Ragan's Saw & Mower Service

If he would have been ethical about this he might had said that this tractor was old and perhaps worn out and not worth repairing but instead he led me on. So for the price of a new tractor I have an old one maybe fixed.... Be advised!

The $50 advanced fee seemed reasonable if you consider the time and effort required to open the engine to correctly diagnose the problem, and the fee would be applied to the cost of any repair.  Certainly cannot blame anyone for ensuring they would be paid for their time if the mower was not repairable (guess this has happened before?)     

They did make recommendations on the type of mower to purchase, and the different brand names produced by his preferred manufacturer.  Also answered my questions on how self propelled mowers were designed,  Offered to answer any additional questions I might have when looking for a replacement.   Will definitely use again.

Punctuality - yes, it takes a while for him to get back to you. 

I took a friend's tiller into this business a few years ago  - i think it was sometime during the summer - and I have never been able to forget the awful experience.  I the item needed a new valve/plug/whatever on the gas tank - the tiny hose from the tank to the engine was leaking.  A week after drop off i had not heard anything, so i called and he responded, "oh, i was just about to call you."  You need a new gas tank.  I was hoping that he would be able to get a small replacment part for the hose, but i figured maybe that wasn't possible.  I asked him how long it would take and was told it had to ship to him and then he could install it.  He also gave me some spiel about how the tiller had been sitting for a while and might not work and how he might need to do a lot ot get it working.  So, two or three weeks went by and I had to call again - "oh, i was just about to call you."  Right.  Basically, the tiller still wasn't repaired and my friend wanted the tiller back.  I went to the shop to pick it up and the owner was not pleased with me, but come on - how many weeks did this thing have to sit there?  I told him i would pay for the part and the bill was something like $65 - i asked him if the part cost that much and i got another spiel about paying for shipping the part and all his years of experience that went into it all.  I paid him and went home, went online and EASILY found the part - the manufactuer has a site with a store - Gas tank = $30, Shipping = $12.  I don't know how much experience went into keeping a machine you don't fix for weeks on end, and ordering a part from a very easy to find website and then taking on more than $20 for your 5 minutes of work!  How much longer would he have had the machine and how much more would it have cost me for him to use all his experience to install it and then whatever else he might dream up to fix it.  I felt conned and i thought he was rude.  I have taken anything else needing fixing in the past couple of years to other, customer friendly locations in Hillsborough and been far happier and treated much better and more honestly.  I know repairs and shipping can take time.  I also know that I had to keep calling him to find out what was going on and when I came to pick up the machine, I was treated disrespectfully. 

Chain saw was fine. Lawn mover was not repairable so he gave me some suggestions on what brand/type of lawn mower to look for and disposed of my old lawnmower. I appreciated that he was honest with and didn't try to fix the lawn mower just for the fee. I had also another opinion that the lawn mower probably would need to be replaced so I did think he was being honest with me. I have used this business in the past and have also had like experience.

I had puchased a used craftsmen push lawn mower from Craigslist. Big mistake as I really knew little about the lawn mowers history. The lawn mower would generally start but would not for more than 5 minutes or so. It took 3 visits to Ragan's Saw and Mower Service but they were finally able to diagnose and fix the problem. The owner was very persistent in fixing the problem and never charged me more than the original bill I had paid to fix the mower. The mower now runs excellent!

Great. He was half the price of the first estimate I received.

They were very polite and had good service. They called when done. While the problem was fixed, the mower immediately leaked gas from the repair area the first time I brought it home. Mr. Ragan apologized profusely and fixed it for no charge. We think it was a bad part. The hassle of going back again was not pleasant, but it was fixed right the second time at no additional charge. It was also done very quickly. They were in and out in just a couple of midweek days each time. The price seemed high, but I think it was fair. $60 was for parts. I really do believe they do excellent quality work, and I will absolutely go back.