Altaquip - Charlotte

We bought a new mower from Lowes in August. We only had 3.8 hours of use when it quit working (it wouldn't start). We had the manufacturer's warranty and had purchased an extended warranty. The extended warranty department at Lowes set up the repairs with Altaquip. After inspecting the lawn mower, Altaquip claimed that the belts needed to be replaced due to "wear and tear" and the throttle cable wasn't adjusted appropriately (also due to "wear and tear"). As they claimed that these were "wear and tear" repairs they would not be covered by either warranty - and that repairs would cost $193. After talking to Lowes - there is a general consensus that there should not have been that much wear and tear with less than 4 hours of service on the mower. The folks at Altaquip are SCAMMERS. Altaquip management has not returned calls to me or to Lowes. We were careful with the mower, the hours we used the mower would not have done any damage whatsoever. In addition - as a minor point, my husband filled the mower completely full of gas (it could not have held another drop) the day it would not start. When we got the mower back - all gas had been drained. I will be filing a complaint with the BBB today. November 2012, through intervention of the BBB, Altaquip refunding the full amount of the repairs.