Richard Boykin Mobile Small Engine Repair

He was very professional work and did not make a mess. Would hire again.

He got it up and running. His rates are good.

Made multiple attempts to arrange service. Had service scheduled, and Richard never showed up and didn't call to re-schedule.

Extremely well.

Richard arrived at the agreed upon time.  He was very professional, friendly, and courteous. Fixed the clip that holds the drive belt.    Said no charge but we tipped him anyway.  Will definitely call Richard the next time we need lawn mower repair.

In short BEWARE of this scam artist...do not do business with Richard Boykin.

I contacted Mr. Richard Boykin through Craig's List and he immediately responded and picked up my equipment the next day.

However, it took him a good two weeks to even respond to my requests for an estimate, and never actually returned a phone call, only communicating via text. I'd call and leave a voicemail, then suddenly receive a text message -- truly a precursor of how Richard operates, not even having the capability of talking to his customers about his approach, but rather hiding behind the veil of a one sentence text message.

During my request for information he repeatedly responded that he was extremely busy, was only a one man shop, and would take him weeks to even get me an estimate. NONE OF THIS WAS COMMUNICATED UPFRONT. Any good small business man would have the self- awareness to communicate this BEFORE engaging with a customer, but not Richard Boykin.

He'll charge you the full amount of labor on the equipment just to give you an estimate, so if you don't want him to actually do the work you are still required to pay him the full amount of labor. Again, this was not communicated upfront, but only after I enquired about reducing the labor cost if not fixing my old push mower. The more I dealt with Richard, the more I realized he chose not to communicate these aspects upfront because it simply puts his customers in a position to be forced to accept his "estimate" (SCAM ALERT).

When he does actually respond to a request, he's terse, disrespectful and an overall jerk to deal with. Of all the service people I've dealt with over the years, this guy is the absolute worst.

So I essentially paid over $300 to simply have a belt/blade changed on my riding lawn mower and a blower adjusted to run better. He's overpriced, doesn't communicate any aspect of the way he conducts business and essentially runs a scam by picking up your equipment and sitting on it for weeks before responding.

I will never take business to him again, nor will I recommend him to even my worst enemy, much less a friend or family member.

TAKE YOUR MONEY ELSEWHERE AND DONT GIVE YOUR BUSINESS TO RICHARD BOYKIN.

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He showed up early again -- told me Pressure Washers weren't really his area, but he was happy to take a look -- he worked on it for about 20 minutes and figured out how to get the pump working and adjusted the engine throttle for me.  This is the same washer one of Tallahassee repair shops told me it would take $250 at a minimum to fix - that's why it was still sitting in my garage.  Mr Boykin, is professional, polite, reliable, and just good!  He will get all my small engine work as long as I'm in Tallahassee.  I highly recommend him.   His price was very reasonable for making house calls.

Mr Boykin is great!  I called an spoke to him yesterday and he told me he'd come out at 10 am this morning -- he showed up at 9 apologizing for being early - Wow!  That in an of itself is rare.  Really nice guy, very polite, professional - analyzed the problem and fixed it onsite -- took about 15 minutes and only charged $20 -- I tipped him because he was so nice and solved the problem.  Will definitely use him for all my small engine repair work -- I understand he also does yard work so when my mower finally gives up, I will likely go to a service :)  
Great job, done quickly for a great price, and on-time!  I'm very happy with his service.

All the things said in my previous report are still true! He arrived exactly on time and was able to do the work in a matter of minutes. (The owner's manual had the process described and was WAY more difficult than the way Richard did the work.) Instead of dropping the deck and doing several other loosening and tightening of parts, he took a look at the routing of the belt through SEVERAL pulleys and manually took off the old belt. Then he put the new one on before I could come back to the house to get a glass of water. Before I returned, he'd completed the job and was driving the RTZ and engaging and disengaging the drive belt (to turn the blades) to make sure it worked correctly. He was gone in less than 30 minutes from the time he arrived! We had agreed on a price by phone previously, and that is what he charged. $50 for him to come to my home from his business address in Crawfordville (30-40 miles away!) It was money well spent, even though I have a trailer that could haul my 50" mower, it wasn't worth the time and effort to take it anywhere - and any shop in town would have charged at least as much, if not more! I cannot recommend Richard Boykin Small engine repair any more highly! If it's small, has an engine, he can fix it - 4Wheelers, scooters, motor cycles, lawn mowers or what have you. He worked on Volvo car engines for 10 years before deciding "he didn't want to work for the man" and started his own business. I'd trust him with anything that uses a gasoline engine!

Richard answered his phone promptly, was able to work me in the very next day. He arrived right on schedule. We discussed where to do the job and he suggested not in my pole barn, due to the possibility of oil leakage, etc. It was a hot day and his wife and child were with him, so we moved to a shady part of the yard and he got right to work. He was most efficient and did exactly what I wanted, plus I learned a lot about my engine and how to do some of the work myself at a later time.
His truck was loaded with tools, air compressor, etc and was ready to work on just about anything that rolls. He had 10 years experience working on Volvos before deciding to go into business for himself and his experience with engines showed as he told me about how mine worked and some and quot;best practicesand quot; for longer life. His prices were probably less than I would have paid at ANY lawn mower repair shop in town, and were significantly lower than the last time I had similar work done.
I would not hesitate to call on Richard again.

From the beginning, it was a pleasant experience dealing with Richard. He answered my call promptly, got the information he needed to order the new blades and, as indicated above, came to my house the following morning to replace the blades. He came an hour later than originally scheduled but he called me ahead of time to let me know that he was doing a repair that was taking longer than he anticipated. Richard is a very polite and conscientious you man and I will absolutely call him again if I need his services which includes doing something idiotic like attempt to mow over the water main cover.