The Toro Company Recalls LawnBoy Mowers – a Case of Customer Complaint Resolution

Author: Roman Nowacki, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, October 2007

This case describes a customer complaint resolution by the Toro Company (TORO). It describes a case in which TORO did not accept a recall of one of its lawnmowers, and then did nothing to compensate for losses a customer encountered as a direct consequence of TORO’s refusal to honor the recall. It contains questions that students will be asked to discuss in class, or in their working groups.

1. The Toro Company

TORO headquartered in Bloomington, MN, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of turf maintenance equipment and services. It operates in two segments, Professional and Residential. The Residential segment offers: walk power mower products; riding products that comprise of rear engine riding mowers and tractors, lawn tractor models, and garden tractor models; and electric and battery operated flexible line grass trimmers; electric blowers; electric blower-vacuums; and electric snow throwers.

2. Product Recalls

TORO power products are known to cause many injures to their owners. Consequently TORO was forced to recall a number of its products that could cause serious injuries. Below are examples of just few recalls:

The Toro Company Recalls Electric Blowers Due to Projectile Hazards, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Release #07-253 7/26/2007
The Toro Company Expands Recall of Snowthrowers Posing Fire Hazard, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Release #06-224 8/3/2006
CPSC, The Toro Company Announce Recall of Snowthrowers, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Release # 03-102 3/27/2003
CPSC, The Toro Company Announce Recall of Riding Mowers, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Release # 02-125 3/21/2002
CPSC, The Toro Company Announce Recall of Riding Mowers, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Alert #01-526 7/20/2001

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) web site contains many reports on TORO product recalls (see TORO recalls). The TORO web site provides also a list of product recalls, however for unknown reason the list contains only 6 positions (http://www.toro.com/safety/recall.cgi).

3. A Case of One Recall

On 1/7/1999 CPSC issued a Release # 99-045 titled “CPSC, Toro Co. Announce Recall of Lawn-Boy Power Mowers”. The release reported a consumer struck on the ankle by a piece of a broken mower blade while mowing. The report said:

“Consumers should stop using these recalled mowers immediately. The company is mailing consumers free repair kits which include a new mower blade and modified mulching fan. Consumers can have the repair performed for free at a local Lawn-Boy service dealer after receiving the repair kit.”

Three months later CPSC issued a Release # 99-103 titled “CPSC, Toro Co. Remind Consumers of Lawn-Boy Power Mower Recall”. This was an unprecedented move as CPSC rarely issues a reminder to its recalls.

In August 2007 a customer (CUSTOMER) found out that he owns the lawnmower above mentioned. He immediately called TORO Customer Support Hot Line asking for the repair kit specified in the recall. The TORO customer support agent told the CUSTOMER (case 1285197) that there was no recall, the mower was safe, and that the customer could use it.

Following the conversation with TORO the CUSTOMER called the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The CPSC confirmed the recall, entered an incident report, and instructed the CUSTOMER to file a separate report with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

4. Should the Customer Use a Recalled Product?

After reading carefully the recall notice, talking to the CPSC agent, and taking into account the age of the mower (about 10 years) the CUSTOMER decided to follow CPSC instructions and stopped using the mower immediately. Being a homeowner, and needing to mow grass in the yard, the CUSTOMER went to Home Depot and bought another TORO lawn mower for which he paid $399.

Then he filed a report with the BBB to seek a remedy. He wanted TORO to inform TORO service department of the recall and to be reimbursed for the expenses of buying a new lawn mower.

Questions:
1) What would you do if you were a customer?
2) Would you use the old mower or would you buy a new one?
3) If you bought a new one, what would you expect TORO provide as a remedy?

5. BBB Case and TORO Responses

The CUSTOMER had high expectations that the case could be resolved fast. A reply came from TORO’s manager who signed his letter as “Kevin N." The letter said that TORO was sorry for the inconvenience, and asked to provide a copy of the repair ticket for a reimbursement. The TORO response did not address the BBB complain. The complaint clearly stated that, because TORO refused to honor the recall, the CUSTOMER decided to buy a new mower instead of repairing the old one.

Question:
1) If you were a customer, would you repair the 10 year old mower ( estimated cost for repair $120), or buy a newer model (cost $399)?

The CUSTOMER responded that the TORO remedy did not address the fact that the CUSTOMER bought another mower. The remedy would leave the CUSTOMER with a financial loss that was caused not by him, but by TORO.

TORO responded with the following letter:

“We acknowledge your consumer rebuttal regarding your Lawn-Boy mower, model 10313, serial number 7901486 and The Toro Company's alleged refusal to honor the recall. We have reviewed the situation with our legal counsel. The offer in our letter to you dated August 29, 2007 to reimburse you for the costs you incurred to repair your mower provided you give us a copy of a valid repair ticket will remain open for ten days from the date of this letter. After that time, the offer will be withdrawn and your file will be closed. “

Questions:

1) Do you think that the response was appropriate?

2) Would you, as a customer support person dealing with a recall, give a customer a 10 day ultimatum and threaten to close the case?

Following TORO's letter the CUSTOMER responded that he wanted a remedy that would address his financial losses and offered the following solutions:

Solution 1: TORO will send the CUSTOMER a repair kit, so the CUSTOMER can repair the old mower, and TORO will buy-back the mower the CUSTOMER had to buy, reimbursing the CUSTOMER for the expense.
Solution 2: TORO will refund a substantial portion of the replacement mower (50% or more), and the old mower will be junked.

Questions:
1) What would you do as a customer?

2) Would you repair the old mower and own 2 mowers as implied by TORO?

3) Would you give up? Would you continue the BBB case? If yes, what would be your course of action?

6. A Final Resolution

In response TORO sent a repair kit, but did not address the buy-back or reimbursement issue. TORO said that the current blue book value of a 10 year mower was $25 and the refund of a new mower is up to the retailer of the mower. The CUSTOMER did not accept this as a solution. The TORO informed BBB that they would close the case without resolution. BBB closed the case and sent the following letter to the CUSTOMER:

“We have received another response from the company…We understand that you will not be happy with the response as it does not agree to resolve the complaint as you requested. However, the BBB has determined that the company is firm in its position. … The BBB depends on companies to voluntarily resolve complaints and does not have the power to enforce any action. If you want to further pursue this complaint, you may want to consider Small Claims Court. We will close your complaint and keep it in the company’s permanent file.”

Questions:

1) Do you think that TORO correctly addressed the issue?

2) What would you do as a customer at this point? Would you go to Small Claims Court?

3) Would you forget about this case and continue buying TORO products (to remind you the CUSTOMER bought another TORO)

7. Closing Words

This is not the only case filed against TORO at BBB. The BBB processed a total of 40 complaints about TORO in the last 36 months. 17 of these were closed in the past year (cases filed against TORO at BBB). In addition many cases were filed in different US courts, although TORO settles many cases even before lawyers were involved.

The author sent a letter to TORO for their comments on this recall issue. So far there has been no response from TORO.

References:

http://www.primevote.com/toro-recalls.htm

http://www.toro.com/safety/recall.cgi

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml99/99045.html

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml99/99103.html

http://www.mnd.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=9565