REGINA — Yorkton-based equipment manufacturer Leon’s Manufacturing has been the subject of multiple complaints about its sales and delivery practices over the past five years.
The company’s name quickly pops up in posts by disgruntled customers in an online search with the Better Business Bureau website and farmers’ forums.
Yet Leon’s continues to attract more unsatisfied customers, including Daysland, Alta., farmer Mike Terway, who says he wishes he’d done an online search before ordering a land scraper from the company last year.
Terway, one of seven farmers and dealers who have complained to the Alberta Farmers’ Advocate office, thought that buying direct from Leon’s would be cheaper than going through a dealer and, besides, the dealers he phoned didn’t have any stock.
Under Alberta legislation, the farmers’ advocate can assist farmers who purchased through a dealership if problems arise with delivery. They are entitled to get their deposit back while the dealership deals with the manufacturer.
Leon’s is registered as a dealer in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Buying direct, however, is always a buyer-beware proposition, a spokesperson for the advocate office said.
Terway ordered an eight-yard scraper directly from the company sales representative in May 2022.
“He said if you pay for it, it will be ready in four weeks and we’ll deliver it right to your yard,” the Alberta farmer said in an interview. “He gave me the price and it was quite a bit cheaper. We put $23,000 down and he actually had a guy come and get the cheque in our yard.”
A week later, the Terways decided they wanted a larger scraper, so they phoned and changed their order, agreeing to pay an additional $8,000 on delivery.
Four weeks went by with no sign of the scraper. When Terway phoned, the person he had dealt with was no longer there, but he was assured it would be delivered in two weeks.
“It was always two weeks,” said Terway. “This was back in May of 2022. I waited a whole year.”
When he went online and started searching, he found other buyers from the Prairies and the United States reporting similar experiences.
Leon’s sent Terways a blade for their four-wheel-drive tractor because the scraper wasn’t built. However, Terway said they couldn’t use it because no mounts were supplied for the blade.
The family hired a lawyer and about a week before a June 2023 court date, their money was refunded.
“So, I got what I had put down, but I paid about $3,500 in lawyer fees and I never did get a scraper,” he said, adding the company then came and picked up the blade.
He cautioned others to do their due diligence before parting with their money.
“I was embarrassed that I was dumb enough to put the money out,” he said.
Leon’s chief executive officer John Malinowski said he is aware of the customer complaints. He said the delays stem from supply shortages.
“We’ve never not acknowledged in the last couple of years some of our problems after COVID, and some of the problems after some of our partner companies.… We had one that supplies hydraulics that had a fire and kind of reorganized their business,” he said in an interview.
“A lot of our equipment is also tied to a lot of third-party suppliers and there’s just been inordinate issues both during COVID and coming out of COVID that we’re still dealing through.”
He said staff do their best to keep dealers or farmers up to date and give them the opportunity to cancel, if necessary, but the company is still working through the problems.
Malinowski said the issues really began about a year before COVID when delays from third-party suppliers started to affect business. He said some of the company’s products are 80 percent reliant on other suppliers.
He said it’s been frustrating for the company, which has sold all over North America for 70 years.
Farm implement inspector Keith Rasmuson, who works with Alberta’s Farmers’ Advocate office, said he started to hear complaints two years ago from miffed buyers who were initially attracted to good prices offered by Leon’s field staff.
In all cases, the buyer was asked to either pay a deposit or full price up front — but then they waited months, and in some cases years, for delivery.
“I had one in October. I got a call and it had already been 2.5 years,” Rasmuson said.
He said only one out of the seven farmers and dealers who contacted him received the product they ordered.
Malinowski said no when asked whether Leon’s is suffering from cash flow issues. He said he couldn’t comment on any problems with dealerships.
“If a customer is not prepared to wait for any reason, they always have the opportunity to cancel, and that’s not new,” said Malinowski.
“We continue to fill orders and ship and try to look after our customers as best we can.”
Terway said he trusted the company’s long history when he agreed to pay up front for the scraper he ordered.
“I didn’t hesitate to give them the cheque because it’s Leon’s Manufacturing. They’ve been around forever,” he said.
One Saskatchewan customer, who asked not to be named, said in an interview that he sought and received a refund after the company failed to deliver the equipment that he ordered last fall.
The Saskatchewan government said it is aware of the complaints.
Under Saskatchewan’s Agricultural Implement Act regulations, the agriculture ministry issues yearly dealer licences. One of the reasons a licence can be cancelled or suspended is if a licence holder “cannot reasonably be expected to be financially responsible in the conduct of its business,” the ministry said in an email.
“The ministry has been monitoring the complaints regarding Leon’s and issued a letter this summer reminding Leon’s of their duties as a dealer.”
The Farm Machinery and Equipment Act in Manitoba offers similar protection as in Saskatchewan.
The Manitoba Co-operator reported in a 2020 story citing similar complaints about Leon’s that the act applies to sales and leases of new farm machinery and equipment, but doesn’t include a farm truck or all-terrain vehicle.
The act requires dealers to provide the purchaser with a copy of the signed contract including the serial number of the equipment, its value, sale terms including the amounts and dates of payment and the delivery and waiver agreement.
The fact sheet provided by the province states that if the dealer can’t meet the delivery date agreed upon, it must give written notice at least five days before that date. If this happens, the buyer is free to cancel the contract.
If the purchaser accepts the late delivery date, the dealer must provide comparable equipment or pay for a rental.
If dealers don’t carry out the contract, a farmer can complain to the Manitoba Farm Industry Board, which must investigate “as expeditiously as possible,” according to the Farm Machinery and Equipment Act.
The act allows the board to take away the dealer’s licence if the results of an investigation warrant it.
