
Jack Taylor of Red Springs, NC on Oct. 17, 2011
Satisfaction Rating1/5
I purchased/ordered from Sears on March 25, 2011 with instructions to pick up on April 1, 2011 after 2 PM - and did so - a brand new Craftsman 21" Highwheel, Rear Bag, 190cc Push Mower with Ready Start/Smooth Start, 49 State Version (Sears item number 0713891600, model number 11A-B25E099). I got it home, opened the box, read the instructions, and performed simple assembly, installation of motor oil supplied, and gassed it up. The mower started and ran fine, and let me mow the yard the first through the fourth times, with each mowing session approximately a month apart. Rest assured that always, due to years of habit, I checked the engine oil level and gassed up before each and every use.
But then, come the fifth mowing session, the mower was a pain to start, and kept running when the lawn cut was finished. I thought at that time that I might need to get the mower to Sears where it was originally purchased if these problems persist. So come the sixth session sometime around late September, the mower absolutely would not keep running, then not start at all. So yes, it was not just a might, but became a "must take back to Sears" - which is 20 miles away - for their assessment.
On September 30, 2011, I took the mower to Sears and spoke with the store manager of the mower's aforementioned problems. He related to me that Craftsman had been having a lot of problems due to ethanol in gasoline. I told him, "Rest assured, I know not to use E-85, but also know all gasoline has a small percentage of ethanol in it." He told me that yes, even that was creating problems. I then said that Craftsman and/or the manufacturer should address their problem with an appropriate design. He said that they had and/or will. But the bottom line is that he, the manager, told me to do the paperwork, check in with one of the sales associate girls for the mower to be checked out for warranty repair. I did just so, and the girl told me it would be ready for pickup come October 14, 2011.
So come Saturday, October 15, 2011, I went to pick the mower up. Heather, one of the store sales associate girls, told me the mower was not there to be picked up. She checked the status in the computer database, and told me my mower warranty repair order had a status of "Awaiting Approval." I asked her what that meant, and she said she did not know and could not find out since they are not open on weekends, but she asked me to give her my phone number for her to call me come Monday. I said to her the "Awaiting Approval" probably meant that the mower repair center was waiting on Sears' warranty approval to follow through. She said she had no idea.
Then come Monday, October 17, 2011, Heather called me and said the "Awaiting Approval" had to do with me giving approval for Sears to charge me $265 for the repair. I asked why, since it was under the Craftsman 2-Year Full Warranty and/or the Briggs & Stratton 2-Year Standard Warranty. Heather said that the mower's master cylinder had no oil in it, and that I had not purchased the master warranty - whatever she meant by that. I was very insistent that was totally inappropriate, and why should I, the consumer, bear the brunt of the manufacturer's ill-conceived design, faulty manufacture, and/or failure to warn not to purchase such a piece of junk mower?
I finished with Heather by saying that I know she is not in a position to handle this mutually fairly and appropriately, other than just to be the bearer of bad news. But I told her to give the store manager a heads-up that I will see him in person, giving him an opportunity to make it right, seeing how he knows even more about these mowers' engine problems than he originally related to me when I dropped it off for what he had me assuming was a warranty repair. Time will tell, once I get a chance to get over that 20 miles to the Lumberton Sears for that face-to-face with the Manager.