The Daily Ping

I made the mistake of jinxing myself when I commented how well our Toro rechargeable electric mower had worked. After nine years, it never needed service and I had only to replace the battery once and the blade a few times. Then, stuff happened, it had to go in for service, and I was told the engine would need to be replaced and that it wasn’t worth doing because of the cost.

During my search for a new mower, Paul suggested I look at the Neuton rechargeable mower. It was a tad pricy, but with a 1 year trial, a 2 year warranty, and a really nice looking, good performing, quiet mower, I decided to go ahead and buy a refurbished Neuton 5.2 for $375 (with free shipping).

A few days later, a friend e-mailed me. “Hey, look at Woot,” he said. I did. There was my mower. I was a little annoyed, but it was only a $20 savings, so I didn’t sweat it too much.

Until I looked again and realized that, oops: it was a $120 less than I had paid for the exact same mower just days before. On a $375 mower, that’s a big deal.

I tried to figure my next course of action, because I can’t leave something like that be. I’ve gotta do something. I thought: well, it’s a one-year trial. I can use the mower until the next one comes up on Woot, then I’ll return mine to Neuton and order a new one. A pain, but the effort would be worth it.

First, though, I decided to drop a nice note to Neuton. Not specifically asking them for anything, but using my dad’s tried and true technique of asking “Can you help me out?” The following day, they wrote back and told me they’d refunded $120 to my credit card. No further questions asked.

So now, I have my mower, I got a good price, and I didn’t have to do any crazy returning and re-buying. Neuton, that is how you do business. And I thank you.

Posted in Consumer Commentary