Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission

My son had his 1999 Ford Explorer towed to the Woodstock Cottman Transmission location with a clutch problem. They diagnosed a bad slave cylinder.

Eventually my son managed to borrow the funds to get it fixed and pay the tow bill. He picked up the vehicle, drove less than a mile down the road, it started making a wierd noise. He call them. They advised to continue driving the vehicle and bring it back in the morning. Less than 20 miles later, it makes an awful sound and leaves him stranded on the expressway.

He calls the shop, they tow it back and tell him now its the transmission and its going to cost $2000. We felt that it was their responsibility to cover the transmission repairs since they advised him to drive it.

They said no but they would cover the labor charge IF we paid for the new transmission. After having paid the $ for the slave cylinder and $ for the tow bill and then this happened, we said no thanks and had it towed home.

We had the transmission replaced (by an honest mechanic) and was told that Cottman's had obviously drained the transmission fluid when replacing the slave cylinder and that they had forgotten to re-fill it. And that was what had caused the transmission to burn up.

We have contacted the owner Jeff Maddox at Cottman for reimbursement and have been told that they are not going to pay us back for the repairs. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau and this has been a complete waste of time. My next step is court.

Vickie
Woodstock, Georgia
U.S.A.