Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc has 11 locations, listed below.

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  Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc

  10874 E Pike Rd Cambridge, OH 43725-9615

  
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  Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc

  1000 Kramer St. South Charleston, WV 25309

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  Southeastern Equipment Company

  4951 W 96th St Indianapolis, IN 46268

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  Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc

  6415 Promler St NW Canton, OH 44720-7626

  
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  Southeastern Equipment Company, Inc

  10958 East Pike Rd. Cambridge, OH 43725

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/27/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Ordered a new "mechatro" computer controller for a Kobelco excavator in October of 2024. Similar to a computer in a car these are specific to your machine. Southeastern ordered the unit from Japan based off the excavator's serial number. 6 months later it arrived, was paid for and picked up. I installed the controller and discovered that everything is in Japanese language. I am not sure why it was given to me like this, but I assume it was by mistake. Using ****** translator, I figure out how to navigate to the system's language settings only to find that they are locked. I have no way to change the language so a call to SE is made. They send a tech out who hooks his laptop up to the machine and changes the language in a few minutes. Then they hand us a bill for $1,000.
  This is clearly a deceptive tactic for financial gain by taking advantage of customers. The controller should have never been in Japanese in the first place. you are selling a product in the US market; the default language should be in English. Southeastern is the largest Kobelco dealer in the US - if the controllers come from Kobelco in Japanese then they should know this and change it before selling to the customer. Instead, they said absolutely nothing when ordering the unit about any additional costs due to the unit going to be locked in Japanese. Southeastern created a situation where the sale was bound to an additional service charge and the customer could do nothing about it as he already spent $4,000 on the unit and there are no other shops to unlock the unit, and the unit is required to be able to use his $200,000 machine. This is FRAUD.
  Southeastern was contacted and given the opportunity to rectify the situation. They chose not to.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/01/2025

  We first became aware of the issue on May 29, 2025, when a friend of the customer contacted our marketing department via ********* Prior to this, we had not received any direct communication from the customer regarding a service concern. To clarify, Southeastern did not sell this machine to the customer, nor is it covered under a Southeastern warranty. Additionally, the machine has flood-damage. Following the message, our marketing team promptly alerted the local branch. The Operations Manager reviewed all available information and, on June 2, called the customer and left a voicemail inviting them to visit the branch to discuss the invoice and find a resolution. The $1,000 charge in question included travel to the customer’s site, system testing, repair inspections, and general repair advice requested by the customer, in addition to labor for changing the controller's language. This particular controller had never before been sold by Southeastern or Kobelco in the U.S., and it arrived from the manufacturer with Japanese as the locked default language. Southeastern had not been informed that a diagnostic laptop would be required to update the language settings by the manufacturer. Upon learning all the details, we chose to refund the full $1,000 as a gesture of goodwill, despite the additional services provided. Before sending the check, we attempted to verify the customer’s mailing address. Voicemails were left on June 12 and June 18, and a follow-up message was sent via ******** on June 23 to the customer’s friend, requesting their assistance in connecting us. As of June 30, we have not received a response from the customer or their friend. A refund check is prepared and ready to send as soon as we receive confirmation of the correct address. Southeastern remains committed to resolving this matter and encourages the customer to contact their local branch at their earliest convenience.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/02/2025

  There is no debate on where, how or who from the machine was purchased nor has anything to do with any sort of warranty claim. This, as well as the current condition of the machine, are entirely irrelevant.
  
  Southeastern's statements regarding the controller are misleading. Perhaps they have never sold this exact mechatro but mechatros have been in use by Kobelco for decades. This can be seen in the attached bulletin from Kobelco dated 2006 informing their dealers that new replacement mechatro units would come in Japanese. Therefore, Southeastern's inability to properly communicate with their manufacturer (of which they deal in millions of dollars of equipment with) or their lack of knowledge on their product is not a fault that should be passed onto the customer; yet, that is exactly what they have done here.
  
  Even if we accept Southeastern's plea on ignorance, there is no denying that they were eventually made aware of the mechatro's locked language after we tried to install it, and yet, they still put the burden on the customer.
  
  Southeastern justifies their fee on the grounds that "other services were performed" but this cannot apply as the primary reason for the service call was to fix their own mess up. Had the language been in English, like it should have in the first place, Southeastern would not have been called. Additionally, it can be seen in the attached field ticket that the mechatro was already programmed. The actual task of changing the language would have taken 10 minutes. Even if we generously give the tech an entire hour on site that would mean Southeastern egregiously charged $728/hr for their service. 
  
  From the customer's standpoint, we do not know why we were sold a locked device. All we know is that we paid thousands of dollars for a computer that, was only realized after the fact, would not work unless we paid an additional fee. Any reasonable person would view this as willful deception for financial gain by the business.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/03/2025

  We apologize for the inconvenience. As mentioned previously, we were pursuing a refund for the customer and were awaiting confirmation of the correct address. We were able to briefly connect with the customer by phone on July 2, 2025, and the address had also been confirmed the day prior to that conversation. The refund check was mailed to the customer on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Additionally, we attempted to contact the customer’s friend. Although they did not answer, we left a voicemail message with the relevant information.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/10/2025

  
  

  To Southeastern: I am not interested in your boilerplate responses over the phone. 

  Refund has been received. This matter is closed.

  Thank you to the BBB for mediating this.

  Regards,

  
  

  **** *******