Remington PowerMower

Please God stop recommending this dangerous piece of junk (the Remmington PowerMower). After seeing it profiled in the magazine originally several months ago, I bought one. Poor workmanship, cheap materials, incomplete and astoundingly bad (even literally dangerous) construction and design.

1. The front axle COMES OFF COMPLETELY under normal, even gingerly use WHILE YOU ARE USING IT. In my case it was also missing the cotter pin that holds it to the wheel height adjustment mechanism so it really came off repeatedly all the way.

2. The charging plug is loose and arcs every single time it is plugged in. More than once it tripped my circuit breaker.

3. The circular charge selector switch will not stay on the selected setting (clicks off by itself, so it stops charging, you have to tape it in place so it will charge) and spins freely 360 degrees (it's not supposed to).

4. Even when the plastic key is not inserted all the way (it pops up when you let go of the handle which is supposed to keep it from starting), the handle still starts the motor, an unpleasant surprise if you lift the mower to look or clean underneath and the handle gets depressed in the process (yes, this happened to me).

5. The entire body is made of cheap plastic. This thing wouldn't survive my 2-year old pushing it around the yard much less the normal wear and tear of even gingerly use on a small yard.

6. After all the problems, I had them replace the unit once (I thought it was a neat idea and hoped I had received a fluke of a bad unit). And when that one had all the same problems and more (the entire motor housing itself shattered when the blade encountered a small stick while mowing-seriously), I returned it for refund. My refund took 8 months, several emails and calls, and I had the pleasure of paying $60.00 to ship it back to them. All in all I spent about $120 and huge amounts of frustration for the 'pleasure' of this experience.

7. I thought I was alone until I hit amazon.com reviews and found scores of people saying all the same things I was and worse about this horrible product. You should drop your association with this product immediately to save your reputation.

I will never buy another product from Remmington and I'll be extremely wary of taking your advice from now on.
Oh, I now own the black and decker rechargeable. Heavier and not as slick, but I don't feel like I'm taking my life in my hands when I mow the yard now.

Apparently Remmington reads these comment boards. Through PopSci they contacted me to ask if they could send me a 'new and improved' version of this mower to review as my experiences 'do not reflect the current product.' This is unexpected but everyone deserves a second chance, so I responded that I would be happy to.

I'm standing by to hear back. For what it's worth, reserve your judgement along with me till we see if the new version is the real deal. If it's good to go I'll happily say so. If not, well, I'll be very descriptive.

Dear Popular Science Readers,

Thank you very much for your feedback.

The goal at Remington is 100% customer satisfaction. We have a very loyal following and do everything in our power to reward that loyalty with innovative and exceptional power tools. For those individuals who have encountered issues with the PowerMower, we greatly apologize and will make amends.

Overall, our customers have been extremely pleased with the PowerMower. We have received a limited number of complaints in relation to issues with the unit, most of which are a result of improper shipping. We have worked hard to improve the mower and its shipping and delivery process to ensure that our customers receive quality products. We regret any inconvenience that our customers may have experienced and are always working to improve our products and the overall customer experience.

While it is our intention to ensure every customer is pleased with their purchase, we certainly understand that occasionally issues will arise. When they do, we want to make sure and understand our customers concerns, so we can address them and improve moving forward.

It is our belief that in order to be successful, we must listen to our customers, understand their needs and ultimately develop products based on those needs. I hope our response is evident enough that we are listening and constantly working to improve every product we produce. In addition to improving our shipping standards, we have also made many improvements to the mower in response to customer feedback.

If you are currently dissatisfied with your PowerMower, we encourage you to contact us immediately. We value our customers and want to make good on our promise to provide quality lawn and gardening equipment. For more information, please contact Remington Power Tools at (800) 626-2237 or visit our web site, www.remingtonpowertools.com.

Sincerely,
Alex Wrinkles
Marketing Communication Manager
Remington Power Tools

Mower arrived Nov 25 (Wed). I'll take a look this weekend and see what we have.

Accidentally sent the previous model without some of the improvements. What I see that has changed on the one that arrived looks good though (significant electrical improvements). Actual current model shipping in a couple of weeks. Details when that unit arrives.

Shipping delay. ETA is now roughly mid-January.

I can't imagine anyone is still bothering to read these comments but I figured I would close the book.

And in the end (since it's March and I haven't heard a thing despite emailing again), I'm left with a non-functional and still dangerous, uh, "mower" in my carport (I have to use quotes because it's never actually cut a blade of grass yet, so who knows, maybe it's an outdoor blender, or a poorly designed ceiling fan?).

I hope you all fare better than I did if you take a chance on this product. For all the sound, fury, and concern expressed by customer support, I ended up no better off than I was to start with. If I had waited for this to be resolved before getting another mower I would be neck deep in grass by now.

Fortunately, as mentioned, I got the B & D cordless, which continues to do extremely well. Maybe I can take the battery out of the Remington, make that front cavity into a planter, and rig a grow light to the battery contacts, then submit it to the 'you built what?' section of PopSci.

Or maybe I can replace the blades with a floor buffer and get all our hardwood floors shined up. Wait, no, the wheels would still fall off. So many possibilities...