I needed to get a tune up for my walk-behind Toro lawn mower. Also, the plastic guard on the bottom had cracked, so that needed to be replaced. I brought my Toro into the Jerry's DO It Best Hardware in St. Louis Park and talked with Mark, who works in the repairs department. I explained what had happened and he said he would fix it and change the oil, tune it up, etc. I left a deposit of $40. I left and a few days later got a call that it was fixed.
I picked it up and brought it home. It cost $49.76 and that covered the Rear Baffle (whatever that is), oil, air filter, spark plug and shop/environmental fees. I didn't need to mow right away as we had hired a lawn service to mow on the off-weeks (and I generally mow the other weeks). So, it sat in our garage for about 2 weeks until I needed to mow again. I pulled it out of the garage, put gas in it, checked the oil and pulled the cord to start it. Immediately, I heard a clunking sound and turned it off. I tipped the mower over and noticed that the blade was loose. Since I had not used it since I picked it up, I decided to bring it back to Jerry's.
I brought it back and Mark was working again. I explained what had happened and he said, "What, did you run over something?" I said no and explained, again, what had happened: I picked it up, tried starting it and it started making a clunking sound. I tipped it over and noticed the blade was loose. He tipped it over and asked, "Did you run over something?" I thought he was kidding, but I guess he wasn't. This time I just said no. Mark said I would need to leave it there. I said okay and left.
A few days after that, I got a call that my mower was fixed. I went to pick it up and Mark was not working. I talked with the person working in the repair area and he said the mower needed a Blade Retainer. I said fine and thank you. He said, "The cost will be $17.89." I explained that I had brought the mower in a few weeks ago and walked him through the series of events that brought us to today. He said, "We have to charge for parts." I said I assumed the mower would be in operating order when I picked it up the first time, but it wasn't. He said, "Well, we don't know if you ran over something or something broke during transport..." I started to wonder if there was a corporate dictate that requires repair people to suggest all of us must "run over" something. I could see a memo stating "All repair staff must first put the assumed blame on the customer by inferring they must have run over something. If the mower needs a new spark plug, infer the dog chewed on it."
I asked to speak with a manager and talked with a woman named Nancy who is the shop lead. The manager (I believe his name is Rod) was "on vacation." Funny how it seems in all of these types of situations, the manager is always "on vacation." I want that job.
Nancy must have also gotten the corporate memo because when I explained (for what seemed to be the 25th time) what I had done, she responded with, "Well, we don't know if it might have been damaged in transport or maybe you ran over something." I asked her if I should not have assumed the mower would be in good working order after I had it tuned up and fixed. She said, "We have to charge for parts. We didn't charge for labor, but we have to charge for parts." I asked her if it was possible that Mark forgot to fully fix the unit or if something was actually damaged during his attempt to fix the mower since the blade had never been loose before. She said, "I don't know. We have to charge for parts." I debated just leaving the mower there until the manager got back from being "on vacation" but I needed the mower and decided to pay the $17.89.
I strongly discourage anyone from bringing a small engine to this Jerry's Do It Best (St. Louis Park) to be repaired. There are other options in the Twin Cities. Or, I strongly encourage you to bring a mower there just to hear that you probably "ran over something," even if you didn't. read more