CPO Karcher

November 21, 2010 Rosemary Hansen Raeske 7 Cherry Lane Villa Grove, IL 61956 Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina 3608 West Friendly Avenue Greensboro, North Carolina, 27410 Dear Better Business Bureau: Last Christmas, my son, Scott Raeske, bought me a power washer and had it sent to me in Illinois. My son lives in Land O?Lakes, Florida. He purchased the Karcher power washer on-line from Sams. I looked at the box when it arrived and since there was no damage to the box, I assumed all was fine. I put the box in the garage, since I had no need of it until later in the next year. When my son was home in July, he opened the box with the intention of showing me how the washer worked. When he attempted to connect the hose he realized that the washer did not have the connecting part with which to attach the hose. He told me that I would have to send for the part. In August of 2010, I looked the company up online and talked to several people by phone. After submitting Model #, serial #, receipt, etc. I was sent the part (inlet). My next series of calls, internet searches was to find someone who could repair this for me. I did not think it was up to me to fix or have fixed. I was told that there were 3 shops that did work in my zip code area. The nearest one was Beecher City. Honestly, I never had heard of that town. I asked if I could go 20 miles to Champaign-Urbana and have someone do the work there. That was not their policy I was told. Later in the week, I called the number given to me for the shop in Beecher City, and made arrangements to go to his shop on Tuesday, September 7th. I was told to drive to St. Elmo, call the mechanic and he would direct me to his shop. On Tuesday, September 7, I left Villa Grove, IL at about 8:30 a.m. and headed to St. Elmo, Il. When I reached St. Elmo, I called the service center on my cell phone as per instructions from mechanic. He told me to go West to Elm street, turn North and go outside the city until I saw a Fayette county water tower on my right. It took what seemed a long time to get there but when I did, Idid see a sign for Illinois Engines. The mechanic had told me that there would be sign from then on leading me to his shop. I traveled east, down this road, for about 1mile and a half and saw another sign pointing south. I saw three houses and not knowing which house was his, I called him on my cell phone and I asked what house was his. He responded that I would have to travel down that road one half mile to another sign which pointed to his road and then his house. I finally arrived at the farm house and saw an elderly man and woman on the porch and a young man with a beard and worn clothing sitting on the steps. I pulled into the drive and the young man came over to the car. It was then I noticed he was wearing a gun and the first thing he said was that I should leave my little dog in the car, or his dogs would kill him. So much for introductions. Surprisingly the man was polite and seemed to know his machines, because he looked at it and said quickly that some other major parts were missing. I told him to take the machine, order the parts, fix the machine and call me when it was ready, so I could pick it up. I left the home and went back to St. Elmo. In St. Elmo, my cell phone rang. It was Randy, who told me that the company did not want to fix the machine ? I should return it for an exchange. I doubled back and retrieved machine. After arriving home, now after 1:00 in the afternoon, I had decided to return the machine so my son could get his money back and I would never have to drive over 4 hours to get a machine fixed by a gun toting mechanic. On the Karcher website there were instructions on how to exchange a machine but nothing as to where I could send the machine back for a refund. The website is ridiculous and I talked to 3 people and no one would offer a refund. I never want anything to do with the company ? I ended up sending the machine to my son ? so he can deal with it. It cost me over $40.00 to send him a machine I never used. My investment in time, gas, postage has probably exceded the worth of the item ? what a joke. Can you help me get a refund for this useless machine? Sincerely, Rosemary A. Raeske cc. Karcher Products