I had a bloke drop a GCV160 mower off today and all he said was it wasn't revving properly. After he left I put it on the bench and started looking at it. Within a few seconds I could see things had been fiddled with and things didn't add up, too many little things were wrong/butchered. I rang him up and asked if he had just bought this mower somewhere and he said he bought it on Friday, today being Monday. I said to him take the thing back because this is just a butchered up bodgie job. Then he said the bloke he bought it from had blocked his phone so he couldn't contact him. Just a dirty mongrel dog

And people wonder why I hate buying used equipment from individuals. So many crooks out there.

When I first got to my new area I had people trying to sell me their used non running for more I could get for them. I took a pass on every one of them. And it bad enough that I can't even sell a recondition mower for a reasonable price because of all the yard sale crooks. I had one that I was trying to sell for $500 including sales taxes. The best offer I got was $125 and I had nearly $400 in new parts installed. I quit trying to recon and sale anything afterwards.

I know AVB, it isn't worth doing this stuff and the only way I can afford to do this is because I'm retired, you could never make a living out of doing this. It just annoys me that you have to use all the skills you have learnt over the years to repair these machines and you get little for your effort

It partially attitude problem. Because with our experience we can make it look simple to repair and the internet doesn't help as they look up parts and assume we are buying the absolutely cheapest parts. When a lot those el cheapo parts are just that; junk. Plus most end users are always thinking we are trying to rip them off because of all the el cheapo stuff out there.

On top most end users are simply not educated on what it takes to run a business as they have only worked as employees, never as a business owner. There is a lot of expenses they never see that must taken into account in our pricing.

I get equipment where the owners have brought after market parts that simply don't work. And some those fly by night shops are doing the same thing.

It so easier to the job right the first time. But some thinks if they just get by using these non compatible then they made it.

I got one customer that came in last year where he brought a mower from a known bad shop. That shop rigged the deck up to work well enough to get his money. I had go back and install the correct parts so the customer could have a reliable mower. Wrong idler pulleys and a polyester belt just don't cut it.

Hi AVB,
Yep that is about how it is. I have worked on many trashed mowers that have been flogged into the ground, but this mower was in good condition, the only thing wrong with it was anything the fool fixing it had touched.. I pulled the blade carrier off it yesterday to fit new blades because the 2 new ones that were on it were an inch short and when I took the blade carrier off the 3 locating tabs were missing, and the blade carrier was not old because it still had the nickel plating on it. This fool should have his fingers smashed so he can never touch anything ever again