Complaint Review: Thunderbolt Transmission

 Do not take you car into this scam shop. I have photographic and email evidence of everything in my report and am pursuing legal action. My G35 Infiniti needed a new engine. The quotes I got in my area of town were similar to what I was quoted at Thunderbolt, but they offered the 100k mile guarantee so I mistakenly thought it was a better idea to take it to them. I had head they did good work, so I decided to bring it in. The quote I had received from 2 local mechanics was $1,600 for a new engine and about 2,500 of parts and labor for a total of not more than around 5k. This was the same quote I received from Thunderbolt so I brought it in. They required a 1k deposit to start the work on the engine and had a 3 week wait period before they could get to my car.

I paid them the deposit and they called to tell me the estimate for repair was $10k. Twice the original estimate and twice what my car is even worth at this point. They couldn't explain how if the engine was $1600 how it could possibly cost $8,400 in parts and labor?? I should have towed my car back right then, but they would not give me back the 1k deposit and I had already been 3 weeks without my car. He eventually called me back to "make a deal" with me and would do it for a total of $6,500. I mistakenly agreed. 3 weeks later I have not heard from Thubderbolt so I call and find out that yes, my car is ready. I go to pick it up and find my car has been trashed and clearly used for personal use. The odometer when it went in had 124,500 miles on it and 125,000 when I picked up. Somehow from the time they fixed it...they had managed to put 500 miles on it. There was trash all over my car as well as handfuls of cracked pecan shells in the front and rear cup holders. My floor boards in front and back of the passenger side were soaking wet and no one could explain any of it.

They did refund me $250 for detailing as I refused to let them bear my car again. The next week ... I took it through the car wash and the interior passenger side floor boards filled with soapy water. I took it to my local mechanic as I was tired of being lied to by Thunderbolt, and they took pictures of where a plug near the battery was not pushed in at all and a softball sized hole was left to drain water directly into my car. Thunderbolt again claims they never touched that part of the car, though it seems impossible when one does an entire engine replacement, not to mention I picked up my car in the same soaking wet state as it had been sitting outside for over 6 weeks when they weren't using it. Do not take your car in to this scam shop. I'm not sure what happened and at what point the disconnect between management and mechanics happened, but they clearly have no control and no desire to fix this. Their answers have been to lie, blame someone else for the mistake, with no recourse. I'm in the process of pursuing legal action and will be sure to share my experience in as many places as I can.