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D & M Motors and Towing

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Reviews D & M Motors and Towing

D & M Motors and Towing Reviews (2)

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

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Description: Auto Repair & Service, Towing - Automotive, Auto Renting & Leasing

Address: 205 N Main St, Ellensburg, Washington, United States, 98926-3309

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