Barrett Shade

Dropped off my lawn mower because it wouldn’t start, he charged me $ 140 to do a tune up. Picked it up two weeks later, used it once and it began to leak oil. Next time I tried to start it, it wouldn’t start again. Called Mr. Barrett and explained the issue, he advised that unless I kept my receipt he would charge me again to look at it. He also accused me of using bad gas. I explained to him I only used it once, with the gas he supplied. He also got defensive when I told him about the oil leak. So instead I took it to Mike’s in Round Rock as Mr. Barrett is a crotchety old s***. Plus, Mike only charges $ 45 to do the same thing Mr. Barrett charges $ 140. Three days later Mike calls and advises that whoever changed the oil (Mr. Barrett), over filled the tank causing the engine to blow. The repairs are now over the cost of a new mower. Thanks Mr. Barrett, you stole my money, didn’t repair the mower, blew the engine, and now I get to buy a new mower. I will definitely be using Mike in Round Rock for any future small engine repairs. I saw a post saying Mr. Barrett stands behind his work, yea, far behind his work and you better keep that hand written receipt if you want him to fess up to his own screw ups.

Wow! This guy is so incredibly rude and nasty!
We took our lawn mower to him at the start of June. It wasn’t working, but he said for $ 134 he could get it running like new. A week later we picked it up. It appeared to be running well. Over the month we cut the lawn twice. The third time the mower died on us. We took it back to him. He claimed we put bad gas in it, but for another $ 50 he got it working just like a new again. We brought the mower home again and it ran for about 15 minutes and died. Again, we took it back to him and told him it was not working. He was not nice but said he would look at it again.
So, we went for the final time to pick up the lawn mower. When we arrived, my husband was in a hurry to get the lawn mower because we had hit terrible traffic on 620 and he was now late for work. Even though my husband was very nice, Mr. Barrett yelled at him and told him that he should of left 5 minutes earlier if he was in such a hurry and he doesn’t work that way. Since we had two cars, I told my husband to go and I would get the mower. I told Mr. Barrett that no one can predict traffic on 620 and that it was not nice to talk to customers that way. Then he started yelling at me about the mower. He said he fixed it three times and we were doing something wrong. I explained nicely that if he had fixed it I wouldn’t keep bringing it back to him. He continued yelling saying we put bad gas in it. I told him we put brand new gas in it and it could not be the gas. Well, he did not want to hear it and said the lawn mower worked just fine. He told me to take it and he would not work on it again.
I can’t imagine how any one can run a business and talk to customers the way this man does. He was incredibly run and nasty. I paid him $ 182 over a two month period and still don’t have a lawn mower that runs. If he could not fix it then he just should have told us that from the beginning and we could have purchased a new lawn mower with that money. I would never go back and would not recommend him to any one!

The guy operates out of his garage. We found this out after driving 25 miles to try to get him to do some warranty work. A few days later he decided he wasn’t going to work with the tool company to honor the warranty, and became absolutely explosive when we asked him why he wouldn’t do the repair. He was cussing and screaming like a mad man! I feel like we were lucky to get off his property with our life. Scary!!!

Long review… Probably worth the read if you are considering going to Barrett’s for service.
Months ago I hit a stump with my relatively new mower (Troybilt self-​propelled) and took it to Barrett’s for a repair. I was told that (luckily) it was only a damaged blade and they replaced it for what seemed to be a fair price. The mower seemed to run pretty well, although it did have a bit of a vibration/​shake when I would mow deeper grass.
A month or 2 later I started having issues with the carburetor. When parked, the mower would flood the engine with gas. It was tough to start, but would run and mow fine once running. This happened twice. The last time, I mowed a portion of the front lawn in the evening, parked the mower in the garage, and took it to Barrett’s the next morning. I told him that I had previously hit a stump and he had replaced the blade and I wasn’t sure if that incident was related to the current problem. He got pretty defensive and told me that nothing they would have done would have caused the current problem. I told him I didn’t mean to imply that, but wanted him to know about the stump incident just in case it was related. He asked me if it was running and I told him it ran fine when it wasn’t flooded. He said I should get a complete tune-​up and they would fix the carb.
He called a couple days later and said it was fixed. I paid about $ 140 for the tune-​up and carb repair (said it was gummy). He told me to start it up and that the carbs on my brand of mower were flaky and it would run rough for a bit and then smooth out as it warmed up. I started it up and it sounded «off», but I assumed that was what he meant when he said it would run rough, etc.
I took it home and started to mow the lawn. The mower sounded bad. It didn’t improve as it warmed up. It would almost die when mowing any amount of grass.
I took it back the next day and he started off by saying that nothing they would have done would have caused the problem. He put it up on the bench (with the help of his employee) and they checked the valve timing, etc. He told me that he thought it didn’t sound right when I picked it up the day before. Why he would give it back to me when he (the expert) thought it wasn’t right is beyond me. His employee found that the head gasket was blown. Mr. Barrett was sure to mention multiple times that the problem was probably caused by me starting it when it was flooded or running it with gas in the oil, etc… He did say they would fix it.
A few hours later he delivered the mower to my house (I live in the neighborhood). He handed me the head gasket and told me that was my problem. I asked him how much I owed him and he said nothing. He also asked me not to come back. I thought he was joking, but he said that I had incorrectly implied that the problem was their fault and had lied when I said the mower ran fine. I tried to explain to him that I was simply giving him the chain of events, but he wasn’t having any of it and told me not to come back.
I didn’t really care as my mower was «fixed». or so I thought…
I went to mow the lawn and it instantly sounded horrible again. I could see orange rtv sealant blown out from the head gasket area. He hadn’t installed a new gasket, but tried to make do with sealant. The surface area is not sufficient to use that sealant and it failed after about 5 seconds of running.
I got on Amazon and ordered the gasket myself for about $ 10 shipped. I installed it and it ran better, but was still down on power and vibrated. I researched on google and found that the timing «key» is designed to break when an object (like a stump) is hit with the blade. I ordered a new timing key for 97 cents and installed it myself. Sure enough, the old one was broken. I put it back together and it runs like new.
This guys customer service is obviously lacking. The review that says he is «super grumpy» seems right on to me. He never should have returned the mower when he acknowledged that it didn’t sound right. He had written on the receipt that it «starts and runs ok». He is supposed to be the expert. He should have known to check the timing key when I initially hit the stump.
He obviously doesn’t care about a random customer here or there as he has plenty of business. Everyone in the neighborhood is forced to drive by his shop, so that’s where they will take their mower to get serviced.
I would suggest going elsewhere and looking for someone with better customer service skills.
Summary: The original problem was my fault. I’m not saying the carb issue was caused by them. I think it was unrelated. I am saying that he returned a mower to me (and charged me $ 140) that, by his own admission, wasn’t running correctly. I spent a few hours doing research and replacing a part that they should have checked originally.

Couldn’t be happier with my experience here. Mr. Barrett is a great guy, business is run out of his house /​garage in a pretty nice little neighborhood. Totally helpful, and absolutely left feeling like my lawnmower was good to go. Nice to find ‘a guy’ in town who’s close by our place and we can trust for this type of stuff.

Wow! This guys is SUPER grumpy!!! My husband and I brought our mower in to have the drive wire fixed and get a tune up. After he wanted to charge me $ 150 to fix the wire, and I opted to do it myself, he then bet me that I couldn’t. So we just had him do the tune up.
We came to pick it up today and he yelled at my husband saying how dare we interrupt his day off. There was no closed sign and everything was open. He proceeded to curse at us and told us to come back the next day.
Finally, after incessantly apologizing for interrupting his day he found the mower and ripped us off for $ 45 for a partial tune up.
The most harassable old man EVER! Needless to say I fixed my mower for $ 14.
If you want to be cursed at and overcharged, then go here.
No sure he’s ever herd the word «customer service» before. Very sad…

I’ve used Shade Barrett three times now for various mowers, and I have always had a great experience. The last one he did, he fixed it BETTER than when it was new (starts faster/​instantly, runs smoother and with more power). His prices are fair, and he stands behind his work, too.
I don’t know what got into Matthew M., but there are NO mowers selling for $ 400 at his place! And I asked him, after I saw the bad review, if he has ever picked up trash by the side of the road and fixed it for sale. He adamently denied this, so unless Matthew M. has proof, he should be careful with allegations like that. Just sayin.
Considering the level of service in this society, I give Barrett’s 5 stars — as good as it gets. He’s not cheap, but he’s FAIR and honest and he backs his work. Oh, and he fixed my mower within a few days.

$ 7.95 belt from sears, his price… $ 32 for the exact same belt!!! and he will tell you how much of a deal he is giving you!
now the word profit is not a bad word, it is what business is all about, but flat out swindling good people for said profit is dead wrong!