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Southtowne Hyundai Isuzu Suzuki, Joe Stroud ATLANTA CAR DEALER TRIED TO RIP OFF MY WIFE $5,000 FOR A ISUZU TROOPER TRANSMISSION THEY SWEAR WAS BAD. DISHONEST, LIARS & THIEVES! Riverdale Georgia
This South Atlanta Isuzu dealer SOUTHTOWNE ISUZU HYUNDAI SUZUKI is a rip off. They appear to prey on women who bring their cars in for service. These people are the scum of the earth in my book.
My wife and I brought her Isuzu Trooper in a year ago because the transmission was shifting funny and getting worse. I was worried that whatever was wrong was going to cause a major problem with the transmission if it wasn't taken care of soon and I didn't want to take a chance a off brand repair shop for transmission service ,so we went to a "reputable" Isuzu dealership.
Being in a type of auto sales myself for the past 15 years my experience told me that the problem was a shifting position sensor. It seemed obvious when on the way to the Southtowne Isuzu I noticed the lights on the dash showing what gear the car is in were acting funny. I told the service man that we gave out keys to what the car was doing and what I thought was wrong and my wife gave him the keys and filled out a form.
because the car is my wife's, the work order was in her name, not mine. We left there and went with some friends to 6 flags for the day. I was really hoping to find out the car was going to be fixed that day and able to be picked up on our way home but wasn't even remotely prepared for the phone call I got a few hours later.
A man called from the service department of the car dealership and blurted out that the car had a bad transmission and it would cost $4,995.00 to get it fixed. It was obvious to me that this man had no bedside manners and was use to diving right in so I challenged his diagnosis. I explained to him that the condition appeared to be a shift position sensor or combination of sensors or minor issues but seriously doubted that my wife's car needed a $5,000.00 (FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR) transmission!
This man then proceeded to tell me that the mechanic that diagnosed the car was very experienced in transmissions and the car needed it. I was shocked! Not only because of the price tag but that this guy didn't make sure I was sitting down before he tried to have his way with me. THANK GOD the car was still drivable and I was experienced enough to tell that these people were trying to scam us. I FEEL SORRY FOR WOMEN OR OTHERS WHO AREN'T MECHANICALLY INCLINED OR EXPERIENCED AND CAN BE SCREWED BY SOUTHTOWNE ISUZU.
After getting the car back I called a mechanic friend who works on diesel trucks and asked him for advice. He referred me to a transmission shop called WOODCO TRANSMISSION SERVICES in Hapeville, GA that he uses for cars and said that the guy was completely honest. I took the car there and told him my whole story about the Isuzu dealership. He wasn't surprised and really doubted that my wife's Trooper with only 83,000 miles needed a transmission.
Well I'm not always right but this time thankfully it turned out I was. Woodco checked everything out and ended up replacing the transmission position sensor for $245.17 total and the car has been running great ever since.
About a month or two after all of this happened and my wife was able to drive and put some miles on the car I knew for sure that the transmission problem was just a sensor from the start. So I called Southtowne Isuzu back and talked to the service manager named Joe Stroud. I told him that I was unhappy with the service there and I though his dealership tried to take advantage of my wife and I.
Though I didn't get scammed out of $5,000.00 I did end up paying $80.00 for them to diagnose or should I say misdiagnose the problem and try and rip me off. THEY DIDN'T EVEN DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM!!! Even if they put in a new transmission they would have had to replace the transmission position sensor!! IDIOTS!! I wonder what they would have charged me for that. Mr. Joe Stroud declined to refund me the $80.00 and told me that my transmission is bad and won't last. This guy is a liar!!
Well Mr. Joe Stroud, Mr. Victor Daniel, Mr. Kenneth Lynch LIC#7371 and every other dishonest crook I dealt with there at SOUTHTOWNE ISUZU in Riverdale, it's been one whole year and 19,288 miles and my wife's Isuzu Trooper is still running and shifting good....NO THANKS TO YOU.
I am not angry. I'm just disappointed that there are people like this in the world that take advantage of others. I realize that I was very fortunate by not falling for the scam. In a perfect world I would get my $80.00 back and these people would repent to God and to everyone they have taken advantage of before they run out of God's grace and are made to be accountable for everything they have done in this short life. The next life will last much much longer.
Steve
Atlanta, Georgia
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Steve
McDonough,Georgia,
U.S.A.
UPDATE - It finally gave out at 120K
#3Author of original report
Tue, June 17, 2008
Well, after going up to Amicolola falls and towing a popup camper up that steep hill the transmission started acting up. We ended up swapping a used transmission into the Trooper at AAMCO and then sold the car off. My wife was so sad to see it go.
So we got another 37,000 miles out of it and really it only went bad because of towing up an extremely steep hill. Wow, another 37,000 miles on what they said was a BAD Transmission! That proves that they are either incompetent or dishonest!
Hugh
Paducah,Kentucky,
U.S.A.
This is becoming more common....
#3Consumer Suggestion
Wed, August 02, 2006
Sadly, you see more and more of this these days. The days where dealerships employed real mechanics that could diagnose and repair items seem to be numbered.
It's more profitable for the dealerships to hire inexperienced mechanics and have them simply swap out whole components rather than repair what is there.
Few dealers rebuild engines or do heavy internal repairs, they just drop in a rebuild engine. Same thing with transmission, they just swap out a rebuilt unit rather than tear into the old one to see if it can be repaired.
Steve did the right thing by finding a real transmission mechanic to do the work.