Sears Customer Service,

Re: Riding Lawnmower Issue


My name is: Derwood A. Stewart; Address: 12 Lucky Drive; City: Mayflower, State: AR; Zip: 72106;

Day & Evening Phone: 501-514-2131 Email: [email protected]


On July 26th 2009 I purchased a new Riding Lawnmower and a new Push Lawnmower from your North Little Rock, Arkansas McCain Mall store # 1206 of which I have a few comments to make.


I have been using Craftsman Lawnmowers since the early 1990s and for the most part have enjoyed this product. However, I have some issues with the new Riding Lawnmower that I purchased: 207128922 YT 42-IN, CM CLB $1, 399.99; Model # 917.28922, the unit is red in color; 21HP.


Note: First of all let me say that the mower deck on this unit when engaged vibrates way too much and it sounds like a thrashing machine.


At first, I thought noise and vibrations was due to this machine being 21HP or that it may have a bad blade. I tried changing out the blades for an older heavy-duty used set of blades that I still had from my previous mower.


This proved to be successful; the vibration and noise diminished quite a bit; it seemed more like what I was use to with other units.


When I had an opportunity to do so, I asked a Sears Service Tec to check out the blades that came on the unit to see if they were defective. He said one of the blades was tweaked and then put some new blades on the machine for me.


When I cranked up the mower after the Tec left, I noticed that the mower-deck still vibrated a lot more than my three previous Craftsman Riding Lawnmowers did. This mower is the fourth New Craftsman Riding Lawnmower that I have purchased in the past fifteen years. I also owned two other used Craftsman Riding Lawnmowers in the past.


Note: There is another issue that concerns me about my new Craftsman Riding Lawnmower and in my opinion, it is a MAJOR concern; it is this: The Leaver device located on the left side of the mower that lowers and raises the mower-deck protrudes out at an angel away from the machine and is a hazard in that, in the event that when operating the mower, if one mows a little too close to some objects such as trees, some fences, a yard swing and so on, the lever has a potential to snag onto the object thus, creating a potentially dangerous situation.


This snagging onto something actually happened to me; the incident rapped me around a tree which could have seriously hurt someone that was not as experienced in operating a Riding Lawnmower as myself. Thank God my wife or one of our grand children was not mowing the yard when this happened; they may have been seriously injured.


It was at this point that I decided to call the Sears store where I purchased the unit and they in turn, sent a Tec out to access the situation.


This is when the Tec replaced the Mower-deck blades; he also ordered some replacement parts for the damaged parts due to the incident with the tree and had them sent to me. He later came back and installed these parts. However, he did not properly straighten or replace the body of the mower thus; the part did not fit properly.


Note: Even though I try to make a conscience effort to be mindful of the aforementioned problem, occasionally the deck lever catches on something in passing. This past Friday July 16th 2010 while I was mowing our back yard, the deck lever caught onto objects on two occasions. The first occasion nearly jerked me off the machine and caused the deck to drop all the way down cutting deep into the lawn. The second incident was not as extreme as I was moving very slow.


I am very concerned about this problem and I would prefer not having to call the Consumer Safety Protection Agency of the Office of the Attorney General to address this problem thus, I would like to know what Sears intends to do to resolve this problem.


I just wondered what you might have to say about all of this. I am hopeful that you will take a sincere interest in this matter and will address the issue in due course.


Note: I am still having issues with this problem and I would like to know if craftsman and Sears intends to do anything about resolving this problem before someone gets seriously hurt.


Thank you for your timely assistance and consideration in my behalf in taking action in this matter.


Respectfully


Derwood A. Stewart