North Cobb Mower

The only thing remotely professional about this transaction, which took 3 weeks to complete, was taking in my equipment and writing a work order. "We'll call you in a couple of days with an estimate." It took repeated calls and two visits on my part to get an answer to any inquiries as to cost and time. I got the standard excuses--"The tech is at lunch," "he's with a customer," "he's off today," etc. I finally got both pieces back in working condition. I have no way of telling whether anything more than the bare minimum was done. I didn't quibble over the price because I didn't want to get into a confrontation with the owner.As far as I can tell he calculates the replacement cost of a piece and deducts about 10% to come up with a price. I can't prove this, but you cannot persuade me otherwise. Both tools worked for the rest of the summer, but when I tried to start the mower a few days ago (spring of 2014), no joy. Needless to say, I didn't consider returning to NCM. This is why I joined Angie's List. This time I looked for a mower repairman with a good reputation and found one about 17 miles away. He had it ready in two days for $45.

As part of my attempts to start it, I had pulled the spark plug to test if it was getting spark by attaching it to the cable and grounding on the engine, placing my hand next to the spark plug hole. As I pulled to start cord, I could see spark and feel puffs of air from the whole indicating compression. Soon after, found a fuel leak and took it in for repair. Two weeks later was told the rod was broken. When I went to the shop to look, they handed me a piston rod in about 7 pieces. Had this been the case when I took it in, there would not have been compression from the spark plug hole (as the piston would not be going up and down) and secondly, it would have most likely made a heck of a noise. Thirdly, assuming all the parts were 'out of the way' of the crank, attempts to start the engine would have been very free and easy pulls on the cord as there would be no resistance offered by the compression strokes (I've rebuilt and had formal classes in small engine repair). I knew there was oil in the engine when I took it there and even if they had gotten it started and the rod broke, I most likely wouldn't have blamed them, but the fact they couldn't be honest with me was my biggest concern. Did it break or did they have a broken one there to try to pass off bigger repair costs? Either way, I'll be fixing it myself.

The repair took 3 weeks. By phone, I approved an estimate of $158. When I arrived to pick up the mower the bill came to $238 which would have covered the cost of a new mower. 2 missing half inch bolts alone cost $8.95 to replace. The mower is still extremely difficult to start and it cannot be throttled down. The shop policy borders on thievery, and you can add incompetency.