Rochester Mower, Inc.

[redacted] has been loyal customer of ours for over 20 years. [redacted] droppedhis machine off on 11/13/2016 and said it needed a new discharge chuteand a maintenance ("clean-up"). It was then asked if the machine ran,(there was no gas in it so we could not start the unit) he said he acquiredit from his uncle...

and it ran fine so we quoted him $100.00 labor plusparts. His friend was present when this conversation took place.We replaced the chute assembly and performed the clean-up, added fueland found the unit would not start. At this point it is financially in thebest interest to the customer for us to complete the repairs.[redacted] was fully aware of the extra work done to his machine, as weexplained on the phone prior to him picking it up, that the unit needed alot more work than he told us and we then gave him the repair price. Heexplained he did not want to put this kind of money into his machine,we again explained this is what it took to get it running. We also toldhim it didn't run as you told us, we had to clean the carb to get itrunning, but it still needed an acid bath and carb rebuild kit to be 100%.We gave him the option to rip up the invoice and we would purchase themachine for $75.00 or we can discount the repair bill. [redacted] opted forthe discount. The total repair cost was $362.88 with tax, we courtesydiscounted it to $240.00 and he was OK with that.When [redacted] picked up the unit,he witnessed it running. He wasinstructed of its operations and all work performed, he was given the oldworn out auger belt, he was told again the carb was plugged andcorroded. We cleaned the carb, but it needs to be acid soaked and rebuiltto be 100%, as per our phone conversation. It was very clear that Markdid not want to put any more money into this machine. We told him touse the fuel shut off when done operating as a safety precautions due tothe carb needing attention. He was fine with that because it ran.A week or so later when snow hit [redacted] called and said the engine wasrunning erratic and stalling. We instructed [redacted] to adjust the screw onthe bottom of the carb and let us know. We again reminded him that thecarb needs to be acid soaked and rebuilt. He called later and said he wasnot happy with the repair and was dropping the machine off andexpected the carb to be fixed at no charge. We told him we can't repairit for free, he was not happy.We are sorry that this machine needed these repairs. We feel [redacted] knewthis machine needed more than what he told us or he did not know itshistory. H^ should have enlightened us when he dropped it off. Wetrusted [redacted] when he told us it ran fine even though we could not startit because there was no gas in it. This is unlike the [redacted] we have knownfor 20+ years. To accuse us of not performing the work stated when hefull well knows, for example: to replace a belt, (we gave him the oldworn belt) you must remove covers, and yes there is a gear box in thefront end and shear pins he should be aware of and have extras on hand,we would be happy to show him. We feel we were fair with his repairsand explained everything to him. We will be happy to acid soak andrebuild the carb for $40.00.