My lawnmower would not start this spring after I filled up the tank with new gas, so we decided to bring our mower to Jim's Repair Service to get it fixed. My wife dropped off the lawnmower and she called me to ask me if it was alright for Jim to fix the lawnmower if it was under $125. I told her no, if it was below $85 dollars he could repair the problem with the engine because a brand new engine was $165. I told her to tell him I just want him to get the mower running again and to tell him the mower was not getting a spark.
I get a call two weeks later to pick up the mower and that the total would be $84.72. When I went to pick up the lawn mower he put in a new spark plug (it had a new one when I dropped it off), changed the oil (which had also been changed), new fuel (which was also new when I dropped it off), new air filter, and a new carburetor inlet needle. He also did not have an explanation for me why there was not a spark when I could not get it running. I knew it was getting fresh gas, so the carburetor was not the issue. I also sprayed starting fluid in the cylinder and it would not start, so I definitely knew their was not a spark at the plug. I asked Jim why he changed out everything (plug, oil, and gas) when it was new? He told me it all was junk, junk plug, junk oil, and junk gas.
I am so glad that I did not authorize more than an $85 dollar repair without a call! The lawnmower is running, but there was no reason why he did the extra work. All of the things he changed out (spark plug, oil, and gas) was brand new and top of the line. To add to this I put fuel stabilizer in the gas every fall and run the mower out of gas before I put it away for the Winter to make sure it starts in the Spring.
If I had to do this all over again I would take my mower to anther shop. I also will not be getting anything fixed, or buying anything from Jim's Repair Service in the future.
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