Like Father Like Son Auto Repair Inc.

Review: On Wednesday August **, 2011 [redacted]. drove the car with me in the passenger seat at about 35-40 MPH with the gear in drive and in neutral, and he verified a constant dull clicking, repetitive, low vibrating, swooshing sound that is consistent with my description I had said to him earlier. At the repair shop [redacted]. placed the car on the lift and, using a stethoscope with someone revving the engine, he determined that the noise was coming from the transmission. On Thursday I was called to the shop and shown a transmission that was already opened and some parts that were supposedly bad which needed to be replaced by new parts. I signed a job estimate which showed a list of parts and the total price for the repairs. On Friday August **, I was called to pick up the car. With one of the workers driving, we test drove the car and I complained that the car was making the same noise as when I had originally brought it to the shop. On return to the shop, [redacted]. drove the car with me for approximately three blocks at about 20-25 MPH and insisted he could not hear any noise. At the shop, I told [redacted]. that he did unnecessary repairs on my car and that the problem had not been resolved. I was told I could either pay for the repairs or leave the car at the shop. I payed for the repairs and took the car to another mechanic shop, Jamaica Auto Repair, that same afternoon. Aso, the invoice given does not list the individual parts changed - new or used. At Jamaica Auto Repair, [redacted] test drove the car and verified the noise as described above. He placed the car on the lift with the car running, and, using a stethoscope, he determined that there was a pronounced clicking sound coming from the left side wheel bearing. On Saturday August **, [redacted] replaced the left side wheel bearing which solved the problem. [redacted] also indicated that a transmission repair was not necessary. On September *, 2011, I filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Motor Vehicle Safety and got a response dated February *, 2012 indicating that an official warning letter was sent to the facility citing the following violations (as written): --Regulation 82.5(c) Willfully failed to complete invoice as required in that the facility on 8/**/11, prepared an invoice for the repair of a 1994 Honda Accord and failed to document a description of the malfunction . On February **, 2012, I filed a suit in small claims court against Lisa Transmission Inc because of a willful misdiagnosis and an unnecessary replacement of my transmission. On August **, 2013, which will be my third visit to small claims court, I may get a hearing in front of a judge. It is obvious from my small claims court suit and court visits that [redacted]. has no intention of resolving the issue. It is required that I have a expert witness for this case. I have been trying to find an expert auto mechanic but it is difficult because most expert witness firms provide their services exclusively to large litigation cases. Lisa Transmission is in the business of willful incorrect misdiagnosis to warrant a transmission replacement when the actual problem is of a less expensive cost to fix, for example a wheel bearing or warped rotor. Customers will pay for an unnecessary transmission replacement and Lisa Transmission will also fix the less expensive, real problem, making the transmission replacement seem necessary.Desired Settlement: I want a refund of the payment made to replace/repair the transmission.

Business

Response:

To Whom it may concern,

This letter is in response to a complaint recieved by the Revdex.com from [redacted]

(Revdex.com ID [redacted])

in referrence to repairs that our Repair Facility (Lisa Transmissions, Inc.) performed

on [redacted]'s 1994 Honda Accord. This customer was referred to us by Meineke

Car Care Center, [redacted]. When the car was checked at Meineke,

it was determined that the growling noise the car was making was coming from the

transmission. When we recieved the vehicle, we determined that Meineke was

indeed correct. We determined this by putting the car on the lift and running it, while

listening to the noise with a stethoscope. As a result, we aquired the customer's written

permission to do an internal inspection on the transmission in order to determine what

parts would and would not need to be changed in order to effect the repair. After

performing the internal inspection, we called the customer to come to our repair

facitlity, so we could review the transmission parts together and inform the customer

what parts we would need to repair his car, and the total cost thereof. We again obtained

his written authorization to proceed with the repair. The repair was performed and the noise

that we and Meineke both confirmed was coming from the transmission was gone. When

the customer came to pick up his vehicle, he began to complain about a completely different

noise. This noise had nothing to do with the initial complaint that was verified by both Meineke

and ourselves (Please see Meineke's attached Letter). Subsequently, we recieved a small claims

summons, and a visit from the DMV. As a result of the DMV visit, we learned that we had to

make a minor change to the way we wrote invoices. The DMV however, found NO problem

with our procedures, or the repair performed.

While this customer drags our hard earned A+ rating with the Revdex.com and good reputation earned

from being in business for 31 years through the mud, we have to challenge his assessment that

we sell major repairs by solving smaller problems. If this were the case, why would'nt we have

just changed the wheel bearing to begin with? The answer is of course, that the wheel bearing

noise was not the noise the customer was complaining about.

We must also add that this customer never returned to our facility. The only other contact

was a summons.

Regards, [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

Immediately after I picked up the car from Lisa Transmission, I took it to [redacted] of Meineke, the gentleman who referred me to Lisa Transmission. I indicated to him that the car was making the same noise. His response was, "I didn't tell you to repair the transmission," then he proceeded to walk away. [redacted] is referring naive customers to Lisa Transmission under the pretext that he hears a gear noise when the problem is simple and unrelated to the transmission. [redacted] used an 8 inch screw driver with the car on the lift to supposedly diagnose a transmission problem. [redacted] is a scammer. Even the first name he puts on legal invoices is not his correct name. Why is [redacted] using [redacted] as an alibi.

An hour after I picked the car up from your shop, I took it to Jamaica Auto Repair ([redacted]). Within fifteen minutes, with the car on the lift, and the mechanic using a stethoscope in the same manner that [redacted] did, he determined the clicking he heard was caused by a worn left side wheel bearing.

I would also like to note that the same noise was heard after the transmission repair and in the car ride with [redacted] that followed it. The noise is loud enough to make an average driver uncomfortable while driving the car, yet [redacted] insisted he heard no noise and now claims it was a different noise.

On Tuesday November *, 2011, I was called to the DMV inspection station ([redacted]) where the car was placed on a lift for inspection by the DMV inspectors [redacted] and his supervisor. The first thing I noted when I looked under the car was the right side CV joint axle had been replaced without my knowledge. The DMV inspectors suggested [redacted] had tried to fix the noise problem. Why would [redacted] have replaced the CV joint axle if the transmission was causing the noise? The answer is of course that a transmission repair is more profitable and [redacted] was trying to fix the noise by replacing the CV joint axle. When I complained that the noise was still heard, [redacted] pretended he could not hear the noise and now claims a different noise had arisen. DMV inspector [redacted] hinted that if [redacted] had replaced the wheel bearing then I would have nothing to complain about. In response to [redacted], if [redacted] had replaced the wheel bearing during a transmission repair, it's still a scam.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,