I love the "I got a good deal on the internet" trucks or the "This guy I know, knows this guy who can get you a deal", we call them "Restorations in a can" trucks, high hour,low maintence scuff and squirts.
A few I had to go out on had a beautiful paint job, but you open the hood and the truck was never even steam cleaned or blown off.
My company makes a ton of money off these types of trucks when I get to fix them, then on the other hand, when our used truck dept. sells a unit in my area, I go through it with a fine tooth comb and fix everything they didn't fix or thought they'd slide on while the truck is still under our warranty program, keeps my customers happy and keeps me working for them and the Used equipment dept. never knows the difference.
The dash recall program was also done through Nissan on the early LO1-LO2 series trucks, I got the honor of doing about 105 of those that year. Most of them had some type of marking about the hour difference, but I'll bet more of them didn't.
I had a guy call the shop and wanted me to meet him at another location, come to find out he was looking at buying a mid 80's Yale from another company.
I spent about an hour looking it over and told him the bad news,but I saved him from making a costly mistake by buying the truck. And yes, I've been burnt by buying off the internet also,so I've learned my lesson too.
You do know that Caterpillar Forklifts and Mitsubishi Lift Trucks have a bit different serial numbers series, and that could have been a "first clue".
Just like in most businesses (and every other place in life) there are good honest people that sell wholesale and there are are people that don't care about anyone other than themselves.
I apologize on behalf of the honest forklift wholesalers/resellers that you found one who was not.
I have recently come to an observation about the forklift wholesale industry, (and those who fit into this shoe will most likely not like me saying this) that those who call themselves "brokers" have less 'skin in the game' than the wholesalers who -purchase- the trucks they resell.
I would also note and warn everyone that (about 2007 or 2008) in at least some of the tier 2 trucks, MCFA had a recall of the dash (where the hour meter reading is stored) that may have resulted in a lot of trucks showing a lot less than actual hours on the meter.
I'd rather pay a bit extra & buy a approved / used truck direct from the manufacturer that will also come with warranty back up.
I know BT / Toyota in the UK run this kind of scheme.
Sorry to hear about that. I have come to the conclusion that over half the people on this Earth are either corrupt, dishonest, thefts, or at the very least disrespectful.