Forklift nightmare

Saw a couple of forklifts advertised on market place. What grabbed my attention is that Hendrik from Equestra Materials Handling offered a 3 month on site warranty.

I called Hendrik and he had a Linde forklift in stock that looked like exactly the forklift we need for our business.

We chatted about the forklift and we concluded the deal. The forklift was sold to me with 1.6m forks.

I paid Hendrik via EFT ( didn't neg on the price and paid him his full asking price)

The forklift was delivered, but...

The forklift was delivered with 1.2m forks instead of the 1.6m forks it was sold to me as.( 1.6m forks also stipulated on the invoice)

I gave Hendrik a call before the forklift was off loaded to let him know about the fork issue.

Hendrik appoligized and blame one of his workers for changing the forks and that I shouldn't worry as he will send the 1.6m forks first thing the next morning.

Weeks went by. I called him again and he offered to give me a guys contact info that will make me extensions for my forks at a cost of R2500.

I thought I will settle for the extensions, just to find out that it will be for my cost. I had some words with Hendrik as this was ridiculous, he then said he did me a favour selling me that forklift.

That aside I left it at that. 6 weeks from delivery my forklift started leaking oil from the diesel pump, and the battery went dead. I called Hendrik and he promised to send out his technician. A couple of days later he technician arrived. They exchanged the battery to a battery half the size it should be and then he called me to say that they can't fix the diesel pump leak right now as it is a massive job and that they need to pull the motor. ( he even send me a voice note from who knows who, stating that it is a massive job and that they will need to get someone that is very specialized. He never got back to me regarding fixing the problem. I called the first place I found on Google that could quote and they quoted me R4900 incl vat( call out, labour and parts) they said it will take about 2 hours to fix.

I send this quote to Hendrik and heard nothing back.

A week later the forklift tilt cylinders started leaking.

Hendrik doesnt take my call anymore.

I am going the legal route just to proof a point to Hendrik.

Don't buy from this company.