Complaint Review: Toro Inc.

9/2/2017

I have a Toro blower that is still in warranty. The warranty manual explicitly states to take the product back" to who you bought it from".

I took it back to Home Depot, they saw that the switch is defective, but I was told they didn't take care of products under warranty and to contact Toro customer service. I called customer service and was told to take it to any Toro dealer. The Toro employee suggested that Morgan Ace Hardware (listed as a master service dealer by Toro) in Woodstock Georgia and told me they would swap it for a new one. I took it to Morgan (a round trip drive of 70 miles) and was told they only sold Toro mowers and did not handle ANY service claims on handheld products.

Today I called Toro and told them what happened and the customer service representative told me that the Ace Hardware was mistaken and that I could take it to any Toro dealer and if they gave me a problem to have them call Toro. The Toro web site shows a list of their "dealers" and I chose to take it to Franklin Equipment in Cartersville, Ga. who the customer service representative had recommended.   The Franklin Equipment employees and owner told me the exact same thing the Ace Hardware employee told me. "We don't sell blowers, we don't handle warranty claims and we aren't calling anybody".

When I pointed out what the Toro customer service representative told me, they said that Toro "don’t own this store" and they only would service what they sell. I called Toro again and was told I should have checked before I drove to Franklin Equipment (they were adamant that I just had to take the blower to a Toro dealer and never mentioned calling before I made the 78 mile round trip) and that I would just have to keep checking until I found a place. I asked to have a supervisor call me.

In the mean time, I called another Toro dealer in Cartersville (Phillips Equipment) and explained what happened and all I had been through with Toro trying to get them to back their warranty.  The lady that answered the phone said that they only sold Toro lawn mowers and didn't handle warranty claims for blowers, but she would see if she could help me by calling Toro

The lady I talked to should be put in charge of Toro Customer Service. She was the only one that had any sense. She said the same thing I had told Toro "if Home Depot is going to sell Toro, they should be made responsible for doing the warranty paper work even if they are not going to fix them".  It is reprehensible that Toro does not make Home Depot take care of warranty returns on what they sell and simultaneously claims to have a network of dealers who handle these claims, knowing they do not.  She took my name, address, phone number, the purchase date, the blower problem, the blower model number and serial number and eight minutes later called me and told me the problem had been taken care of and I would receive a new blower within five days.

All this without even laying eyes on the blower.

I don't want to use her name for fear of Toro taking some form of retribution on her for not seeing the blower before taking action.  I just want Toro to know that they don’t have to worry about me having to deal with their nonexistent customer service ever again because I have bought my last Toro product.

PS I received my new blower last night