Magnottis Small Engine Service

Mr Bob Magnotti is a VERY unstable man that can not remember what he says and if you question anything about his service or billing absolutely looses his mind and explodes on you. VERY POOR conduct for an individual and a business owner!

He worked on a tiller for me and it ran worse when I picked it up and tried to use it then it did when I took it there for a tune up.

He was unwilling to honor his warranty and said I had put bad gas in it! How did he check it when it was the same gas?

I dropped off my Great Dane mower to have a used PTO put on it. It sit out back for almost 2 weeks before I called and told them I had to have it.

I went by that same day to find Bob Magnotti was not there and his young kid had it in the parking lot with wires off it, switches disconnected, etc. It take 5 minutes to remove the 1 bolt and the 1 plug that hold the PTO on yet it had not even been touched. Bob knew it had a broken belt also that I showed to him the day I dropped it off yet it had not been ordered (from the local Gravely store then marked up!) After standing there for over an hour I finally got fed up and left. It took them over 2 more weeks before I stopped by to find it was done.

He charged me $150 for a rusted up old PTO and told me how much of a "favor" he did me by not buying new, he charged me for a starter string (which I put a new one on the same week I dropped it off) $126 in labor (remember a 5 minute job) and then when I picked it up it would not hardly run! He said that was " MY problem" that he didn't do anything to the engine (BUT on my bill it says engine tune up service completed!) both front tires were flat and 1 will not hold any air but they were both fine and are less than a month old so what did he do to them? He then got violent and charged at me and cursed me in the parking lot to the point where his employee had to grab him and try to restrain him! What a CROOK!

He also only accepts cash and keeps your equipment locked up so you are at his mercy! DO NOT GO HERE!!!

I just picked up my mower today that was in there to get a PTO put on it he told me it would be half the cost of the PTO and 30 minutes to install it. When I got there he charge me $150 for a used PTO that you can buy for 260 new.He said there was no warranty one tire on my mower was low the other was completely flat which they were not when I got there, it was there for almost a month and he never called me even though he said on my bill it was noted on that that he did but it was not noted on the bill the engine would not hardly run and he said that was not his fault it wasn't brought in there for an engine work even though on my bill it clearly states of *** he charge me $327 for 30 minutes worth of work and a $50 PTO. What a crook don't go here!

In May, my MTD Yard Machine wouldn't start. I had a good battery, I had just taken the machine out of winterization and needed to get started mowing the grass.

I traced it to the fuel pump, which I bought and replaced myself. Still wouldn't start, unless you used ether spray - then it only ran til it burned out the ether. So I called Magnotti's about picking up the machine for me, since my pickup truck needed a starter (so I couldn't take it there myself). I had told Bob Magnotti that with the help of my landlord (who is a "mechanical" person, being a truck driver) we had traced it to the carb.

I also had 2 tires go down over the winter, which I did tell Bob about. We set up a time and date when he said he could send someone to pick up my lawn tractor. The day came, I came home from work, and my machine is sitting out from under the carport, where the person had pushed it and left it. He had also left the wingnuts (from the air filter cover) off and laying on the seat.

I called Bob about it and he said the guy shouldn't have done that and he'd talk to him. He said that the guy couldn't get my machine started and couldn't get it loaded. HUH? I TOLD Bob that it wouldn't start, and the problem was traced to the carb!

So the kid came back out the next day (I was off that day) and it ws two kids and an old pickup with a pair of ramps. I ended up helping them push the lawn tractor up the ramps - AND I AM A 66 YR OLD WOMAN. Then just over 3 weeks later, they call and tell me that the problem is the carb (oh, duh) and it's about $150. Well, okay.

A few days later they call and say it's ready. I asked "how much" and the bill was nearly $450 !!! I asked why so much?? he said that it was "pickup and delivery", a new battery, new carb, fuel filter, purge fuel line, new spark plug.

Now, here's the thing - THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE BATTERY IN THE MACHINE. NO ONE - and I mean NO ONE - told me that they were going to replace the battery. Also, it was $15 to use tire-slime on the tires - OH? NO ONE told me they were going to do that!

So here I am stuck with this huge bill and there's things in it that I was NOT informed ahead of time that they were going to do or install. The only thing they said was "it needs a carburetor". That was it. I can understand purging the fuel line - turns out that the gas I'd just bought and put in the tank had water in it.

They showed me the carb and it looked pretty bad. But to NOT tell me that it needed a battery and NOT tell me that instead of just inflating the tires, they slimed them - that is POOR service. Do they think they can just inflate their bills because I'm an elderly woman? My next step is to report this to the local BBB office, and after that report it to the VA Attorney General's office or the consumer affairs office.

OH and before I forget - I had told Bob Magnotti that I only needed them to pick it up - my truck would be back on he road before they would have my mower finished, so I'd be able to pick it up myself. Which I did.

The only thing he did was to take $25 off the bill. DO NOT GO TO MAGNOTTI'S SMALL ENGINE REPAIR IN ROANOKE, VA which is near Bonsack WalMart on the opposite side of Highway 460.