The hood is made of rather flimsy plastic

Not to mention the cheap plastic covering the handles likes to creak a lot when you grab onto them giving it a very lackluster feel.

Second - maybe I'm spoiled with better, more-costly machines, or maybe it's related to the bad plastic housing up front that I unconsciously try to avoid, but I found I do reach the end of the deck at the back too often

and it is made out of very cheap plastic.

One, where the cable comes out of the upright at the bottom, there is a rigid plastic grommet holding it to the metal upright.

I explained the issue, and without hesitation, the rep told me he would be sending a tech out to my house, as well as send a new motor and belt to my house free of charge.

I abuse the heck out of this machine and it still runs as good as when I got it.

The machine works as of

I always think those "expert installers" are the same ones that assembled the run down and broken c*&^% that you see on display at the onsite stores with pieces hanging off.