ComplaintsforKerry's Lawn & Garden, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  04/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This Complaint involves Kerry's Lawn and Garden sister store of 641 North Mountain Road in Harrisburg PA. While I have many complaints involving the customer service and transparency of how this business operates. This formal complaint revolves around Kerry's Lawn and Garden performing unauthorized work without the customer's consent. I signed a contract for premium service which included "adjusting the carburetor as needed" Without any prior authorization from myself Kerry's charged me for a " carburetor repair kit and an additional 100$ in labor" This 100$ labor charge is the epicenter of my complaint as it 100% violated the contract and agreement that was initially signed. When I attempted to speak to Rick about this his only response was " If I called about every piece of work, I had to do I would never get anything done" When I went in person to talk to someone and work out a compromise they refused and basically stated that I could leave my tractor or pay the full price. The total for Unauthorized work included the carburetor repair kit for $90 an additional ~100$ labor charge and ~ 65$ for new blades that I never consented to getting. In total ~255$ of unauthorized work was completed without my consent and outside of the original agreement.

  Business response

  05/11/2022

  *********************************** called our ********** store on March 17, 2022.  The Class 4 Garden Tractor Premium Service was the best fit for the work requested for **. ************ *** ***** Tractor.  He agreed to have this service done as it offers a guarantee of the tractors proper operation when completed. Customer was informed that the original price quoted was for a lawn tractor not garden tractor which is a larger unit. Additional parts and labor that are required for a nonperforming to complete the guaranteed Class 4 service.  (Included parts are air filters, pre cleaners, spark plugs, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, hydro filter, hydro fluid, and miscellaneous shop supplies.)  ************************** stated he was having a problem with his dipstick coming out when the machine was started.  When ************************** dropped off his *** *****, he stated the engine was not running properly.  He stated that the 11 year old tractor had not been serviced in many years.  He also state that he tried to make adjustments in order to get the tractor running.  
  
  Performance of the full service cannot be completed or guaranteed unless the engine runs properly.  This was explained to ************************** who still wanted this Premium Service completed.  
  
  After attempting to adjust the carburetor, it was necessary to remove, cleaned and rebuilt. (Rebuilt means to replace all internal parts of the carburetor.) This particular carburetor has internal parts that cannot be purchased separately therefor the rebuild kit is the only option. The cause of the damage was due to fuel being left in the carburetor for extended periods.  Ethanol fuel causes this damage for the most part.  Carburetor cleaning is an additional $100 in labor and the carburetor repair kit is $89.
  
  The hydraulic fluid replacement in this machine was severely overdue.  The fluid becomes odorous when it does not get changed at proper intervals.
   
  The throttle cable and linkage were also repaired as the machine would only idle.  This was due to bent linkages not possible without someone attempting improper adjustment.  During the full service it was found the blades could not be sharpened as they were worn out and very thin.  This is a safety issue.  Thin blades have a high possibility of breaking if they hit something and can become a projectile.  A set (2) of new blades for this machine is $62.40.  A full service was then performed on this machine.
  
  From speaking with my Harrisburg store the customers wife called in and did ask the question why they were not informed of the additional work.  Our full service described here https://www.kerryslawnandgarden.com/services/***********/class-4-garden-tractor-premium-service means to go over the entire tractor top to bottom to guarantee the tractors operation for the season.  We do not state that we will inform the customer of repair items prior to completion.  Our business is busy this time of year which is not an excuse for poor customer service, but in this case the customer had all of the information regarding his chosen level of service and the policies he was agreeing to.  Likewise, he did not request a price estimate be given.  Unfortunately, my employee did state that if we called every customer for every issue we would not get anything done.  This is unfortunate and has been addressed.
  
  We have attempted to contact the customer via our response to the bad ****** review online.  Our owner, ***** called his telephone leaving a voicemail.  In the voicemail we requested he ask for either ***** or ****.  No return call was received.  We certainly do not want to lose a customer, however, the work that was completed was necessary and a fair price was charged for these services.  We would like to discuss this matter prior to deciding any further course of action.

  Customer response

  05/12/2022

   

  I am rejecting this response because:

   In the 2nd paragraph Kerrys Lawn and garden describes in detail where they did unauthorized work and went outside the scope of the initial agreement regarding the carburetor. As you can see when there was a change in price or a unexpected upcharge regarding the lawn tractor vs garden tractor  Kerrys did in fact call me regarding the change.  To me this is usual business practice. In my experience standard business practice for service CALLS you for consent when major changes in the initial quote occur. As the owner already addressed **** did say that he does not have time to call for every thing he does, my response at that point was "well what if I needed a new engine" which he stated he would have called. So where is the line drawn? The carburetor was 189$ more and was no where written in the initial agreement or scope of original contract. How can you call for certain items but then not for others and expect it to be ok?  This is ~ 25% increase of the entire ****.  I am not one to typically leave reviews but in this instance the public should be aware of the way this business operates as I view it as being unethical.

  I am willing to let the blades go, even though that was unauthorized as well. I request the 189$ back for the carburetor as this is the sole purpose of my complaint.
  I have also called 3 times total and the 3 different numbers given to me. The last one that ***** gave me for **** I left a voicemail. 
   Complaint: ********
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************

  Business response

  06/03/2022

  Good Afternoon,

  We attempted to call ************************** today at 4:33 pm. After 2 rings he sent us to voicemail. We will try again on Monday.

  Please know we are trying to have a phone conversation with this customer. We have gone back through our phone history and there is no calls from his phone. We have caller ID.

  Amanda S*********

  Kerrys Lawn and Garden

  ************

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