I purchased a Sears lawnmower with a Honda engine, Model # 917.376781 in September of 2007. Here in Michigan we use our lawn equipment about 6 months out of the year. Thus far, I have replaced the front plastic wheels on this mower 4 times. At $40 a set, I'm fast approaching the cost of a new mower in wheels alone.
Call it bad design or bad engineering (metal cog against plastic gears), but when a part lasts less than 9 months, something is obviously wrong. Consumers need to be protected from this type profiteering and I am seeking out other owners who have experienced this same fate with this model of lawn mower.
Since I first filed my complaint with the Michigan Attorney General in August of 2014, I noticed that Sears has dropped the cost of the replacement wheels from $18.99 to just $10.99. Attempts to glean records from Sears for the total units sold and replacement wheels sold have been met with proprietary refusals. Sears has looked at the numbers and realizes there's a problem, but refuses to take any proactive resolution.
A good settlement would be for Sears to furnish front wheels for the remaining life of the mower. It seems they have made enough money on this product and we shouldn't be shelling out cash to compensate for Sears poor design mistake.
The Michigan AG complaint number is 2014-cp09111748282-A. You can submit your experience directly to them at miag@michigan.gov . Or you can post your comments on this blog and I'll forward them on to the AG.
Thanks for your interest
6/10/2015 Update - The wheels I bought in August, 2014, have the interior cogs worn down to nubs and won't propel the mower's front tires despite plenty of tread on the exterior of the wheels. I figure I got a solid 4 months use out of this set. According to SEARS - there's no problem here, just keep buying our crappy products and move along.
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled on your post. I have the same mower and also have complaints about the wheels but I have had more problems with the rear wheels. The plastic "spokes" kept cracking and I have to replace at about $25.00 per wheel. I complained once to Sears but got no response. I think they must have discovered the problem though because the replacement wheels are now sturdier. I bought my mower early spring 2007. It had a 2-year parts warranty so in fall 2008, I took it in for replacement of both back wheels, which they did. Interestingly, they replaced both front wheels as well, even though I did not ask for that. Did they know of the front wheel problem? At some point last year, I did have to replace both front wheels as the gearing inside got stripped. Back on the rear wheels - after I got the two free ones under warranty, I had to replace three more wheels. As I said the new wheels are stronger plus I moved to a new home with a virtually flat lawn. Bottom line, I probably have over $100 in replacement wheels. Have you had any luck with your complaints. (twbixler@comcast.net)
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ReplyDeleteThanks for comments. I finally traced the problem with the front wheels to bad bearings. The front wheel gears strip-out because the defective bearing allow the metal gears to slide around inside the wheel. The metal gears that are attached to the bearings move vertically and horizontally and get out of sync with the plastic wheel gears. When that happens, the metal gears tear-up the plastic gears until they sync-up again. I went to a mower repair shop and picked up a set of new bearings from one of their junk mowers and that did the trick.
ReplyDeleteThe AG and Sears have turned a deaf ear to all of this. Sears did send me a $100 gift card to try to appease me, but I couldn't use it at their parts store to get the parts I needed. So I bought some stuff I needed at my local Sears store and shredded my Sears credit card I've had since 1974 and sent the pieces to them with my last payment.
Sears knows there's a problem, but won't own up to it. The AG has bigger fish to fry and doesn't want to step on any corporate feet who might be friends with our Governor. Long story short, I give Sears 2 years or less and they'll be out of business. They can't keep screwing their customers over and stay around for long with better competitors out there.
I hope that helps.