Boise Small Engine

Let me start by saying my lawn mower did get fixed. That being said it was not the most pleasant experience. It was actually painstakingly slow and inefficient. My lawn mower’s drive cable broke April 26^th. It’s under warranty through Sears, who contracts Boise Small Engine to do the repair work for them. I dropped it off on April 26^th. I was told it should take about 2 weeks to get it repaired which is understandable being its early spring and I’m sure their busy season. I was supposed to receive a call letting me know when it was ready. 2 ½ weeks go by and no call. I call them to check on the status of my mower. I’m told (after being disconnected and on hold for 5 minutes) that the part needed to repair my mower was on back order until May 23^rd. I know this isn’t the fault of the repair shop, however a phone call letting me know this would’ve been nice so I could make arrangements to get my lawn mowed. I call back on May 27^th to check on my mowers status. I’m told it is finished but they need to get Sears to authorize payment for the repair. I was told I would be called back that afternoon to let me know when I would be able to pick it up. Once again no call. I call back Tuesday May 31^st and once again check on my mower and finally I’m told I can pick it up. The mower seems to be working fine now which I’m appreciative of but this company really needs to work on their communication. It would have saved me a lot of frustration by simply making a phone call or two.

I came here to get my chainsaw blade sharpened. I knew it was about 10 minutes until closing. I talked to the gentleman and let him know what I needed. He said he be happy to take care of it and it would only take 10 minutes. I was surprised! I thought I would have to drop and pick it up next week sometime. But he was true to his word and it was done in less than 10 minutes on the spot! They also rebuild chains. Very friendly staff. Didn’t try to sell me something I didn’t need.

I repair most everything on my small farm and I even have my own shop. I had trouble getting the parts I needed for my riding lawn tractor from the Ariens Company. The blade bolt had fallen out, and the washer came off along with the blade, the bearings were still good. I called them and the told me a diagnostic was $ 30, and it sounded like i could make the repairs myself, so I arranged transportation to get an evaluation and order parts (bolt, washer and spindle). I have replaced two spindles in prior years. When I got there they agreed to my evaluation and said they were going to order parts, which included blades because Home Depot had given me generic blades. They said they were behind on getting work orders done and I said I just needed them to evaluate the deck. So I left the tractor there with complete confidence. After one week I had a friend call for me, he was told (by the parts department, they were just waiting for the parts to come in, and the man asked him if I wanted them to put the tractor back together, and the answer was «NO». So I called two days later and talked to the head guy about this, he said that they were two weeks behind on there work orders, hadn’t even looked at the tractor, and hadn’t ordered any parts. I questioned what had been said prior, he stated he didnt know what was said and said they were still two weeks out on any repairs. I did tell him that the farm was begining to look like a jungle. I asked about the charges (because I have limited funds), he said there were none at the moment, but he would give me a recommendation to another shop I could take it to if I wanted to get it done faster, I told him thats why I had come there in the first place… he said he would see what he could do, that they might be able to look at it Monday and that he would call me back to let me know if that could be done, I started to say something then I heard a click, he had hung up on me. Several days later, I have not heard back. Now I have go rent equipment while I look for another repair shop to get parts from, which might be in Nampa. The communication was horrible, or did they think I was an incapable woman, dont know. I did however feel rather insulted by the treatment I recieved for just wanting to order parts. I did call them on Saturday and said that i was coming to get the mower, he asked who all i had talked to, then he told me that an evaluation (tear down and estimate) was the same as a repair, it didnt need to be torn down, i would have removed the deck. They also told me that their repairs charges were $ 71 per hour! Thats $ 243!, without parts! I did call another company and my parts (mandel/​spindle, heat treated bolt and washer) will arrive in 4 – 6 days. So they dont always treat people the same. I am disappointed because i trusted them, to not get a run around, lesson well learned.

I came in with a carborator problem on my weed eater and I asked for an over-​hall kit. In addition to giving me advice, the staff took apart my weed eater and put it back together with no charge, just to identify the one of a million carborator kits that could potentially be required. The staff was very friendly and helpful, and I would certainly recommend them for your next lawn mover, chainsaw or weed eater problem. Thanks for all your help!