Transmissions America

This shop is the best repair facility in the city. They took the time to find and repaired my vehicle when no else could. Great service. Thank you

I USED THIS BUSINESS THE OTHER DAY BEING STUCK OUT OF TOWN EXCELLENT WORK BACK ON THE ROAD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE GUYS!!

In October of 2013, I submitted a complaint regarding my vehicle and it was agreed that the issue would be resolved if the company issued a formal apology. It is now a year and a half later and I have yet to receive an apology and seeing as it has been so long and they have shown they don't truly care about their customers, I would not accept an apology from them now anyways. They have lied, cheated, and shown a complete disregard for us, if you want details review the complaint I filed 10/29/2013. This company only cares about the almighty dollar and they will cut corners leaving you having to spend even more money and say it is common. Actual words used were, "sometimes you have to bring a vehicle in multiple times to find the correct problem." I guess that is their way of saying we don't really know how to truly diagnose a vehicles issues, but don't worry, we will just keep charging you money until we find it. Avoid this company at all costs!

Review: My wife and I first took our 2003 Ford Windstar to Transmissions America in order to diagnose issues with our transmission. AT the time we also were having issues with our instrument cluster in our dashboard. The transmission issues were covered under warranty so we decided to let them handle the instrument cluster as well. We were given a parts estimate of $400 for a dash without a message center and $600 for one with. We opted for one with as that is what we already had and we liked having the information from it readily available. At this point they ordered a new dash and completed repairs. When we received the vehicle back, roughly a week later, the original issue with the instrument cluster occurred again. They agreed to order another new dash and replace it again. So we did, and two days after receiving the replacement it did it again. They then decided to try it once more and we were told over the phone that if it did not work we would get our money back. When we dropped the vehicle off, the gentleman who had been making the repairs was there and informed my wife and I that they never replaced the dash, but instead used parts from the replacements to repair the original dash, thus never fixing the issue causing the instrument cluster to fail. When we addressed these concerns with our contact with the company, he apologized for the misrepresentation and agreed to make sure they actually replaced the dash since that is what we paid for from the beginning. When we picked up the vehicle after hours, we checked and found that the dashboard they finally replaced it with did not have a message center. I first spoke with our contact at the company and he did some research and found the supplier sent the wrong dash. I asked to speak to the owner and when he finally contacted me, he refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing and instead continued to exemplify the work his shop does and explained to me that repairs will sometimes require you to come back until the job is done correctly before they finally figure out the cause. I said that issues should be figured out before it is sent back to me and that this type of thing should not happen. He then informed me that he put the dashboard in personally and could not figure out why the message center buttons did not work, seeing as how the dash he installed didn't have a message center. At which point he asked me bring the vehicle back in on Friday and that he would make the repairs personally over the weekend and I could pick my vehicle Sunday after hours. I asked the owner if he would just give me back my old dash and give me my money back so that I can take it somewhere else. He completely refused to do so and angrily said, "I'm going to complete the service!" When I dropped the vehicle off Friday after work, the gentleman asked if the owner had contacted me about the vehicle. I replied no and he told me the part won't be in until Monday and that I will have to pick it up then. I finally picked the vehicle up on the Tuesday following after work. When they finally did the agreed upon repairs, it seems to have fixed the problem, but it was multiple trips and discovering on our own that they were never replacing the dashboard but were instead making replacements of individual components. A fact we would never have known if we had not spoken with the mechanic doing the work after hours on-site. regardless of paying for a full replacement and not repairs of our original equipment.Desired Settlement: Although the shop manager apologised to me, the owner treated me with nothing but hostility and indifference. He implied that no wrongdoing was done regardless of the fact that what we had paid to be done on the first visit what did not actually happen until the 5th visit resulting in 10 individual trips, including me having to take time off of work to pick up my wife after dropping the vehicle off, and taking my wife to the shop to pick the vehicle up. I would like a formal apology from the shop owner over the phone AND a refund of the charges seeing as how they failed to do what was asked until we discovered the failure to do the agreed upon work and brought it to company contacts attention.

Business

Response:

[redacted] brought her 03 Ford Windstar van into our shop on 7/24/13 for drivability issues with the transmission. It was diagnosed for a transmission overhaul for a total cost of 2370.83 per invoice #[redacted]. We were able to get her extended warranty to cover 2050.04 customer was responsible for the balance of 320.79. The tachometer in the instrument cluster was not working. A good used instrument cluster for 400.00 and 2.0 hours to install at 98.00 per hour was authorized per invoice # [redacted] for a total cost of 616.00 w/ tax. It should be know that the gentleman who had been making the repairs, the owner, the mechanic doing the work after hours and the shop manager that apologized that is stated in the customer's statement of the problem is all the same person, me, John Micheal, the one answering this complaint. The contact at our company is [redacted], our manager. When you install good used instrument clusters you have a different mileage, I thought it be better to rebuild the original cluster to keep the mileage the same. I explained this to [redacted]. Rebuilding the cluster is more expensive than a good used one, but I was willing to absorb and addition costs. I thought it would be a better job if the customer had the same mileage. We made two attempts at this realizing that these repairs were only lasting a short time. On the third time we replaced the cluster with a good used one with different mileage, I didn't realize this cluster did have a message center until after customer picked up vehicle. Our supplier had sent the wrong one. I talked w/ Mr. [redacted] who at this time demanded his money back saying they had been misinformed and in convinced enough. I apologized and offered to overnight and install the correct cluster over the weekend so they would not be in convinced during the week. He reluctantly agreed and was angry about not getting a refund. This conversation happened on a Thursday and arrangements were made to drop off vehicle not the up coming weekend but the weekend after as to allow time for the cluster to come in. I don't know why Mr [redacted] dropped of the van a weekend before he was supposed to but he did. The cluster arrived that Monday and I had it installed and ready by 5:00 pm that day. Van wasn't pick up until Tuesday. In closing we are not sure why this customer is asking for a refund when the repairs have been properly made as stated by customer. In addition the repairs for cluster were 616.00 not 936.79 It should be further known that I was never hostle or indifferent, I just wanted to be honest about what was going on with the cluster and make sure the job was done right and was willing to work nights and/or weekends to do so. Why else would I volunteer this information as the gentleman making the repairs is stated in customer complaint I would be willing to write or call Mr. [redacted] with another apology if need be to comply with desired settlement Thank you, John M. DiLauro owner Transmissions America Roanoke Va. .

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. I do not consider this good practice as the issue took over 2 months and was extremely inconvenient, since 10 trips were required to get the job done. A total of 8 trips over the necessary, and my wife was told every time that the cluster was being replaced and not repaired. We were made aware of the issue that the mileage would be off if a new cluster was installed and the agreement was never to attempt to fix the cluster and the difference in mileage was never an issue we cared about and expressed as much. If a formal apology and acknowledgement of misinformation is made, I will accept it and consider the issue resolved.Regards,[redacted]