Well after writing up a glowing review of my Toro Lawn Mower, it decided to break… Murphy’s Law strikes again!

Once of the most important points for me when I bought my lawn mower, was that the product had to have some type of warranty.  But when I called the dealer where I bought my lawn mower to complain about my problem, he said that my issue sounds like bad gas and that Toro doesn’t include that in their warranty.

This really irked me because the lady salesperson that I bought the mower from said that the Toro warranty covers everything between the wheels.  I specifically asked that question twice, and she said that it was all covered no matter what the problem.  So I started complaining calling the Toro product junk and while I didn’t swear, I called the product and warranty crap…  After a while the guy (I believe the owner of the store), caved and told me to bring it in and that they would look at it and fix it for free.

During the phone conversation, he told me all kinds of reasons why the problem wasn’t with the mower.  Problems like the gas, the EPA changes, and how I must have used old gas, etc…  I went to the two gas stations that I typically go to fill my gas can and asked them directly, they stood by their gas quality.  Next, I called the owner back and explained how the gas was good and that I used the same can for the previous four lawn cuts this year already.

The point is, I didn’t give up and kept to the facts and even did extra work to backup my claim.  I continued to have a dissatisfied voice, but I wasn’t condescending.  After a verbal joust, eventually the owner caved and fixed my mower.  He said that I had some brown stuff in the tank which must have clogged up the carburetor (or so they claimed).  I don’t care as long as it’s fixed and works again.

Since the mower was worked on I noticed that the engine sounds even better than when I bought it, so I’m guessing that the engine had problems from the start.

This little adventure just goes to show that the squeaky wheel does get oiled the most!  I stuck by my guns and got my problem fixed for free by talking about my the past experiences and how I’ve mowed with many types of mowers and never encountered this problems, etc.  And eventually the owner offered assistance.

Never give up when you are wronged in cases like this one!  By sticking to my guns, I saved myself both time and money.

MR

Update:  Since the toro lawnmower was repaired, it’s been running great and even sounds better than when I first bought it.  I’m starting to think there was something in the tank that did clog the fuel lines, but I’m sure it wasn’t from bad gas as was claimed.  It’s good to have a decent mower again!