ComplaintsforEllington Agway

• Initial Complaint

  07/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I scheduled an appointment to have my riding mower repaired at my home. When the lawnmower mechanic came he came pulling a big trailer to my dismay ready to haul my riding mower away. I thought maybe he may have tools in it. I told the man it was breaking belts and asked him to swap the belt because i had called and they said they had a drive belt that matched my mower and thought he would have the belt with him ready to install it. I asked him what he thought about the mower and he said let me see, reached his hand into where the pulleys were for about two seconds. I said how is it? Bad pulleys? Yeah. All bad I said testing him. He said yeah, all bad. This was a two second diagnosis done while he was standing up and never even viewed the pulleys. I pushed for him to try the belt. he said I won't touch it. I told him I had bought belts from ****** and he said that's your problem, low quality belts. We went from all the pulleys were bad to I had the wrong belt. I asked earlier what it would cost to fix my mower and he said I get $100 an hour for 3 hours work plus it will be $200. $500??? I had waited almost a month for this and he never checked a thing. I don't call bending over and touching the mower underneath for one or two seconds any kind of a diagnosis. Afterwards I thought he was right about the belt perhaps so I ordered a OEM belt that ran me $45, put it on going by his diagnosis and it broke in about a minute.That makes Agway responsible for the $45 I invested in the belt.It seems i was given bad information intentionally Today I received a bill for over $113 in the mail for a diagnosis that never occurred. They actually still owe me $45 for the belt that made me break. It's really something to tell me I had a $500 repair when my mower was never even looked at and then sent a bill for driving less than a mile and trying to grab my mower. This was a work refusal. They should pay me $45 for the belt since the repairman couldn't make up his mind.

  Business response

  07/10/2023

  Good Morning, 

  Mr. ******* was informed of any charges to send the service tech with the service trailer out to his home when he made the appointment.  He was informed by the tech that even with a new belt, without replacing the idler pulleys on the deck, any new belt purchased and installed would continue to break. It was noted by the Tech that the mower needed more work than what our service trailer has stocked. He also found a mouse nest in the engine compartment that would have needed to be removed. Mice can cause a fire and the tractor becomes a hazard. When the tech found that more work was needed he gave a rough dollar figure to Mr. *******, stating our hourly rates and approx. time to do the work. He communicated this so that Mr. ******* could make a choice on if he wanted to repair the deck or not, along with removing the mouse nest. Mr. ******* refused any work to be done, which is his choice to make.  

  Our techs are highly trained and look at lawn tractors every day throughout the spring and early summer. This particular tech has over 30 yrs experience. The techs can just look at a belt from a deck and notice why it is breaking. Pulleys & Idlers give distinctive wear marks on belts and when these idlers and pulleys are in very poor shape, can cause belts to snap. This information was verbally given to Mr. ******* by the Tech and was on the invoice sent to Mr. *******. Mr. ******* was billed for a trip charge and minimum diagnoses charge. 

  We provided a service of coming to the home to look at the mower. We do not guarantee any repairs can be made the same day if the equipment is in need of more work than we were aware of when scheduling. 

  Mr. ******* did not contact me directly to speak of this frustration with this service call. 

  Attached is the invoice we sent Mr. *******.  I am willing to zero out the bill of $113.81 to satisfy the customer's complaint. 

  Jennifer M***************

  Service Manager , Ellington Agway

  Customer response

  07/10/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The conversation I had with the backyard mechanic was very brief about the belt breaking. He just said that's your problem you bought cheap belts. The discussion NEVER went to the point of  discussion on belts breaking. This just shows the poor quality of this store to make up stories like this one in their response. The mice story is truly laughable. My mower sat for a year and was unused and a squirrel got into a hole in the corner of my shed and it ripped up a paper towel. That's your mouse nest. Even if there was a very small(very small) amount of paper stuck near the engine the engine is all open when you lift the hood and any tiny pile of paper could be wiped away in two or three seconds at the most. Nothing to do with anything. This is how they work apparently to justify work it seems here that seems beggarly. Mostly the mower was dusty from sitting as the repairman was offended because I hadn't cleaned it. It also had some white fluffy trees seeds caught in the top cover. His imagination and disgust ran wild. It's laughable concerning a mouse nest. He was there to change the belt and I wanted the pulleys checked. A ball of fluff near the engine is inconsequential and really has no bearing on the belt or pulleys. Neither did I say I would be paying for having the riding mower fully inspected. I didn't give him permission to waste time examining my engine looking for problems,  I was paying him to come change the belt and change a pulley not come for a field trip to play around and look for things wrong. He even asked me when I had it serviced last trying to demean me for not doing something a child could do. The job this man does anyone could learn to do in a day or less. There's nothing technical about his job. i would personally be ashamed to have a nuts and bolts low skilled job this store is assailing as being a technical position. I realize not many people do what he does because practically no one would lower themselves to saying they were a backyard lawnmower tune up person. I only asked for their help because i thought I may have threaded the belt wrong and there is probably a bushing mounted on a pulley that needed changing perhaps.

   The bottom line is a teenager working their was dishonest about the mower being fixed at my home and he told me to bring to the driveway for pickup. In a second he just thought to snag a customer. He must have known that and thought thy would just tell me when they arrived. It was a description and he refused to give me any estimate. The backyard mechanic came rushing over with his trailer trying to scoop up my mower, gave no diagnosis and it was a big money repair or no repair being demanded by this backyard mechanic come to pluck a pigeon as the saying goes. I'll never buy anything whatsoever from this store and if my neighbors asked what happened I'll say they wanted to charge me five or six hundred dollars for a one hour repair that shouldn't cost more than one hundred or a hundred and fifty at most. Just being honest. I don't go for businesses making a business of scalping customer on light repairs like this.. They sill owe me $45 regardless about the lie about discussing belts breaking too.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

  Business response

  07/10/2023

  Mr. ******* was given a credit this morning for $113.81 for the invoice that was sent to him for the service at home trailer.  At this point, Mr. ******* is just being insulting to the employees of Ellington Agway who work hard and take pride in their work.  

  Jennifer M***************

  Service Manager

  Ellington Agway

   

  Customer response

  07/11/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩