AVOID, DISHONEST, HEAVILY FOCUSED ON SELLING THAN REPAIRING
MUST READ !!!! AVOIDDDD !!!! DISHONEST.
Epping / Northweald Branch.
Took my Countax C600 ride on lawnmower in with a simple fault – belt kept coming off, blade not rotating. Instead of diagnosing the actual problem, I was immediately hit with a quote of £1,000–£1,500 with no real breakdown and a push to part-exchange my mower for a new one from their showroom. They offered £100 for a machine that sells for £800–£1,200 on eBay.
When I pushed back and asked them to just fix the original fault, suddenly "all 6 bearings have gone." Here's the problem with that – you cannot assess individual bearings without removing the cutting deck and spinning each one by hand. They hadn't done that. They also couldn't tell me the belt condition without stripping the deck, yet somehow had a full diagnosis ready. The numbers don't add up.
The pattern here is clear: they're not interested in isolating and fixing your fault. They want to convince you your machine is beyond economic repair, offer you a fraction of its value in part exchange, then sell you something new from their stock. What happens to your old mower? My guess is it gets repaired cheaply and resold at a healthy margin.