Complaint Review: AAMCO - El Cajon California

In June of 2002 AAMCO did a complete rebuild of the transmission in my 1995 Mazda 626 and charged nearly $1900. Naturally it came with the standard 12-month warranty. 6 months after the rebuild the overdrive O/D OFF light would start flashing on trips of 15 miles or more, mostly highway driving.

I took the car back into AAMCO to have an inspection done and they kept the car for the entire day. Miraculously when I returned, all the manager could tell me was that the technician accidentally deleted the error code. He also said that I would have to drive the car until the error code appeared again and bring it back in. In other words, they tried to sweep it under the rug until the 12-month warranty had expired and they were no longer liable for the repairs.

We continued to drive the car until we could no longer avoid the fact that the transmission was failing again. So for the third time we bring the car back to AAMCO to have it looked at. Naturally the first thing they tell me is that my problem is that engine isnt running right, but theyll look at the transmission anyway.

The shop manager calls me back 8 days later and to everybodys surprise, the transmission is in pieces. He also tells me that an unrelated part is broken. He called it an engine mount; Mazda called it a transmission mount. A mount that they would have to remove to work on the transmission and if forgotten about could be accidentally broken. And as a nice guy, he is going to replace it for only the cost of the part, $120. I drove down to look at the part and the transmission. I photographed the part and looked at the transmission. The transmission was in pieces. A series of gears known, as the orbital gears were demolished, huge chunks of teeth were missing. When I took a photo of the broken mount to Mazda I found the cost of the part was a mere $48.

The following day I went back to AAMCO to photograph the broken transmission parts and get a written estimate. When I asked the manager to see the transmission parts he absolutely refused. When I asked for a written estimate I was told I could have one after the repairs were completed. Then the shop owner, the managers father, came into the lobby. When I asked the owner to see the transmission and for a written estimate he got directly in my face and said, get out of my shop or youre going to get hurt.

Then the manager called 911 and told them that I had a weapon in the store. As I continued to make my request the father and son duo insulted me by calling me everything you can think of. The manager further threatened to void my warranty because my brother drove the car and give me my transmission back in pieces.

It finally took them nearly a month to complete the repairs on the car. Fearing for the safety of the car I would not drive until a competent mechanic inspected it. After an inspection was done my brother drove the car the first time in nearly two months and after about 20 miles on the freeway, the O/D OFF light started flashing again. We are now going through a month long battle to get AAMCO to fix the transmission again and give us a proper warranty, we will try to keep you posted in the progress.

P.S. I have a video of the threats made against me by the manager and owner for anyone who would like to see it.

Chris

Lakeside, California
U.S.A.