Ariens Company

Review: Ariens offers 0% 24 months financing but the Ariens dealer at no time disclosed all the conditions including that there would be a fee charged of up to $125 dollars automatically on the first billing statement. This is front loading the cost and purposely buried this in the fine print of the contract and not disclose freely by Ariens or their dealer and not shown in the total of your purchase priced. Even if you paid the full amount the next day and do not use the financing the fee is charged.Desired Settlement: Refund or waiving of the $125 fee they are trying to charge me

Business

Response:

We have spoken to the dealer and he admits there being miscommunication on his behalf. The paperwork that the end user signed actually had their standard language on the promotional fee and this is where the confusion started. The sale was completed on 1-31-15 and funded 2-1-2014. When the customer got home he reviewed his sales documents and called [redacted]’s customer service line to question the $125 fee. The snow special was technically over on Dec 31, 2014 the dealer was in error proving a sale on that plan but [redacted] honored it anyway. The customer will be getting his first statement later this month. He was advised they would be providing this information to Ariens. Customer stated that he is satisfied with this.

They delivered a snow blower which was brand new and was leaking fluid from the front. When I notified them they said they would fix it , but I had to pay 50 dollars for pick up and delivery. I paid for a working machine and I think this is what I should have gotten. I should not be responsible for any charges. I would never recommend Ariens for anything.

Review: $130.97

The carburetor on the snowblower failed after only about 6 times running in last 2 yr. Other Briggs & Stratton engines are warranted 3yr.Desired Settlement: REFUND

Business

Response:

After reviewing this complaint, I reached out to the customer to get more information. I educated him so this would not happen again, and offered to reimburse him $100.00, which he agreed to.

Thank you,

Review: On June 29, 2012 I bought an Ariens lawn tractor from [redacted]. June of 2013 the lawn tractor would not crank. On June 25 the tractor was picked up by [redacted] as per the warranty. Tractor was returned on July 9, 2013 and I was told by the delivery person that the tractor was not completely fixed but we could use it. He also told us that in a few weeks, when the parts came in [redacted]'s would pick it up again and repair it. However, after only about 30 minutes of cutting, the mower stopped running and would not start. The driver for [redacted]'s picked the tractor back up the next morning July 10, 2013. Since then, my sons and I have contacted [redacted]'s many times. All they say is that they are waiting on parts. We have also went to [redacted] where we bought the lawn tractor and was told by managers that there is nothing they can do to help us. They would call us and let us know if they find out something. Their advice to us is to call Ariens since that is who we needed to talk to. On August 2, 2013 I did just that. I called [redacted] and they listened to my story and told me that they would get back in touch as soon as they found out something. To this date, nobody has ever called about my lawn tractor. All calls have been made by me and my sons. I don't know who is responsible for taking so long to fix my lawn tractor. Each company seems to pass the buck. [redacted]'s says they are busy, [redacted] says it is out of their hands and Ariens doesn't want to call us back.Desired Settlement: I just want my lawn tractor fixed right and sent back to me. If that is not possible I want somebody to contact me about other ways to handle this problem.

Business

Response:

Hello [redacted]-

Purchase Ariens 22HP V-Twin 46" cut from Home Depot in 2013 Transmission is out after the second season of grass cutting on a small yard

When I had to make my decision on which snowblower to buy I was impressed with the Ariens model. It had all the features I wanted plus the right price. So far I used it twice and am very happy with the performance. I will have a chance to really try it out now that we are in the midst of a blizzard. I feel Ariens is thinking of the customer and what they need and want. I recommended Ariens to my friend and she is happy with her decision.

Review: On April 21st this year my Ariens mover pedal broke and I can not mow my yard. The mower is still under warranty and I haven't even used it more that a dozen times. It has been pick up after waiting over a week by a certified Ariens repair service upon my mower's return it broke in the exact way. It broke before. Now I have spent $1800 on a mover that I can not eve mow my lawn. I also seeded my yard and fertilized it thinking I had a great mower to mow my 1/2 acer yard.. So this time I spoke with [redacted] and told me to contact different Ariens repair company and they have yet to pick up my mower. So here I am a customer that is still waiting to use my brand new mower and this company seems not to care if If I get my mower running before I have a hay field for my two year old son to play in. So we are working on six to ten week wait.... Just un acceptable, unfair, and poor customer care, and it is made in America .Desired Settlement: I am patient but this is out of control. If they cannot have a system in place to cover their warranty they need to refund or replace my mower immediately. I think waiting over seven weeks to getting a new mower running is more than enough time . Still waiting to mow my grass and it's June ...

Business

Response:

The Ariens Company has reviewed this complaint, and would like to submit the following:

This is a very busy time of year for the dealer network as it’s the peak of lawn season. Most dealerships are booked out 4-5 weeks on average. We do not own these dealerships, therefore we can’t tell them to make 1 customer more of a priority then another.

What we did offer in this situation is to pay the pickup/delivery charge as we are truly sorry for the extended wait for the part breaking. We also have checked to make sure the part is in stock. As soon as the dealer gets to Mr. [redacted]’s machine, it should be a quick fix.

I have attached a copy of the warranty statement for your reference. This clearly states we are obligated to fix parts and labor of any manufacturing defects for the first 2 years of ownership to the original owner, which is exactly what we are doing.

Consumer

Response:

After purchasing a riding lawnmower it does not work. I have sent it to a Arien's certified repair shop of their choice and it was returned to me and broke again after using it for ten minutes of use. Yes, I understand that it is the peak time for small engine repair shops; and I am reminded that it is also peak growing season for grass when I look at my yard. The bottom line is that I have spent a decent amount of money on their product and my mower has been broke down for the last six weeks. It will be at least anther three to four weeks until I get it back fro anther repair shop; that is a total of eleven to twelve weeks So, I am to have no means of mowing my grass so that my two year old can play in the high grass while Arien's gets their product straight? All I am told is that they are doing the best they can and covering their part of their warranty. Yet I thought I was purchasing a reputable product from a company that stood by it's product and actually care about it's customers. From my experience thus far has been a nightmare and they are way beyond a reasonable time frame of repairing their product but yet will not replace it like they should, to make it right, then I could mow my grass this weekend not four weekends from now.

Business

Response:

Again, the Ariens Company is keeping our commitment to cover the cost of parts and labor for any manufacturing defects. As a consultant in this matter, I would advise the customer to contact the dealership to explain his displeasure with the recent work done on his machine. I would think they would make them a higher priority. However, since we don’t own these independent dealers, I can’t say for sure. They are the ones who did not fix the machine correctly.

It was also explained to me that the dealership is shut down for vacation from May 30th-June 9th. This is not under any control of the Ariens Company and also the reason for the longer delay.

Review: I have a brand new lawn mower.

I purchased it one year ago and in a year, I only used it 3 months and it is broken.

I contacted to authorized service on 05/10 they told me they will pick it up on 05/13 and it takes 7-10 days to call me back to tell me what's wrong with it.

They picked it up on 05/15 even though they told me to pick it up on 05/13.

today is 05/22 and nobody has called me and I called the service and They have not investigated what is wrong with it and they told me it will take 2 weeks to investigate and after that it will tkae probably another month to fix it I guess.

I need the mower as soon as possible I talked to customer support and it looks like they do not care about how long it takes to fix it because the customer support representative told me they do not have any control about authorized services.

I am a victim of buying a product of Ariens brand.Desired Settlement: I wish it is fixed in a couple of days otherwise I want my money back so I can buy John Deere lawn mower that I wont have any problem like this.

Business

Response:

This customer was referred to an authorized Ariens dealer, which is the proper course of action when there is a problem with the machine. We don’t own these dealerships, but do act as a consultant when there is an issue between a dealer and customer.

This time of year, dealerships are extremely busy as many users are starting their mowers for the first time this season, and come across a problem. The average time a machine is at a dealership is about 2 weeks. Could it be less, yes, could it be longer, of course. By looking at this letter, I don’t know what is wrong with the machine, nor do I know what dealer is involved, otherwise I would contact them to get a better understanding of the overall scenario.

The obligation of the Ariens Company at this point is to cover the cost of any manufacturing defects under warranty. We do not buy back machines or offer refunds to a customer. They would have to work that out with the retailor they bought it from.

Thank you,

Business

Response:

I have spoken with [redacted] at the dealership. He said no matter who comes through his door, their machine won’t be looked at for 3-4 weeks. Again, this is very common in dealerships this time of year. Not only are they working on Ariens mowers, but Toro, John Deere, and all our other competitors in the industry. [redacted] advised me the customer drove his machine into a mud pile which is the cause of the drive not working. This is a not covered under warranty, as it was not a manufacturing defect. The dealer advised me that the customer will be responsible for the bill before he can receive his unit back. Again, we do not own these dealerships, they are independent.

Thank you,

Consumer

Response:

Review: I am complaining about a ariens snowblower my father bought. He became very sick after this & did not use it right away. I moved back in with him to be his caretaker. The ariens snowblower was defective. The ariens company was made aware of this and they had picked it up by a service shop. The shop must have left it out side for months in the rain as it came back rusty. I never had it outside. I gave it to them in brand new condition. The original problem was it would not start & when it did start it ran rough & stalled. The service shop gave it back to me several months later in the summer. The first snow storm it started, but was leaking gas all over the place. I contacted Ariens. The service shop refused to fix it. Arien agreed to fix it for free as I still have the voice recording. Now they refuse to do anything. I do not want this defective snowblower. I want it to be replaced with the current replacement model. He bought this snowblower & could never use it. Now he is very sick & has cancer. I moved in with him & he now needs 24/7 care. I am putting ariens on notice as to this gas leak & defective snowblower. So if I get hurt using it. I will be suing them as they are aware of this problem & refuse to replace this defective blower. .Desired Settlement: I would like Revdex.com to get involved and ask them to replace this defective snowblower with the equal replacement model they use now. I am hoping you would have better luck in this matter than I had in dealing with this company. THank You for your help in this matter.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],Thank you for your letter of October 14, 2015. The Ariens Company takes great pride in its customer relations and its products. Mr. [redacted] bought the snow thrower on April 29, 2009. He first made a complaint to Ariens Company in April, 2014, five years after purchase. The unit has a three year warranty. Ariens Company agreed to repair it even though it had been out of warranty for two years. We had a local dealer do the repairs and the unit worked as designed. Mr. [redacted] then complained that the repairs were insufficient. By the complaints he was making, it sounded as if he had bad gasoline. After several calls, the dealer refused to work with him due to his demeanor on the calls. The people at Ariens Company had similar calls and when they asked Mr. [redacted] to be polite, he hung up on them. Ariens Company asked to speak to the person operating the snow thrower and Mr. [redacted] refused.Mr. [redacted] asked for a new snow thrower, free of charge, in exchange for his five year old snow thrower.Ariens offered to examine the snow thrower another time with another dealer but Mr. [redacted] refused. Ariens Company has been frustrated in their efforts to help Mr. [redacted]. It has actually done much more than required of them.

Ariens Company

Business

Response:

Tell us why here...The Ariens Company has agreed to provide Mr. [redacted] with a new engine. We would send it to a dealer to install, free of charge for Mr. [redacted]. This would be an LCT engine, which we install on most of our current models. (His engine would be an LCT 254cc engine). We don’t have offer a Briggs and Stratton engine that would retrofit his machine.

The engine will only be issued after Mr. [redacted] signs a release form releasing Ariens Company and their dealers from any future claims related to [redacted].

If this is a satisfactory solution, please have Mr. [redacted] reply agree to the offer and our legal team will begin drafting a letter.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

[redacted] Arien Thank you for this agreement. Can you see what you can do to make sure the engine specs like Horse power is the same as my current model. Can you please tell me what dealer will do the work and how will it be picked up and delivered to the dealer. Also can it be done in a timely fashion. The snow season is upon us. I do not want the dealer to keep the blower for months like last time. I am just requesting for a different dealer than last time I do not want to deal with that dealer anymore. They are not good people. Can someone from arien call me to discuss how we are going to work this out. Thanks again to Arien for this resolution. [redacted] ###-###-#### Thank You

Review: I PURCHASED A ARIENS LAWN TRACTOR AT [redacted] IN [redacted] ON 03/16/2014 FOR $1119.81 WITH SALES TAX .IN JUNE I STARTED USING IT I HAVE A SMALL PLAT YARD AND AFTER 2 MOWS THE TRANSMISSION STARTED TO SOUND LIKE A CLAW HAMMER RUNNING DOWN A BLACKBOARD CALLED [redacted] WHO SAID TO CALL MOWERS&MORE IN WILMINGTON,OHIO THEY PUT IN A NEW TRANSMISSION TOOK OVER 2 MO. TO GET BACK.THEN STARTED THIS YEAR AND 3 MOWS LATER AGAIN SAME UN NORMAL SOUND. I CALLED ARIENS WHO SAID TO TAKE IT TO THEIR LOCAL DEALER@COLEMANS LAWN EQUIP.SPRINGFIELD,OHIO THE INVOICE DATE WAS 6/4/15.A MECH. UNLOADED FROM TRAILER HEARD IT SAID THATS NOT NORMAL.THEY REPLACED TRANS. NOW I MOWED 3 MORE TIMES AND DOING IT AGAIN.CALLED ARIENS WHO KEPT SAYING NORMAL SOUND I DISAGREE EVEN THE MECHANIC @DEALER SAYS THATS NOT NORMAL. ARIENS BASICALLY SAYS SORRY ABOUT YOUR LUCK. I KEPT TELLING LADY AT ARIENS HOW CAN SHE SAY IT IS NORMAL SOUND WHEN SHE DID NOT HEAR MY TRACTOR SOUND AND THE DEALER MECHANIC SAID THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG WITH ITDesired Settlement: I WANT MY MONEY BACK

Business

Response:

On 3 separate occasions, we have attempted to explain that the noise this customer is experiencing is normal for this transmission. We have also provided the customer with a phone number directly to the manufacturer of the transmission so that he could hear this directly from them. I have also attached a response which we received from the manufacturer when we questioned them about the noise.

As we explained previously, the noise is normal, and does not constitute any type of refund.

[redacted]

Ariens Company

Consumer

Response:

Review: On 06/24/2015 I purchased an ARIENS lawn tractor online through [redacted]. It was finally delivered on 07/09/2015, crated and shrink wrapped. It was missing a steering wheel and assembly, and also a battery. I contacted [redacted]. They said that ARIENS told them that it is a warranty issue, and I would have to contact ARIENS through the warranty. [redacted] said they would reimburse me for the expense of getting the needed parts if I could get ARIENS to send them. I live 45 miles from the nearest ARIENS service business. I went there and gave them the list of missing parts. They said they need ARIENS to contact them via the warranty to order them. I registered the tractor with ARIENS online and contacted ARIENS to get the missing parts. ARIENS said they would do what they could to resolve this. ARIENS then contacted me and said that this is an issue that needs to be resolved by [redacted]. ARIENS left a message for me that some guy would call me from [redacted] today to resolve this and they consider this solved. I did not receive a call from anyone today. I do not have any resolution. What I do have is a new $1,300 lawn tractor in my drive area that I purchased a month ago and is totally useless as it does not have a steering wheel with assembly and no battery. As of today, I also have ZERO resolution. My desired outcome: I want the steering wheel with full assembly and the battery that were missing from the crated and wrapped tractor upon delivery.Desired Settlement: My desired outcome: I want the steering wheel with full assembly and the battery that were missing from the crated and wrapped tractor upon delivery, reimbursement for any additional delivery charges, and reimbursement for my 90 mile round trips when all is said and done, or direct delivery to my house, as originally paid for.

Business

Response:

We sincerely apologize that the machine arrived at the consumers home not meeting the customer’s expectations. In manufacturing, defects do happen as well as assembly mistakes. This is nothing we are proud of, but it does happen from time to time. We stand by our products with a limited warranty for this type of failure and there no there is no charge for parts or labor. We do work direct with national retailers, like [redacted] (**), as well as independent dealers when situations like this arise. Since the consumer did not purchase the unit from us direct, it’s up to the consumer to work with ** to get this resolved. ** has a process to let us know if there are missing parts, so we can ship parts ASAP. We have not personally been contacted by **. When we reached out to them after hearing about the situation, they made commitments, but have not followed through. We have documented conversations with ** and it sounds as if they are dropping the ball and not communicating with the customer. We proactively found a dealer in the area, “[redacted]” and spoke to someone named Valerie, who is willing to help in this matter. They will make contact with the consumer to let them know the next steps. Because of the consumer’s schedule, it’s hard to keep contact communication with her, as she is available after we are closed. We did send her an updated email today with this progress.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

[redacted] picked up the tractor to complete it per the warranty. I was told that I would owe $65.00 toward 1/2 of the pick up and delivery charge. The rest of the repair is covered by the warranty company. On Thursday, 08/06/2015, I received the tractor back from [redacted], in full working order and with a full tank of gas. They went over operating instructions with us and we are very pleased. We gave them a check in the amount of $65.00 for 1/2 of the pick up and delivery charge. [redacted] gave me a credit that included reimbursement for the $65.00 charge. I am very pleased with the outcome of the situation. Regards,

Review: I contacted this firm on Sunday, 12/8 as I could not start their snow blower. I spoke with Mr. [redacted] on Thursday, 12/12 who at first gave me the run around. I then contacted his Supervisor, Esther who informed me that [redacted] would be contacting me. [redacted] did contact me last Thursday, 12/12 and informed that a "local" dealer will be contacting me. The dealer did contact me but they operate in mid-state Pennsylvania and I'm located in the [redacted]. Ariens did email me to inform me that they would locate another dealer who will be doing the repair on my snow blower. Ariens will pay for pick up and delivery of snow blower as well as any repairs needed. It is Thursday, 12/19 as I write and I've had no such contact from any "local" dealer.Desired Settlement: I would like Ariens to keep their word and either:

- complete the repair as promised or

- give me a pro-rated refund of their product and arrange for removal from my property.

Business

Response:

After speaking to this customer, it appears the machine was not stored properly as recommended in the owner’s manual. I made several calls to dealers in the area as he was too busy to make calls himself.

This morning I made contact with [redacted], and they are able and willing to pick up the machine for the customer. I asked them to contact him to arrange the time for pickup. I also indicated that the Ariens Company will cover the cost of transportation, which is estimated at about $80.

If this is a fuel related issue, it’s the customers responsibility to pay for the work done on the machine.

Business

Response:

On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 1:35 PM, [redacted] wrote:

Bradley-

I have spoken to the dealer, and they have also shown me a picture of the carburetor, which is gummed up (attached). They could smell stale fuel, and noticed the oil level was 1 1/4" over the full mark, which is another instance of the customer not properly maintaining their unit.

If you enter the model/serial number of [redacted]’s unit into the online version of the owner’s manual, and go to page 31, you will see our statement pertaining to old/stale fuel. By not following these directions, the exact situation which the customer in question, experienced.

The Ariens Company has now reeducated the customer so this not happen again in the future. I would also like to offer to help with $58.16 of their cost, which is ¼ of the total bill. We also already covered the pickup and delivery charge, which is normally the owner’s responsibility ($75). I also need to reiterate this is a Briggs issue, not an Ariens, and the customer should be working with Briggs and Stratton, as they support their own equipment, but Ariens is trying to stand behind our brand and let the customer know we do care.

Hopefully the customer will find this offer satisfactory.