Citrus Heights Mower Shop

Review: Read full details via my yelp review, but the very short version of this is that the mower shop performed an $80 repair I never asked for or authorized. I would have dealt with this on the spot, but unfortunately a friend picked this up for me and just paid the bill, not knowing the fact they did work they weren't authorized to do.

I confronted the store manager about this issue on the phone, simply asking for an $80 refund since I never asked for the work to be done and didn't authorize them to do it. Rather than simply agree to refund my money, he blamed me for their mistake by suggesting I should have just called them back to say "no, I don't want the work done", and that most other people would just say yes. To top it all off, he asked me to bring the mower back in so they could swap the supposedly "bad" part back out with the one they installed, which would require my time and effort to drive the 10 miles to their shop.

This is really simple--you don't do work for people and then just assume they'll be ok with it. If they simply refunded my money, I'd be fine with it--but they did not, so I'm filing this complaint. I would be happy to provide more detail if required.Desired Settlement: $80 refund for unauthorized repair.

Business

Response:

On July 5th we notified the customer that his mower would require more repair and gave him the estimate to fix it. So from July 5th to the day he picked it up (July 16th) we did not hear from him declining the repairs needed. Our mechanic installed a carburetor and made the mower run as it should. It is not our practice to let something go from here not operating properly so we made the nessessary repairs needed. We have offered the customer his money back if he brings us the mower so we can remove our carburetor and reinstall his. Also informing the customer that the mower will not run if we put the old carb back on.

When the customer talked to [redacted] he said he did get the estimate but had no time to call us to let us know what he would like to do. So 5th-16th no call? He wants us to simply refund his money and said "he would be fine with it". Um.. fine with what? a free repair on your lawnmower you know needed more work. Well if he simply brings us the mower so we can have our parts back we will refund his money. Seems like someone is trying to get something for nothing.

Business

Response:

We repair around thousands of pieces of equipment each year. We do not install parts customers do not need. Bottom line is this.. This customer was informed his mower had other problems than a cable. This customer admits to having a voicemail from us informing him it needed more repair. So we tried to inform this customer what we seen needed to be addressed and never got a reply. So because of the lack of communication on the customers part we provided bad customer service? We did what we thought was right by provided a running lawnmower back the customer. Either way this goes mower running or not the customer will not be satisfied. So if the customer picked up the lawnmower got it home and it did not run would that also be considered bad customer service? Offer still stands sir.. bring the mower back and we will remove our working carb for the old not working one. We have not been in business for over 50 years cheating people.

Consumer

Response:

Congratulations on the success and longevity of your business--but that does not have any bearing on this discussion, nor does it make your business impervious to a mistake. You're missing the point--the CUSTOMER should decide what parts are installed beyond what was originally asked for, not you. You are correct that I was informed of the supposed issue with the carb, ONE DAY before it was picked up. And again, my lack of reply to your voicemail was not tacit approval for you to do the work! You are again blaming my "lack of communication", aka, not calling back in less than 24hrs, as the reason for your completion of unauthorized repair work. You say either way I wouldn't have been satisfied, but I don't understand how you could possibly know my mind on that. Honestly, If you had done zero work on the mower outside of what you were asked to do (replace the cable), and had simply informed me that the mower was not operating correctly, I would have been perfectly fine with that. It is my prerogative to take home an imperfectly running mower, or to authorize you to do the extra work. Maybe I didn't want to spend that extra $80? Maybe I would have taken it somewhere else to have that work done for less? Maybe I would have sold the mower as-is to let someone else do the work themselves? These are my decisions to make, not yours.I don't accept your offer, because again, you're putting the burden back on the customer to solve an issue I did not create. I don't want to spend time away from my family to load the thing up, drive it to Citrus Heights, wait for you to swap out the part, and then drive back here. It's not worth $80 to me. You can keep my $80, as it's not worth my time to "recover" it in the way your offer requires. It appears we will agree to disagree. Either way this goes mower running or not the customer will not be satisfied. So if the customer picked up the lawnmower got it home and it did not run would that also be considered bad customer service?Offer still stands sir.. bring the mower back and we will remove our working carb for the old not working one.We have not been in business for over 50 years cheating people.