Purchased a Craftsman Mower 3/9/03 - got extended warranty. Mower has always been harder to start that I thought it should be. This spring it would not start, no firing at all. Took back to store, wanted refund, they will repair - two weeks because they have to ship it 100 miles away for repair. They would let me cancel the extended warranty and "apply to return the mower," but no assurance they would allow the return and no repair. Meanwhile no mowing allowed. We will not be buying any new appliances, refigerator, washer, dryer, dishwasher, range top, all of which we need to replace or will need to do so shortly.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I am a gardener by profession. My aunt and I own a gardening company called The Green Guys in Merced, California. On February 5, 2004, we bought a Craftsman lawn mower from Sears and we began using it on Monday, February 9, 2004 for work. The night before our first use, we went through the manual and prepped the machine according to the instructions. Because we are gardeners by profession, our equipment is very important to us and therefore so is the maintenance and upkeep.
Anyway, on that Monday, February 9th, the lawn mower died during the mowing of our third lawn. It died completely. We took the mower back immediately and the assistant manager refused to take it back stating we did not know how to use lawn mowers and that we didn't pour the entire bottle of oil in the machine before we used it. We only put as much oil as the instructions asked for and like I said, we are gardeners, lawn mowers are our business pretty much. We, my aunt and I, are truly disappointed.
Anyway, on that Monday, February 9th, the lawn mower died during the mowing of our third lawn. It died completely. We took the mower back immediately and the assistant manager refused to take it back stating we did not know how to use lawn mowers and that we didn't pour the entire bottle of oil in the machine before we used it. We only put as much oil as the instructions asked for and like I said, we are gardeners, lawn mowers are our business pretty much. We, my aunt and I, are truly disappointed.
The economic consequences were devasting. Aside from the $300 we paid for the mower, I had to take more than 3 hours from work to deal with them. In addition, I had to spend another $300 on a new mower because I had to continue running my business. The fact that they would not take their product back, I found ludicrous and very anti-costomer -- especially after only 4 days and three little yards. $300 is a lot of money. To me, it equals mowing 5 yards per month, once per week each (that's twenty mowing jobs -- that's how much work it took to pay for their piece of junk!).
On Tuesday, June 5, 2001, I took my Craftsman lawn mower to a Sears Service & Parts Center in Indianapolis for repair. All repairs of my lawn mower are under warranty according to my maintenance agreement. On Friday, June 8, 2001, I was informed by Margaret (position unknown) of the Sears Service & Parts Center that it would cost me $350.00 to repair my lawn mower.
She told me that the crank shaft was bent and that I must have caused the damage. She also told me that since I caused the damage the repair costs would not be covered under warranty. I explained to her what had happened to the lawn mower and that I did not cause the damage. She insisted that the damage was not covered under warranty. Shortly after my conversation with Margaret, I contacted the Sears' National Customer Relations For Product Service Department and filed a formal complaint. To date, I have not heard from either the Service Center or the Customer Relations Deparment.
My husband ordered an engine for his mower May 14. They took the order and said it was in stock. Said it would be deliverd May 21, but it wasn't. We even got a letter saying it was on its way. I called them today to check on the order, they said they did't have any engines in stock, they didn't even call us and let us know.
