2 Customer Reviews
Review from Warren P.
1 star10/19/2023
I called ******************************************* to inquire about service for a ***** Lawn Mower. I identified the problem as the starter rope cable was shredding and needed replacing. I was told they can repair the starter rope cable but that it may take a couple of weeks as ***** mower parts are hard to obtain. I took the lawn mower to ***** River Equipment and checked in with the repair representative. She asked questions about the lawn mower and completed an online repair notification. She then assisted me with taking the lawn mower out of the back of my SUV. I showed her I had wrapped the starter rope around an ink pen to stop the rope from going inside the housing in case the starter rope broke. She said they will notify me when the repair person looks at the lawn mower. A few days later, I received a text message with an Invoice attached. The Invoice listed a $47.50 charge for a diagnostic that is required, $46.00 for the recoil assembly, and taxes $25.00. This is the first time I was made aware of a "required diagnostic" charge. I exchanged several texts with the Service Representative explaining that I was not informed of a required diagnostic charge for the lawn mower. The Service Representative said there was a sign stating there was a diagnostic charge. I did not see a sign stating a diagnostic charge. We had talked on the phone before I took the lawn mower to their business and was not told during this conversation that there was a diagnostic charge. Even during our conversation at the business, the representative did not mention a diagnostic charge or notify me of a sign. I saw the diagnostic charge for the first time when I saw the Invoice. So, I had to pay for the diagnostic charge to have my lawn mower returned to me.In summary, I had to pay a diagnostic charge of $47.50 even though I was not informed of this cost prior to dropping off my lawn mower for service.Review from Jason S
1 star03/14/2023
We have purchased over $100,000 through James River. They do not honor warranties and are trying to charge ** $5,000 in repair bills for a blown engine on a vanguard motor. It has been over 6 months before they denied the claim and are now charging us for diagnosing the blown motor problem. I have instructed everyone here to NOT purchase anything at any James River dealers going forward and have an attorney filing a lawsuit against James River.I will continue to post on forums about the handling of this and tell everyone I can about the poor service and trying to rip off a small business in ********* **.Note: When we brought the motor to them the ***** thing they did was check oil levels and all were good.
James River Equipment Response
03/16/2023
This is not accurate. We are the dealer, not the manufacturer. The manufacturer is, "Little Wonder". They are sold through a a distributor, ********. We then order and sell to our customers. The unit was brought to us for repair. The engine was blown. We followed ******************* diagnostic and root cause failure analysis procedures by the book. We submitted all of the information to the manufacturer on behalf of the customer. The manufacturer denied warranty due to lack of lubrication. When we did not get the outcome the customer wanted initially we submitted the information again for warranty. They denied it a second time. We would very much like to take care of the customer the best we can. However, the manufacturer and the distributor have declined warranty and have declined participation. We presented the customer with an option to circumvent the denied warranty by installing a new engine which we would source and install. We provided a quote to the customer along with another option to dispute the findings by ****** and ********. Customer responded to quote/email that he was turning things over to his lawyer. This is not a James River Equipment issue that we have the capability to resolve. The manufacturer has to resolve and/or support and they have chosen not to do so. We have reached out to the customer multiple times. The customer has only chosen to respond with a lawsuit and a BBB review.
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