Greg Smith Equipment Sales Sold me defective equimpent and refused to fix or replace it. They blamed problem on me. Indianapolis, Indiana

i purchased a tire changer from greg himself over 1 1/2 years ago and it didnt work to bad then all of sudden it wouldnt dismount properly. so i was able to jury rig it to work. well forward to today. i was in need of a new 2 post lift,  to call or not to call? well i called and talked to C.J. and he informed me he knew of my problem with the tire machine and would be happy to fix it. well we went to the indy store and met C.J.. A very knowledgeable and helpful employee. he was able to steer us in the right direction on hoists and handle my tire machine problems. we left very satisfied and would recomend this store to anyone looking for value and a very helpful sales staff. I am writing this after reading some of the sob stories on this site. i think it goes back to the basics of bussness- you get what you give- if you have a problem act like a human and give respect, they will give it back. or i should say bend over backwards for you .  thank you 

I am not only a past Greg Smith customer but I also plan on purchasing more item from his company in the future.

I am a former Automotive Quality Engineer with 10 years experience in supplier and customer service. Today I am a public school teacher in the Industrial Technology Trades courses, so yes I have experience from all sides of quality issues.

As a customer I have purchased 3 auto lifts and thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment from Greg Smith with only 1 issue. I contacted the company because a lift was missing a part. I had the part made locally and Greg Smith refunded me the cost as it was cheaper than shipping. All items that were purchased were of an expected quality considering the cost. 

From a Quality Engineer point of view I can understand these complaints; 1 A customer receives a product and it is defective: the do 1 of 2 things, either call and report a claim in a civil manner or the way many unruly raised people handle things is they call in and start with the loud voice, threats, and swearing. Hmmm with the amount of business that I have seen go through Greg Smith's business on saturday mornings I can imagine that he get s a few of the latter. These are the one that will write to a web-site like this and try to slander a company.

I understand that problems happen at both ends of a transaction, but please remember that there is usually more to a story than what some will reveal.

Just my 2-pennies and a sincere Thanks to Greg and his crew for what they put up with to offer us decent products at decent prices.

Mr. Smith has been MORE than dishonest with other customers. He was reported to have a VERY disrespectful attitude with several people. 2 of which have posted SIMILAR accounts with him. Both said he was very disrespectful, both were denied coverage, and both were completely RIPPED OFF.

A user posted about his account with Mr. Smith in a winch that he purchased. He used to speak highly about Greg Smith Equipment prior to this experience.

"So I called Dave @ Greg Smith Equipment about my 9500lb winch not working... apparently it's locked up.... I'VE NEVER USED IT !!!!

So Dave proceeds to tell me how to disassemble it and get it unstuck... I asked if he could hold on a sec. and was looking for my jacket so that I could go outside, 1... so that I could hear him better and 2.... so that I could get a visual while he was giving directions... He then proceeds to tell me that he doesn't have time to wait on me and that if I wanted his help that I needed to write it all down... So I tell him that d**n the warranty, which all of a sudden my warranty card is missing, that I want a refund... if that the kind of customer service that they have... they can have the POS back...

he now tells me that he will have to call me back... so I wait... a few mins later he calls... he tells me that he talked to the manager, Jason, and Jason said that they will cover the parts not the labor and there will be no refund...


make of it what you will, but ya'll was right...


here's some pics of the kind of shape its in.... I just got it in MAY.... 

the paint is faded to all hell, and all the chrome is rusted... did I mention... IT DON'T WORK !!!!!!!!!






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He then later updated his pictures to include that the winch he has purchased was full of mud when he had never been in mud.. He decided to open it up because others questioned that it being in the elements (due to it being a vehicle) could have damaged it. (even though the winch is supposed to be weatherproofed to an extent.)

"This is what i found so far... remember... never used and never been in the mud.... the only thing I can think of is the last trip t Gilmer was real dusty.... the dust made its way inside and then it rained.....

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Mr. Smith was unhelpful, and ill-mannered, He decided to use Mr. Chaney's aggravated behavior (due to Mr Smith's inaction) as a scapegoat for his actions. He after the fact posted a rebuttal to cover his unscrupulous behavior.

"My name is Greg Smith. I own Greg Smith Equipment Sales.
This family run business has enjoyed 27 years of success by providing great products at very competitive prices.
We sell Atlas winches. Our warranty and product information are clearly posted on our web site.
Our company tries to "bend the warranty rules" to avoid customer complaints.
We value our customers; but sometimes there are those customers who cannot be satisfied. Mr. Chaney (aka: sureshot) has posted his version of his recent experience with my company. His version is different than our version.
Mr. Chaney's abusive language and attitude will not be tolerated at our locations. I do not pay my employees enough money to listen to people like Mr. Chaney.
Mr. Chaney had the winch for seven months and NEVER used it? Our winches are sealed, so the pictures sent by Mr. Chaney are difficult for the Factory and our company to validate.
Mr. Chaney uses abusive language (on this forum) in describing our company.
We are available to answer any questions at 800-262-1950."

To rebute Mr. Smith's Post was this.

"Well everyone here on this Board knows how Mr.Chaney feels about mud.
He does not wheel in it nor wants to. BUT this winch is 7 months old. the cable has not been moved. I have unwound mine and can not get it to look that good.

No matter what you state the winches are sealed. Well this winch is not. Everyone on this forum knows exactly when Sureshot40 bought it. You see there is a thread. If he had used the winch we would have heard about it.

I can't believe it he didn't play with it, I did with mine. BUT he did not use his winch and there is an issue with the "sealed" motor.

Ok you don't pay your employee's enough well lay them off and out source your customer care to India or the Philippines, where you will pay half as much and they know how to be polite and understanding."

To confirm Mr. Smith's disrespectful and ill-mannered behavior with customers, another user decided to post a similar account with Mr. Smith.

I bought a lift, an oil drain, a jack stand and a tranny jack. When I was making the purchase, lemme tell you, the folks at Greg Smith really lay it on heavy.

I received the my stuff and was overjoyed at the lift, it revolutionized my job.

Then, I had a job come in where I needed to use the tranny jack. The very first time I tried to use it, it failed. Assuming I might have done something wrong, I called Greg Smith Equipment to talk to a technical rep to make sure it was something simple like being low on oil. The person I spoke with was very short with me, bordering on abusive. I was told that they expect at least one out of four of the jacks to fail! I was told that I should expect such as this is what I got for buying such cheap junk.

Now, keep in mind that I was overjoyed with my lift so I was quite shocked at this response. Not wanting to get into a shouting match, I e-mailed the company and received a response from Grant Smith, presumably, Greg's son. This e-mail was very polite and made me feel as though my experience was not common and that I'd receive satisfaction. I then received an e-mail from Greg where I was told that I had used abusive language, when nothing of the sort occurred-keep in mind how pleased I was with my lift! Greg Smith told me that their company policy is that the customer is NOT always right!!! Now, think about it, how many companies will tell a disgruntled customer something like this?

Greg and I went around and around and I was told the only way I'd get my jack replaced was to have it delivered to the store in Indy. As I have a friend who lives there and travels back and forth often, this wasn't a huge inconvenience. I had the jack taken to their store, only to find out they would not replace it, but they would provide replacement parts. SO, now I not only have a tranny jack that doesn't work, but I have to fix it! How would you feel if you had bought something, only to find this is how you were treated?

I spent almost $3000 with Greg Smith Equipment and certainly will never spend another single penny with them. Keep in mind how much I love my lift. It doesn't matter how much I enjoy one piece of equipment bought from them when I now know that should something fail, or worse yet, not work right out of the box, I can expect such horrible customer service."

And to complete other unsatisfied customers thanks to Mr. Smith, Here is the coverage of a more recent account. (Of which I'm sure Mr. Smith would be glad to dismiss as "Inaccurate" or "Inflamed")

"Man I wish I saw these posts last month! I didn't buy the winch but instead bought a 4 post lift, man things haven't changed at Greg Smith Equipment!!! Got a direct lift and it was damaged by shipping or Greg Smith, all gouged and scraped up, but was hidden inside the big package. So after being told they were filing a claim with the shipper, then said they filed a claim and were waiting for word back, asking me for pics and had me get prices to fix it, they string me along for 2 weeks and then dump it back to me to file a claim and tell me its my problem. Once it leaves their warehouse it YOURS!! I checked with the shipper and they had no record of ANY claim from Greg Smith Equipment on file!!!!
Plus the holes for the wheels were wrong size and had to be redone, and the ramp had to actually be cut out on a corner to work and not push on the safety release lever! Got the rolling jack and it didn't work. They did send a new pump for that but its a design flaw so I will have to re-engineer that!
I got the grand honor of speaking to Greg Smith and instead of a professional business owner ended up getting told off and said he would "Hold my hand" as i filled out a claim if I couldn't do it on my own! It was amazing how rude this guy is! And I didn't get nasty with him or anything. Told him a lot of my friends who were going to buy lifts came by and were displeased and wouldn't buy one unless the issues were resolved! He said I was starting rumors and that pissed him off(? WTF). I told him I wasn't one that was trying to start anything or post things and tell the world, and he cut me off and told me he could care less if I put all over the internet that Greg Smith was an A$$hole................. I have never seen such a lousy customer service and such an attitude out of a business! How do they stay in business is beyond me! I saw some good posts about them prior to buying, I think they are posting their own hype at this point!
Sorry to jump in a change topic to lifts guys, but had to keep the Greg Smith WARNING going to the unsuspecting customers!"

So before you purchase ANYTHING from Mr. Smith, Be aware that you may have little to NO coverage on your high expense purchases from him, You should also expect to be disrespected and patronized.

Mr. Kyle Lloyds report concerning his wheel balancer is not accurate.  Mr. Lloyd did purchase a lift and a tire changer and a wheel balancer from Greg Smith Equipment on 4-10-08.

 

Mr. Lloyd made his first technical call to Greg Smith Equipment on 1-10-09, nine months after his purchase. Mr. Lloyd bought the equipment under the name of Cyberton Industries located in Milford, Michigan.

 

After owning and operating the equipment for several months, Mr. Lloyd called our service department to explain a problem with the balancer. Our service technicians worked with Mr. Lloyd on the calibration issue, but could not get the issue resolved.   

Greg Smith Equipment, in an effort to solve what we believed was a factory problem, agreed to fix the balancer at our location.  Mr. Lloyd sent the balancer back to our location.  When we opened the top of his balancer, there was surface rust on most of the electronic parts inside the case.  Mr. Lloyd had failed to explain that there was rust on these parts when explaining his calibration issue over the phone.

We had noticed inaccuracies of Mr. Lloyds story during our many phone conversations, and the inordinate amount of rust on all the balancers electronic parts confirmed our suspicions.

 

 A lift and a tire changer are mechanical pieces of equipment and can tolerate high moisture.  A wheel balancer has a computer board and many sensitive electronic parts that react adversely when they are covered with rust. 

Greg Smith Equipment has several digital pictures of Mr. Lloyds balancer as it was received back at our warehouse, copies of Mr. Lloyds original invoice, freight invoices, and abbreviated transcripts of phone conversations between Mr. Lloyd and our service technicians.  We also have photos of Mr. Lloyd picking up his balancer yesterday.

 

Greg Smith Equipment has been in business for almost 30 years and is very proud of our products and service.  There are many more inaccuracies and inconsistencies with Mr. Kyle Lloyds story.  If anyone wants to receive the complete and accurate report on the Mr. Lloyds wheel balancer, please contact our company, and we will email you a more detailed report along with pictures.

We wish the Rip-Off Report would let us post actual pictures of Mr. Lloyds balancer on this web site.

 

As a business owner with an excellent reputation, it is upsetting to me (Greg Smith) that anyone can post negative comments on a web site, (whether accurate or not) and our company must spend time and resources to respond to such inaccurate reports.  We value our customers and attempt to resolve all issues in a professional manner. 

Mr. Kyle Lloyds report concerning his wheel balancer is not accurate.  Mr. Lloyd did purchase a lift and a tire changer and a wheel balancer from Greg Smith Equipment on 4-08-10.

 

Mr. Lloyd made his first technical call to Greg Smith Equipment on 1-10-09, nine months after his purchase. Mr. Lloyd bought the equipment under the name of Cyberton Industries located in Milford, Michigan.

 

After owning and operating the equipment for several months, Mr. Lloyd called our service department to explain a problem with the balancer. Our service technicians worked with Mr. Lloyd on the calibration issue, but could not get the issue resolved.   

 

Greg Smith Equipment, in an effort to solve what we believed was a factory problem, agreed to fix the balancer at our location.  Mr. Lloyd sent the balancer back to our location.  When we opened the top of his balancer, there was surface rust on most of the electronic parts inside the case.  Mr. Lloyd had failed to explain that there was rust on these parts when explaining his calibration issue over the phone.

 

We had noticed inaccuracies of Mr. Lloyds story during our many phone conversations, and the inordinate amount of rust on all the balancers electronic parts confirmed our suspicions.

 

 A lift and a tire changer are mechanical pieces of equipment and can tolerate high moisture.  A wheel balancer has a computer board and many sensitive electronic parts that react adversely when they are covered with rust. 

 

Greg Smith Equipment has several digital pictures of Mr. Lloyds balancer as it was received back at our warehouse, copies of Mr. Lloyds original invoice, freight invoices, and abbreviated transcripts of phone conversations between Mr. Lloyd and our service technicians.  We also have photos of Mr. Lloyd picking up his balancer yesterday.

 

Greg Smith Equipment has been in business for almost 30 years and is very proud of our products and service.  There are many more inaccuracies and inconsistencies with Mr. Kyle Lloyds story.  If anyone wants to receive the complete and accurate report on the Mr. Lloyds wheel balancer, please contact our company, and we will email you a more detailed report along with pictures.

 

We wish the Rip-Off Report would let us post actual pictures of Mr. Lloyds balancer on this web site.

 

As a business owner with an excellent reputation, it is upsetting to me (Greg Smith) that anyone can post negative comments on a web site, (whether accurate or not) and our company must spend time and resources to respond to such inaccurate reports.  We value our customers and attempt to resolve all issues in a professional manner.