Canadian Tire review: it simply does not cut the grass properly! 89

From batterybuyers.com (Canadian site) you need qty 2 at $58.19 each of:
The ABS12-18 is designed to replace these capacities of battery 12V 18AH; 12V20AH

Chemistry Sealed Lead Acid
Voltage 12
Capacity 18
Warranty 1 Year
Model Number ABS12-18
Manufacturer ABS
Connector Bolt Through
Length in mm 181
Width in mm 75
Height in mm 167
Length in Inches 7 1/8
Width in Inches 3
Height in Inches 6 4/7
Color Black
Weight 5.44

[protected] Yardworks Canada

We also bought a Yardworks cordless mower in the summer of 2007, and this summer the batter would not hold a charge. Went to Canadian Tire and were told the warranty was only one year. Called Yardworks with no kind of response or action whatsoever, and also spoke with Sunrise with even worse results.

Have decided to now write a letter to the President of Canadian Tire, the manager of the store in Edmonton where we purchased the mower, and Yardworks as well.

Don't really imagine any good will come of it, but never purchase a Yardworks product and don't shop at Canadian Tire either. Surprising things like this happen, but we've just lost $300 with only six months of use. Craziness, and curses to all those companies.

I bought the YARDWORKS battery mower from Canadian Tire two years ago. Cost was close to $400. I was disappointed right from the start. Most of the cut grass ended up spewing out the underside of the mower, little of it went into the rear bag.

I have three lawns to cut, nothing overly ambitious. Should take me no longer than 3/4 of an hour with a regular mower. If I run, I can just about make it in 30 minutes, which is when the battery runs out (it starts running slower after about 20 minutes.)

It then takes 17 HOURS to recharge! Ridiculous, but you don't find this out until you purchase it and read the literature. You're also supposed to disconnect the battery - good luck unscrewing a dozen counter-sunk screws (now completely unreachable beneath compacted grass cuttings) and removing the housing every time you plug in the charging unit.

Today, it refused to hold a charge at all. It's at the very start of its third year. I've used it for two season - two summers. That's it. Maybe twenty times. It's cost me twenty bucks each time I've mowed my lawn.

Would I buy another one? I'd rather slice off my thumbs than get ripped off by those crooks again. As for Canadian Tire - why are they still dealing with this company?

As consumers, we get to vote with our wallets. Here's my vote - if Canadian Tire don't stop selling YARDWORKS, I'll stop shopping Canadian Tire.

Mike Harrison.
Okotoks.
Canada.

This is a case of “BUYER BEWARE” at Canadian Tire (Calgary Store #419, 64th Ave & Deerfoot Trail N.E, Calgary, Alberta).

Here’s my little story:

Bought a cordless mower one year ago, the battery dead just few days before the warranty expires, I think I was lucky.

Then the trouble starts, first I took the battery to the return desk, two ladies ask me to bring the whole mower so that they can replace a new one for me. (sounds too good to be true for Canadian tire.), I believed them.

the whole stupidly heavy mower was taken to their store today, the new face behind the return desk asks me why bother to take the whole machine here? she was trying to kick me back to the factories, I explained to her, but then she told me there was no battery and this type of machines in the stock right now, and I have to take the mower to the other store to try.

I'm getting confused and feel like a fool, this yardwork mower is used only 4-5 times, and where am I suppose to take it now? so I asked her to call the manager who's named James, that so called manager has the worst attitude I've seen in Canada, first he told me I must have void the warranty by store the battery outdoor, I swear in Jesus name that I keep the battery in my basement all the time cause my charging station was there. and I'm that type of guy who always read the users manual. When I'm trying to speak something, he start yelling..." do you want me to help you or not?, will you let me finish?" I realized that I have no more things can talk with this guy. Then I ask him who's the higher manager, he points back to himself and told me he's the one...Great way to go! Canadian tire!

in the end, he told me he knows some magic, and he can get one new battery for me if I want, (now you want me to believe a new battery is in stock now?), I asked him is there any warranty for that "new battery", he says no! I might be stupid once, but not twice in two days!...I spent 30 mins yesterday, and more than one hour there today for a $230 dollar crap!

anyway, I will never buy anything from that 64 ave store, Just a simple battery swap within warranty has already made me looks like a scam customer. Bye Canadian Scam Tire!

Yardworks [protected]

Disgusting. I have the same problem with the battery not holding the charge. I called again and again and finally was told that -- even throughout the winter! -- one must charge the battery... otherwise, it will die. So, I ended up having to buy a new battery for $132 and dumping the "old" one. So much for saving the environment! I will never, ever buy Lawnworks again.

Reading all this made me realize I'm not alone. Left alone by Sunrise who imports this lawnmower for Yardworks and Canadian Tire, but happy to realize that I have done what was necessary without the results promised by the company. So much for the environment. I guess I will return to my old handy Gardena motorless landmower. I too spent around 250$ two years and a half ago. I feel like being robbed by people who know they sell a product that will not last more than one year. I agree the first year was great, I was very satisfied with my choice then I had to open the casing to check the wiring, I thought the problem was the charging unit, they sent me a new one, I also mowed the rear rubber flap, they send me a new one. Then this problem with holding the charge and intermittent charging. I was more in contact with them those last two years then I have been with my old beloved father. It is definitely bad designed. I feel like I'm losing more than 250$, I loosing confidence, hope in a better world, cleaner, efficient, reliable. I will keep my distance from them in the future.

I own a cordless YardWorks Mower and had it for one year. I stored it for the winter with the battery charged fully.
The following summer the battery wouldn't charge what if anything can be done.
I won the lawn mower at the Bank so where do I get help to have it repaired?

Sure we have customer satisfaction codes for SOME instances.. However we eat the cost and lose out on alot of the cost for the product so it's used in RARE occasions.

Wow I would have charged you with vandalism.

I know totally how crappy the service is at "crappy tire" or Walmart in fact, I wish terrible luck on these two companies... I used to be an employee of Canadain tire, had me on for 50 to 65 hours a week and that was considered part time...this was before Magintee came in to become the Premier of Ontario and restructured the hourly wages for what is considered part time and full time and the hourly wage for both of them.

Last time I went into Canadian tire, I was going to buy a 250 dollar electric razer, behind one of the stupid glass windows all locked up, . so I asked a zit faced teenager to open it, then he "paged" someone, then took off...I waited for about 5 minutes.. got frusterated then ripped the sighn off that said, "a Store representive would be pleased to open the conatiner for you" they dont need that sign on that...lol

way to go Canadian Tire, you suck as a store and employment standards

The policy is that you DONT need id IFyou have all of that.
I worked there for years, whoever said he did is some dumb [I cannot control my vocabulary]

The more I read these forums the more that I hate this place more and more and more and more...

In all my years shopping at Canadian Tire, the service has been dreadful. Trying to find anyone to help you can take forever, and finding someone who actually knows anything about the products is nearly impossible.

Recently I spent nearly an hour trying to locate an employee and find out the price of an item. All two employees I managed to find promised to check the price, then scuttled off, not to be seen again. I finally left, empty-handed. This is not an unusual occurance. If it weren't for the 1/2 price sales, I would never shop there.

Canadian tire has a customer satisfaction code they can use to override things like this. remember that its not canadian tire as a whole that is terrible, but the individual staff. some staff great, some very terrible. Ive had different experiences at different canadian tires, and have been pulled in both directions between extremely poor service and wonderful service.

Just received a Yardworks wireless lawnmower, the [protected] model. Unfortunately, there was no user guide with it. Has anyone know where I could get an electronic copy of that guide?

It would be much apreciated to have a diagram to show step by step the storage procedure and also the one concerning the charging process of the batery.

Thank you in advance for your help.

I am experiencing the same charging problem with my [protected] model. Bought it in July/07 and never noticed the battery only has a 1 year warranty. Has anyone heard that some of the manuals indicated a two year warranty? The company that does the service work made a statement that there was a misprint in some manuals. If you have one of these please post it to the web and give us a link as I would love to get a new battery under warranty. My fault though for not taking it in earlier this year.

Boy, the first season I bought and used this mower I thought it was a dream...I could start it with my pinky finger and it was so quiet and easy to push that I could nurse my newborn in one arm while I mowed with the other (this is the 3-in-one [protected], bought in 2006). We mulched our autumn leaf-fall instead of bagging and hauling. But ours is the will-hold-no-charge story as well. I mean, not enough to cut a 6-foot square. I just got on the internet to look up a manual, and found this site (no manual yet)! Our in-town grass has been long all summer . This may be completely whacked, but has anyone tried using the mower with the charger plugged in? I'm getting desperate enough to try it soon.

I have a Yardworks [protected] rechargeable lawnmower.I bought it in spring of 2007.It worked fine for about 3 months, then started to lose its charge partway through cutting the front yard, round about end of August.It never again seemed to hold a full charge long enough to cut the front and back yards in one go.The front yard is about 130 sq.yards, or a cutting time of about 20 minutes, and the back about 500 sq.yards, or a cutting time of about 40 minutes.I ended up having to recharge halfway through the cutting, and even then, sometimes it would start to die towards the end of about 20 minutes useage.
Unfortunately I cannot find the receipt, but managed to exchange the battery pack this summer, at Canadian Tire.
However, it is not any better, and actually seems worse than the original one.I can now, barely get half of the front yard cut before it dies - as is the case right now, a Saturday.I am fed up with this mower.I called the Yardworks' customer service call center, only to be informed via a recorded message, that the call center is CLOSED on weekends - now that's really good customer isn't it? The call center number in the manual is [protected].It's a call center for Canadian Tire, Rona and other retail stores.But be advised, they are NOT open for business on the weekends.You must call Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm.
This machine is warranted for 2 years, but I do not hold out any hope of getting a battery that will actually work and hold its charge, nor do I see a refund in the future.
I, too, will now have to shell out another 300 bucks to buy a gas mower, one that actually cuts the lawn.You can bet it won't be a Yardworks mower - now or in the future.I will never buy another Yardworks product, nor will I recommend that brand.Two chances is one too many in my books.

It took a few days to get this lawnmower fully charged. The first cut went well, I cut both my front and back yard. Then I could not get the battery to charge at all, and it turned red hot, the only way we could pick it up was with oven mitts. So its been sent to the repair shop, when I'm sure all I need is a new battery. After reading other peoples review, I'm sure once I get it back I will be going through the same problems. I wish I hadn't bought this and I wish I had waited a few more years untill all the bugs are worked out of these cordless lawn mowers. I feel like I flushed $300 down the toilet I've phoned Canadian Tire three times trying to get an update on the 'repair', told we would get a return phone call, but still haven't been phoned back. I am getting angry.

I also bought a $300 dollars Yardworks lawnmower at canadian tire and the experience the same problem with the battery. Does not hold the charge and I only use it once. Because I move to a new house I didn't use it until the the following year to find out that there is something wrong with the battery. The manufacturer gives you two years warranty but because I cannot find my bill they cannot do anything about it. This is what canadian tire told me. Very disappointing. If anyone have any ideas what to do please let me know.

RE: THE INVISIBLE COMPANY: Mr. Kuntze made the statement that "the Yardworks company seems to like being invisible". If you do a little digging you will discover that in the Trade Marks Journal of the Government of Canada, volume 47, number 2401 dated November 1st, 2000, the trade-mark "Yardworks Canada" was registered (registration number 873, 954) to the Canadian Tire Corporation Limited, 2180 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2V8. Interestingly enough, the trademark application was made on April 1, 1998. April Fool's, anyone?

I bought the same 20" mower [protected]) on July 19th (one week ago), one day after the sale ended so I paid full price for it. Worked OK on Monday evening. Started to use it today, took my hands of the switch (which supposedly kills it) AND IT KEPT GOING. The only way to stop it was to pull the battery. Now I find out from Jeff that it has been recalled. It's going back this week. Meanwhile I have filed a complaint with CSA, although if it has already been recalled my complaint is basically pointless.

Bought the 24v 20" 3in1 1 week ago, Charged it overnight and cut the grass worked great, Tried to cut grass this week and it died in 5 mins (had been on the charger since last week) Though I must not have had the charger plugged in all the way.

Tried to charge it again (24 hrs), red light on charger never went to green, mower got hot when I took it off charge gauge still said dead.

Returned this POS, noticed that the space on the shelf said the mower had been recalled. I think I will stick with corded and go back to Black & Decker

Just to update, Yardworks sent me a new starter for the lawn mower. It finally works, good as new. Until next season.

We bought the Yardworks cordless model [protected] in September of 2006. I loved it the first year, but when I used it this year, the battery wouldn't hold a charge. The last time I mowed, it would only do 2 strips on the lawn. I called the 1-877 number, and they are sending me a new battery with no quibbling. In the meantime, I've bought an electric mower. I might try to talk to the Canadian Tire Manager about getting a refund, having seen all the problems with them.

Tim, I was in the same boat as you. I purchased a Yardworks cordless battery mower, [protected], in May 2007. It worked great all last summer (not that I had to mow much thanks to the never-ending heatwave). I charged it every two weeks during the winter, in my basement. When it was plugged in, it always said it was charged. I tried to use it the first time in May of this year, and it was completely dead. I bought a new battery from Canadian Tire, only to find out my charger didn't work. Returned the battery, called Yardworks and received a new charger. My old battery still didn't charge. I called Yardworks again, just got the new battery on Monday, charged it up, it seemed to hold the charge, tried to put it in my mower last night... Nothing. It still didn't work.

In the trouble shooting section of the manual, if the mower doesn't start, it says "Reset the circuit breaker following the instructions in the Making Adjustments section". Guess what, there is no Making Adjustments section in my manual. I took apart my mower last night and couldn't find anything that looked like a circuit breaker.

I'm about to call them again and am mentally preparing to be on hold for 25 mins. If anyone needs their number it's - [protected].

JUNK JUNK JUNK... thats what my cordless 24 volt lawnmower by YARDWORKS is all about! It worked great the first few times I used it. Then when I recharged it, it just will not hold the charge. What used to take 20 minutes to mow now takes close to an hour as you have to keep going over and over the same area to get the grass cut and even then its not cutting the grass more like ripping the grass.

I bought a Yardworks cordless battery operated mower [protected] in May of 2007. It worked great for me in year 1. I went to charge it this spring only to realize the charger did not work. I phoned the help line and they told me one would be delivered to me in 3-5 business days. After 4 follow up phone calls I finally received the part I needed 5 weeks later. Plugged the new working charger in only to find out the battery is now dead. Am currently 2 follow up phone calls and 2 weeks waiting for a new battery which is currently available to the above complaints. I have been told 3 times that these parts are on back order. I GUESS THIS MEANS THAT THEY CAN'T EVEN KEEP UP WITH THE AMOUNT OF COMPLAINTS AND FAULTY COMPONENTS THAT COME WITH THIS PRODUCT. I haven't been able to cut my grass this year due to the ineptness of this company. Luckily my neighbour has a Black & Decker cordless that he has never had a problem with. I will never deal or purchase a product from this company again.

Yardworks also makes products for Home Depot, Rona... so if you are buying from another store make sure you find out if Yardworks makes it or not.

YARDWORKS = bad products and bad customer service

I have a Yard Works weed trimmer I bought in Aug of 2003. Besides it being the worst trimmer to load new line into, the entire spool came flying off when I was using it last week! I am not impressed. The serial number is [protected], with a line diameter of .065". If you own this machine please wear long heavy pants (like jeans) when using it in case your spool comes flying off. Don't use it with others anywhere around it. My spool flew off about 2 meters out. I will be reporting this safety defect to Canadian Tire. Like Joe Wilson, I could not find a website. I checked my manual and there was no phone number or web site in it. Joe, I'd suggest you go to the Canadian Tire you purchased your product from, since this Yard Works company seems to like being invisible. Mr. Kyle, your language and attitude towards Ross Wakefield is very out of line! I for one, do not appreciate someone else being treated that way, especially on a public website. Everyone makes mistakes and when you make a similar one (and you will), I hope someone else does NOT treat you in the same way. Something to learn here maybe?

Could some one post the number for yard works, can find my manual and either my battery is dead or my charger will not work. I found it odd that i could not find a website for yard works either.

Bought 2 Yardworks 1/2" brass hose joiner kits from Can. Tire and found out after cutting the hose and inserting the 1/2" brass connector into the hose and trying to place the stainless steel clamp over the rubber hose it just wouldn't go. The clamps were also 1/2" and could not be placed over the hose as it was larger. The clamps should have been at least 3/4" diameter so it could easily fit over the hose and then be tightened as the instructions stated. What rocket scientist at YARDWORKS CANADA figured this one out. And to go back and wait in line to purchase the correct size clamps, forget it. Its bad enough that they have only 3 cash open when there are 50 people waiting in line to pay. I guess YARDWORKS and CANADIAN TIRE are one of the same. So, thats it, zero tolerence for stupidity. Hello RENO-DEPOT.

Ross Wakefield like so many other complete idiots cant read english. On the back of your recipt it would say that you need it for any and all returns, warranties, and inquiries. So go back to grade two you little whiny ### and learn to read.

Yardworks stuff is crap. Bought hose nozzel, first time we used it, the pivot broke; CTC refuses to warranty it without "proof of Purchase" - hell, they are the only ones to sell it, and it was on my CC, surely that's good enough - NOPE - has to be the printed receipt.
Yardworks will "wear" the nozzel & will never buy aything else of theirs.

Canadian Tire Gave us our money back today. We purchased a Yard Works [protected] in may 2006, 2 years ago. The mower would not hold a charge, when we looked at the battery it was easy to see the bagged out side of one of them. It was never frozen, and was stored in-doors for the winter, it was not able to mow thick grass at any time, and was like pushing a wheelchair through .sand while mowing, heavy . We used the mower aprox 30+ less than 45 times in total, It cost $340.00, about 8-11$ a mow.Our Canadian Tire called Yardworks and Yardworks Hung up on them. It was not a pretty scene at the store. However we printed these pages and stood our ground, and we did O.K. I liked no cord or gas, just wish it worked.

I have the Yardworks 14" battery mower and the battery lasted one season. I bought another battery and it too only lasted one season. Very very poor quality batteries. I really like the mower, but buying a new battery every year is ###ed. So, skip these lead-acid based units and get a Li-On.

I have had a Yardworks [protected] for a few years, maybe 4, I am not sure, since it was a Father's day gift.
Battery charging after the first year was a challenge as it barely lasted an hour.
This year the charging connection is intermittent but as other people have found out nobody at Yardworks returnes voicemail. I am hoping it lasts another year or so, but it owes me money. It never cut that well and the strength and staying power of the battery is very suspect.
I kept it charged all year in a semi heated garage and it gives me enough power to cut short to medium length grass for 3/4 of an hour.
Yardworks won't be on my list for a new mower or Canadian Tire for that matter after hearing these stories.

To clarify my previous comment, I got a new battery on warranty last year, so the battery that does not work now was new last year and has been properly serviced. Just an poorly engineered product.

I have a Yardworks mower. It worked great in year one and is a good choice for a small yard. However in year two it did not hold battery charge. As it works out you are supposed to charge the battery every month in the winter and keep it heated. I did this to the letter this winter and my mover is pretty mediocre after first use this year. I am going back to CT today, so here is hoping for good luck. I like the conept of the battery mower, but the yardworks battery is simply not adequate, even with proper care.

Update on my post 2 hours ago.
Thanks to the information I learned here, I felt better equipped to argue my case in regards to this situation.
When C.T. called me back, as I had already learned here, they said they were not able to replace my battery. They offered me a full credit towards the purchase of a new mower provided I had my receipt. Thank goodness I did. So, I hauled the mower to the store and paid $70 to get a new one. Yes, I did buy another Yardworks cordless. I'm thinking that perhaps they have improved it over the years. I am pleased with the end result. I am anxious to attack the weeds once the battery charges.
So I am still a Canadian Tire fan. Whether or not I am a Yardworks fan remains to be seen.