Complaint Review: General Motors

July 30, 2005
GM Customer Complaint Department
(Chevrolet), File# 1-259883174

Attention: Vinnie
P.O. Box 33170

Detroit, MI. 48232-

Dear GM

I am seeking payment from GM for the full cost of the latest repair to the transmission of my 2000 Chevy Impala. The total cost of this repair to include towing, repair, and a 7 day car rental is 2405.02. It was repaired properly by AAMCO transmissions this time, see attached invoice. The problem this time was a bearing in the planetarium blew up and destroyed the gears. This damage was caused by the undue stress placed on the gears and bearings during the four months and 10,000 miles worth of problems and troubleshooting, performed at your three dealerships in the area.

In April 2004 I started having problems with the transmission in my 2000 Chevrolet Impala sticking in gear. I immediately took it to the service department at Mandal Pontiac, and after a few tries they finally diagnosed it as a solenoid valve. The replacement finally fixed that problem. During all this troubleshooting and leaving my car overnight I was never given a rental car. The car had approximately 66,000 miles on it and was covered by an extended warranty. The warranty went to 75,000 miles which we exceeded prior to the transmission being repaired. At 80,500 mile the bearings in the transmission finally blew up and destroyed the planetariums. The transmission was rebuilt by AAMCO and works great today when I picked it up. I have been taking the car to Mandal Pontiac, Turan Foley Chevrolet, and Preston Hood Chevrolet since April 2004 for problems with the transmissions. Most of the time I spent getting we cannot duplicate your problem responses from them. Mandal finally duplicated the sticking in gear problem, replaced a solenoid valve, and it fixed one problem and created another problem. The transmission would intermittently move forward and then slam into gear squealing the tires. The dealers couldn't duplicate this problem for a while either. Finally, Mandal duplicated the problem at 74,400 miles and told me to take the car home over the weekend and start off in 2nd gear and then first gear to see if it acted the same way, it did. I called them on the following Monday to inform their service manager, he talked to his transmission guy and he said this wasn't good because it could be any number of things. They spent another week to two with me driving the car trying to figure out the problem. I was told they tryed to get GMPP to let them open the transmission and were told no. The service manager had an open ticket so the repair would be covered I was told. I contacted the Mandal Service Manager when I had 75, 500 miles on the car and told him we need to do something. He called me later that day and told me they couldn't fix the problem and I needed to take it to another dealer. I called his boss and complained. I took the car to Preston Hood and they replaced a valve assembly and GMPP covered it. I spent the better part of three months with this transmission slamming itself into gear and squealing the tires. It just kept getting worse and I'm sure this led to the problem at 80,500 miles when the bearing inside the transmission blew up and destroyed the planetaruium. I have talked to GM and GMPP about covering this work and have been told No by them all. Had Mandal or GMPP opened the transmission during the earlier problems and rebuilt it we wouldn't have this problem. AAMCO's rebuild has corrected the rough shifting, a noise in the front when I turned left and gave the car gas, and a vibration in the front of the car when you stopped. I'm sure every one of these problems was related to the bearing in the transmission being bad. I assumed that GM's highly trained technicians would be able to solve the problem, wrong answer. This has been some of the worst customer service and poorest technician troubleshooting I've ever seen.

Your assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated. If we cannot resolve this issue I have no option other than to give it to an attorney. If you have any questions, please contact me at the number above.
Sincerely,
Steven R Clayton


Steve
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
U.S.A.