I called for a free check of fluids and shifting due to I replaced a crankposition sensor on my wifes 95' Subaru Legacy AWD wagon. I had replaced the tranny filter and fluid as well and just need a safety check for my and my wifes piece of mind.

Showed up for the appointment on the 6th of July 2006 with all working but 4th gear, it would not shift into it. I had also told him I had a code P0740 for the torque converter circuit.

He got the only mechanic they had to do the check-up. He went out to my car and I informed him of all the info for the sensor and fluid change. He drove off with the car and I went in. Bill, the sales person, greeted me inside and he started some paperwork. I asked him jokingly "how much will this cost me?". He replied with $39.95. I told him I was in only for a check-up and thought my service was no charge. He then handed me a brochure with the free service and then the 39.95 service.

I felt obligated to pay him due to he had my car and I would not get it back if I didn't. He gives me the rundown of all the car did, and it was nothing different than I had already told him. we sat in his office for ten minutes as he tried to wear me down to pay him $2100+ to have the tranny rebuilt. Keep in mind when I entered the building to have the car looked at, he, at no time, explained the service being performed till I asked him.

He offerd a $100 internet coupon discount and the $39.95 toward the repair and still insisted to let it there for repair. I said I would take it to another shop or two for estimate till I was satisfied i was getting the truth. He tried to talk me out of it of coarse. I requested a copy of my work order and i was told" company policy is customer does not receive this". I said"if I paid for it I want it!". The paper work only had on it what I had told him and already knew.

I found out a short time later the tech at Aamco overfilled my tranny for me. I did not tell them this. I had the ohter FREE estimates done to find it was a electrical connection in combination with a clogged from the new fluid causing my problem. A $300+ problem, not a $2100+ problem.

I got incontact with the PA attorney general and the y agreed they baited me with a free diagnostic only to charge me. i called Aamco to get a refund and was told I did ask for the service they performed and was mistaken. Bill told me several times he told me before on the phone and when the tech took the car.

I reiterated my stand on what happened and he only suceeded in making me angry at him. I had called asking for his boss, but he felt he could handle me. After arguing on the phone for ten minutes his boss listened in when Bill decided to accuse me of threating him. Frank told me he would not talk to me if I could not be civil and hung-up on me.

I called him right back and got Bill again. I asked for his boss again and this time he was calmer and actually nice. He pulled my work order and said "I will give you a refund for $39.95, no on the tax since it had already been paid". "you kind of people",Frank said "are not worth dealing with". I told him he has to refund the tax as well, it is the law when collecting sales tax ( I had a small bussines, so I do know about this).

He started in about how long he had been in bussiness adn he knows what he is doing. It finally came down to me showing up at his shop in my Subaru SVX (I do all my own Subaru repairs if possible), singed a waiver and got my refund. I said a whole tem words to them as I pulled ot of their lot as fast as I could. Oh, I did get the sales tax.

The WORST customer service and so called professional knowledge ever experienced. NOT honest in the bit.

Edit: I just found a coupon for a free service on Their web site for the service they charged me.

Kris

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Aamco Transmissions

Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on Aamco Transmissions

6 Updates & Rebuttals

Kris

Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.

Inaccurate info????

#2Author of original report

Tue, July 05, 2011

If you read the post, there is no "Frank" mentioned in it, only "Bill". I find it funny when I showed-up ithe car had 1st 2nd and 3rd gears working fine, then when I left I only had 1st and reverse!!!!! I thank Pravin Patel of PIE Transmissions for finding the real problem. He felt it was probably low fluid when I first pulled into there and they should have seen that in the test drive. Yes, 30 minutes for a test deive is in excess for any shop. I see alot of the responses miss most the key points in the report and just want to say I was the culpret. Well, the guy I am responding to now waited aomost 5 years to respond to this, and I DO HAVE THE RECEIPT for the day I was there and I did inform the AAMCO shop of what another shop found that was 1/2 a mile away from them. Bill did not want to hear it and told me to never talk to them again, sounds like he was guilty. I am proud I got my money back, and I should have, that is what a free check-up is suspose to be. This guy wanted to replace everything! A new transmission was only a coupple hundred more, and to the other person, no I did not go to a dealer. There are things called code scanners, sold at PEP BOYS, Adance Auto and by my employer since 1996, Snap-On Tools. I work with alot of mechanics, which agree with me and what happended and they told me to post it. A few bad shops make good ones look bad, and this one had already had a reputation before I showed-up. Do not comment anymore on this because YOU WERE NOT THERE!!! and making excuses for these guys does not make you look or them look better. I have rebuilt many cars and this is the first transmission I ever had a problem with in 20 years, so I think I am doing something right!

matt

mount holly springs,
Pennsylvania,
United States of America

Inaccurate information

#3UPDATE Employee

Wed, May 04, 2011

I am the service manager at the Jonestown rd location. This report is not for my store, the "manager" listed in this complaint "Frank" is the owner of the Walnut st location. I can understand you wanting to do your due dillagence and use your amendment right to freedom of speech but please check and make sure you verify the right location.

I have double checked all my store records and we never saw you or your vehicle. I would love the chance to show you how Aamco treats their customers. Please dont judge all Aamco's by one experince.

Kris

Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.

Update to 1st responder

#4Author of original report

Thu, February 11, 2010

I auctually did ask for an inspection, not a repair. If you would have read it closer you would have seen that. Every shop I ahve ever dealt with DOES NOT charge you for the diagnosis and DOES NOT take the car out of your sight for 1/2 and hour where you cannot see what they did. The shop that did do the work found metal filings not consistant with my transmissions own gears. There was no abnormal wear that could have produced what they found. So yes, it was the old Dateline NBC story where a old couple takes a perfectly good RV to a tranny shop to have it messed with to get an expensive repair. The shop that did it only charged a little over$1600 and gave me a car to use while they had mine.

ConcreteArtist

leesburg,
Florida,
United States of America

This is what bugs me

#5General Comment

Wed, February 10, 2010

I come here for honest feed back, not temper tantrums. Please Joe. Who goes into a shop and talks to the guy in the shop before talking to the man in the office. You said YOU changed the fluid not the AAMCO. I especially love the part, "there was nothing wrong" you were just taking it in for a fluid check safety check. It just did not go into 4th gear. Hello!! A transmission that just does not go into fourth gear is not ok. Even your wife knows that. You act as if they should not have check anything because you had pulled the codes and you knew what was wrong. then fix it yuor self. like the fluid. Oh that's right that did not work out so well did it. Look we are so proud you got your money back and your sales tax, it is also obvious you had a problem you did not want to admit, are accusatory and take the word of this mans competitor. I am sure he did not want to keep talking to you because you were so reasonable. Please people just the facts the truth never needs to be embellished.

Jotrans

Deerfield Bch,,
Florida,
U.S.A.

NOT ALL AAMCO'S ARE RIP-OFF'S

#6UPDATE EX-employee responds

Wed, August 15, 2007

I was a service mgr. for Aamco trans. in Pa. for a few years, I can say that Aamco is a good trans. shop. A shop is only as good as the people who run them. My owner / operator was the most honest person I ever met. He would do anything to make a customer happy. If there was a problem with the work we performed, he would, at his expence, pay for a rental car. We had top notch people working for us. He treated us all like family. We recieved awards from the home office, for having the least amounts of customer complants. Most of our customers were from happy people who refered the're friends and family to us. I would hope that Tom in Pottsville, Pa. is still in business, because he always put the "C" in customer before the "c" in cash. Thank You. Hey to you guy's up in Pottsville, Pa. Wish I was still up there. Joe from Fl.

Joe

Danville,
Virginia,
U.S.A.

"You get what you pay for"

#7Consumer Comment

Mon, July 02, 2007

If you were just looking for an inspection, then your service would have been free. But, you showed up with a problem (diagnosed or not) that needed an actual repair. It's a similiar situation to when you go to Jiffy Lube and they do a "free" 21 point inspection and then come and ask you to buy an air filter. If you already had the code pulled off the car's CPU, which you probably had done at a dealer, you should have had the work done at that dealer... or wait maybe the laber rate was too high. "You get what you pay for." Sounds to me like to did some "at home" repairs that didn't go to well, and then looked for someone to bail you out. It's not always the best policy to have codes pulled, then try to do the work yourself... screw it up and then find a scapegoat. You could have caused the electrical connection problem while replacing sensors on the vehicle. Also sounds like you had replaced the filter and fluid prior to your appointment, so maybe you overfilled it, causing your shift problem and throwing the Torque Converter code. Finally, they have ASC certifications for a reason. The days of working on the old hemi big block in the garage are over, todays' cars are too complex and riddled with sensor and electrical problems... check with Subaru about Technical Service Bullitens along with recalls and let me know how many sensors are included. Your wife was right... leave it to the professionals.

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