DR Power Equipment Country Home Products Does not work as advertised and told by telephone sales person Vergennes, Vermont

The "Walk-behind Lawn Vacuum" does not have the sucking volume as promoted. I am returning it but it still is costing me $300 for the shipping and the bio-filter bags.

 I was seeking a vacuum that could suck the acorns off of my lawn. I read the promotional material which advertised that this machine could do so. I then called the company to tell them what i wanted to accomplish and was told that it could easily suck up the acorns. We discussed the different models and i settled on  purchasing a re-conditioned (10% savings for a reconditioned machine) self-start walk behind lawn vaccuum. I also paid the shipping which was approx. $250.00. 

 First, I recognize that reconditioned is not new, but when it arrived it looked relatively used. The wheels were a bit worn and there was debis left in the bag; however, this was no big deal as i was excited to have the machine solve my problem.  I prepared the machine as instucted. It started relatively easy. I took the machine to the lawn and it did not suck the acorns. I then took it to my concrete walkway to vacuum acorns on the hard surface...it only picked up about 1/3 of the nuts and none that were in the crevices. Within a few minutes the engine then decelerated on its own. I worked with the gas lever but no response in increasing the power back up. I shut it off. The next day I started it again and had a repeat of the same experience except that the engine shut itself off after a few minutes.  It restarted but the power level didn't seem to be at its peak.  I decided i wanted to return the machine as it was not doing as i was told or advertised; and, i wasnt about to start dealing with a mechanic on the engine on a new purchase.

 On 10/22/09 I called customer service to return the machine and they told me i had to speak to technical support. I spoke to technical support with my frustration and he asked "what do i want to do" and i responded, "return the machine if it is not going to perform the way i was told". He said, i needed to speak with customer support and transferred me back. Customer Service was prepared to take the machine back but I also explained to her that they should pay for all shipping(approx. $500 roundtrip) since the machine did not perform as advertised or i was told. She told me that they dont pay the shipping as explained in their sales literature. After quite a bit of insistance, they agreed to pay for the return shipping only. I told her that i was in disagreement and that they should reimbuse me for all the shipping  but I gave up as was sick of debating.