Buying local - I really do try, but...

[Greg G.]

... gee whiz, there's only so much calling and running around on wild goose chases I'll put up with!  All I needed was a new lawn mower blade for a mainline (Black & Decker) lawn mower, or at least have it sharpened so it would actually cut grass instead of beating it into submission (sometimes successfully).  How hard can that be?  

There are two places locally that worked on lawn mowers.  I looked up reviews and the latest ones were bad.  One used to be good but apparently changed owners a year ago and went to pot.  The other had terrible parking (which I already knew), but I could deal with that if the service was good, but again, the latest reviews were bad.

The blade appeared to be beyond sharpening, so I shopped around trying to find a replacement.  It wasn't hard to remove, and I had the model number of both the mower and the blade.  Two local hardware stores (Ace and True Value) didn't have the correct blade, even though one said they did on the phone, but they lied.  Fred Meyers?  Nope.  Home Depot?  Nope.  The nearest HD said they were a "metropolitan" store and maybe their Everett store would have the blade I needed.  Everett is a 20 minute drive north.  Not that I would mind, I could try to factor in some other things, but I still didn't want to go way up there only to find out they didn't have it either.  Forget trying to call first, I don't trust people who answer the phone to know what they're talking about anymore.

I tried online at the official B&D site and found one, but when I clicked on the button to order, I got a warning from my security software (WOT) that the website had many complaints about privacy and it wasn't safe to proceed.  I had the option to proceed anyway, but wasn't going to take the chance.

Time for a break, so I started puttering around with my toys (phones) and was looking for parts on ebay when it struck me, HEY!  See if there's a blade on ebay!  Yup, sure enough, the correct blade on ebay, for a dollar cheaper BIN than the B&D website and free shipping!

I'll continue trying to buy local, but like I said, there's only so much I'll put up with.