Complaint Review: AAMCO Rockville

I've never been so disgusted and irate in my life with an auto repair facility.  Took my Yukon in for noises and rattling coming from underneath my SUV toward the rear end on a Good Friday before Easter 2016.  The problems would only surface at highway cruising speeds.  By way of background, I'm a car nut, an enthusiast.  I've worked on my own vehicles for years, was a sales manager of a leading national auto sales dealership and in that capacity, I test drove hundreds of potential trade-in vehicles to determine worthiness.  I know my way around a car.  That being said, I'm getting too old, too slow, and too impatient with newer technology, and my new house surroundings don't permit me to work on my vehicles any longer.  I'm quoted $90-176 inspection fee (yes, pretty steep), but if I choose to do the work at their shop, this inspection fee would be applied to the bill.  Fair enough, I think.

I dropped off my truck at 9am, and was told I would get a call back by 4pm.  Again this is a Friday before Easter and I had family flying in for the weekend and I needed by truck to pick up peeps and passengers.  Yes, dropping off this day is a mistake on my part. but again, we're talking about rattling and clunking noises at highway speeds only.

After no calls from them, I called the shop at 5pm; "Keith is busy; he'll call you back shortly".  At 8pm my phone rings with Keith on the line; "sorry it took me so long to reach you; I've spent hours test driving your car trying to find the problem but I cannot pinpoint the problem yet; but I did notice your front passenger brakes and rotor are excessivly wearing.  I think your brake lines and calipers are bad, so I'm going to want to fix that problem first, before I continue to the clunking noise because this problem could be causing the other; and I want to isolate your complaint by eliminating this problem first".   NOW LET'S WAIT A MINUTE!!  A possible brake caliper/hydraulic fluid hose diagnosis is causing a clunking and rattling noise in the rear?  Intereting... this is going to be good.  Keith said he test drove my truck at highway speeds at length, and was feeling the front right wheel was "seizing" up a bit, which could be putting undue stress on the transmission when shifting from 3rd down to 2nd.  Readers - I'm not joking about this.. this man, not knowing my background, and the fact that I'm a retired detective, is trying to tell me that the rattling vibration noise I'm hearing, and the clunking noise I hear only when I go over speed bumps, is being caused by the front brake system, that he felt seizing when the car shifts down from 3rd to 2nd.  AGAIN, my complaint indicated the problems arise only at highway speeds, or going over speed bumps.  

I remind Keith that I had new brakes, rotors and brake fluid flush 4000 miles ago, that if his diagnosis is correct, we're only taking about replacing rubber hoses that carry fluid into the calipers for them to squeeze and release. I ask how much just for his proposed brake job - "$551" he replies; tells me the hoses are $90; labor is 1.3 hours per wheel, etc, etc.  I may not be in the repair business, but I didn't exactly fall of a turnip truck either.  I question his diagnosis and fees with a detailed and knowledgeable level of questioning, and he begins to get upset, constantly cuts me off and tells me I'm not a professional, that he is.  (A professional crook and a liar, that I give him).  I tell him to wrap the car up right now that I was coming by right now to pick it up.  He says, he is closing his shop for the night, that it's my fault I don't want the work done, and that he is going to charge me a day of storage at $48 for picking it up tomorrow.  Seriously?

I bee-line it there while still on the phone (I live 3 miles away), hoping to keep him on the phone arguing with me while I arrive.  I finally convince him to put the wheels back on, which his subordinate does while Keith is still trying to defend an indefenseable position.  

And now for the kicker - he gives me my final bill - $215.  What happened to the range of $90-176?  "shop fees" he explains.  What shop fees?  you didn't use any supplies?  he says the lift he used to hoist my truck to take the wheels off is considered supplies.  And he charges me $20 for fuel that he says he had to put in my car to complete his test drives.  

What a liar.  I got my car with fuel indication of just over a 1/4 tank.  that's about $8.  I did drop it off a little low on fuel, so he is correct that he had to put some fuel, but he definitely didn't put $20.  That would have given me a little over 1/2 tank at $2/gallon.

LIAR, CHEAT, SCUMBAG