Complaint Review: Briggs and Stratton

7/24/13

Hello to all to have been ripped off by Briggs and Stratton lately. My Father purchased a new Scag Freedom Z mower in 2011 for 6000.00. In the two yrs since, he has put a whole 43 hours on it, maintained it exactly to the letter required by the Briggs manual, used all Briggs oil and filters, stored it in a locked shipping contaniner, and yet the air filter has failed causing it to use oil. My father is a master mechanic who did warranty work for John Deere when he didn't even work for them. After many weeks going back and forth with Briggs by email, they have told me the filter does not work in dusty conditions, and that this mower kicks up extra dust because it is a zero turn. So they are admitting that their filter does not filter dust and is inadequate for use on this mower. Similar dust inhalation reports are on the net also Briggs warranty denials are all over the internet and They always blame it on the customer, no matter what the failure, oh I did find a warranty that was half assssed by them where a customer had a generator blow up in one day's use because their was a casting flaw in the engine causing it to loose oil, and they only replaced the shortblock.  I purchased a Briggs powered generator with a broke rod from TSC which had been brought back because Briggs would not honor the warranty , upon disassembly I found the aluminum cylinder was completely worn out, the cylinder was not even treated, just cheap, soft aluminum made in china. Fortuantely, I only paid 10.00 for this and I had a Honda that fit right on it! Sold the Briggs for scrap, it was worth it's weight in aluminum! We try hard to support American companies especially with my father being a Vietnam Vet, but with treatment like this, he is getting a Kawasaki, yep, American companies like this are forcing us to send our money to Japan, further worsening their bottom line, cutting their own throats. I tried every way to reason with them so I am starting a class action lawsuit to get their attention, they already lost one over misleading horsepower labeling, now they use torque ratings on a lot of their engines further confusing people. Please do not buy anything from Briggs and Stratton, you will be very sorry you did.