In my case, it was indeed a dealer problem.

Here's a quick summary of what happened:

Went to Fisher Implement (in St. Paul, Oregon) to buy some implements. Specifically, a tandem disk and a Allen 8827 rake.

Was quoted a price, on paper. Salesman said he'd call up a trucking company and get a price on trucking the stuff down to Eureka. He does this, gets me the quote. He sends an invoice down to me in Nevada, which I promptly pay.

Day that the truck arrives in St. Paul to pick up the iron, salesman calls me and says the trucker needed more money because it will be a wide load and he needs to buy a permit. I ask how much -- "$500.00."

Hmmmmm. I know a little about trucking, and $500 for a wide-load permit in two states sounds high. I don't OK the charge, I say I'll deal with the trucker myself. Salesman says he'll talk with me next week about it.

Load arrives in Eureka. The "wide load" requirement was a joke -- the dealer didn't fold in the gangs on the disk. It's like 4" too wide. Morons. Trucker doesn't know anything about the billing issue -- he's just driving the load. Said he didn't have a wide load permit just for this load.

Hmmmm.

Call up Fisher. Salesman won't talk to me. I've already paid the original invoice, so I'm figuring he's got his issues. He already has the money we previously agreed upon.

Then I start getting bills for $500. I call up Fisher's billing department and explain the situation. Their AR people talk to the salesdroid, who won't take my calls. They keep coming back and saying that the bill is due and payable and that I agreed to this charge -- so says their salesdroid. No, I didn't -- at any time.

Three months of this goes by, then I start getting bills from Farm Plan. I call up Farm Plan and ask "WTF?! I never opened an account with you!" They explain that Fisher Implement opened an account for me. I explain the situation to Farm Plan. They say they're going to investigate it and call me back. They never do.

A month goes by. I notice they're starting to age the $500. I call up Fisher again, go 'round with their AR dep't. They said it is now out of their hands, take it up with Farm Plan. Salesdroid still won't talk to me.

We do another round of this for another couple months, then I call and talk to the trucking company. I talk to Oregon's DMV, then Nevada's -- I ask whether the trucking company had to apply for any wide load permits in the time period and for the route in question. Turns out that no, the trucking company didn't. I call up the trucking company and get a copy of the invoice they sent to Fisher. Turns out the invoice was NOT for a wide load, it was for additional milage because a particular route they were going to take out of Oregon to Nevada was closed, and they had to add some milage onto the trip. This I confirm with ODOT and NDOT was true.

But something jumps out at me -- that the trucking company's invoice to Fisher for additional route milage was for only $273.00. Fisher's salesdroid rounded this up to $500.

Fisher lied all the way there and back. There was no "wide load" permit. There was no "$500.00 for permits." All lies.

I call Farm Plan and explain this. FAX'ed them the paperwork. They're a black hole of incompetence. They listen, say they'll do something, then they spit out another bill, with their 18% interest rate tacked on.

Finally, I just paid the bill.

But I kept all the documentation. And everywhere I go, I make sure that everyone knows that:

a) Fisher Implement, of St. Paul/Tangent/Hillboro/etc Oregon employs liars, frauds and thieves.

b) that Farm Plan is staffed with co-conspirators in lies, fraud and theft.

I have the documentation to prove it, along with handwritten logs of all my phone calls.

And yes, I contacted a lawyer. Would have cost me more to recoup the $500 in legal fees.

When I closed my Farm Plan account, I made sure to tell their clown that theft of more than $250 in Nevada was a felony. Not the petty theft misdemeanor it is in most all other states, a for-real felony. I told him that he was party to mail fraud and the only reason why I wasn't pursuing it was the cost of the legal fees.

I think I've got pretty good reasons for hating Farm Plan and they start with the dealer and end with Farm Plan.