I had a very bad experience with Pete. I needed professional help with a lawmower that stalled repeatedly. I called Aurora and another place, and they both had 2 week turnarounds. Pete could see me tomorrow.
I gave him my mower, and he called me back a couple of days later, and here's where things went wrong. He told me to come pick it up, but he wouldn't tell me the problem on the phone. He was more than gruff, almost rude, and told me I was asking too many questions. At one point he said, ""If I told you how I fixed it, I'd be out of a job"" or some nonsense like that. I went to get it, and when I asked him again about the problem, he said it was just bad gas. I told him I'd completely cleaned the tank and the bowl, and he said I must not have done a good job.
The cost was $65: $25 to fix the pull cord, $10 for a few parts (air filter, spark plug), and then $20 to ""clean the fuel system"" (and then tax). This was annoying, since he'd done nothing more than shoot compressed air into the lines. Honestly, though, it didn't annoy me so much until the mower stalled 5 minutes after starting to cut my grass. Now I was mad. Pete had ignored everything I'd said, _and_ he hadn't fixed it, _and_ I was already out $65.
I called him up and told him the fix hadn't worked. He told me I must need a new carburetor, but he couldn't even tell me the price without seeing my mower again. So I brought it back and we agreed he'd call me with an estimate before starting work. A day later, he called to tell me he was done. ""Pete, you were supposed to call me first with an estimate."" ""Oh, right, I was supposed to call you. Well, I didn't even charge you any labor."" ""How much did it cost?"" ""$63."" I guess I expected he would give me a break since he'd screwed up the first fix and already charged me $20 toward the carburetor problem. No luck. I said no thanks, and he said he'd put the old carburetor back on.
When I went to get the mower, he just ignored me. He had his back to me working on another piece of equipment. I looked over my mower, and I noticed he hadn't bothered to put all the old pieces back on. The intake needle was missing, as was one of the side latches for the folding handle. He just didn't like me, and he wasn't going to bother being remotely professional about it.
I loaded up the mower, and then I decided to ask him for the $20 fuel cleaning charge back. I didn't expect him to agree, and he didn't. On the other hand, I thought there was a 50-50 chance he would go crazy and throw a socket wrench at me, and he didn't do that, either.
I took my mower to Aurora despite the 3 week wait. For some reason, they called me back 2 days later saying it was fixed. $65 for a carburetor rebuild, fixing my sticky brake handle, and redoing the pull cord. They cleaned it, too. And they were _nice_.
Anyway, my experience was nothing near the positive reviews listed here. Buyer beware and, if nothing else, find out what he's going to charge you upfront.
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