Aamco Transmissions Inc

To whom it may concern, regarding complaint # ***, The consumer also contacted the BAR, the end result of the BAR's investigation is that we did no wrong doing, the customer received everything they were invoiced for, as well as recieving a $discount and a multi month rental at our
expense, and furthermore per their own admission, the customer forcefully removed my technician from the vehicle during a road test and took possession of the vehicle without paying the balance due at the time, and the work was in the final stages of completion, however not yet fully completedWe have made a monetary offer to the customer for goodwill and it was declinedThank you***AAMCO of *** *** **

Review: I took my truck to this auto mechanic in August of 2013 with a promised completion date of October 31, 2013. There was a problem every step of the way and when I finally went to retrieve the truck in June of 2014(10 months later!!), they raised it in the air and refused to return possession of the truck over to me.

A few weeks later, I went back because they said the engine would start, but they are still having trouble and wanted to demonstrate to me in a test drive the progress they had made. During the test drive I pulled into a Sheriff’s department and dropped the mechanic off and took my car home. They called the Sheriff and threatened to have me arrested for stealing my own car unless I pay the balance due of $1547.64, which I did, obviously under duress.

I later had it towed to a reputable 5 star mechanic who has spent a lot of time diagnosing the precise condition of the truck that was supposed to have been completely restored by Aamco which will be an estimated $7700 in addition to the $1575 that I have already paid the new mechanic. I simply cannot afford to get my truck up and running without a refund from AAMCO for a job not done.Desired Settlement: I need a full refund so that I can pay a competent mechanic to do the job.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern, regarding complaint # [redacted], The consumer also contacted the BAR, the end result of the BAR's investigation is that we did no wrong doing, the customer received everything they were invoiced for, as well as recieving a $2500 discount and a multi month rental at our expense, and furthermore per their own admission, the customer forcefully removed my technician from the vehicle during a road test and took possession of the vehicle without paying the balance due at the time, and the work was in the final stages of completion, however not yet fully completed. We have made a monetary offer to the customer for goodwill and it was declined

Review: Dropped car FRS Scion off for clutch/transmission repair late in December 2015. Business charged my card on December 30 even though service was not completed. Aamco did not complete repair on the vehicle until January 20th. When picking up my vehicle was told that a rodent had gotten into the interior of the car. My seats are damaged an the interior was not cleaned out of rodent feces. Was not told of this until I picked up my vehicle. Asked for their insurance information and was just given a card to speak to the owner. I expected the vehicle to be done no later than a couple of weeks and would have expected that they would have offered up their insurance information or made a claim knowing that it was their negligence that caused the mouse to get into the car while it was under their control and care. They also did not offer a military discount.Desired Settlement: I would have expected that they would have given me a discount based on the amount of time that they had my car and would have sent in a claim to their insurance department to have the seats repaired and interior detailed. I am very distraught as this has created a lot of undue stress of trying to find rides to work during the month that I had no car and now having to get a rental car while I have the interior fixed.

Business

Response:

Mr [redacted] dropped off his car on the 12/30, stating he would be out of town until 01/09, ("undue stress of trying to find rides to work during the month they had my car??"), a new clutch was installed in his vehicle and was found to be defective from the manufacturer causing an unfortunate delay which we explained to Mr [redacted].

Review: We took our car to Aamco with what we thought was a transmission issue. They repaired the car with a diagnosis of rear Differential mount. Cost $492.00. Car was returned to me. At which time I still had what I thought to be transmission trouble. They were having diagnosis problems and decided it was an internal engine leek, to they replaced left & right engine mounts (installed on wrong side), spark plugs, PVC valves, gasket covers, air filter, oil change, at cost of $1943. This took over 10 days. I had car for 1 hour and experienced the original systems of car trouble. To back I went. Aamco rented me a car while they figured out the problem. After an additional 30 days I was called to pick up my car. Totaling about a month and a half. My car had an additional 800 miles on it! Empty gas tank(given to them full). They said the PVC valve failed, it had an excessive amount of engine oil that was flowing into the air filter housing. The systems were less pronounced but not completely gone. 1 week later I was hit by an uninsured motorist who totaled my car.Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed for all labor costs. Parts went to salvage. I had another mechanics documentation that mounts were installed on wrong side.

Review: I took my car into Aamco to get the transmission rebuild before my transmission went out my car was making a knocking noise. When aamco got my car started I asked them if they could hear the noise [redacted] the manager said they could not hear any noise I asked if the noise could have been the transmission going out hear said yes it was possible. I was having trouble getting financed for the whole amount there was one finance place they go through but it would only approve us for 1500 and [redacted] had said the highest it could cost was 3500 to get my car fixed. I continued to try and get financed through other places and kept in touch with [redacted] letting him know what I was doing. [redacted] came up with the solution that if I could come up with five hundred dollars to make it an even two thousand if I went through the easy pay finance company that approved me for fifteen hundred then they would let me make payment on the last thousand that would be owing. I communicated with [redacted] several times about what would my payments wouldand the interest rate through this finance company his response would be that he would find that out. I called [redacted] back and told him I could come up with the five hundred to get my car fixed but before they started I needed to know what my payments and interest rate would be to make sure it was something I would be able to do because I would also owe them a payment each month as well and needed to make sure it was something I would be able to do since my husband was the only one working. He told me he would call them as soon as he got off the phone and would find out and let me know. So a few days pass and I get a call saying my car was done and I needed to come sign paper work . When I get there [redacted] prints out a contract through this easy pay company and the interest rate was 189% [redacted] told me that it was outrageous and he would not even sign the contract. I told [redacted] this is why I asked to know what my payment were before because there was no way that I could pay this. He said the company said they dont know what peoples payment are because everyones credit was different and it only comes though when the contracted is printed out. I told [redacted] that was a bunch of crap because they new my credit score before and thats why they would only loan me the fifteen hundred so there for if they go off credit they would have known what payments are since they see have to make up the paperwork off my credit to begin with for me to sign. I ended up having to borrow money from family to get my car since it was fixed before I was notified of what my financial obligation was. I called [redacted] on

Oct 2 to talk to him about being backed into a corner with having no other option but to pay them because they fixed the car I explained to him I was not given a choice at that point what I want to do with my car that I told him several times that my concern was what payments would be and that he said that he would figure it out before they started and let me know. He instead of owning up to jumping the gun and making a mistake decides to tell me he does not remember the conversation but them proceeds to tell me ,about me telling him that I could come up with the five hundred dollars. I responded to him with you can remember me telling you about the five hundred dollars but not me telling you I need to know what my payments would be before you start even though they were in the same conversation. I told him he need to own up to his mistake that its wrong that his company is ok with taking 3000 dollars from me for fixing my car before my specific request were met ( what my payments would be) and putting me in a situation of having to pay and not giving me the option of what I wanted to do with my car. [redacted] told me they would not give my money back and refuses to take any ownership in failing to print out the contract or for all I know he may not have even called the company like he said he was going to and just had the mechanics start on my car. So not only did I pay them for a job because I had no other choice they insist on hearing no other noise and I had to take it to another mechanic place and also to Ford for them to tell me that there is no why that they could not of heard the noise and a good mechanic would know that the noise had nothing to do with my transmission that it was my timing chains. [redacted] insist that they drove atleast ten miles and heard no noise but as soon as I pulled out of there shop it immediately started and did not stop. I asked when I first dropped my car off for them to listen to the noise to see what is was if I would have known I would have never gotten my car fixed because now I can not drive my car once again and it is going to cost well over what it is worth to fix it. I entrusted that this well known company would not be dishonest and it is to bad that [redacted] can not just say a mistake was made. [redacted] also tried telling me that the company does not do the contract right away because they do not know what the final price would be, which is not true in this case since they new that they were only approving me for 1500 dollars so there for they did know what there final price would be. There for [redacted] could have printed out the contract and let me look over it and I could have seen that it was not an option for me to go through this financial institution.Desired Settlement: I feel they either need to give me my money back or fix my timing chains. I do not think it is [redacted]lly or ethically right that they feel its ok to put me in a situation of putting out 3000 dollars because there employee did not complete transactions to the full extant,and chose to ignore a very loud sound that did not have anything to do with the transmission and that was part of why I took the car in, to see if the sound was linked to my transmission if I would have been informed that is was not and it was completely different I would not have gotten this car fixed. I should have been notified of what my payment was going to be before work was started like I asked and the contract should have been printed out ahead of time. I do understand that work was provided on my car but it was not to be provided until I new the full extant of my financial obligation there for they chose to fix it before I told them to start so why am I being held to pay for a mistake that is not may fault. My amount I paid in cash was 3000 dollars and owe them 127 dollars.

Consumer

Response:

Hello this is [redacted] I received your message and actually was going to call I filed a complaint about Aamco and the owner [redacted] called me the very next day and resolved the issue they refunded my 3000 dollars for exchange of my car with I was gladly willing to do. It was handled very promptly which was greatly appreciated. If you have any more question my phone is ###-###-#### or [redacted] thank you