Cottman Transmission Told me one price but changed it when I showed up to pay!! Virginia Beach, Virginia
Cottman worked on my Lexus in November of 09.I finally got it back in the beginning of January with a bill of $5500. My car started doing the exact same thing it was doing the first time I took it in there a year later. This time they said it was2 coils. He gave me the price to fix it. He said it was $391. I asked if he was getting parts from Lexus or from Autozone next door because I already checked on parts prices at Pepboys. I knew what the parts would cost at Autozone. I told him to give me a call back and let me know if they price was better with the Autozone parts. It would have cost me less. I didn't authorize the work yet. He called me back that afternoon and said the work was done. He never asked about the price or where the parts were coming from. He told me over the phone it was $321.00 Originally he told me it was $391.00 so I thought he must have gotten the parts from Autozone and saved me some money. I went in there with $321 in cash and his front man Rob said it was $434. He got "CE" on the phone and the guy called me a liar and said that he would never tell me$321 and that the $391 was only for parts and labor. Why would someone call you and tell you your vehicle was fixed and only tell you cost of parts and labor? When I asked for a price breakdown on parts, they couldn't give it to me, nor could they tell me where the parts came from.
I was still paying on the transmission from the lexus, and in addition to a promissary note that said I would pay him a lot more money per month (I had been paying him as much as I could almost every month since I got the car back), he told me he wouldn't give me my car back until I wrote out 12 post dated checks for $197.33. Legally he can screw me and cash them all. He said he wouldn't, but he lied before. He said the tax guys were after him and he needed the money, but I hadn't gotten even one phone call over the course of a year asking me for more money but he was definitely cashing the checks I was sending in.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Bubba Lee
REd Deer,Alberta,
Canada
A hint and education didn't work
#4General Comment
Wed, January 05, 2011
I was trying to give you a little insight as to why this shop manager set out to upset you so badly you wouldn't come back.
By the way, I don't agree with the tactic, but I hope it worked.
bamagirl
Virginia Beach,Virginia,
United States of America
People like me?
#4Author of original report
Tue, January 04, 2011
When a business owner tells you a price of finished work, that should be the price. In the USA, that is how it works. If he had given me the lower price and started doing the work and called me and said something else had come up and it was going to cost a little more, I would understand that. That didn't happen. I didn't authorize the work. He was supposed to call me back and give me information he OFFERED to get me. He offered to find out where the parts were coming from and if it would cost me less. When he called,he saidthe workwas done and gave me the price. He never got the information on where the parts were coming from. In case someone isn't aware that is reading this, Lexus dealership prices are more expensive than the auto parts shop that was 2 doors down from Cottman Transmission. The price he gave me on that phone call was a different price when I got to the shop to pay in cash the following business day. Why would an honest business man not give the total price after the work was done when he was calling the customer to say it was finished. He knew whatthe pricewas and he knew he jumped the gun doing work they weren't authorized to do.
The gentleman who replied to my first post basically said that anyone asking questions about a job orthe breakdown of a jobshould be refused services.With all the scams andcrooked businesses out there, who wouldn't ask questions to protect themselves. Those businesses who think that you shouldn't be able to ask questions are probably the ones people should be most careful of.
Bubba Lee
REd Deer,Alberta,
Canada
What we used to do
#4General Comment
Tue, January 04, 2011
When I ranmy repair shop we spent time "educating" people like you.
1st 100% of the profit a properly run repair shop makes is on parts mark-up.
2nd If the pricing is done properly the labour rate is just enough to keep the lights on and the bills paid.
3rd We marked up parts by an amount determined tby our management not by the discount the supplier offers, or what Auto zone or Pep Boys charges.
4th A course I took in college pointed out that "10% of your customers should be fired, they take up an inordinate amount of time, try to chisel at your pay and will never be satisfied, you are better without them".
In my shop customers that shoped for parts pricing the way you do very often got told to come get their car and not come back.