Complaint Review: Active Green & Ross - Newmarket Ontario

I took my Ford Taurus to Green & Ross 4 times

1. To get new tires      

2. To have my rear struts replaced.  I took the car back a week later as the rear end was still rattling.  I was told by the Manager, Maurice that all was fine and that it was the front that was now rattling.    

3. To have my auto Window serviced     

4. To have an oil change & fluid top up, including my transmission fluid.

For each service (except the oil change), I was called with an increase in the original quote, which I paid, trusting that the extra expense was warranted & the manager insisted my car was worth it.



A week after the oil change, my transmission started slipping.   I took the vehicle to a transmission specialist who noted that the transmission dipstick was pulled out and the transmission cap wedged into the nearby hoses.  The transmission was extremely low on fluid, with a pool of fluid at the bottom and obviously some had come out the top of the fill tube.  He added fluid, hoping that that was all that was needed.  He checked on over the next week, but it was still losing transmission fluid.  A further service was required to determine what the problem was.  



What the transmission specialist found was (in addition to the dipstick being left out) -

1.  My locking wheel nuts were put on so tight, that a roadside tire change would have been impossible. (Green & Ross was the last people touching them)   

2. The new rear struts put on by Green & Ross were 2 different colours, suggesting they are 2 different brands



The transmission re-build cost me $2620.74. 

My locking wheel nuts were broken by the transmission specialist trying to take them off with his power tools, since they were put on so tightly.



I immediately sent Green & Ross an email telling them what had happened and asking for the cost of the transmission repair.  I also noted that the wheel nuts were not put on properly and that it was a good thing I never needed to change them myself.  I also asked why there would be 2 different colours of struts put on my car, side to side.  



An exchange of emails followed with Green & Ross admitting no wrong doing.   

I sent a complete letter explaining all to Green & Ross Head Office with the same response.

I filed a complaint with The Better Business Bureau who allowed another exchange of emails but when Green & Ross offered to refund me the price of my oil change only ($80.), BBB considered that a reasonable offer.  Better Business Bureau is only a mediation service, only allowing the exchange of communication between the 2 parties.  That had already been done with no solution so to re-hash was just a waste of time.



I have more recently discovered what actually happened to my transmission. According to my Ford manual, when the transmission fluid level is overfilled or filled with the wrong fluid, you get the exact transmission failure that I had. 

Green and Ross topped up my transmission fluid levels during my oil change.  They offered the service, they noted it on my invoice and they left the dipstick propped out on completion.  Leaving the dipstick that way suggests someone knew they had made a mistake, and possibly meant to get back to it, but it was never fixed.  



Green & Ross Newmarket and Green & Ross Head Office will not acknowledge that they caused my transmission failure.  They insist that they have gone over every possible scenario, but they never mention what overfilling will do to the transmission.  

They also insist that they only hand torque the wheel nuts (I guess superman works for them then)

And they ignore my inquiry about using 2 different brands of struts.



This is the most dishonest auto service shop I have ever dealt with.  Every service costs much more than the estimated cost to get you in the door.   They provide poor service and cut corners and when they screw up, (and are questioned about it) they go to great lengths to deny any wrong doing.



I have asked that they re-imburse me the cost of my transmission repair and they should also compensate me for not putting on matching struts.  They have no pride in the work that they do here.