I purchased a Murray push lawnmower from Walmart on 04/08/05, with a Briggs & Stratton engine. Assembled it at home & started it to make sure that it ran properly. After only a few minutes, everything seemed OK, shut it off & stored it for one week.
On 04/15/05, I started the mower & began mowing. The part of my yard that I push mow is average, but after only 1/3 mowed, the mower seemed to blow black smoke & began missing. Everything checked OK (fuel; oil; air cleaner), tried again, but same result. Removed the plug & cleaned it, & the mower mowed fine for a short time, & then began doing the same thing.
I figured that I had been unlucky enough to get a defective mower, so loaded everything up including the receipt, box etc & returned to Walmart.
The first manager I talked to was in lawn & garden who explained that they did not take mowers back anymore, but that I could contact Briggs & Stratton for warranty work. She also mentioned there were businesses local that did this warranty work. I then made contact with a floor manager, guy that hangs around up toward the front of the store near the check-lines, & he basicly told me the same thing. His statement was that if I had actually purchased it (the mower) that day, it might be different.
I then took the mower to a Briggs & Stratton authorised repair, but after doing without the mower for a week & a half, I was told the mower ran fine, & to keep the air cleaner clean.
Taking the mower home & since then, the mower with just quit about every third time I use it. I do not have to do anything to it, except pull the plug, clean it & the mower then starts fine & keeps running for a while.
Just yesterday, (06/10/05), the mower quit when I was 1/2 completed with my grandmothers yard. I contacted a higher up store manager at this same Walmart & explained the history, & his reply was the same. It was too complicated or cost too much to expect Walmart to deal with returns trying to get reimbursed from the manufacturers. He pointed out the mower was still under warranty & could be serviced.
While we the customer have our items serviced (sometime the repair shop is not even local, but 50 to 100 miles away, we do without the item we purchased in good faith, while Walmart takes our money.
On a side note, we purchased a countertop microwave in November & it quit last week. It is now at a service center 90 miles away. Now I would not expect Walmart to take back something I have used a lot or a considerable amount of time, but it seems that the customer is not always right, & Walmart is not near as consumer friendly as it once was.
C
Duncan, Oklahoma
U.S.A.
0 comments