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In May of 2015, I bought a Toro Recyler 22" self propelled electric start mower, model 20334,for $400. It worked okay until a few weeks ago, when the self propel stopped working. I could see that a belt was off near the back axle, but couldn't figure out how to get to it. I'm not the most mechanically inclined person and have no experience repairing mowers or engines.

I paid a local repair shop $130 to pick up the mower, replace the belt and blade and return it. I asked them if the belt was likely to fall off again and they said no. After using the mower 2 times, the belt has fallen off again, and the self propel is kaput again.

First question, how likely do you think it is that the repair shop will fix the mower again without charging me?

Second question, I'm kind of disgusted with this mower and am sorry I bought it. I just want to mow the lawn, without all the drama. If you were going to buy a self propelled lawn mower (preferably with an electric start) for a few hundred dollars, and wanted one that would be reliable and work for years, which brand and model would you buy?

Any other constructive comments/ideas about my situation are also welcome.

Thank you!

The only reason that you should be charged anything, is if they find a bad part that they missed the first time. I would be looking for something wrong in the following, bad belt guide, wrong belt, or bad pulley. The only other reason that I have seen belts come off, is a branch, mulch or stick gets between the belt and pulley. Finally which mower brand would I buy? Toro. There is no mower that will please you, if after a years use of working fine, the first problem that occurs, you're going to trash the brand. Yes, I am a Toro guy and work on them everyday.

Rivets,

Thank you very much for your reply, particularly the list of parts to look into. That is helpful.

I’m told that my mower has been returned today. I don’t know yet what they had to say about it.

I don’t really see why I should have any brand loyalty if my mower can’t make it through two seasons without needing repairing twice. Any mower can please me to the extent that it can, with routine home maintenance, reliably start and cut grass without the time, money and aggravation of repairs.

I can only judge a mower based on my experience and the reviews of others (if I think they’re credible). I recently saw that this Toro model received a lot of negative reviews, two stars out of five on Amazon. If another mower, be it Toro or not, gets a lot of rave reviews for reliability from actual users, I’ll be inclined to give it a chance before buying another one like this.

I should mention too that I got off to a bad start with this mower, as it arrived with a few broken parts, and it took scores of emails, phone calls etc. to Home Depot and Toro to get some, but not all of the parts replaced.

Also, not a fan of the one wheel level that keeps slipping down. I’ve fixed it temporarily a couple times.

Your's is a prime example why I always recommend buying from a dealership and not a BigBox store. You would have gotten a mower properly setup and working when you left the store. You would also have had an advocate with Toro if anything would go wrong. I don't know what kind of dealership you have in your area, (there are some very poor ones, have one 10 miles down the road from me) but more than once I have worked with Toro to resolve problems which are questionable at little or no cost to the customer. Yes, it can be done. As for reviews on the Internet, you have to realize that people are ten times more likely to post a negative review, as when everything's works as it should, we tend to forget about reviews. I'm not going to change your opinion, but thought a little explaination might help you understand my side of the coin.

Rivets said:

The only reason that you should be charged anything, is if they find a bad part that they missed the first time. I would be looking for something wrong in the following, bad belt guide, wrong belt, or bad pulley. The only other reason that I have seen belts come off, is a branch, mulch or stick gets between the belt and pulley. Finally which mower brand would I buy? Toro. There is no mower that will please you, if after a years use of working fine, the first problem that occurs, you're going to trash the brand. Yes, I am a Toro guy and work on them everyday.

Click to expand...

I own 4 Toro Z masters use them all every day throughout the season. And work on them all the time. You got 2 years trouble free service out of your mower. What else do you expect. In my book that's not bad. Question did you service it regularly keep the debris removed from around the drive belt. And how much of a yard are you mowing. Did you take it to a repable repair shop. And as stated above I would not be buying from Amazon. Have purchased over 8 mowers from the same dealer over the last 12 years. I had a strange issue with a broke deck bracket on a older z master. In a causal conversation with my dealer I mentioned the problem which I had repaired myself . Mower was out of warranty he said I'll see what I can do. He called toro...Guess what .. They sent me a new deck free. Dealers can do stuff like that try that with Amazon and let me know how it works out.

Actually:

I did not get 2 years trouble free service;

I did maintain it regularly in accordance with the manual etc.;

I did not buy it from Amazon, I bought it from Home Depot;

I did take it to a reputable repair shop (which is also an authorized Toro dealer); and

When I asked the repair shop/Toro dealer, he said that the warranty didn’t apply.


What else do I expect? Based on the opinions of everyone I’ve spoken to and what I’ve read...

E.g.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-should-lawnmower-last-88324.html
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/04/keep-your-mower-going-for-15-years-or-more/index.htm
http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/showthread.php/694-How-long-do-you-expect-your-mower-to-last

...I’d say a heckuva lot more than what I’ve gotten so far.

As for reviews, I think Rivets makes a good point that people are more likely to give a negative review, but I tried to compare apples to apples by comparing it to reviews of other products. So, for example, when I compare reviews of my Toro to the Honda HRR216K9VKA, I get the following.

Toro 20334, currently listed at $498.60:

5 star 17%
4 star 6%
3 star 5%
2 star 22%
1 star 50%

2 stars out of 5.

---------

Honda HRR216K9VKA 3-in-1, currently listed at $439:

5 star 79%
4 star 9%
3 star 0%
2 star 6%
1 star 6%

4 ½ stars out of 5.

I definitely think that buying the mower from Home Depot was a mistake. I no longer shop there. :wink:

I agree buying from a big box store is a mistake. Because once they sell it to you its no longer any of their concern . Good luck in your new search.

Did you ask him why the warranty did not apply? Did he tell you what he found as a cause for the problem? If you were not given this info, I would be searching for another dealer. Yes, as with everything, there are bad apples everywhere.

Thanks again RDA Lawns and Rivets!

I don't remember exactly what he said about the warranty over the phone. Something about it not being a manufacturing defect, although that was before he even saw the mower.

I don't think this repair shop/dealer is great or terrible. On one hand, I think they might be more helpful if I'd bought the mower from them. On the other hand, the second time they fixed the belt, they only charged me about $13.00, which is probably reasonable considering that they picked up the mower and returned it (The first time, there was a $50 charge for that.) That's fine if it stays on this time.

The invoice didn't say what was wrong with the mower. There was a typed generic comment about avoiding sticks, but I have no particular reason to think that sticks were the problem since we picked them up first.

It does not take a very large stick or piece of mulch to wedge itself between the belt and pulley to cause a problem, one inch long will do it. I'm not going to change your mind about Toro, but you have never really talked to an authorized dealer or mechanic about the problem, just say this happening twice and the unit is a piece of over priced junk. As I said early, nothing is going to please you, so I'm out of this thread. Good luck.