Cottman Transmissions Of CNY Beware "Free" Diagnostic Scam East Syracuse New York
This shop doubles the list price of parts in order to make up for the time they spend inspecting your car for free.
I asked twice in advance for the cost of the repair and didn't get an answer until the job was complete. I couldn't dispute the charges until it was too late. I never gave approval to proceed with the repair since they wouldn't tell me the cost.
When I picked up the car, I brought a printout with pricing from two Acura dealerships. The list price for the part was $66.93. Cottman charged me $124.46.
When I presented my information and expressed my concern, the counter person became rude, argumentative and extremely obnoxious. At one point, waving my paperwork saying, "you can't come in here at the end of the day with this bull-#*% questioning our prices!"
Even a discount coupon printed from their website was tossed aside and not honored.
There was no manager at the shop during this exchange.
I will never do business with Cottman again. I strongly urge others to avoid this rip-off operation.
Joe D
Manlius, New York
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoeix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Not out of line.
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, June 25, 2009
I don't know anything about this shop in particular, but shops in general add a mark up on the parts they use to fix your car. That is part of their profit margin. It is not unusual for a shop to have mark ups of 50% - 100% on parts. That's how these businesses operate. The other day I had a ribeye steak at a restaurant. The restaurant marked up the price of the steak by 300% over what I could have bought it at the grocery store. Some nerve, eh?
Your alternative is to buy the parts at "list price" and install them yourself.