wrote in message
...
..

I ended up calling Home Depot back and told them I wanted to exchange
it for another one - that I didn't want to take a chance on a machine
that hasn't worked from minute one.

I'm still waiting to hear back from them.



While it is too late now, you should have went to a John Deere dealer to get
one. They do their own servicing and you do not have to fight with them.
You may ask for your money back and then go to a Deere dealer.

About 4 years ago I bought one and had it delivered. About a week later I
decided to mow the grass and my mower ran for about 100 feet and would stop.
It would start back up and die about another 100 feet later. I stopped in
the Deere place and asked about it as if I might be doing something wrong.
They could not tell me anything, but came out and picked it up. It was a
week before I could get off work and meet them at home, they brought it back
and said they replaced the seat. Sofar , no problems with it for 4 years.