Creative Equipment have had my lawn tractor since 23/01/09 to do what started out as a few minor repairs.After three days no-one had come back to me as promised by the owner Hilton Guy so on 27/01/09 I called to find out what was happening only to be told by Sebastian the Workshop Manager, that he had found a problem with the bearings in one of the pulleys which he had replaced but then he said that there was a problem with then gear box and after discussion I gave him the go ahead and to fix it, he said that he would phone me later that afternoon. Two days later I still had not heard anything so on 29/01/09 on I call again only to be told by another employee Sheree, that my tractor was still not finished because now it was cutting out and would not start, Sebastian was not available and she would get him to contact me the following day. By 14.00hrs the following day, 30/01/09 I had not been contacted so I call yet again to be told that Hilton is away until 04/02/09 and no-one could help me as the tractor was still not fixed and no-one seemed to be able to tell me when it would be or how much it was going to cost. I then spoke to Debra who I was informed was in charge while Hilton was away. Debra listened to my account of what I had been told so far and said she would investigate the problem and get back to me. When Debra did call me back it was to tell me that Sebastian had said that he had contacted me and explained all the problems, she gave me different prices to the ones he had quoted me and that he hadn't started on the gear box problem, to which I requested it to be fixed as soon as possible and to contact me when I could collect or they could deliver the machine. About an hour later I receive an sms from Debra saying, " Dear Customer, Unfortunately it is not viable for either parties to continue with repairs on your machine. We will be returning it with your original parts on Monday." I phoned Debra and asked her to explain the message as I could not believe the way this company was treating me the customer. She told me that Sebastian had spent so many hours on my machine and could not find out what was wrong with the gear box, and he kept on finding other things that were not right with the machine that it was not financially viable for him to continue as they would never be able to bill me and recoup the costs for all the time he was spending on the machine so he and Hilton had decided that the parts that they had repaired they would take off, put back the broken parts and return it to me. When I replied that this was not acceptable I was told, " Well it's too late Sebastian has already put back the broken parts on the machine and that was the final decision by him after he had spoken to Hilton, and she could not help me any further and if I was still not happy then I must wait for Hilton to return on 04/02/09." On my first telephone conversation with Hilton on 22/01/09 I had informed him of previous bad experiences that I had encountered with dealers of MTD Machines and he informed me that he was the main distributor for MTD in S.A. and that I would certainly not get that kind of treatment from his company. Meanwhile the rain continues to fall, the grass is up to my knees and after seven days my machine still sits in their workshop and the above recount is the standard of service I have received so far. Please, Please, this cannot possibly be acceptable to any consumer council let alone MTD America who are relying on Creative Equipment to promote their product in this country. I would really appreciate your advice as soon as possible.
Regards
C. Cornish