Complain about a product or service

John Deere

Eric of Parkton, MD September 3, 2009

Purchased a John Deere L-111 from a JD Dealer in late 2005 (so it didn't see much action that year). and by now (8/2009), the transmission has been replaced & I'm having to replace the mower deck because the welds failed at the rear mounting brackets. This tractor has been garage kept & only used to mow a level residential yard (about 1 acre) - should not have had these failures.

Richard of Dallas, PA August 28, 2009

Had a John deere 318 serviced for routine service, and also had a relay switch replaced. Final bill was several hundred dollars over what they originally stated it would be. When we complaind they said if we couln't pay they would just sell our tractor to get there money. We had to borrow money to pay them off so we could get our tractor back.

Robert of Newton Falls, OH August 23, 2009

Bought L120 riding lawn mower from Home DePot and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with this mower! We have put an extensive amount of money in repairing, replacing, and contructing make-shift parts to keep it running! I called and complained to John Deere but NO ONE tried to help or even had sympathy for us. A Do-Cut Store that deals with John Deere said they have had MANY, MANY customers with the same problem as us.

This is a poorly constructed piece of equipment and we will NEVER buy another product, with green and yellow logos, made by John Deere! They are only in it for the money and could care less about helping the customer that bought an inferior product!!! We thought we were getting a well-respected riding lawn mower made by John Deere. Guessed W-R-O-N-G! Thank you for your time and consideration regarding this matter.

Janice of RR1 Mt. Stewart, PE August 18, 2009

We purchased a brand new John Deere L120 Lawn Tractor in 2005 price was 2,800. This was to be the "last lawnmower" we would need as it was a Deere and nothing runs like a Deere. ( our previous mower was a sears craftsman purchased in 1991 and it is still going strong for its new owner). The L120 machine was use exactly as it was advertised for, cutting grass and light yard work. When the 2 year warrantly was up, the motor began to leak oil. Called John Deere - the warranty had expired so they would not cover this. John Deere wanted a high price to transport my machine as well as wanting to charge a very high cost for parts and labour. In the end we had an authorized Briggs and Stratton dealership fix this machine. Their cost was reasonable. The mower deck paint is very flakey and has had to be repainted three times since 2005. In 2008 the idler arms had to be replaced - we were constantly adjusting them until nothing more could be done. Our mower deck has three blades. We purchased a replacement spindle in late April 2009, as the spindle was becoming loose. It was installed in June ( when grass season started here) and now in August this spindle again needs replacing. The 90 day warranty has expired so once again we are told tough luck - it's not covered. This week we have had to replace a second original spindle as it broke off completely above the mower deck. The replacement spindles bolt that holds it up has fallen out and the nut that holds the blade on would not stay on. The third spindle is becoming loose and will soon need replacing. Our lawn is normal nothing extreme about it so there is no reason for three spindles to require replacing in 4 years of normal wear and tear. Also it is impossible to grease the new spindles as it is set in such a way that a normal grease gun cannot access the recessed nipple. After fixing the second spindle the steering gear disintergrated and needs replacing. This machine is only 4 years old and has had regular maintenance - it was not used in any extreme manner. I have complained to our local John Deere Service center - all they want to do is sell me a new and improved machine - as if this would ever happen again. I will never purchase any John Deere Products ever again and I have spoken out to anyone who will listen to stay away - far away from any John Deere products as they are not reliable and in our case JUNK. This is my second attempt to enter this complaint. thanks for listening.

Janice of RR1 Mt. Stewart, PE August 18, 2009

We purchased a brand new John Deere L120 Lawn Tractor in 2005 price was 2,800. This was to be the "last lawnmower" we would need as it was a Deere and nothing runs like a Deere. ( our previous mower was a sears craftsman purchased in 1991 and it is still going strong for its new owner). The L120 machine was use exactly as it was advertised for, cutting grass and light yard work. When the 2 year warrantly was up, the motor began to leak oil. Called John Deere - the warranty had expired so they would not cover this. John Deere wanted a high price to transport my machine as well as wanting to charge a very high cost for parts and labour. In the end we had an authorized Briggs and Stratton dealership fix this machine. Their cost was reasonable.

The mower deck paint is very flakey and has had to be repainted three times since 2005. In 2008 the idler arms had to be replaced - we were constantly adjusting them until nothing more could be done.

Our mower deck has three blades. We purchased a replacement spindle in late April 2009, as the spindle was becoming loose. It was installed in June ( when grass season started here) and now in August this spindle again needs replacing. The 90 day warranty has expired so once again we are told tough luck - it's not covered. This week we have had to replace a second original spindle as it broke off completely above the mower deck. The replacement spindles bolt that holds it up has fallen out and the nut that holds the blade on would not stay on. The third spindle is becoming loose and will soon need replacing. Our lawn is normal nothing extreme about it so there is no reason for three spindles to require replacing in 4 years of normal wear and tear. Also it is impossible to grease the new spindles as it is set in such a way that a normal grease gun cannot access the recessed nipple.

After fixing the second spindle the steering gear disintergrated and needs replacing. This machine is only 4 years old and has had regular maintenance - it was not used in any extreme manner. I have complained to our local John Deere Service center - all they want to do is sell me a new and improved machine - as if this would ever happen again.

I will never purchase any John Deere Products ever again and I have spoken out to anyone who will listen to stay away - far away from any John Deere products as they are not reliable and in our case JUNK.

Faith of Houma, LA August 12, 2009

I have a J.D. 102 series that is 3yrs old.In the last 8 mths the paint on the main deck and finders is separating. The paint is peeling off in large sheets like paper. We have gone to the dealer and all they can do is replace the pieces for 500 so we call customer service and no help from them. Someone was suppose to call us back and no one ever did, so I recently emailed john deere to let them know the problem and how disappointed we were. They sent an email back and said there is nothing they could do, that the paint is separating b/c we live in south Louisiana but we had a craftsman lawn mower that sat in flood water for 2 or 3 days and still worked and never had the paint peel.We keep our mower in the garage to make sure it stays out of the weather. We are so disgusted b/c we purchased a J.D. b/c we thought they made quality products but I guess that we were wrong and will never purchase another J.D. item again!

Larry of Georgetown, TN August 6, 2009

The L-120 series is a pretty sorry Lawn Mower. The decks will not stay adjusted, you bump anything and you have to readjust the mowing height of these decks. The plastic hood mounts are broken, This is just cheap sorry quaility.

Diane of shawboro, NC July 28, 2009

I own a John Deer rider La 150...54 inch cut...26 horse. I lost my husband with cancer in 04 and struggle living on my own. so I thought i would invest in a good mower, and have heard such good things about them from people in my area, since its agricultural. so I pd a good sum (almost 3,000 ) for this mower and Ive had nothing but problems with keeping a belt on it, either slipping off or breaking, and to this day again waiting for the guy to pick it up with a new belt broken.

I am so sick of this mower I dont know what to do any more. It has been altered so many times to try to get it straight and isnt yet. I called John Deer and complained, they tell me to call the repair people, Im sick of paying for repairs also. If somewhat could help or tell me what I need to do at this point, it would be much appreciated. I am 69 years of age, live alone, have no means to look under the mower, but I know there been many changes, and belt guides added, everything altered, and not in original state

Raymond of Three Rivers, MI July 23, 2009

In 1995 I bought a John Deere self propelled push mower. The mower served me well and still runs, except the self propelled mechanism barely works so it is basically a push mower. The dealer I bought the John Deere from is Finnerman's in Centreville, Michigan. They always did an excellent job serviceing my mower and I was happy with John Deere quality. In June I decided to buy another mower and I decided to pay more for a John Deere expecting quality and service. I paid 486 for a JS25 self propelled mower. On the third time I used the mower I hit the tip of the blade on a metal see wall and the camshaft was broken. I had a 30 day guarantee to return the mower if not satisfied. I was prepared to pay to fix the mower when to my surprize the cost for repair was 330 almost the price of a new mower. I will be 66 years old in October and I have been cutting grass since I was 8 years old. I have never had a camshaft break. I asked numerous friends and they also had never had a camshaft break.

The dealer said that I would have to contact John Deere direct. I did and they refused to help in any way. I went back to the dealer for help and they informed I had to pay the full330. further I was told by the Service Manager that he had seen hundreds of broken camshafts. If that was the case then shouldn't something have been done to solve such a problem? I was told a rock, stump, sea wall, etc. could result in breaking the camshaft. I was just lucky it had not happened before. I should have realised something was wrong with the quality as I paid 600 in 1995 for the mower that is still running. In my opinion no one should pay extra money to buy a John Deere self propelled mower. They won't stand behind a good customer who has used their products and their dealer would not help in any way. I exercised my 30 day warranty and received a 164 credit. So my cost for cutting my grass two times and the mower failing on the third try cost me 322. Thank you John Deere and Finnerman's. You really know how to treat a good customer.

Myron of Malakoff, TX July 21, 2009

I use my mower about twice a week for a couple of hours a week, as I was cutting grass I noticed a small wineing sound like a bering going out, I called the Athens JD dealer and they had two spindles and an ideler pully instock for my L118 I went over to pick them up and they advised me I would need 8 10MM bolts to mount them with because the ones they use are desined to break after installed in the removal proccess and seven of the eight did break, me I have been a millwrite for 20 years and keep my equipment running in top shape the two spinles I took off were both still good, the Ideler pully was stil good one spindle was lose in the deck so I thought the berring was gone, as I tried to tighten the four bolts in the deck the bolts broke (snaped off) the shaft pully on the top was rounded out or startting to round out an octagon shaped hole held inplace by a 22MM nut attated from the top of the shaft all parts so far were 125.00 pluse my time for installalation, I am paided 22.00 an hour thats on me.

Aprox. 2.5 hours and gas pluse another trip to Athens, Texas for a spindel pully, this may be the last deer I buy I will most likely buy a Scag because they are still building with pride in USA.

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