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AAMCO Transmissions Lied about estimate before we brought the car in, kept increasing price every time we called, did not return car in the same condition it was dropped off in Dover New Jersey
The transmission on my 1999 Mazda 626 went and we called around for estimates. We talked to the owner Kim at AAMCO in Dover and he said it would be $1700 for a rebuilt transmission. Since that was the lowest price we got, we had them tow our car to the shop. He took the transmission apart and called and said it would be $2700 to replace with a 6 month warranty. After arguing with him on the price he told us he could do it for $1700 with a 1 year warranty and $2200 with a 2 year warranty.
Since we couldn't afford the repair, we were giving the car to my brother and he was going to have the work put into it so we had to check with him and see what he wanted to do. When we worked it all out we called Kim again and he told us it was now going to be between $2700 - $3000. When we asked about the $1700 price he said that would be if he rebuilt our transmission without replacing the parts that were bad. That made no sense to us.
We wanted to take the car out of there since we found someone who would do the repair for $1850 and would tow it for free. Kim told us it would be around $500 since he took the transmission apart. We never signed anything authorizing him to do that work. When we went to pick up the car, he was extremely rude and would not give us the transmission at the time the car was towed. He made us go back and pick it up later that day. He dumped all the parts outside and we had to load it into our car ourselves and drive it over to the place that is doing the repair on our car. We also noticed after we had the car towed that it's missing 2 hubcaps and some lug nuts.
Do not take your car to this AAMCO for any repairs. I would recommend calling Mike at Lee Myles in Rockaway instead. He'll give you an excellent price and won't treat you like dirt. When we brought the transmission over to him, he had his mechanics unload it for us and they were all very nice about the whole thing.
Heather
Hopatcong, New Jersey
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Heather
Hopatcong,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
Excuse me???
#4Author of original report
Tue, December 16, 2008
"You know people who don't know anything about cars tend to think they are being ripped off. The point of the matter is transmissions are so complex. There are anywhere between 400 and 500 parts inside your transmission, not too mention they can take 1 highly paid person 12 hrs to build. Once you get a transmission opened anything can go wrong. My reason for writing this is because i was a customer service manager for a trans. shop years ago. People want estimates. Thats exactly what they are ESTIMATES. People should educate themselves about their car before they holler someones ripping them off. Pure ignorance."
It was not PURE IGNORANCE. Your comment is PURE IDIOCY. Did you even read the report? I got another well known nationwide transmission repair shop to do the repair for $1800 instead of $3000? Paying the $3000 would have been ignorant. Get off your high horse already. Aamco has NUMEROUS reports of ripping people off. Are you saying hundreds of people are ignorant?
Dmarblue
Yuba City,California,
U.S.A.
Sight unseen estimates are a bad idea for everyone.
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, September 29, 2008
I used to manage transmission shop and was taught to never give phone estimates, and I never did. Potential customers get angry because I won't ballpark them a price for repairs to which I answered would you ask for a phone estimate from your doctor without being examined first?
It sounds like the owner of the shop gave an estimate based on a blind diagnosis. The owner is a business man, do you expect him to do the work at a loss because he made a blind stab at diagnosing the problem? He should've kept his mouth shut and plainly asked for the car to be examined or stop wasting his and the caller's time.
As for the charge for examining the transmission, I know for a fact Aamco guidelines require obtaining expressed permission to conduct and internal examination of the transmission, while at the same time informing the car owner of the R & R charge for the examination.
If the facts of the post are true the car owner was foolish for attempting to diagnose a tranny over the phone and expecting an R&R service for no charge. The owner is foolish for giving a price without examining the car first. Bad transaction all the way around
Mskeyplz
Lexington,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
That is very common
#4Consumer Suggestion
Fri, September 26, 2008
You know people who don't know anything about cars tend to think they are being ripped off. The point of the matter is transmissions are so complex. There are anywhere between 400 and 500 parts inside your transmission, not too mention they can take 1 highly paid person 12 hrs to build. Once you get a transmission opened anything can go wrong. My reason for writing this is because i was a customer service manager for a trans. shop years ago. People want estimates. Thats exactly what they are ESTIMATES. People should educate themselves about their car before they holler someones ripping them off. Pure ignorance.