Last year I purchase a gas powered leaf blower from Sears. It worked well enough even though it was a bit hard to start and would frequently stall for no apparent reason. It also made an interesting rattling noise when it was moved around.
After almost a year of this I decided to take a closer look at what could be rattling around inside the blower. I am a qualified mechanic having spent more than 20 years in aircraft maintenance and 30 or more years working autos, motorcycles, and small engine powered equipment.
I very carefully opened the leaf blower housing and look at that will you!? There is the top half of a socket head bolt that from the corrosion on its broken surface, has been like this for a long while. No where did that bolt used to live? Ah ha! It's one of the two screws that is supposed to hold the cylinder to the crankcase. The clyinder is freely rotating back and forth on the one remaining bolt. And it's actually been running like this for a year.
I take the whole thing back to Sears. The nice woman says they are sorry. They will send it out and have it repaired and the give it back to me under warranty. Thank you very much.
I get a call yesterday that the blower is ready for pickup. I went to pick it up and they say the labor is free but the parts will be almost ninety dollars. Hey, I only paid that much for it new and I was told it would be fixed for free. What's going on here??!!
They still have the blower but I am not going to let them keep it and I sure as hell aren't going to pay them a dime. These guys are crooks. More to follow.
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