Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission - Norris (Owner) Cottman Corp (Carol - Email From Cottman Cust. Relations)

This is a second response sent to the corporate office in hopes of a positive reponse - I will keep this updated as things unfold.............


I am writing this on Behalf of my son Chris Zambounis. I am an active duty soldier with over 21+ years of active Army service and retiring this year. I had planned on purchasing a Cottmans Transmission Franchise but have reconsidered after the problems my son is having, and having looked on the web site about Cottman transmission. In my opinion, based on feedback from consumers, your franchises have a bad reputation. I myself, having used Cottmans, had a bad taste once before, but felt it probably was a one time isolated situation. This Cottmans was in Parkersburg, WV.

Now that I see from many of your consumers, they do not trust your patronage and those who venture to use your franchises should beware.

I am surprised those who over see these operations in the US have not responded positively and / or fairly to customers with legitimate complaints. These complaints must be treated seriously and with care. I noticed my son's response from Corp was:

" Hi Chris,

You need to discuss your concerns with the Cottman Center.

Cottman Customer Relations"

Was this a Joke? Do you think he would be writing on your Corp Website about a complaint if he received the proper customer service from the Cottman's center?

As Professionals, I would hope that you do the right thing, listen to his complaint at face value and respond with more than just an email referring him back to the same people who are giving him the problem. This is not a way to do business.

He has even spent more of his hard earned money having two more opinions given by other professionals / experts in the area that was repaired. Each one stating the same thing - something different than your franchise. In addition, the franchise finally agreed they were in error after discussing it with the two other professionals.

So now what we have is:

1) My son spent money to validate your franchises decision and workmanship - to determine they were wrong.

2) Your franchise did agree after talking to those my son consulted, those additional repairs were not needed, (hmmm, more money for nothing?)

3) He has missed several days of work because of no transportation and they insist on him bringing the vehicle in to be looked at times while he is in school.

4) The clutch is still not repaired properly (still having problems with the clutch) and the warranty is going to expire (6-1-05). This warranty should be in effect after it was repaired successfully. He has returned it more than 5 times.

This is what I would expect from a reputable franchise:

1) Fix a defect with reasonable cost the first time.

2) Ensure competent workers are employed by the franchise who know what customer service and satisfaction means.

3) Stand behind decisions made by the repair facility - meaning if an error was made, do not make the customer pay for the errors made by the franchise.

4) Don't use the warranty period to continuously fix poor workmanship. Use the warranty to fix problems after it was fixed properly.

I will wait and see what response I will receive from your corp. customer relation's dept. If I get the same response as my son, then I have validated my impressions of your franchise.

I am hoping to resolve this issue responsibly and in a timely manner. I hope we can work through this to end up with a favorable resolution for both parties.

Respectfully,

MSG Jery M. Zambounis
US Army

Jery
Columbia, South Carolina
U.S.A.