Posted on 02/07/2002 4:03:03 PM PST by scripter
Thanks. My neighbor just mentioned PCConnection today while I was complaining about Sears to him. That's two recommendations in a couple of hours... I'll check 'em out.
I bought a Craftsman mower two years ago. Nothing fancy, but it came with a three year warranty.
Last year, got the oil changed, filter, sharpen the blade, the usual stuff.
I used the mower last summer and took it in after January 1 for warranty service.
I get a call a couple of days later telling me the shaft is bent, I need a new key (something that goes over the shaft), new blade, and it's gonna cost me $190, since none of this is covered by the warranty.
Well, that's more than I paid for the mower. In addition, I cut grass for a living when I was in college, and I've NEVER seen a bent shaft on a mower. Of course, we used Toros and John Deere's.
I tell the service manager this, and he says "Well, those mowers cost more than Craftsman mowers, and they're not gonna get bent shafts." The guy has just slammed his own company's product!
Well, I tell him that if I have to spend another $190, I'll take that and put it towards a Honda (which, of course, Sears doesn't sell).
At this point, the service manager gets a little agitated and asked me what it would take to keep my business. I told him that if he fixed my mower at no charge, I'd keep it.
So, that's what he did.
He acquiesced so easily, I firmly believe that the shaft was not, in fact, bent. (It's REALLY hard to bend a shaft on a lawn mower, especially if the yard the mower is used on has no rocks, no stumps, no hills, no nothing that would bend a shaft).
I'll keep this mower, since it's fixed and it works fine, but if it ever breaks, I'll never buy another Craftsman mower again.
Suppose it costs X dollars to purchase a specific top-rate product. A typical American consumer will always be willing to get a product that is 70% of the "top-rate" product as long as he only has to pay 50% of X, the purchase price of the top-rate product.
Things have gotten so bad that we are now at the point where people are paying 30% of the price for 50% of the product.
"Managers are so busy and in meetings all day. Reaching a manager is really difficult, and this is just a microwave. It's not like it's an emergency."
It was at that point that I hung up.
This is a perfect time to call PCConnection. Well, right after I call BestBuy.com's customer service and get the wrong RIMMs returned.
Condolences on your miserable day.
BTW, When my Craftsman battery powered mower died I purchased a gas powered Honda mower and just love it. The battery powered Craftsman worked great for me while it worked, but once the battery wouldn't take a charge I opted for the Honda.
And, when they say "for your convenience..." always drop the letter "y" and you get what they really mean
The old saying goes:"You get what you pay for".
Service sucks because items you purchase are very relatively cheap with very little profit margin.
You can get service, quality or price.
You will get two out of three everytime, not all three.
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