BAD BUSINESS - BEWARE! Temped to report to the BBB! How did they come up to $209 for a part that is $12 and bolts on the side of the machine. They couldn't even tell me details to confirm the work they said they did.
I have a brand new pressure washer, used it twice the first month I bought it then let it sit for about 6 months and it wouldn't start. Guys seemed nice and knowledgeable when I came in to drop it off. Advised I'm mechanically inclined and checked it all except the coil. They told me $89 for labor, $120 estimate for parts (parts they were forcing on me that I said weren't needed because it's new - carb rebuild kit, spark plug, oil, change gas). When I left we agreed that they would confirm it's the coil and call me when they did to tell me the price of repair for that part and if it was the coil it would be a week for order and delivery.
Today, the next day, they call me and tell me it's ready and working and my bill is $209. I stood there in the office and told them if the bill is much more I may just buy a newer model again since it's only $299 vs fix this one and get the warranty. They said they would call, but they didn't because they know I would have pulled my machine and only paid the original $89. But they wanted more money!
I asked them to explain why the bill went up so high and they said it was $79 for the coil they found they had in stock. I asked them on the phone and when I arrived to tell me part numbers, brands etc to prove they did the work and weren't just price gouging/faking work. He tried to tell me they were honest and wouldn't do that and that if I took it apart to check myself that everything was new I would lose warranty and have to pay full price again.
So this is what it all turned out to be:
- promised a call before doing work on the coil but never did and never got my approval verbally or signature to do work that would double the bill
- when confronted he said I don't have to pay anything if I was upset and they would keep it and resell it, so basically just take my machine
- when I asked how they got the coil so fast they said they found they had one in stock but I inspected it and it's a $16 part they got from Home Depot and charged me $80+
- when he showed me it was working again I asked if the carb rebuild kit included all gaskets and he said yes and that it was done, and not to take it apart to check. I was able to check right there in front of him just by looking at the piece that sticks out and you could see the gasket was still split/damaged so it wasn't changed. Doubt they did anything to the carb, something I told them was new already anyways
- they said they replaced the old gas but it was clearly still full of my gas
- oil spilled all over the machine not cleaned up
- AND THE WORST part is that they gave it back with the oil sensor switch unplugged and said it has to stay that way now to work. That IS NOT fixed or as it should be returned. The unplugged part is VITAL to avoid engine failure. A part that's bolted right on the side and costs $12, but you have to special order it and they probably didn't want to wait for parts. They said I can replace it if I want or leave it unplugged...I paid them to fix it. So basically they didn't fix it. I actually believe the whole thing was working fine, except the oil sensor switch (the part that has to be unplugged for it to work). My hunch is that once they replaced the coil pack and it didn't fix the issue they checked that switch and found it faulty. But since it would take a week to order they just left it unplugged. Since they paid for the coil already they just left it installed, charged me quadruple for it rather than take it back apart and reinstall mine. So now it's not doing its job of monitoring the oil and killing the machine when oil is low as a fail safe to prevent catastrophic failure.
These guys may be nice but they are not honest and to me are taking advantage of people that don't know any better. They offered no discount except $5 off for paying cash because their machine was broken. Wouldn't be surprised if that was also a lie for tax fraud to avoid paying sales tax. All they cared about was that I was upset and felt they were scamming me and never tried to make anything right. The money wasn't the issue, it was the fact that the issue was not completely resolved and was probably 5min of work and $12 but because they messed up or want to upsell all they can, I paid $209 for something that reasonably I think would have been $100 anywhere else. The machine again is $299 for a new model. Not a single part that would need to be fixed is over $20 (coil - $20, spark plug $10, carb rebuild kit- $20) and it takes 30min max to do the job IF it was even a coil issue. SCAMMED but learned my lesson. PICS FOR PROOF! read more