BRAUN'S LAWN MOWER SALES & SERVICE

Toro riding lawn mower - purchased at Braun's Lawn Mower in 1990. Unit was maintained by Braun's exclusively until the last service documented below. This was to be a normal oil and blade change, with safe operation check. On the morning of the service, I drove the mower into the back of my truck using ramps and my elevated septic mound. I then drove to Braun's to drop it off. The unit was driven off my truck onto their forklift platform. A few days later, I was informed the unit was ready. I paid the bill and the mower was loaded onto my truck. I then returned home and set up my ramps to unload the mower. Upon backing up the mower, I immediately noticed that the brakes were not working properly. In fact, the mower would not stop at all. I carefully pushed the mower back to my shed and called Braun's. They were indifferent to my concerns and stated that "we do not check the brakes when performing service". They also informed me that I should have told them about the brakes before service. I stated that the brakes were just fine before they touched it. They told me " we did not touch the brakes, so if something is wrong that is your problem". I was told a brake system check would be $50, plus extra charges if repairs were required. I was shocked, because I had purchased this mower from them and trusted them to maintain it. Obviously I now needed a new mower repair company in a hurry. A local company (Central riding mower repair) was able to pick up the mower and deduce the problem. The mower had been dropped and the rear axle shaft was bent. This was causing the transmission grease to flow down the output shaft and into the brakes. These shafts are thick steel, so the mower must have been dropped from at least 2-3 feet onto its rear wheels. I thanked Central and authorized them to begin repairs. I then called Braun's to inform them of my findings. One of their repairmen must have dropped my mower when transporting it with their forklift. NOTE: This was the same forklift they use to load/unload mowers and move them around. When I was there, a tech told me they also use the forklift to raise the mowers, so they could work under them with ease. The tech was quite proud of their ingenuity in using the forklift. When I informed the owners of the situation, I was told "we have been in business a long time, and we don't care if you never return, we can afford to lose your business". They told me I was lying and that my business was not welcome there anymore. That was back in 1992, and now I can finally tell this story to the world. You can say "well maybe things have changed at Braun's", but I say once a crook, always a crook. Toro lawn equipment is expensive. At least twice the price of normal lawn equipment. It should last a long time if maintained properly. It won't last a minute if someone drops it off a forklift. Maybe no one will care about something that happened so long ago, but at least now I have said my peace. Thanks Angie!

good but slow and expensive

From the first phone call we were told by Braun's they had a two week lead time which was fine and understandable as there are few repair shops for Toro mowers. Wanted to use Al's but they don't service Toro. Loaded my mother's mower in my SUV and drove to Braun's. Non refundable deposit of $75 and we explained the symptoms to the service man. Told him the main goal was the mower must be repaired so the key start works as my mom is unable to physically pull the cord to start. Tech said he thought it was most likely going to be "old gas" problem since some was left in from last use in the fall. Probably would require a tune up (new carb, new spark plug, new air filter). We told him we just put in a new air filter thinking it would help so no need to replace that. He said ok, he'd take a look, write it up and someone would call in the next week and itemize what needed repaired and at what cost and she could decide which repairs would be done. After a full week, no call came from Braun's. Placed a call to them and asked status - was told hadn't had a chance yet to look at the mower. Second week and still no call about repairs needed. Placed call again to Braun's to ask what is the hold up - need to have mower back soon. Promised someone would call back. Call comes in and states mower needs new carburetor, new plug, and new filter. She reminds them of mower already has brand-new, never-used, air filter in it - "Ok, we'll change everything else and you can pick up on Saturday. Went to pick up mower around Noon on Saturday. After a little wait, was shown the mower which had a little bag of parts hanging on it and was told that's just the old spark plug and stuff and it was taken off and tossed to the side. We asked for the mower to be started in front of us to make sure it worked. He turned the key and when it wouldn't start, he said, "well, it just needs to be charged up". We paid the $137 on top of our $75 deposit and they helped load up the mower for us and we left. The mower was plugged back in to it's charger and after 24 hrs, it wouldn't start. $200 & 3 weeks for nothing. Did not want to deal with Braun's again so took the battery and charger over to Batteries Plus on Fletcher Ave. They tested and said the charger was fine and the battery was bad. Purchased the new replacement battery, put it into the mower and Voila!...it started on the first try! Question...if Braun's is a Toro service place why don't they have Toro battery chargers and/or battery testers on hand? If they do, then the scary answer is they didn't even bother to check it and they took advantage of my mother, took her money, and gave her back a mower that didn't start with a key - her ONLY reason for having it repaired. Obviously, Commercial accounts keep them in business. They are certainly not the place to go for the regular Harriett Homeowner. Spend your repair dollars elsewhere or for a new mower!

I bought the Toro riding mower from Braun's 9 years ago. It has been a good unit and has an automatic transmission that works great and I haven't had any serious problems with the mower other than normal wear and tear repairs and service. Years ago, I picked Braun's over the big box stores to buy the mower because I felt that I could trust repairs to a lawn equipment specialty store better than I could a big box store. Also, they have counter sales of repair parts and have them in stock. I usually just take the manuals or broken part to their counter and they have the replacement parts in stock. They may not be as cheap as possibly a big box store, but they are reasonably priced and I am glad that I have done business with them.