Kevin Hollister

Review of Rentalex of Tampa

Last weekend I rented a Husqvarna PG-280 from thes...

Last weekend I rented a Husqvarna PG-280 from these guys to strip paint off a garage floor. The machine did not work at all. First, I had to pass over each area of the garage floor a minimum of 4 times, and even after doing so, the results were very poor. At most, 50% of the surface area was stripped. See pictures - the lighter areas are where the paint was stripped off and the darker areas are the gray paint which was left behind by the machine. Keep in mind, we're talking about paint here - not deeply embedded grease, not epoxy...just paint. Yet, the machine, even after 4 passes over the same area, produce very spotty results. Additionally, the vacuum port on the machine does not work at all. I used a 20 gal commercial shop vac with great suction and attached it to the vacuum port on the machine, but the same amount of dust was generated whether I had the shop vac attached or not. This particular problem seems to be a product design flaw. My very small garage, which was supposed to take 1 to 1-1/2 hours to do took almost 5 hours, the amount of dust generated was incredible, and the results were terrible. To add insult to injury, the customer service at Rentalex was very poor and the staff showed no interest in making the situation right. Both of the guys I spoke with were very nice and polite, but neither one was willing to refund any of the $250 (yes, you read that right) that they charged me for a machine that didn't do anything it was supposed to do. I would never rent another piece of Husqvarna floor equipment again, and unfortunately, despite the fact that they are conveniently located for me, I would think long and hard before I rent from Rentalex again. Overall, a very frustrating and disappointing experience!