Go to hell Vermeer!

JesseHuffman

JesseHuffman

Location
Phoenix Arizona
In the early nineties....I was seriously injured by one of vermeers log splitters. My boss had been having problems with the pin that held the wedge comming out.
This pin had a set screw that was to hold the pin in place thus preventing sliding out, causing the wedge to fall off of the ram.
Vermeer used locktite to keep the set screw from loosening but the only problem is that they didnt have it snugged tight when they did it.
It was early in the morning and I was going to split wood untill the crew arrived.
When I went to position the ram to its upright position, the wedge falls off and goes right through my foot and shoe and boy what a gooey painful mess!
I was off work for months and have NEVER fully recovered. I cannot ballance for [censored] on that foot and my body is feeling the ill effects of being out of wack for so long.

I cried about it to lawyers....they wanted me to go after my employer. That didnt seem right. I didnt have the $ or know how to go after vermeer.

After many months of bitching to vermeer they finaly directed me to a gentleman back east who "handles" cutomer complaints and issues. The [censored] ended up promising me 5000 out of court since it was so clearly their fault.
He then proceeded to give me the run around untill the statute of limitation was up. After that...they all decided to pretend that it never happend.
Well [censored] you vermeer.
I was in there today and brought it up. The reaction I get in that place makes me want to pull my teeth out!
BAD BAD BAD carma!

So I though I would come on to rant and rave to let yuou all know that despite their wonderful machines...the company has no ethical back bone. And I challenge anybody associated with them to ask me about this BS!
[censored] Vermeer

5000 dollars will seem cheap compared to 5000 pounds of flesh!
Im pissed
any suggestions other than to calm the [censored] down?
 
No,

Just calm the F down.



Just kidding. Sorry to hear about your experience. I don't know if it is good to hold all of that rage inside of you for 10 plus years though. Almost might do more damage than the falling wedge.


But I am sad to hear that it never fully recovered.


I gotta say, I like your rage.


SZ
 
This event was in the early 90's? Hmm... Why the rant now?
thinking.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
This event was in the early 90's? Hmm... Why the rant now?

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I was in there today and brought it up. The reaction I get in that place makes me want to pull my teeth out!
BAD BAD BAD carma!


[/ QUOTE ]


I have a feeling maybe bringing it back up had something to do with it??????

I hope you heal one day Arbor101....
 
well....I know it sounds strange. My foot hurts alot latley and the rant never really went away. I had no reason for being at the dealer untill I bought my used chipper a couple of years ago.
So whenever I go into the dealer I am faced with the mechanic who goofed up the repair,the people who work the desk and can DEFINITLY remember those days when the wound was fresh and id come in and pop my foot up on the counter and bitch, the owner....
I just thought that I could come to tree buzz to rant..thats all.

The early nineties seems like yesterday to me.
peace and love
Jesse
grr
 
its funny you bring this up now, especially since ive been reading a lot about sherrill lately, sounds like you and kysawyer could have a good lengthy discussion, i believe nickfromwi would have something to say as well, good luck with the foot, and the rage is very becoming on you sir
 
I know MB...
but I cant help it sometimes

Quote
"I don't blame you for still getting angry. Every "bit and bob" of our body is priceless...to say nothing of a foot. Did you get the $5000?"

Thanks Chuck....Its good to have someone understand, even if I am reliving the past. Feels good to vent though.
And no I never got the $.
 
I talked with 2 lawyers at the time
Both wanted me to go after my employer.
The way I understood them at the time was that I would need alot of $ to pursue a lawsiut against a multimillion dollar corp like vermeer. Destroying my boss wasnt an option.
So I bought into vermeers promise of 5000 out of court settlement. what a burn...
 
When I was young & dumb, 1980, I cut my left foot in half with an Axe, long ways, your right, it's never the same.

Sorry about your injury, but if it's not in writting the promise never happened. I like your sense of honor, it wasn't your bosses fault. I would like to think I would do the same.
 
I agree, Jesse the fact you didn't go your boss reflects most positively on you, your ethics and morals in a way that should have been also the case for the persons operating the vermeer dealership and failing them the parent company itself.

Your posting this is a very useful reminder to anyone reading it that whilst we may live and work according to a set of values (a code if you like) treating others the way we would like to be treated etc... the same is never true of all those we interact with, when things do go pear shaped and we find ourselves in Jesse's predicament ensuring that natural justice is not subverted is really critical.....If I'd been your boss I would have gone into bat for you big time over this one btw (I should point out I'm noone's boss right now but my own
wink.gif
)

Hoping that all this reliving of the frustration hasn't filled you up with too much neg energy.
 
Unfortunaltly my boss was only reporting about 1/4th of my income. He showed up at the E.R. trying to get me to say that it was my 1st day...
My workmans comp checks while I was down were about 30 bucks a weeks or somthing like that.
Im still glad I didnt sue him as he had many abberations from his childhood and ended up folding a few years ago. Probaly as a result of his bad Karma.

The next two tree services i worked for (6 years) were just as bad or worse. I really hated this industry untill I competed for the 1st time in 2003 and met all the "good guys" in the bizz. Now im on my own and aside from being overworked I am very happy.

Brining this up and getting the opinions of others who do what I do has been very theraputic and I really really appreciate the time put in to respond to my rant.
Peace and Love
Jesse a.k.a Safe-T
 
Sounds like your boss had no ethics to begin with and was not concerned with your well being. If he did not personally supplement your income during your down time then to hell with him. You should have started there.
 
A few things I'd like to bring up here.

1) A few years back on another site I was complaining about Vermeer NA... they had some staffing problems at the time. Well they fixed the staffing problem, and the guy who ran the operation afterwards asked me one day to fix my rant. Apparently if you punched in Vermeer NA to Google it was one of the first items to come up... my negative rant. Not sure if it would work for you or not... but maybe being a little more specific with your problem on here might help???

2) Vermeer is a company which employs many scum of the earth types. The local dealer was having a field day a few months ago, which I had paid my $20 for WELL in advance. Something had come up and I couldn't attend... I sent in my notice over a week in advance. That, coupled with the fact that I had helped in setting up for the demos... I was promised to be compensated in the future for my time in the way of discounts on purchases. Well I went in one day to pick up a 4' Jameson pole. Told myself that if I got at least SOME break on the price I'd come back... if not they can kiss my arse goodbye. Well I was charged the full rate.. therefore I don't go back anymore, and have told them that.

3) This one guy I know sent his chipper to Vermeer to have an electrical problem fixed. They called him up one day to say "Come get your machine, it's ready." I got 2 calls that day from the owner of the machine... 1 saying he was picking up the chipper and we'd work the following day. The next saying that the machine was NOT done, and that we wouldn't be working the following day.
 
If you've got it in writing then you can leverage it. If not then not much to go on. Unfortunately you went easy on your employer when it was the avenue to pursue. He is legally responsible and could have then turned around and sued Vermeer. Too often we deal with our employers with kid gloves when if the situation was reversed they'd have no problems hanging us out to dry.

Oh and I would've gone after far more than $5000. That is a lifelong disability that properly attended over the years would cost much more.

If Vermeer doesn't like what is said then they can deal with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom