customer diservice/ generator question
#11
Let me preface this by saying mostly I'm just looking to vent, but I'm interested in your collective opinions.
Last November I bought a well used Honda generator from a private seller. I tested the generator and all worked well on 110, but as soon as it was switched to 220, the motor would stall, even under no load, just flipping the switch killed the engine. The seller made me aware of this when I bought it, but the price was right  ($300) and frankly I anticipated almost all of my need to be 110v anyway. So I load the machine and drive around with it for a day, because it's really heavy and I was waiting to sucker someone into helping me unload it.
Then I think, why not take it to a repair place to have it looked at and at least see what's going on with the 220 circuit - and here is where things begin to get ugly. I take it to a little tiny local shop. A place that specializes in electric motor repair and where I've done business several times over the years. We unload the thing and I'm chatting with the owner/operator about the work. He says it'll probably be a week or two and I joke that I'm not in a hurry unless my power goes out and picking it up after Christmas is fine.
Fast forward to now. In the ensuing months I've been in to check on the progress several times. The first excuse is they have it disassembled and they are waiting for a schematic to be able to complete the work (which seems ridicules in the age of the internet, but ok). Then I'm told they were backed up with work and have farmed out the generator repair to someone else. My last visit (yesterday), they say their repair guy says the generator is kaput and can't be repaired. I ask how it is that it worked fine on 110 when I brought it to them and the guy sort of scratches his head and says 'yeah, that's right I'll have to ask our guy about that". 
I'm really not sure where to go from here. They were supposed to have called me today but of course that didn't happen. What do ya'll think?   I told the owner I at least want my generator back in the condition it was in when I left it, but as a practical matter, I'm not sure I have any real recourse. Maybe small claims court, but honestly I think my time and aggravation are worth more than my initial investment.
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#12
Go there when they open and stay there. Stay all day if you have to and get some answers.
Steve

Missouri






 
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020








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#13
Incompetence abounds.

Get it back, join a generator forum, and seek assistance?
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#14
I would go back when I had some time and wait for the generator to show up and call the PD when it doesn't.  You have a value for the machine if he hands you $300 take it and run
Phydeaux said "Loving your enemy and doing good for those that hurt you does not preclude killing them if they make that necessary."


Phil Thien

women have trouble understanding Trump's MAGA theme because they had so little involvement in making America great the first time around.

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#15
(03-29-2018, 09:47 PM)ed kerns Wrote: ...I take it to a little tiny local shop. A place that specializes in electric motor repair and where I've done business several times over the years. ...  Then I'm told they were backed up with work and have farmed out the generator repair to someone else....

You asked for thoughts, so...

It would not have occurred to me to take a gasoline-powered generator to an electric motor repair shop in the first place, even if I had taken business there before.  Certain electrical principles apply, but the symptoms you presented would lead me to first for a grounding issue that interfered with the gas motor; perhaps the symptom is a lot more complex than written in the post, and I'm no generator expert.  I wouldn't be likely to repair a generator unit myself, but I sure wouldn't have taken it to an electric motor repair shop.

Sucks to lose a piece of equipment like this.
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#16
Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I'm going to wait until after the Easter holiday and pay them another visit. I should add that this was the place recommended by two of the other repair places I went to when trying to get the generator repaired. I understand that there are two distinct operations here with a gas engine powering the generator side, but I live in a fairly small town and no one that I'm aware of specifically advertises generator repair. I checked a Honda retailer and was told they send the repair work out 'depending on what's the matter with them'.
I'd be ok, if they had called me up after a reasonable period of time and simply said 'we can't fix it' , but 4 months and virtually the only contact has been when I physically went to their shop...
I'm of two thoughts; Life is short and $300 isn't going to make me or break me, so who needs the drama? and The principal of this thing really pisses me off.
Sarcasm.
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#17
Fair enough.  More information always illuminates the situation.

To be sure, the electric motor shop guy should stand up to seeing that the generator comes back as it was, or find some reasonable accommodation acceptable to you.  It was entrusted to him, regardless of him subbing the work out.

Yes, life is short, and it might not be worth it.
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#18
I would ask for the generator back in the same condition you gave it to him, or $300, what you paid for it.  If he can't do the first and won't do the second then you can decide if taking him to small claims court, and/or threatening him with bad press on social media, is worth the effort.  I hope you have a receipt of having left the generator with him.  Otherwise, you can't even prove you gave it to him.  

John
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#19
(03-30-2018, 02:33 PM)thooks Wrote: I would tell them to get it back in the condition I brought it to them in and ask how much the diagnostic fee is.  Get your wallet out (and have $200 in cash waiting to pay) like you are ready to pay.

When they tell you it is $50, 75, 100... Ask when it will be loaded on your truck.

Get it back, pay them only after feeling like you have to then call an authorized Honda Power Equipment dealer and ask them when you can bring it in.

https://powerequipment.honda.com/dealer-locator

When you get it back, check the wiring on the switch.  The most likely issue.  Or the switch itself.     Roly
[Image: DPDT-Selector.jpg]
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#20
I find it odd you too it to an electric motor shop instead of a small-engine place. Nearly all of the small-engine places here would be able to diagnose a generator and at least tell you what was wrong.
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