Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission- Karen Risacher - Clarksville Tennessee

Update: I am proud to say that the former owner of Clarksville's Cottman Transmission Robert Wentz was arrested in North Carolina and extradited back to Benton County, Tennessee. He spent a week + in our lovely (condemned by the State) jail before returning to court and having to pay the check! He is but one of the people I met at Cottman Transmission's home office I would love to see receive the same treatment. This is the first time I have returned to this site since my original post and wish to apologize to Bob from Tallahassee and Jim from California. I would have contacted you today but I have no way of knowing how without a number or email. Anyway a little justice has been served here in the South. As an HONEST former owner my heart goes out to all of those who have been ripped off by this bunch of ___________________ (you fill in the blank)! Steve Former (original) Owner of one of the Most Honest Franchises Cottman could ever hope to have been associated with, Jackson,TN

Cottman also sells you the equiptment at a very nice markup ,that is not the best stuff for the bucks! Anybody could get a better deal with equiptment by asking price and shipping info. But as part of Cottman guided spending they sell everything at fullpop price. Then they ship it at your cost to wherever you set up.Even though this equiptment can be purchased local for less. NOW THATS WHAT I CALL LOOKIN OUT FOR THE NEW BUSINESS PARTNER.The COTTMAN sign you pay for and the shipping then COTTMAN rents it to you. WHAT ELSE COULD THEY DO TO HURT THE NEW PARTNER? So look out people. The phone fowarding is the last thing they do before a shop is finished, Just think the bill is the owners and the rights to the phone number are Cottmans. SIGN ME UP COTTMAN!!!!! The Tranzmn

Thanks Joe for the reminder. I'm surprised that I left that out of my list of grievances. As a franchise owner in trouble financially, one has to prioritize which bills to pay: parts, salaries, utilities, insurance, franchise fees, advertising fees and taxes. Obviously the first three are absolutely necessary if you have any hope of turning the business around. I dropped my insurances first and subsequently became delinquent on the latter three. Now Cottman ingeniously builds into the franchise agreement that the center's telephone numbers belong to corporate and a portion of the monthly advertising fee is used to pay for the yellow pages advertising. As you become ever more delinquent in your fees to Cottman, they send you extra business help??? NOPE...THEY TURN OFF THE FRICKING PHONES!!!!!!!! How in the hell does this help get bills paid if current and prospective new customers can't even call the center???? This is a death sentence that Cottman has repeated over and over. They then take over your shop & equipment...(oh I forgot this as well, they outfit the center for you...selling the franchisee equipment such as parts cleaners that you'd get for free if you just agree use a particular solvent supplier's products and other unnecessary yet expensive equipment)... and bring in another start-up artist to con another aspiring local entrepeneur. Thanks again Joe for the reminder.

Thank You Bob, That was experience voiced well. Bob you forgot to say who owns the phone number which is the heart of the business. How smooth the closer is on selling you on the idea of becoming a transmission zillionare. Bob this does not only happen in your neck of the woods it happens on the west coast also.You got out cheap. I have heard of figures much higher than that. as you know by now the work force pool along with franchise advice is weak at best.There should be a way former owners and technicians can compare notes to show the world and protect the consumer as a real business operates. I have worked in/for cottman shops before their owners ran out of money to keep it going a year and a half is longer than most last with only a little more than 100,000 loss you did pretty good. As far as meme leaving the car for months is not a good thing at any business.With a writ for an order of examination you should have what you need to collect it or have the sheriff sit in the shop thurs or fri and take all the money that comes in those days just wait until its busy to do it. Good luck THE TRANZMN

I wish that Steve in Camden, TN would get in touch with me as I am also a previous owner of a Cottman Transmission franchise. While there are plenty of dishonest folks in the automotive repair business, Cottman falsely represents the expected potential of owning a franchise as well as the requisite experience to be successful. Therefore, it's reasonable to surmise that if the fundamental franchise concept is flawed, then the product of that franchise will be flawed as well. Please read on: I'm personally out over $130 K and had to close my business after only 18 mos in business. I'm sorry for the folks that had to return to the center after our closure because the record since has been spotty at best. I'm personally aware of two more previous owners besides myself that would like nothing more than to support Steve from Camden. I'm sure there's more of us out there. In my personal instance, Cottman had a gent with a management agreement to get a defunct center restarted with the goal of duping another local into buying the business. After my closure, they've repeated this practice despite the consistent sales data that indicates this center cannot be successful at this location. Additionally, I believe their sales tactic to be ethically, if not legally flawed. It is designed to downplay the cost of rebuilding a transmission until it is out of the car and totally dismantled at which point the customer is faced with an "in for a dime, in for a dollar" decision. Furthermore, their claim on their web site that "no experience necessary" is totally incorrect and misleading. The nature of auto mechanics in general is that they have their toolboxes on wheels for a reason. They get pissed off and then they're off. Charlatans and crooks thrive in this environment and then you're faced with the challenge of finding a reliable transmission rebuilder to boot. By the time you realize that the most recent guy you hired doesn't know his s**t-hole from a shoelace about rebuilding transmissions, an owner is in for thousands of dollars in lost revenues and rebuilds (come-backs or CBs). And, then there's the attendance issues, and workman's comp issues, and accounts receivable issues, reliable parts suppliers, etc. Once you realize all this, as an owner, you're in over your head. I also had to deal with thousands of dollars of unpaid bills locally from the manager/operator that sold the place to me. Cottman is fully aware of all of this and more about this business yet still claim that "no experience is necessary" to become a franchise owner. That is the biggest fraud of all. Once you become an owner, you're confronted with additional challenges that they do not address: 1. Established shops with a good reputation that are not encumbered by monthly franchise and advertising fees, or, 2. Overcoming the bad reputation/business practices of the previous owner. My personal background includes ret USAF (mechanics pedigree) with a B. S. from Sou. Ill. Univ. and an MBA from Sacred Heart University. I was still duped. A friend of mine that I met at indoctrination at the home office was a senior HR VP for multiple industrial firms and he was still duped. And then there's the previous owner of my shop, he was duped. Unfortunately, I believe that there's alot more of us out there. Unfortunately for Cottman as well because there's strength & unity in numbers. I'm sure that the home office is monitoring this web site. Please let it be known that their sole purpose is increasing shareholder equity for the venture capitalists that they're beholden to. They receive a 6.5% franchise fee on all sales in addition to a $700+/mo. advertising fee for their in-house advertising agency...as unprofessional a group of folks as I've ever seen. The verbatim response to a query of why they raised the ad fee was "because we can." Now, what they do not acknowledge whatsoever and they also have to be fully aware of is that the transmission rebuild industry is undergoing a major evolution. The demographic that in the past were relied upon to get their transmissions rebuilt have a whole new range of options. If they have $1500-$3500 for a transmission rebuild, then they more than have enough for a down-payment on a Kia or Hyundai which both come with 100,000 mile warranties. Additionally, 70,000 mile warranties have become the norm for other major manufacturers. Salvage yards are becoming ever more sophisticated and offering lifetime warranties at prices that a rebuild shop cannot compete against. And then there's the increasing complexity of the transmission itself which exacerbates the inherent technician problem. Not to mention that Cottman never tells you to stay away from VW or Saab transmissions...the bane of the industry. Looking forward to hearing from you guys, especially Steve in Camden.

A search is underway for Robert Wentz former owner of the Clarksville,TN Cottman Transmission Franchise. Mr. Wentz was arrested for Felony Worthless check in April 2005. He appeared before a judge in Benton, County Tennessee and was given 6 months to make restitution of a $5000.00 check he had written for inventory purchase of the Cottman Franchise in Jackson, TN. The check was never paid and Mr. Wentz "failed to appear" for the scheduled October court date and attachment was filed. It should be noted that Wentz was a former employee of the Franchising Company Cottman Transmission of Fort Washington, PA itself . His job would be considered "middle management" as he was a Regional Official with the company. His duties were to oversee the Cottman's that fell within his territory. He fell in disfavor with the company and was fired for unethical practices according to Mike Dacco of the franchising company. Still for some unexplained reason the Franchisee (Cottman Transmission) approved his association by allowing him to own a franchise. Mr. Wentz is known by me personally and I can easily say that due to my association with him I have lost thousands of dollars on this venture. He is definitely a criminal and has the background to prove it. I will proudly make myself available to any legal proceedings against him and any individuals associated with him at anytime during his tenure as both an owner of a Franchise and also as an employee of the Franchisor itself. I am the former owner of the Cottman Franchise in Jackson, TN. My business failed due to reasons I will save for hopefully a class action lawsuit that is pending. Quoting Mr. Wentz " the reason your business failed is simple, you are too honest for the Transmission repair busimness". These were the last words Mr. Wentz spoke to me face to face. I am sorry for the victims and wish you noothing but the best in your pursuit of justice in your matters. I thank you for reading this post.

Ms.Meme lied, Left her car there at cottmans for over 6 months out of the 6 months she only contacted the shop 2 times once in October and once in November after that she never returned calls or even called to check on her car. So as any other repair shop would do a lien was filed on her car and it was sold to an employee who had to put over $2000.00 dollars into the car to get it running. Now she is claiming she was done wrong? HA!!! I wittnessed her husband calling the manager all sorts of foul names, the truth is she is in the wrong and it will be made known. Ms.Karen is a very nice and understanding person and only done her job as directed by the Home office, after 30 days of no contact on a vehicle file for the title through a lien. This Ms.Dinwitty is a lier and is wrongly accusing Ms.Karen. Ms.Dinwitty also wrote a post dated check to cottmans that could not get cashed for 2 weeks after she told them to cash it now that tells me something how about you......

This person brought her car to the previous owner of cottman transmission and paid a check to a different company called Gratlex also owned by the same man. After months of no contact after several attempts by cottman this vehicle was concidered abondoned and a a lien was filed on this vehicle and approved by the state of Tn. From the first day i met this person she has lied telling management that she had already paid in full to the cottman owner previous, this was to later be found a lie. She also made a police report stating her car was stolen and the whole time she knew it was at Graylex. She also made false reports to her insurance company that the transmission had been stolen. There is a upcomming court date where all the lies will be made known. Cottman in Clarksville was being run under the corpration and not owned by anyone, just ran by a manager under cottman corp.