Sears Lawn & Garden

You have to hand it to Sears. The fading legend has a remarkable ability to alienate some of its oldest and best customers. There are also some interesting questions about the warranty on Sears' garden equipment.

Larry of Waldorf, MD (08/01/06)
As a longtime Sears Craftsman customer, I recently purchased a new Craftsman walk behind mower. The mower constantly stalls, the push handle will not remain secured, and the grass catcher bag split it the seams after the second use.

I went back to the SEARS store to file a complaint and request for a replacement mower due to the numerous problems, but was told nothing was wrong with the mower.

I had to go out an purchase another mower after only owning the Craftsman mower for 4 months. Total cost for both mowers = 890.

Wallace of Barre, VT July 25, 2006

Wallace of Barre VT (07/25/06)
I purchased a garden tractor from the Sears, Barre VT franchise store. It has been nothing but problems. I have called repeatedly for the past 2 months and gone online to get svc for it. I am put on hold for over an hour repeatedly and then disconnected. When I do get through they tell me a supervisor will call. Then I received a notice of recall for the fuel tank outlet. They tell me that they have to fix the recall problem before they can send out someone to fix the other problems (about 15 different things!) They say they can't send me the part(s)for the recall until about August 4th, (2 weeks away) and then when I get the parts I am to call and they will then schedule someone to take care of the recall issues. After he/she finishes the recall issues I then have to call up again and get an appointment to fix the other stuff.

My father worked for Sears for 35 years, 27 as a store mgr! If my father didn't work for Sears I would have sued them 10 times over especially over this tractor! Apparently Sears doesn't know that here in Vermont, the grass cutting season isn't like other parts of the USA. My tractor has been out-of-service more than it has been in-service! One of the problems is that the mower which supposedly floats tears up my lawn like crazy.

My lawn looks like someone deliberately skimmed the grass which will require either reseeding and/or replacement with sod! I have had to use a hand mower to mow what the tractor was to cut. (Even that mower has had to be replaced three times by Sears). I have easily spent seven hours on the phone and/or in person at the franchise store.

Mike of Spokane, WA July 24, 2006

Mike of Spokane WA (07/24/06)
I purchaed a lawn mower from Sears 2 years ago, the first year we used it three times, last year not at all, this year on the second time I got it out the guard snapped and jammed the blade causing the motor shaft to bend. I informed Sears that after cutting my grass a mere five times that the fault lay with them and that they should repair it due to inferior materials being used. They told me that it was out of warranty and no matter how many times it had been used it was still out of warranty... If I had actually used five times the first year I am sure that the problem would have occured within the warranted period. It doesn't matter whether it is outside of the so called warranty if it broke due to inferior parts then it is they that should repair it, the actual cost of repairing the machine is more than the cost of a new one and I am not going to throw good money after bad by paying more for a repair than the cost of a new machine.

Dave of Lawrenceville, GA July 22, 2006

Dave of Lawrenceville GA (07/22/06)
Several weeks ago I brought a lawnmower in to a Sears repair center, until today, I have had good customer service. I brought my mower in because it had a gas leak in the carburetor and specified that was my only problem and did not want anything else done. I paid the 30 service charge just to get them to look at the mower and also specified that I didn’t want nor need a tune up. When I went to pick up the mower I was charged another 20 for the tune up that I never wanted in the first place and 28 worth of tune up parts that I also didn’t need. I got them to take back the tune up parts (28) but was told that since they had done the labor for the tune up they were going to charge anyway.

I picked up the mower today, and it still leaks gas in the carburetor, just like it did 3 weeks ago, I was told I could have them look at it again, but I would be charged any additional parts to correct the problem. (That should have been corrected in the first place). I don’t feel that my mower should be someone’s OJT project. I had asked if I could get a full refund since I spent 3 weekends running back and forth spending over 50 for a lawn mower that still leaks and was told that a refund was not to be, because the people who worked on my mower have to be paid, regardless whether or not the fix your mower. So I ask you, where is the incentive the do it right the first time, why not just practice on everyone’s mower and if it doesn’t work, so be it, you’ll be paid whether you fix it or not.

Karen of Echo, OR July 13, 2006

Karen of Echo OR (07/13/06)
On the first repair the technisian was to fix a flat on our riding mower he did that but he also ran the mower into our pickup he didnt even tell us he had done that. So sears made him come out again all he did was twist on the top of the mower so it would shut. We have had sears out here about 9 times since we bought this mower the whole tire including the rim will come off when mowing or just going to mow. wE HAVE 1100.00 worth of parts sitting in our yard becase Mike said its a piece of junk its not worth fixing.

So they sent out Mark he talked to stack they said fix it so Mark said him and Mike would come out July 12,2006 and go through this mower from top ton bottom.They never showed up.So Icalled Sears they saidv he had been here and completed the work Itold them that noone had been here because Iwas here all day. And the parts were still here.Their suppose to come tommorow July14,2006 between 8am-12pm.When Mark was last here he did an ajustment on the mower and I can walk fast than it can go.Ihave been told that if a tecnician says replace it they will but thats not true.

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