FarmTrac Troubles

/ FarmTrac Troubles #981  
tb8100 said:
Talked to the local Farmtrac dealer here. He said Farmtrac isn't bankrupt- it's just in receivership, and that it'll soon resurface probably with a different name and color. He also said the warranty is underwritten by other companies. Is this stuff true or is he full of it?
your local dealer is correct is saying that Farmtrac is in recievership, it has not filed for bankruptsy simply because the reciever does not have the funds to do so.all other is speculation, there are rumors all over the place now and very few have any basis in fact.regardless of what happens in Tarboro NC, it will not relieve the debt the dealer owes Textron, that is a completely seperate issue.if he has not done so, I encourage him to join the dealer group working on these issues.--------------Taxpayer
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #982  
Everything your local dealer told you is correct. No bankruptcy, yes to receiver. Yes there is also warranty supplied by a third party. As for Farmtrac resurfacing under a new name and color is speculation at this point. Nothing concrete to confirm that.
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #983  
swines said:
Are you looking of for your definition of virtue - or publicity? Would you prefer Keith Olbermann....?
What?? How about Don Imus? Seriously, I hope it all works out for you guys. I just have a hard time stomaching a lech like O'Reilly.

John
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #984  
NewToy said:
What?? How about Don Imus? Seriously, I hope it all works out for you guys. I just have a hard time stomaching a lech like O'Reilly.

John
your apparent dislike of O'Reilly is a political preference. we Farmtrac dealers are not interested in a political agenda, we simply need our story told and we don't care who tells it. if you don't like O'Reilly, then help us get someone else or keep your critisism to yourself.-----Taxpayer
 
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/ FarmTrac Troubles #985  
taxpayer said:
your apparent dislike of O'Reilly is a political preference. we Farmtrac dealers are not interested in a political agenda, we simply need our story told and we don't care who tells it. if you don't like O'Reilly, then help us get someone else or keep your critisism to yourself.-----Taxpayer
Not political at all, just my opinion. Don't try to read something into it or attribute my opinion to some "political agenda". Sadly, I care so little about politics I don't believe I have an "agenda". Lighten up a bit , taxman.:( Like I said before, I hope it works out for you guys.

John
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #987  
Redneckford, I didn't read New toy's comments to be down on O'Reilly, but rather on dealers for attempting to get the story out.I don't care about O'Reilly one way or another, we don't have time to pick and chose who tells the story,we can't afford not to make use of any media source, disliked or not.-----Taxpayer
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #988  
Political agenda-----you are not afraid-----but this whole situation has been allowed to continue because those that control the political agenda do not want to make their big donors mad.(SEE attached List of Cam--"PAIN" Donations) Loud and Proud-----think I'm going to run for the border----NOT!!!! rather stand and fight for what's fair and right---- the coffee is better here!!!---even if it is grown somewhere else.
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #989  
The purpose of the "secure-site" was to give the dealers opportunity to discuss these issues among themselves more freely........such as, strategy to defend ourselves in this situation without those who are out to do us harm being able to look over our shoulder and read our gameplan. It has nothing to do with being "afraid".............when you are in a card game it is wise to play your cards "close to the vest"............so to speak.
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #990  
As has been stated all along, the really sad thing about this is that THESE ARE GOOD TRACTORS!!! Customers who bought them liked them. This whole mess is just mysterious. The Farmtrac tractors were selling very well........why did the people from India decide to just shut down and run away? I believe that the parent company in India just kept telling Tarboro to send all the money to them............and didn't leave enough money in Tarboro to pay the operating expenses............not even property taxes and the power bill. Someone somewhere at Textron was "asleep at the controls" to not notice this was happening. As Ross Perot said , "There was a giant sucking sound"....................but he was talking about money going "south of the border"............this time the money was vacuumed up and sent to India. There can be very little doubt that this whole thing was "orchestrated and choriographed" for at least two years...........but hind sight is always 20/20............
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #991  
swines said:
Are you looking of for your definition of virtue - or publicity? Would you prefer Keith Olbermann....?

Here, here! Olberman was *great* back in the day... when on SportsCenter. Not the guy for serious stuff like the FNA debacle, though.
--b
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #992  
BlueLiner----How's the Book coming ----Bet JD CREDIT or CNH CAPITAL would spring for the back cover ad!!! What about all those FarmTrac dealers that went out of business in the previous year? 2006-2007 No interest----never come due----free Freight---Good Sales volumes---High (Large) Profits??? NO PAYMENT FOR WARRANTY CLAIMS OR SALES BONUSES Less than zero fininacing---- what did those dealers know and when did they know it . Could it be inside trading at its finest???Other suppliers with a game plan, Dealers ready to switch tractor lines at a moments notice???Key personel repositioned to run the game plan???? WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID "THEY" KNOW IT???? Let us see who is un-running other companys that are importing LG tractors and SAME tractors.Have they ever worked for Long/FarmTrac/Textron???? Isn't it amazing how things work out when you know the information before everyone else does!! Hold the press I am still praying for a miracle!!! A happy workable solution for all those honest faithful dealers that played by the rules. Would't it make a great last chapter?
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #993  
Dang everyone must be gone to Branson for the weekend. How's the weather up there?????that is in Missiouri isn't it
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #994  
RNFord,

Thanks to you and all of those who've been supportive in my effort bring the FNA situation to light.

You've peppered me with overdue, burning questions...
I'll do my best to address them.

redneckford said:
BlueLiner -- how can I pick a fight with you so that you can continue to write about... FarmTrac!
No need. There's already a motherlode of hardhitting stuff here to address ... and I'm already motivated to make the public aware of it.

redneckford said:
Much like the pig and the ham for breakfast, if you are a FarmTrac Dealer this ... is about success, failure, survival. (Choose your word)
It is even larger for those who are exclusively Farmtrac sellers.

redneckford said:
How's the Book coming?
It has been waylaid by relocation. I'm up to my eyeballs in boxes full of "stuff" and putting humpty-dumpty's residence back together again.

redneckford said:
Bet JD CREDIT or CNH CAPITAL would spring for the back cover ad.
Heh! That is some epic smack, indeed!

redneckford said:
What about all those FarmTrac dealers that went out of business in the previous year? 2006-2007 No interest----never come due----free Freight---Good Sales volumes---High (Large) Profits??? NO PAYMENT FOR WARRANTY CLAIMS OR SALES BONUSES Less than zero fininacing---- what did those dealers know and when did they know it . Could it be inside trading at its finest??? Other suppliers with a game plan, Dealers ready to switch tractor lines at a moments notice? Key personel repositioned to run the game plan? WHAT DID THEY KNOW AND WHEN DID "THEY" KNOW IT???? Let us see who is un-running other companys that are importing LG tractors and SAME tractors.Have they ever worked for Long/FarmTrac/Textron????
Yes Sir, you pose a hopper full of questions that need to be answered. I've tried to address some of the larger ones in the Southerner articles, but limited space required the ruthless editing knife.

I've made about 15-20 hours worth of efforts to call and write other media outlets, hoping to expand the scope of coverage. A couple nibbles at best. In negotiations with a farm magazine. Will release more on it when the deal is approved or denied.

With the Southerner "mini-series" released, I will retry a few outlets.

I agree with whomever suggested Lou Dobbs. I *like* his style and my father has been a HUGE honk of his for about a decade now. I'm 100 percent confident that if Mr. Dobbs would talk to me for 10 minutes, he'd be given a heapin' helpin' of resources (of many kinds) to have a killer article!!

So Louie, if you're reading ... e-mail me at bob_benedetti@hotmail.com
Let's do this thing!

redneckford said:
Isn't it amazing how things work out when you know the information before everyone else does?
And how about when two groups know it and work together to scam a third?

redneckford said:
Hold the press I am still praying for a miracle!!! A happy workable solution for all those honest faithful dealers that played by the rules. Wouldn't it make a great last chapter?
Gulp... RNFord, if your statement is taken literally, then I believe it'd take the Barry Bonds equivalent of a blast into McCovey Cove for this to turn out right for many dealers.

I think the outcomes dealers could hope for are:
- justice being served onto the crooks who perpetrated this/these scam(s) (aw shucks... like corn on the Cobb),
- legislation being created to prevent future financial implosions from foreign factions (Perrot's "giant sucking sound" that Tommy B. referred to in an earlier post)
- redeeming modest value of remaining FNA units, reducing amt of losses incurred and escaping somewhat intact.

I'm aware that's not a cheerful prognosis ... but a gut-level one.
One that I hope I'm completely wrong about.

Either way, you'll continue to see my name on the byline, covering it ... to the bitter end.

--b
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #995  
blueliner said:
RNFord,

Gulp... RNFord, if your statement is taken literally, then I believe it'd take the Barry Bonds equivalent of a blast into McCovey Cove for this to turn out right for many dealers.

I think the outcomes dealers could hope for are:
- justice being served onto the crooks who perpetrated this/these scam(s) (aw shucks... like corn on the Cobb),
- legislation being created to prevent future financial implosions from foreign factions (Perrot's "giant sucking sound" that Tommy B. referred to in an earlier post)
- redeeming modest value of remaining FNA units, reducing amt of losses incurred and escaping somewhat intact.

I'm aware that's not a cheerful prognosis ... but a gut-level one.
One that I hope I'm completely wrong about.

Either way, you'll continue to see my name on the byline, covering it ... to the bitter end.

--b

I think one more measure of success for the dealers would be to see parts service and warranty availibility for their customers. Friday there was an 8 and one half hour meeting among about a dozen dealers, Textron Financial , NAEDA and the Mid America Equipment Association to work out those details. It won't be easy but we have not given up. It would be so easy to just throw up our hands and give up --tell our long time customers, "Just do it on your own"--but we aren't made that way. Some of the dealers came as much as a thousand miles at their own expense to try to do what is right. Others may do what is least costly not us. So don't give up yet.
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #996  
taxpayer said:
Redneckford, I didn't read New toy's comments to be down on O'Reilly, but rather on dealers for attempting to get the story out.I don't care about O'Reilly one way or another, we don't have time to pick and chose who tells the story,we can't afford not to make use of any media source, disliked or not.-----Taxpayer
Dealers good, O'Reilly bad.... I hope that clears it up for you. I believe all the talking heads will be too busy trying to decipher Hillary's body language, at least until November.:)
John
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #997  
longtrman said:
I think one more measure of success for the dealers would be to see parts service and warranty availibility for their customers. Friday there was an 8 and one half hour meeting among about a dozen dealers, Textron Financial , NAEDA and the Mid America Equipment Association to work out those details. It won't be easy but we have not given up. It would be so easy to just throw up our hands and give up --tell our long time customers, "Just do it on your own"--but we aren't made that way. Some of the dealers came as much as a thousand miles at their own expense to try to do what is right. Others may do what is least costly not us. So don't give up yet.

Longtrman,

Smart points you bring up.

Far as parts, anyone talk to Sushil Kaul?
I did in mid-June and he's trying to be the middleman to broker a parts deal. IMHO, working with Kaul seems equivalent to a backalley transaction with a guy wearing a long trenchcoat.

Then again... desperate measures for desperate times?

***
Yes, dealers have tremendous "cred": they hold customers in high esteem and will do *tons* to gain/retain their favor.

100 percent understandable.

***
Like I've said numerous times... I hope people prove my cynical nature to be wrong (about how this it to end).

--b
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #998  
As I have said before on this post, this problem was brought about by poor management in Tarboro. There are those who believe it was also dishonesty. I believe it is possibly a "blend"...... I don't know. But it was not a problem with the product. These were and still are good tractors. All of the dealers know good and well what we were promised. We had no reason to believe anything was wrong in Tarboro. We had no access to knowledge of Farmtrac's financial condition. But we all know who did and kept lending them money anyway. No names mentioned of course...........there are many creditors of Farmtrac. Draw your own conclusions.
The dealers and customers are the innocent victims in this SCAM. Both dealers and customers were completely blindsided by this whole thing. My hope is that justice will prevail.
 
/ FarmTrac Troubles #999  
Tommy,
You make some interesting points. Let's take a look at them:

tommybr said:
...this problem was brought about by poor management in Tarboro. There are those who believe it was also dishonesty. I believe it is possibly a "blend"...... I don't know.
I'll probably catch heat for responding ... but, oh well ... 12 articles later ... it's a bit late for impunity? The late Fred Shero talked of contribution vs commitment with the classic "chicken vs pig" breakfast example.

"It's like eggs and ham. Sure, the chicken makes contribution, but the pig ... now he makes a commitment."

Consider me a flat-snout ... and it is to the ground, grinding for clues.

More importantly, a fact is: the public needed to know the truth -- and still does. Some would say that's Zionistic, others like English scientist Thomas Huxley would see it as "... in the long run, it [the truth] is only common sense clarified."

Therefore, allow me to clarify a few things...
The truth is that a multitude of actions created the presently existing dynamic ... and that there's plenty of blame to go around.

a) Poor management decisions by FNA management in Tarboro.
b) Absence of *ethical* business actions FNA management in Tarboro.
c) Sloppy/lackadaisical 'fiscal health evaluations' of FNA by suppliers and creditors.
d) Bumbling decisions by the aforementioned parties to extend credit lines to a company that according to court documents had continued to be an irresponsible creditor.
e) A conspiracy[1] patchwork with FNA leaders to frantically create legal leverage and find a more favorable debtor.
f) Absence of *ethical* business actions by some TMs participation in scam(s).

I'm sure there's more... but that's a good start.

For item E, please review the footnote.

[1] CONSPIRACY; defn.
1. the act of conspiring.
2. an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons; plot.
3. a combination of persons for a secret, unlawful, or evil purpose: He joined the conspiracy to overthrow the government.
4. Law. an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act.
5. any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.

An applicable definition? Ya betcha!

tommybr said:
... it was not a problem with the product. These were and still are good tractors.
Never disputed.
Matter of fact, many of the dealers mourned losing the chance to offer comprehensive FNA sales and support due to the company's lack of solvency. Many truly like the product.

tommybr said:
All of the dealers know good and well what we were promised. We had no reason to believe anything was wrong in Tarboro. We had no access to knowledge of Farmtrac's financial condition. But we all know who did and kept lending them money anyway. No names mentioned, of course ... there are many creditors of Farmtrac. Draw your own conclusions.
Unfortunately, it takes integrity by both (or more) parties to hold up word-of-mouth agreements. When new parties and less scrupulous persons enter the picture, those arrangements quickly dissolve.

But there must be enough to keep the oversized legal vultures from swooping down, or they'd otherwise have already picked apart the retailers' remains? Or is the corporate machine flexing its bullying muscles, slowly and systematically plowing them under? With the meek and weak to quickly surrender or perish?

It may be just another biz account to some corp suits, but it is a livelihood and "my good name" to dealers, and a support center for customers. For many reasons, its easy to root for dealer success.

tommybr said:
My hope is that justice will prevail.
That would be an ideal case scenario.

Justice in its purest sense is very different than the type only aristocrats can afford.

The statue of the blindfolded person holding the scales of justice may have been more accurately depicted if it had included wads of bundled bills bulging from its pockets.

--b
 

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