Toro Recycler Electric Start Personal Pace mower - 20070

by Gregg Hazen
(Brunswick, Ohio)

I purchased my first Toro Lawn Mower used. It was a used mower that was sitting by the curb in a driveway for sale that I spotted while taking out the trash in Lompoc, California in 1982 (give or take a year). It was the most durable and best built mower I've ever owned. It never failed to start.

I would go into more details, but it started reliably, it mowed (had lots of power), nothing else to report.

In 1989 we moved south to a condo in Oxnard, California and left it with my father in Santa Barbara. For the first couple of years I continued to use it on occasion when visiting.

In 2001 we moved to Ohio. Unfortunately my father had moved into an apartment and had given the Toro away. We inherited a mower with our new home, but still missed our old Toro.

In 2006 my wife was unable to pull start our mower after fracturing her sternum in an automobile accident so we decided to purchase a key start self propelled mower. Based on our experience with our old Toro we exceeded our planned budget and purchased a Toro Key Start Personal Pace Recycler feeling that the key start combined with the Personal Pace technology would help her be able to get her exercise without aggravating her injury.

Initially were were thrilled with the Toro. It started right up with the key (even when I tried the pull cord, it started on the first pull as advertised). We were very impressed with the Personal Pace Feature. We were disappointed that the mulching feature never worked as expected, with the mulcher attachment in place, the mower would bog down and stall.

The "Guaranteed to start on the first or second pull" barely lasted the first year. A year and a half after purchase the mower bent a valve. Our local repair center, Outdoor Power World replaced the bent valve under warranty but to be honest the mower never ran smooth again. It ran like an automobile engine with a miss-firing cylinder. It was also much harder to start which continued to degenerate as time went on.

Often, when the Toro would stall or run out of gas I would have to wait for it to cool down before It would start again.

At the 2 and a half year point the self start became flaky. I purchased the Starter Pinion Assembly with the rubber cone since it was slipping. A few months later when I got around to installing it I discovered that bolts had come loose and the gear teeth were all chewed up.

In fact a large number of bolts on this Toro Recycler 20070 have come loose on their own. Something I have never had to deal with on this scale in 40 years of mowing.

My three sons had given up trying to start the Toro out of frustration a long time ago. I usually managed to get it started though, but sometimes even after a lot of coaxing, priming, and up to 20-30 pulls of the cord I would have to wait an hour or so before trying again. So much for "Guaranteed to start on the first or second pull".

I see on your web site, MowerWizard.com, that the new recycler is "New and Improved" and that the "Guaranteed to Start" has been increased from 1 to 3 years. Great for new customers, but it doesn't help Toro's old customers who are (if you pardon the expression) left holding the bag.

However to be honest I am extremely reluctant to even consider spending ANOTHER $400 for another Toro product after this experience.

Overall now Toro holds the top spot in two categories:

#1 The best mower I've ever owned.
#2 The worst mower I've ever owned.

I went out this weekend and the Toro finally decided it had cut it's last blade of grass and wouldn't start despite all my coaxing. So I guess it's only fitting that my last Toro ends up where I found my first Toro - out by the curb on trash day.

I sent the above letter to Toro. Below is their response and my return reply:

5/26/2011

Dear Gregg Hazen,

Thank you for contacting The Toro Company. The Toro Company prides itself in its reputation for producing products of high quality and reliability. We appreciate your taking the time to inform us of the difficulties you have experienced with your Toro mower.

For years, our engineering and manufacturing efforts have been directed toward a single goal, providing our customers with high quality, reliable, and time saving outdoor beautification products. Your comments are greatly appreciated, as one of our highest priorities at The Toro Company is helping with your outdoor maintenance needs. We appreciate you bringing the situation to our attention as we always encourage our customers to provide us with feedback.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience this has caused you and appreciate your taking the time to notify us.

We value you as a Toro customer. Please know that you have an open invitation to contact us at any time.

Sincerely,

Rhonda M
Customer Care Representative

Case Number 2166797

My Reply:

I just received your response to my letter about my experience with my Toro Key Start Personal Pace Recycler Mower.

I am very disappointed, your reply is an obvious canned response if I have ever seen one. To be honest, your form letter response was so non specific, I wonder if my letter was even read in it's entirety . I was hoping for at least some kind of dialog, or at least a personal email contact. You obviously must deal with a great multiple of dissatisfied customers with similar issues with their Toro Mowers to only warrant such a non personal response..

Obviously, despite your claim of your high quality and reliability, my experience has been otherwise. I am sure it is no surprise that I have purchased my last Toro product. I do not plan to risk wasting another $400 on the oft chance Toro has improved their quality, especially when there is no hint from Toro that there ever was any quality issues in the past.

I had been toying posting my experience with my Toro on multiple internet sites to warn others from making the same mistake I did, and your impersonal form letter reply has made up my mind. Be assured your response below will be included with my postings.

Follow Up

I have not received any more contact from Toro.

What use to be an exceptional Mower manufacturer has become an unresponsive manufacturer of poor quality mowers. I did notice that Toro has switched from the Tecumseh engine to the Briggs & Stratton.

Do not waste your money buying a Toro. And as you can see by Toro's reply email, customer service is impersonal and virtually non-existent.

Gregg Hazen
Brunswick, Ohio

Toro Model # 20070
Serial # 260001419