1 reviews | Active since Member
My Linde forklift needed a service and it had an uncontrolled engine revving problem. A friendly workshop manager at Linde Material handling Mr. Kudzai send out a mechanic to service the forklift in August 2020. The facts: 1.) The problem was an uncontrolled revving of the engine (not idling correctly) 2.) In the mechanic's attempt to narrow down the root problem he identified a sensor probe (excuse my layman terms) made from metal and plastic 3.) Before attempting to investigate any alternative cause he laid into that probe. 4.) The part was stuck so he tried to remove it with brute force, in the process breaking the probe deep inside the engine. 5.) He restarted the engine some 30 times and in between starts pushed the broken probe downwards by means of an old *****driver and a 5 pound hammer so that the flywheel would grind away the plastic. 6.) In my presence he declared that all metal parts of that probe are removed (never showed it to me) and only a little plastic piece would fall through into the sump (sic). 7.) After the last attempt to push down the engine would not start again. 8.) He was confident that he would just need to manually turn the engine backwards in order to free the stuck part (at this stage he admitted the stuck part caused the engine not to start !) 9.) In order to manipulate the engine manually he attempted to remove the Forklift's right side cover plate. He refused my offer of a drilling machine and drill bits to drill out that ***** that was holding the right side cover plate 10.) Instead he used again the old *****driver and a 5 pound hammer to break the ***** and in the process buckled and badly damaged the side cover. 11.) Despite his efforts he could not turn the engine either way even with brute force 12.) He gave up declaring that unfortunately the engine has seized and since the motor oil is old and that he noticed a clacking sound before he diagnosed the engine is basically F… and that it wasn’t his fault and had nothing to do with that little remaining plastic part he pushed down earlier. 13.) he wanted to leave the forklift as is with parts scattered all over the floor. I had to beg him to at least put parts back. I refused to sign "job done to customer's satisfaction" form. 14.) I asked a local mechanic, Mr. Rautenbach for help. He found evidence (photo's available) that the broken probe part was indeed metal and was blocking the engine from turning and after a lengthy operation removing it the engine runs smoothly again. 15.) The cause of the revving was not the probe (which wasn’t faulty after all). The Linde mechanic was simply covering his behind and straight faced lied. So far the evidence. I approached Linde to reimburse R 4850 being the cost of recovering the dropped in part. The cover plate not even included. I am not happy with their flat refusal to my legitimate request of being reimbursed for the damage caused by their mechanic. It is the worldwide understanding that one calls the manufacturer’s representative workshop for their superior skills and knowledge regarding their products. As a customer I expect a higher work ethic from Linde and a proper backup of the machine I bought from them. I asked them to overthink their response and come up with a more accommodating answer but I received not even an answer. Something positive to say is that the tone remained cordial and the parts sales department was helpful and efficient.
With kind regards
Rolf Schumacher
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