A lot of people who rent equipment have no respect for it. Several years ago, one of our rental bobcats suffered catastrophic engine damage while on a job. It was hauled to the dealer. Turned out that the machine, while it was on rental, started warning that the air filter was restricted. According to the code history, this occurred several times during the rental. The customer never once called the service number, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. The codes also showed that after several forced shutdowns the machine appeared to go back to normal operating conditions, which was a little strange. The dealer then discovered the customer had removed the filter. The debris that got pulled into the engine consequently destroyed it. The customer was charged for an engine. They denied any wrongdoing. The code history proved them to be guilty as charged. I just recovered a bobcat that another customer got stuck. On arriving at the scene, they informed me that it also wouldn't start, which, according to them, was why it got stuck. It took me about an hour the maneuver my truck(nicknamed the Green Monster)into a position where I could pull the machine, my transfer case was worked hard(I need to invest in a couple of snatch blocks) The machine was listing at 50 degrees, one side buried in a mud hole up to the cab sill. They had run the machine for several hours at this point. I opened the engine door as far as I could, disconnected the fuel line, pulled the gas cap and blew down the line. No bubbles to be heard. All the fuel was on one side of the tank. I had them add 10 gallons and it ran fine. Using a 12,000 pound winch, attached to my anchored(to a large tree) Dodge, I slowly winched it out. I then discovered that they had snagged the steel lines that run down the boom arm, bending them and pulling them out of their mounts. This caused one line to rub every time the arms were lifted or dropped, and wore it through. They also damaged a cylinder on the 4-1 bucket and ripped the hoses to the QD's. He had the gall to ask for a free day because he couldn't use it sunday(technically a gimme day, we are closed on Sundays and don't charge the customers extra, they just have an hour usage limit) I told him in no uncertain terms that not only was he not getting another day, he would be getting a bill for the recovery and the damages. He countered with "I paid for the insurance" I pointed out the insurance covers normal wear and tear, not negligent usage, like running into stuff, getting it stuck, ripping parts off and not watching what you are doing. End of subject. Your wife washed the windows and Armorall the backhoe? A tear just ran down my cheek......does she have a sister?
