to my home to pick up the tractor as expensive. He then recommended that I try to find a friend or welder locally to fix the hydraulic leak on the ram. When I asked about getting a new ram, as it is a new tractor, he stated that LS will not replace the ram unless they try to fix it first. I told him I understood, but thought that was wrong. I tried to find a local farmer or company to weld the ram, but no one would touch it. They cited that it was under warranty and did not want to be held accountable if something went wrong. I called Matt back and explained this to him. He stated that he had a buddy that was a welder in Green Bay, WI, and he would contact him to have him come fix it. This is now nearly 6 weeks since I reported the leak. After waiting for nearly 2 weeks, I called Matt about his friend the welder. Matt stated that his friend had passed away a year ago, and that is why he had never returned his calls. At this point, I told Matt that I really need to get this fixed, and what was our next step. He explained that he would get with his drivers and see if anyone would be making trips up north that he could se t up a ride. Two weeks later, I had not heard from Matt so I called him back. I asked him if I could take it to Service Motors to have it fixed. Service Motors is a highly respected tractor dealer and maintenance shop. He stated that I could. The only things Matt told me, was that he would not reimburse me for any mileage I was charged by them to come and get the tractor, as that is not covered under warrantee work. I agreed and understood. I contacted Service Motors and spoke with Scott, the repair manager. They came and picked up my tractor. Scott called me and said they could fix it all, but the ram they would send out to a professional welder, as this was a high pressure cylinder. At that time I called Matt at Mikes Repair and relayed the information to him. I also gave him Scott’s number to Service Motors twice, to which he stated he would call. Service Motors called me to inform me that he never reached out). Once the repairs were fixed, I paid $1521.94 for all of the repairs and travel. I then submitted the remainder of the bill, $1334.94 to Matt and Mikes Service to be covered under the warrantee as agreed. Matt stated not a problem, and that it should take 2-3 business days to get the money back. One week later I called, since I had not heard from Matt. Matt stated that LS Tractors only agreed to cover about $300 of the repair citing that I was over charged. Matt and I got into a verbal altercation, with him stating “I never told you to take it to Service Motors, I told you I would have rather done the work here” This is a lie. After more arguing he stated that he knows I am upset, but do not call LS and report this to them, as they will not cover even the $300, if they found out that he did not do the repair work. This lead to a even longer argument. Matt then told me to hold on, and that he would call a “buddy” at LS and try to get more money. I then spoke with the president of LS as well as the sales distributors, who all stated that they have problems with Matt fixing peoples tractors under warrantee and that they would tell him to pay, but could not make him. On September 17th, I spoke with Matt and he stated that he would pay an additional $200 out of his pocket, in addition to the $330 from LS, but no more. Today he confirmed that I would need to do what I need to do, as he was not going to honor the work completed. Service Motors stated that there is no way anyone could have completed the work in the time frame that LS stated it had to be done, there is a 5 hour difference in time. Mikes Repair owes me $1334.94 for approved warrantee work on my tractor.
