ComplaintsforKingston Enterprises

• Initial Complaint

  10/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My family brought a Ryobi battery powered lawn mower to Kingston Enterprises at the beginning of August 2023 because they're the only one registereds on the Ryobi website to do repairs in the area. I was assured they could fix anything. The self propel would randomly stop as well as the mower itself would randomly shut off while in use. My dad discussed that the mower was not under warranty, and didn't want to fix it if it wasn't worth it. The owner ended up telling him not to call him and that they would call my dad when it was fixed because they had so many mowers and other equipment to be fixed that they couldn't take calls. When we picked it up, the bill was $439.90 (after no communication like he'd indicated). He claimed the motor was the issue and when my dad was shocked by the price, the owner showed him Ryobi mowers on eBay for $600 (this mower is actually comparable to models that can be purchased brand new WITH a warranty at **** ***** *or $500). My dad paid and brought it back where I tried to mow the lawn with it. It had the same exact issue as before. I called Kingston Enterprises and they said to bring it back and they'd keep working on it for no additional cost, which I did. They eventually ended up putting new controllers into it and said they mowed their lawn with it to make sure it worked. I brought it home and it still had the exact same issue. I called Kingston Enterprises back and talked to the owner and explained that I wanted the money to be refunded since they had failed to fix it twice now and we were still bothered by the fact that we'd paid $439.90 to fix a $500 mower that STILL had no warranty. I also explained that I would have been happy to pay a diagnostic fee to get an estimate on what he'd thought it needed. He offered to take it back again. I refused and explained that it was an hour round trip for me and didn't believe that he could actually fix it. After a few minutes of back and forth, he eventually hung up on me.

  Business response

  10/26/2023

  Customer ***** ******* brought his mower here in August of 2023, his unit was looked at repaired and tested it ran fine without any issues. The mower was also ran in front of the Mr. ******* before he took it home so he could see it running. Mr. ******* went home ran the mower for a while and called to say that the mower wasn't working again, we told him to bring it back so we can look at it with no further charge and we explained that sometimes with this particular brand of mower you fix one thing and something else fails. He brought it back the part we put in failed we waited for the new part to come in, once the part came in we put it in and ran it for one hour the mower ran fine with no problems. Mr ******* took the mower home and called a couple days later and said the mower wasn't working again, at that point we told him to bring it back again, it is a battery powered unit a lot of can go wrong with it. We have been very fair with Mr ******* he only got charged for the initial repair, we did not charge him for any extra parts or labor. The mower was definitely working when it left here.

  Thank you,

  Dave

  Kingston Enterprises

   

   

   

  Customer response

  10/27/2023

  
  Complaint: 207*****
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because of the following:
  

  There are some things that I’d like clarified with the story from Dave here.
  
  The first time we brought it to them, they put in a new motor.  We were told that there was a short in the old one which was causing the issue. When I got it back home and found that it was behaving in the same exact way as when we’d dropped it off, they said that the new motor may be faulty and to bring it back, which I did. 
  
  The second time they had it, I called to find out the progress and was told that they were waiting on new controllers.  There was no mention of a motor.  It’s definitely possible they installed a second new motor without saying so, but they definitely said they were waiting on new controllers. 
  
  After the first time I brought it back, I did have a conversation with Dave and he did indeed tell me about how these mowers are not as reliable as gas powered ones, which I certainly now believe.  Regardless of that fact as well as how fairly Dave feels that I’ve been treated, I still have paid about 87% of the cost of a new mower for a repair, still have no warranty on anything aside from the part and I still have a mower that runs exactly the same as it did before I brought it to him.
  If I were to guess, I would say that whatever the issue is, it wasn’t triggered when they ran it for that hour at the shop. But if I have the issue before the first fix, after the first fix, and after the second fix, then the actual issue was never found or fixed.  If that’s the case, then we’ve either paid for a fix on something that wasn’t broken, or the fix wasn't adequate. 
  
  I feel that I’ve been very fair in this situation, unlike Dave.  I gave them a second shot at it, and when that didn’t work I asked for my money back since I didn’t receive a fixed mower.  I even went as far as saying that I would have been perfectly okay with paying for them to give an informed estimate on the first go-around, but they just went ahead without any sort of authorization on a repair which ended up costing nearly the same as a new one.  This seems like I’ve been treated very unfairly.  If I pay to have something fixed, and it has the same issue as before, then I shouldn’t have to pay for the fix.  I’d even be okay with paying their initial labor cost, since I’m sure they did spend time working on it. But the fact remains that if putting in one or two new motors gives me the same result, then the motor isn’t the issue and shouldn’t have been replaced.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******

  Business response

  12/01/2023

  Mr ******* bought this mower used with no warranty, he brought it here for repair which we did and he did not ask for an estimate when he brought the mower in. To clarify Mr ******* said he called and we told him that his mower was waiting for a controller not a motor, the controller is the motor Ryobi calls it a motor controller. The motor was the issue it was replaced tested and returned to Mr *******, he used it at home for a while and called us saying it wasn't working we then told him to bring the mower back in and we would look at it with no further charge and we then explained that with this brand of mower one thing gets fixed and something else can go or the same part can fail again. We ordered the part again when the part came in we put it in and tested it for one hour and it worked fine and when he picked it up he tested it and he agreed it was working fine. We have been very fair to Mr ******* he only got charger for the initial repair we never charged him for any extra labor or parts.

   Dave

  Kingston Enterprises

   

  Customer response

  12/03/2023

  
  Complaint: 207*****
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint.

  Their response is now just either misleading or incorrect information.
  
  We explained that the mower was not under warranty, therefore we didn’t want to spend too much money on fixing it if it wasn’t worth it. Dave told us not to call him because he had so many mowers and other things to fix that he didn’t have time to call customers. While this seemed like poor customer service, we accepted this as he clearly did have enough mowers to keep him busy for months and assumed that A) if it was too expensive, he would make a reasonable assessment that it wasn’t worth fixing or B) that he’d call us with an estimate so we could make the call ourselves.  Both of those seem like a fair expectation.  While Dave did provide some pricing from online retailers to justify the $439 repair once we picked it up, he either a more expensive model or found a listing for a comparable model on eBay which was a higher price than what it is in stores. To be clear, a comparable model can be had at Home Depot for $499, and I believe that any reasonable person would decide that $439 was too much to spend fixing a $499 mower.
  
  I will not argue over the parts and their names and will defer to Dave’s judgement on what he did or did not order/replace.
  
  I did not, however, “use it at home for a while.” I got it back and immediately tried mowing the lawn with it and it immediately had the same issue. I called the shop within an hour or two of picking it up to tell them, and was told to bring it back in, which I did the next day.
  
  When I picked up the mower the second time, they did indeed tell me they’d run it for an hour. It was started in front of me and run for a few seconds, but that was never the issue. It would always start up just fine – the issue was that it wouldn’t STAY running. I absolutely wouldn’t say that I “agreed it was working fine.” If I said anything, it was that I was happy they’d gone out of their way to test it for so long and that I hoped the issue was fixed.
  
  The second time I picked it up was the same as the first. I arrived home from picking up the mower, immediately tried mowing the lawn with it and it continued to lose the self propel, needing me to press the self propel paddle in again, or it would just shut off entirely, making me have to restart it again. It never had an issue restarting, so I would say that’s irrelevant to the complaint.
  
  I will repeat that while Kingston Enterprises is correct that we were only charged for the initial repair, the repair was never completed. The self propel and/or the motor would shut off while running it before we brought it to them, after we brought it to them the first time and after we brought it to them the second time. There was never any change in the symptoms whatsoever from beginning to end, regardless of whatever parts were installed in the mower. There was never any more than a couple hours between pulling out of the driveway of the shop and calling the shop again to tell them it still wasn’t working either of the times. 

  As a result, I would absolutely say that I received nothing for the money that was spent, which is why I'd like the refund.
  

  Sincerely,
  ***** *******

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