Updated update.

I was told today, they did not install the truck bed. (Although the installation wasn’t the issue.)

Update:

Just now received a phone call. That I very much appreciate. We now have an appointment to work on bed. I was told, below was incorrect in part. He said, I was previously told incorrectly. They didn’t sell my steel. Regardless, it was immediately purchased by customers of company that took my steel. And Ozark Trailer at the time, told me, I could dig though their dumpster and take some steel. But there wasn’t much in it and nothing worth taking.

I want to make it clear, I do NOT blame them for the fire. Not even 100% positive they installed or even sold my particle hydraulic hay bed. Like the auto dealership told me. Regardless my point was, the design of the beds they sold was dangerous. The man who called me this morning said, they seldon sold that model now. Hopefully there has been a safety recall with an updated design change preventing them catching hay bales on fire.

I hate to give any business a bad rating. Especially a local one, and even more so, one I in theory, appreciate having. But I’ve made multiple attempts to talk with them, over 6 months, or so. Been told someone would call back. No one has. Typically, I’m totally ignored. I had them remove a steel trailer floor because it was needed for other projects. Instead, they sold my steel floor and steel sheets from heavy equipmen that weren’t even attached, without a word and refused to help get my property back. It took them, I think, more than 3× longer than I was told. For something I passively used daily and actively used most weeks. They wanted to jack the price up by about 1/3. They didn’t finish the first job and never even started a second job I agreed to, and paid for.

On a different unrelated issue. I bought a 1 ton truck from a dealership that told me, the hydraulic hay bed on it came from them. If there was a problem to contact them. It had problems I assumed would be under warranity. Someone was supposed to look at it. I sat outside waiting for some time. No one came, I had to leave, but left my phone number. No one called. It cost around $800.00 at another place and still had issues, that lead to bigger issues. Then it caught on fire, and caught 2 round bales on it on fire, resulting in catching 3 fields on fire. And it could have been vastly worse. I thought I might loose the truck to the fire. And could have lost a barn with hay and farm equipment, if it happened a few minutes earlier. As is, the bed doesn’t work at all and the truck only sort of works. It’s not been driven since. Beyound seeing it if worked. Not sure if it’s suitable to drive to a repair shop or not. Not sure how expensive either will be to fix. In their defense, someone said, he didn’t know if they installed the bed. Regardless, the issue wasn’t an installation problem. It’s a bed design problem. I’ve had 6 previous hydraulic hay beds over 40 years. Never even though of them catching on fire. Much less, catching bales on fire. Also, if the bed stops working with hay on the bed, it’s a major problem to get the bales off, to get to the bed parts. They don’t make the beds. It’s not their fault. But it is something to be aware of when shoping.