HARVARD OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMNT

Awful. High-priced repair, the worst customer treatment I have ever received from a store. I've read others' negative reviews on YELP, and I definitely know what those reviews are talking about. Based on my rotten experience with this business, in both the sales and repair departments, I can say that those negative reviews ring true. A couple of weeks ago, I called Harvard Outdoor PE. I talked to Steve, the owner. I asked him if he had a certain snowblower in stock. He told me they were sold out, but that he was expecting a shipment of 7 more of that make and model, to come, he hoped, in a few days. He also told me twice that he thought he would have one for me, and took my name and number for his waiting list. I was very grateful and thanked him. 2 days later (Thursday, I believe), I stopped into the store. I spoke to Steve, who knew who I was. Said he still hadn't gotten in the snowblowers. I said no problem. Steve definitely knew I was waiting for the snowplower; In the first phone call he even had said he was sorry for not being able to give me a firm pick-up date because he didn't know when the new blowers would arrive. I replied that I understood, and that Id wait and it was okay with me. Anyway, I also needed to have my small snow thrower restrung. He said they could do the repair, so I drove back home, loaded the snow thrower in my truck, and brought it back to his shop for repair. On Monday I received 2 voice mail messages from Harvard Ourdoor PE: the first was from their repair department saying that my snow thrower was repaired and asking me to pick it up. The 2nd message was left at 5:13pm by Steve who said that the snowblower had come in, it was there waiting, and that he "did not know" if I "wanted it." He requested I call him back. At the time he left the message, I was out having new snow tires installed on my car. I got Steve's voice mail msg. as soon as I got home, and I called him immediately, between 6:15 and 6:20pm, just over an hour after he left his message. I was ready to pick it up immediately. But Steve said he had "just sold it" to a man who was in the store and who offered to "pay cash." The easy sale and cash payment were the reasons Steve decided to 1) dishonor his own waiting list system, and 2) lie by claiming he didn't know if I wanted the snowblower, thereby making up out of thin air his own excuse/justification for screwing me out of the machine. Steve didn't wait even an hour for my return call, he didn't honor his own waiting-list system or his verbal understanding, and he didn't show any indication that he felt badly for having done all of this. He actually lured me into a pretty good customer/owner relationship, then pulled it away suddenly, with no warning, and in a pretty cruel way. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe he would do such a rotten thing. This was no misunderstanding between me and Steve; he deliberately made the conscious choice to go back on his word. What a rotten thing to do to a customer. Very little, if any, scruples. I had to go there the next day to pick up my snow thrower and pay for the repair. That was the hardest $45 I have ever had to pay to anyone. I stood at the counter for what seemed like a long time, while another employee fetched my snow thrower. Steve was sitting in his usual spot behind the counter, not 3 feet from my face, and said not a single word to me. Not "hi," not "I'm sorry," he wouldn't even acknowledge I was there. I wanted to pay cash but I did not want to make it that much easier for him, so I took out my credit card. He DID make eye contact with THAT credit card, though, as if to note to himself that I was NOT paying cash. I thought about insisting he give me my repair for free to show a good-faith effort to do some much-needed customer relations repair; but I didn't want to get into an argument with him. I had a feeling I should just protect myself from further abuse.I I was convinced this guy didn't care one bit about me, my business, or whether he would ever see me again. What a jerk, and a shark. And a boor, really. My husband was very angry when he heard what had happened. The next day, he called and spoke to Steve directly, saying that what Steve had done was awful and that we wanted some kind of deal to make up for the awful treatment and the lack of snowblower. True to form, Steve "offered" to sell us another make/model of snowblower that was in stock. He didn't offer a discount or even an apology; he just offered to take our money and to put a time limit on his "offer" -- we had to call him before 4 or 5 that afternoon. Amazing.

Worst customer service I have ever experienced. I brought in a riding mower for service. They said they would call me if there was any additional work that needed to be done. When I went to pickup the mower, they had done $450 worth of work without even calling to tell me that additional work was needed. My bill was 2-3 times more than expected. The mower itself is worth only $600. The worst part was that when I questioned them about the practice of doing additional work without calling the customer, they said the mower needed the work anyways and I shouldn't complain about it. They missed the point all together that I should have been notified of the additional work/cost before they did it. When I tried to explain that to the business owner, his employee jumped into the conversation and threatened to come over the counter and "Shut me up" while he pounded on the counter. It was extremely unprofessional and something I have never experienced before. Not to mention that I had already agreed to pay my bill in full. They also charged me for sharpening the mower blades which they did not do. The mower deck wasn't even on the mower when I gave it to them.