D & M Motors and Towing Reviews (2)
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D & M Motors and Towing Rating
Description: Auto Repair & Service, Towing - Automotive, Auto Renting & Leasing
Address: 205 N Main St, Ellensburg, Washington, United States, 98926-3309
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I purchased an old car in Seattle that broke down as I was driving to Montana. I had D&M tow it into town and later do a diagnoses, begin repair work and ultimately stop work and dispose of the vehicle. From the time I called for the tow to final disposition of the junker I was treated with fairness, friendliness, courtesy and compassion. Every single person I dealt with focused on my situation and what they could do to help me. I hope I never have a problem that requires their help again but if I do I will call [redacted] and [redacted] at D&M Motors immediately for assistance confident that I can rely on their integrity.
Review: We took our 2006 Ford Explorer to D& M motors for a small whine when I stepped on the gas. Also asked them to check our brakes and service the transmission. The noise came from the pump in the Power steering which they fixed, the brakes are still fine. The transmission had absolutely nothing wrong with it when we took it to D& M. We just thought it was time to service it again so the car would last another 120,000 miles... reasonable for today's vehicles. They serviced the transmission but when we picked the car up, the transmission was beyond rough, not shifting properly. We took it to a Dr. appt the next day (2 hours away via the freeway) . The car lunged and surged when going into third gear plus it sounded like we hit the rumble strip on the side of the road (which I didn't!). Took it back to D&M... they called a friend at Ford in Ellensburg... he said D&M put in the wrong transmission fluid and would send over the right fluid. D& M drained the old fluid and replaced it with the Ford fluid. We were told to drive it and circulate the new fluid through it. Went to another Dr. appt. (2 hrs away) and the car was worse. We stopped at out Ford dealer in [redacted]. They drove the car and recommended to replace the converter & overhaul the transmission. Ford in [redacted] said the worse thing we could have done was to drive it that far. Now D& M is saying they put the right fluid in and besides the transmission has 120,000 miles on it. They said Ford put the same fluid in when Ford serviced it at 65,000 miles. I don't have a clue what D&M did to my transmission, I just know they offered me $500 for a compensation. The transmission was perfectly fine when we took it to D&M, now I have a car I can't drive! It will cost thousands to fix it properly. I have a price coming from [redacted] Ford for the repairs needed.
D&M said they used the same transmission fluid... not true. They used Valvoline ATF which is not totally synthetic. Ford uses Motorcraft which is totally synthetic. If that was the problem, I do not know. I just know that I had a perfectly working transmission when I took it to D&M, now I have a trashed, unusable car with an non-working transmission.... a car not drive-able.Desired Settlement: I will have the car towed to Ford in [redacted] where they will properly fix the car. I would like D& M to pay for all charges involved including towing and all repairs for the damage done.
Business
Response:
To: Revdex.com
Response to [redacted] Review:
In response to this complaint, we’d like to start by sharing
with you, some information about how we make determinations on how to perform a
proper service on any vehicle that enters our shop.
All road legal vehicles in the U.S. are required to have a
Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that has to conform to strict federal
standards in its structure. In addition,
the VIN is a code that the manufacturer uses to identify certain aspects of the
vehicle, such as make, model, engine, date of manufacture and serial
number. Due to the nature of the VIN,
aftermarket shop software is able to access this information and give the
technician(s) performing work on vehicles valuable details on what parts and
fluids to use. This type of system is
widely relied upon in the automotive industry, ourselves included.
At D&M, we
perform services on many different kinds of vehicles in our business, we must
rely on multiple sources and skills in order to know what fluids and parts
should be used at any given time. In
this particular case, the VIN information from our system indicated that this
vehicle had a 5 speed automatic transmission present, thus requiring the Mercon
V fluid, which was used (Valvoline is a brand, not a type of transmission fluid-see attachment). When calling the part store that provided the
fluid, we also asked them for the appropriate fluid for said vehicle and they
sent Mercon V. It is common practice to
verify the fluid type being ordered with the people supplying it as a sort of
checks and balances system. At no point
prior to the service did anyone inform us that anything other than Mercon V
should be used. It was only after a third call to another
location that we were informed that there was a possibility of Mercon SP being
needed, if the vehicle had a V8 engine.
At that point, we used other tools to verify this information.
Mrs. [redacted] says in her statement, that “...the
transmission was beyond rough, not shifting properly”, when she picked it up
and that they, “...took it to a Dr. appt the next day(2 hrs away via the
freeway)”. We were not informed that she
had an issue with the way the vehicle was performing until after it was driven
quite some distance, therefore it is hard to believe that it was an immediate
problem after leaving our shop. There is
also service history related to this vehicle that indicates Mercon V being used
in a previous transmission service by a Ford dealer, at a mileage of 65,188 mi. Her vehicle was brought to us with a mileage
of 120,486 mi. which is 55,298 mi. after the previous service indicating Mercon
V. We find it hard to believe that the
Ford dealer would indicate anything other than the exact fluid that was used
based on the fact that they are a dealer and adhere to strict standards.
To single out D&M in this case would be ignoring the
facts. Many miles were put on the
transmission with the wrong fluid present, as indicated by the service
performed at Bickford Ford, before the vehicle ever came to D&M for
service. Their system even indicates the
correct transmission on the paperwork, yet they show that they used Mercon V as
well. It is ridiculous to think that
suddenly the problem occurred, strictly by adding the same fluid back into the
transmission. It is more likely that, this
is a problem that occurred over time and the fact that we performed a maintenance
service prior to the ultimate failure of the transmission is simply
coincidental. It is our belief that
D&M is not responsible for any issues occurring with Mrs. [redacted] transmission,
based on these facts.
Thank you for your time in this matter,
D&M Motors and Towing
File attachments:
Name - Description
[redacted] – Copy of repair order
Vin_breakdown – Shows what our system indicates for
transmission type by VIN
Bickford – Shows previous service done at Ford dealer
LKQ_estimate – Our estimate to replace transmission with
used transmission/like miles
Mercon – Shows a bottle of Valvoline Mercon V transmission
fluid for clarification