Jarred
Denver,#2Author of original report
Tue, January 04, 2005
It is now a week later. Evidently the parts and pictures that the shop here in town sent off to AAmco's technicians weren't enough to validate Marc's story. Even though Marc still believes that the transmission was abused (based on body damage...) he is going to fix it with two conditions: 1.)That my roomate not talk to them ever again (which is fine) 2.)He will not repair the transmission if he feels that it has been abused again (okay this is a problem) I call Anna Wright at the main office (1.800.292.8500 ext. 224) and explain to her that I can satisfy the first condition with pretty much no problem, but I can't control a person 100%. As for the second condition, I ask if they will reimburse me for a complete diagnostic at a local Mitsubishi dealership (a mere $88). To which she replies, "Why should we have to pay for a diagnostic at some other shop?" I try explaining to her that they have had my car for 1.5 months for basically no reason and this way we would both have a reference point for what damage already exists (thus there would be no way for either of us to bullshit eachother if this problem should arise again) All she can say is that they are going to fix the transmission and that I can do whatever I want with the car after that, but they aren't going to pay for it. After that I call Marc and propose the same deal to him, and get the EXACT same reply. He thinks this is moving forward. I disagree and say this is getting back to zero and that he apparently has no intention of having me be a satisfied customer. He also tells me that he found a reciept for new tires (that my roomate bought before the problem) and tries to back his story again. At this point I want a diagnostic just to make sure that they haven't tampered with anything else. Apparently they want me to stay dissatisfied with their service.
Jarred
Denver,#3Author of original report
Thu, December 30, 2004
After the shop here in Denver refused to honor the warranty I called AAMCO's national customer service line (1.800.523.0401) and spoke briefly with Greg (ext. 317). Greg told me the he would need to gather some paper work from the shop here in Denver. Upon receipt of this paper work (which was about 1.5 weeks later) I received a message from Greg that said the submitted paperwork was going to be sent to a third party to get an outside opinion. I've tried calling Greg several times because I want to know who the paperwork was sent to etc. It seems all I can do is leave messages for him and wait for a call back. Tired of waiting, I went to the shop and requested all of the paperwork they sent. After looking around the shop for about 30 minutes Marc finally found what I needed. He made a copy of the EDS and showed me some pictures he had taken. One of the techs explained the damage that was shown: Pictures of the left-front and right-front ball joints: "see what's happening here is the ball joint...blah blah blah...the wheel's about to fall off. There's also some scratches on the inside of the tires." Picture of the sub-frame: "there's a bend in the frame here, the unibody is shot...this thing is'nt safe to drive..." While the tech explained the pictures Marc interjected his rendition of what *probably* happened: "Your buddy, i don't know what he did to your car, but it looks to me like he drove it into a ditch and got it stuck and was rocking it from reverse to drive to get it out. See these scratches on the inside of the tires, it looks like he was stuck in a gravel pit (what?) and was spinning the tires trying to get it out." He then points out that the frame is bent also. The whole time I was staring at him while he tried to fabricate this story. What I have already explained to him is that the title to my car says "SALVAGED" on it. Meaning, the car was totalled before I purchased it. It was involved in two front-end collisions that resulted in the frame being bent and the front end suspension damaged. AAMCO has yet to provide and solid concrete evidence that the car was abused. Oh, and a side note: Marc told me that the EDS showed that the car was at 5400rpms which was "way above normal driving conditions" (really? it doesnt red-line until 6). After reviewing the EDS there is no mention of this anywhere, hmmmm.