A Gripe

I finally got my riding lawn mower back yesterday.  The first thing I did was mow the front lawn of course.  It seems to be working.  I brought it the the local mower repair shop because it was suddenly hesitating and then stalling.

I told them I suspected a fuel line blockage because (bizzarely) I found bits of a leaf in the gas tank last year.  And though I got most of it out with an aquarium net I bent into a shape to fit in, the engine was sure acting like there was something in the fuel line.  I can do some basic stuff, but I don't mess with fuel...  Plus, it needed a tune-up, a blade-sharpening, and oil and filter change. 

When I got home that day I looked at the repair ticket and all it mentioned was "Service 1 - hesitates and stalls but will start again after about 15 minutes".  So I called them.  I was told "Service 1 is the basic tune-up and oil and filter change.  The rest was the additional problem". 

OK... "Service 1" WOULD be the basic tune-up stuff and blade-sharpening.  So I waited for an estimate.  after a week, they called and said the hesitation and stalling was due to a failure of both ignition coils (2 cylinders, 2 coils, 2 spark plugs).  Don't worry, I had to look that up.  Its what sends an electrical charge to the spark plugs.  They gave me a price and I accepted it.

I wondered though why both would fail at the same time, but I thought back to when I was so broke I had to struggle to repair my old car and there was a single ignition coil that controlled all 8 cylinders. 

Funny short story:  I had a friend who worked at a car dealership.  One day, he opened my car hood and showed me all the parts (most of which he said were to reduce the performance of the engine for emission control reasons).  But one part he showed me was the ignition coil.  It couldn't be sealed tight for heat reasons.  But if you ever drove through a puddle and the car stalled, it was because the ignition coil got shorted by the spray.

So I understood about the ignition coils on the mower.

So they went about replacing those 2 parts (apparently they are separate on a mower.  Falling asleep yet?

Well, they called Thursday and said they were going to have to clean the carburator and fuel line (another $25).  Yeah, yeah, just do it...

So I picked it up Friday.  The experience was not good.  First, they had to jump start it.  When I asked about that, they said I needed a new battery.  Well, I had to do that too, but I thought a tune-up would solve that. 

So I asked the mechanic "This is a repair shop, right"?  He agreed.  "Shouldn't that have been something to be fixed"?  He said it wasn't on the repair ticket.  OK, he is just the mechanic and he does what the repair ticket says to do.  But they sell batteries!  Why wouldn't they have offerred to replace it?  Fine, I can buy a new battery anywhere.

But the engine gave a whiff of smoke and I asked about that too.  He checked the oil level and said it was a bit high and should probably be changed.   You want a definition of a lawn mower mechanaic?  He wiped the oil dipstick clean ON HIS PANTS, LOL!

And that's when the horrible truth hit me.  There had been no oil and filter change!  I went back to the front desk and asked about that.  The guy there said it wasn't on the repair ticket.  So I asked about the tune up.  Ditto! 

I told him I had specifically asked for that AND called the next day asking about it.  AND was assured that "Service 1" included that.  He said no, the "service" numbers are just a list of problems the customer mentions.  He said the woman I talked to just writes up repair tickets and wasn't there at the time to ask.  But they would be happy to do the tune up and oil change.  For more money.  And they were backed up for a month.

I took my mower home and I will never ever bring anything to them again.

I can change the oil and filter.  And the tune up probably wasn't necessary.  I had removed the spark plugs and cleaned and gapped them last month. 

But Jeez, what a bunch of idiots!

If I was younger, I would set up a competing business on the side.  No customers should be treated like I was.  The mechanics seem OK; it's a management problem.