Complaint Review: Aamco

Feb. 23 I left my car for a new transmission. They said it would be done in a few days, but they kept changing the completion date. It finally was ready 3 wks. later. The day I picked up supposedly finished car, I stopped at gas station & noticed something was leaking out of car. It was all my power steering fluid, because they had not reconnected.

The following day, just at sunset, the car suddenly stopped & could not be restarted. Called AAA for a hot shot, but it didn't hold long enough to make it home. Had to have it towed back to Aamco. They said it was not their fault as the battery was bad. We told them to put in a new battery & also to check the alternator & replace that too if necessary. They called next day that car was ready & only needed battery.

Picked up car & following day, just as I turned off a turnpike, the car suddenly stopped again. Car again towed back to Aamco. This time they admitted that they hadn't check alternator, now had & found it needed replacement. We approved the replacement & 2 days more they called & said car was again ready.

Picked up car again, & the next day, same thing --- the car suddenly died at a red light. Another horrow & another tow. This time they said the new alternator was defective.

Three days later we got the car back again. I called the main Aamco & reported them for shoddy work & all the problems they had caused me. The customer service representative, told me he wanted me to take the car to another Aamco dealer, to be assured that everything had been done correctly. I did this & was told by the dealer on Harford Rd., in Baltimore, that everything looked fine with the transmission.

That was a few wks. ago, & today, we took the car to our regular mechanic for an oil change. He is an honest mechanic we have used for years. When he had the car in the lift he saw problems with the new transmission. A bolt was sheared. There were 2 leaks, & something was attached correctly.

I called the man at customer relations & told him I wanted my mechanic to make the repairs, & Aamco to pay the bill, plus pay for a rental car for me for the time I would be carless. He said he would have to speak to someone above him & would get back to me. A few minutes later, we got a call from the owner of the Randallstown franchise. Turns out he is an absentee owner & doesn't even have any mechanical skills. He claims his shop will make corrections & he will pay $25 a day towards a rental.

Here's the latest predicament we are in ---
1. How can you trust them to do the corrections when there is no boss to see that this is done?
2. Now we have the additional expense of car rental. This is on top of the over $3000 we have already spent with them, plus things that we had to pay our mechanic to fix (Aamco screwed up some electrical things, like the horn not being reconnected, etc. etc.)
3. If they allow us to have corrections done at another Aamco franchise, the only one that is withing less than an hr. away is the one on Harford Rd., who said everything was fine.
4. We are up a creek without a paddle, unless we pay more money, to have our mechanic do the corrections. He can't give us an actual estimate, because he doesn't know how many hrs. it will take, what parts might be needed, & what else he might find wrong during this process.

Never take your car to an Aamco dealer!!!

Gale
Balto., Maryland
U.S.A.