COLONIAL HARDWARE INC

Awful. Terrrible. And, in my opinion, deceptive.
I bought a new chainsaw online.The saw was delivered to me and I unboxed it last Friday.
I am a former Husqvarna chain saw owner for over a decade (which is, in part,
why I bought a new Husky), but I could not start the saw. I called  Husqvarna Customer Service to see if it was something I was doing wrong, and they advised me to take my brand-new chainsaw to Colonial Hardware,  Husqvarna?s local
authorized service center.
I took the saw in on Saturday morning. The Colonial tech at the service desk tried, but couldn?t
start the saw. I had no reasonable choice but to leave it for warranty work. I
gave the Colonial reps my receipts and UPS shipping info to establish length of
ownership, and filled out the paperwork. The Colonial rep told me I had to pay
a $21.85 ?deposit?. Now I can appreciate why Colonial might want a deposit on a
used tool in for repair. If I have a junky old saw that turns out to have a
$100 repair bill attached, I might just forget to pick it up and leave Colonial holding the bag. But this is a
brand spanking new $400 saw that hadn?t even spun the chain one time that even
the Colonial tech couldn?t start. I asked the Colonial rep what the deposit was
for, since the saw was in for warranty work and I was hardly going to walk away
from a $400 saw that should have a $0 repair bill. She told me it was in case
there was something wrong that wasn?t covered by warranty. I asked "What could POSSIBLY be wrong with the saw that
IS NOT UNDER WARRANTY"? A reasonable question, I thought, under the
circumstances. The response was "I don't know, sir."
I needed to get the saw repaired. I
paid the money and left. Got a call yesterday that the saw was ready. Picked it
up today.
I asked they Colonial rep waiting on
me for my ?deposit?. He said they couldn?t give it back. I asked why, of
course, and he said it was a ?service fee? for adjusting the carburetor. I told
him the saw was brand new and under warranty. He told me that Colonial called
Husqvarna and Husqvarna told Colonial the carburetor adjustments were not
covered by warranty.
As I was walking out of Colonial
Hardware, I was dialing Husqvarna. A manufacturer not covering critical,
operationally-affecting adjustments to brand new power tools is a first, in my
experience.  After a 35-minute call to
Husqvarna Customer Service (most of which was on hold, but hey, I have a
speakerphone and it?s their dime). Husqvarna told me their policy was to cover
any carburetor adjustments in the first 30 days. I was well within that time
frame, and the Husky rep told me she would call Colonial. She called me back,
and reported that Colonial was claiming that they did NOT adjust the carburetor;
they merely ?inspected? the saw. And the ?inspection? costs $21.85. She said
she would tell Colonial to refund my money.
I don?t really expect anything from
an outfit like with the business ethics of Colonial Hardware. My next step is
to call VISA and dispute the $21.85 ?deposit / service charge /inspection fee?
as fraudulent. Following that, the BBB and web reviews.
I would recommend staying as far away from Colonial Hardware as you possibly can.

I had lost my store room key. They have done a very good and quick job and the duplicate key works as smoothly as the original did.