I have been buying stuff from Northern since they were a mail order Hydraulics outfit. When their stores started popping up in the nineties, i made it by there when I was around one. Although they seem to pedal some Chines junk along with some decent products, they always seemed to conduct business properly.

I needed a small gasoline powered pump for work on our veterans memorial and for some occasional purposes around our place. I couldn't find anything in our small town. On New Years day I was in the DFW area seeing my Mom and stopped by a Northern store.

They had a Honda model that suited my needs. The price was expen$ive, and I was 120 miles from home, but I figured that since it was a Honda and since it was Northern I would probably be okay if anything went wrong.

The middle of the week after buying it we had some rain that required its use. It was in a pristine sealed box. I got it out, set it up, added fuel and oil but when i grabbed the pull cord it was as if it were tied to the frame. Since it was under warranty I didn't want to wrench on it for fear of voiding the warranty. I called the store and told them of my dilemma. They said they could do nothing until service looked at it. I called service and they told me that they are closed Saturday, but suggested I take it to a local Honda Dealer.

I left it at the local John Deere house on Saturday and went back by Tuesday. They showed me a crack in the block and a bent fitting.

I went back to Northern on the following Saturday and the first thing they told me was that service is closed Saturday and I told them what service had suggested. I was afraid that they would blame the damage on me, bit the young manager asked a few questions and handed me a new pump.

I don't know what others experiences are with this outfit, but they were fair and professional with me. This was really a freak deal to have something like that come out of a sealed box with Honda written on the side of it. Things happen I suppose.