Brown European Imports

Review: I was having a electronic/communication transmission issue with my car. I took it to the dealership where they proceeded to diagnose the vehicle and confirm that the control module was failing to communicate with the valve bodying causing the car to go into a LIMP MODE (would not shift out of first gear). They informed me this was causing the transmission issue so I told them to go ahead and change the parts. After doing so, I was called by my service advisor and told the car was ready for pick up. I went the next day, paid $1600 for the service repair and waited for my car to be brought out. The service advisor went to go get my car, however the car was not going into gear. She informed the mechanics about the situation and they took it for a drive and pulled it back into the shop. She later told me that the transmission was "slipping" which is a problem I NEVER encountered with my car previously. My car was very smooth in the way it shifted so this news was very odd to me. I immediately asked for a refund because my car was not fixed properly. They did indeed issue me a refund. The mechanics flushed the transmission to see if that would take care of the problem however it did not. The service manager told me the transmission is completely shot and the car needs another transmission ($4500). I am a college student and just started my semester. I had to get a loan from my parents in order to pay for the first service so for them to tell me I need to spend another $4500 to get my car up and running normally again blew me away. I currently do not have a car to drive for school. The dealership has failed to provide me with a loaner until the situation gets settled. I refuse to pay a dime more to have my car fixed. I am thoroughly convinced that if my transmission needed to be replaced the diagnosis would have shown that information from the beginning. The STAR computer [redacted] uses to read the fault codes is very detailed and descriptive and would have be able to pick up on a bad transmission right away. However, it read a communication error so it does not make any sense to me that my entire transmission needs to be replaced all of a sudden. The car only has 74k miles on the odometer. Very premature for a transmission to be replaced unless the repair done by the dealership was not done properly which I think is the case. I live an hour away from the dealership so I am unaware of what is happening with my car in terms of them continuing to mess with it or not. After flushing the transmission the first time the service advisor stated the mechanics found "metal shavings" in the filter. The second time the mechanics flushed it, the service Manager said they found "metal chunks." They seem to be making the car worse and worse in hopes I'll give in and buy another transmission. But I refuse to give in because as I stated before I have absolutely no way of paying anymore money for repairs and do no have a car to commute to campus with. They do no want to be held responsible for messing up my car so they chose to blame it on a bad transmission. I am in dire need of help. I do not want to have to make this a legal matter.Desired Settlement: I am only willing to pay the $1600 for the first service concerning the valve body/ control module as agreed upon to begin with. Whatever other repairs need to be done to have my car running normally I want the dealership to take care of completely. Whether it is the entire transmission or not. If possible I would also like a loaner car from [redacted] until my car is drivable.

Business

Response:

Brown European Imports

1381 Richmond Rd.

Charlottesville, Va. 22911

August 27, 2014

On August 17th, 2014, [redacted] contacted our dealership inquiring about repairs to his [redacted]. He stated that his vehicle was having difficulty shifting; several lights were on in his dash including “Check Engine”. He then stated that his vehicle was in what he thought was “Limp Home Mode” which is a safety

feature [redacted] puts in place when there is a serious issue with a major component such as the engine or transmission. The customer was given the

opportunity to have his vehicle towed to our dealership in [redacted]. by Roadside Assistance as he lives in [redacted] The customer declined because

he would have to pay for the tow. and elected to drive his vehicle part of the way and then have a friend tow it the rest of the way. His vehicle indeed was

in “Limp Home Mode” when it arrived at our location.

Once we had the opportunity to diagnose the vehicle, we were able to duplicate the customers concern. We did find that there was no can message from the ECT/Control fault. No communication with transmission control module possible. We found there was an internal failure at the least with the trans control module. Tech also found

that the transmission had a new conductor plate installed from another shop that was never indicated to us by the customer. Trans. fluid was dark and had a

very burnt smell. We dropped the transmission pan where we found lots of clutch material as well as fine metal shavings. The diagnosis was given to the service

advisor and documented. Advisor was told that we could replace the trans control module and valve body as well as cleaning and flushing the transmission

as a “starting point” but that the transmission would most likely need to be replaced. The customer stated that he had a friend that had done some work to the vehicle prior to sending the vehicle to us. His “friend” told him that the transmission just needed a “download” and an “updated transmission pan with tube o-ring”! The transmission in his vehicle needs no such thing nor would any type of software update help his transmission. The advisor told the customer the price for doing the “starting point” work

($1654.85) and the customer balked. He then argued the diagnosis, stated that he was going to call[redacted]. We gave him the number and our dealer code.

I received a phone call the next day from [redacted] from [redacted] stating that she had received a complaint about pricing for work needed and wanted to know about the vehicle. After a short explanation, I then offered a 10% discount off of his total bill making his bill $1557.50. He approved that offer and we proceeded with repairs.

We completed the replacement of the transmission control module as well as the transmission valve body. The vehicle seemed to respond well to these repairs but technician still felt abit of a slip between first and second gear. [redacted] was made aware of the repair and findings upon his arrival. While paying his bill, the advisor went to pull the car up for the customer, it would not move. Once we made the customer aware of this issue he became irate. We explained to him that this could happen and that

he was made aware that this repair was a “starting point”. We refunded the customers money and he elected to leave the vehicle for further diagnosis. We drained the fluid and dropped the transmission pan where we now found larger chunks of metal. It was now conclusive that the transmission was indeed faulty and needed to be replaced. Knowing that the customer was on a strict budget, I found the customer a used transmission with 39k miles on it with a 101 day warranty. The total for the replacement would be $4554.98. Once again, the customer became irate with the diagnosis. Then insisted that I speak with his mother whom also was irate. Unfortunately the vehicle was worked on at another shop with an already present problem. I am very willing to work with the customer as much as I can but there is only one repair that’s going to fix his car at this point.

Brown European Imports

[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,

There are numerous false statements from Browns European Imports (BEI). Firstly, I never drove my part of the way there. I paid to have it towed the entire way. Secondly, there was only one light on the dash that was lit. That being the check engine light. BEI stated multiple lights which is incorrect. Thirdly, BEI never said the repairs I agree to were only a starting point, they informed me the repairs would have my car working again. When asking the service manager on multiple occasions why I wasn't told the transmission was faulty from the beginning he avoided the question. That is because if the transmission needed to be replaced from the start, it would have shown in the diagnosis they performed however it did not. The repairs were not done properly which caused my transmission to become ruined. The repairs they conducted are very tedious and need to be done perfectly otherwise one little mistake can cause a big one such as the entire transmission failing. I have reason to believe BEI made a mistake during the repairs and are trying to justify it now by simply saying my transmission is bad as a cover up. However, I have multiple mechanics that diagnosed and drove the car prior to having it towed to BEI for the service that can testify the transmission shifted smooth before BEI worked on it. It makes absolutely no sense the car would drive worse after the repairs. It is one thing if the repairs didn't change anything, but it made things WORSE. This is a crime. I trusted professionals with my car, yet they made my car not drivable. Additionally, my car did not have a new conductor plate installed, so the tech working there, should not be working there because all that needs to be done is check the serial number on the conductor plate to see its the same one the car has always had. That was a flat out lie from BEI. The only work done to my car prior to taking it to BEI was a few OBDII scans and a transmission drain. I never had my conductor plate changed or my transmission flushed or worked on for that matter. So that information they provided is false as well. Lastly, my friend never worked on my car and I never said he did. I simply asked his advice for why the transmission might be slipping and he told me the valve body that was installed might be faulty or was not programmed right causing the valves to not open up properly which could lead to the slippage. I then informed BEI of my friend's input and that was that. Again, BEI has made many false claims on the matter at hand which raises great speculation about the situation. If BEI is not willing to replace my transmission free of charge, the least they can do is not expect payment for the initial repairs from me as well as have my car towed back to my home.