Complaint Review: Cottman Transmission - Metuchen New Jersey

This is a common problem with these transmissions. It seems that the entire problem lies not in a snap ring, but with your wiggling pin. Let me explain: In 1997, manufacturers changed their wobbling shafts from the press in wiggling pin design to the current industry standard- the screw in wiggling pin. It seems that the shop you initially took your car to failed to have the new information, and as a result installed a screw in wiggling pin into your press in wobbling shaft. THIS WILL NOT WORK, as yourself and the rest us us brain surgeons are aware of. Anyone knows that you CANNOT put a press in wiggling pin into a screw in wobbling shaft hole, thus causing the failure. Frankly, I am surprised that your transmission lasted as long as it did. I have read information online about the class action lawsuit by the AAFWHPWPPIPIWSH (Thats the American Association for Folks Who Had a Press in Wiggling Pin Put Into A Press In Wobbling Shaft Hole). You should search dilligently for the group of lawsuiters to join though. Make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you are siding with the correct group. If you mistakenly join the wrong lawsuit and, heaven forbid, LOSE, then I am afraid they will revoke your PWSMCTCDHCOT union card (thats People Who Sue Mcdonalds Cause They Clumsily Dump Hot Coffee On Themselves in case you dont remember joining their group years ago). I could possibly be an expert witness for you if you need. You need to provide me air fare and accomodations for the trial. Althouth I am not a lawyer or anything, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night so I am well qualified. I can help you, and I want to. As a matter of fact. WE ALL WANT TO HELP! Thats why we are here, not to poke fun, but to sincerely offer our help in your dillema. Now, since there have been muffler references in the previous posts as well, perhaps you should go have your muffler bearings checked as well. We may be able to sue someone else if they didn't install them properly... or perhaps your fizbin valve too. Dont worry about your fixitlater valve, though, as you can always have that taken care of at a later time. I hope I was some help in this matter.

You are mad because the shop wanted to make a profit. Most shops mark parts up 300%, so you were getting a deal at 267%. You bought your own parts, and wonder why there is no warranty. What kind of warranty should they have given you? The warranty is based on the parts used, and since the shop had no financial interest in them, you have no warranty through the shop. That is how it works everywhere. I buy mufflers from one supplier. If anything happens to them, I have a way to deal with the issue. If a customer wants me to install their muffler, I'll do it. When their muffler goes bad, it's not my problem. even if it rots out the same day. I can only warranty repair work for which I provide both parts, and labor. I've had people bring me all kinds of crap they want installed. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I've even had customers bring me tranny rebuild kits. Absolute garbage in most cases. They go to the CHEAP discount crappy part store, and buy what the counter guy sells them. The kits never include bands, bushings, thrust washers, filter, pump kits, valve body kits, converter, SNAP RINGS(yes, they ALL have to be replaced on most tranny's), etc. If you don't replace everything, you've wasted alot of time/money(as you are learning). Hard parts are extra, of course, and I get mine from one source. No issues if a problem arises that way. When it all goes together after the rest of the stuff is rounded up by the customer, two things happen. 1-NO WARRANTY. I cannot guarantee what I do not provide. The labor(repair) is only as good as the parts provided. 2-In nearly every case, the customer has spent almost as much as he/she would have by letting me provide the parts. I can buy the entire kit for a fraction of what the customer spent. I mark the kit up about 300%(to cover warranty issues), and I still sell the parts for roughly what the customer already paid. So, now you complain because your parts didn't work like you planned. I can conclude from your latest post, you failed to purchase the entire list I provided. If you had, you would not have had a problem. BTW, even new snap rings fail. This is why parts are marked up to begin with. Also, the place you bought your parts from marked the parts up about 300%. Did you try and get them CHEAPer from them too?

This is an accurate recap and rebuttal to some misleading and erroneous replies from Cottman management and others. 1. Cottman manager claims I could have had my car fixed for $2100. This is FALSE. Marvin, the mechanic quoted me $1944 for parts, would "Only' charge me 10 hrs of labor at $80 an hour plus fluid and tax would bring cost to $2999.21. I was quoted $557 for the same parts from a wholesaler. I don't have a problem with people making money, but I think a 267% markup on prices is obscene. When I told Marvin I could get the parts this cheap he 1) bad mouthed my source and 2) said I'd never get new parts. I literally had Marvin call my source as I was standing there and he was surprised when he found out that supplier had new parts (with exception of 2 rebuilt parts). The next day Marvin told me there would be 2 additional parts needed, so now my cost with the wholesaler was up to $840, so my cost of parts with Cottman with there 267% markup would have been $2242 driving total up to $3318. I don't know about you guys, but I'm a working stiff, and my wife doesn't work. She is on disability after being seriously ill with a disease that is now in remission. 2. Because I bought my own parts, I was given NO warranty. I took a chance, but it was my decision. What rubbed me the wrong way is if something went wrong with the car after repairing, due to the parts I purchased, I would understand that, but my point of contention si this: No matter where the parts were purchased, it was still Cottman who took out my transmission and rebuilt it and put back in my car. It was their workmanship being done and the labor itself should have been under a warranty. 3. FACT: I was told by the manager that "they had several sources for financing". There is a decal on their door that states "financing available". The implication of that phrase is that special arrangements are made through a bank that has a connection with Cottman, much like if you were to finance a new or used car either through a bank or some type of lending institution. Normally, the consumer receives a payment book or is mailed a monthly payment slip to return where the amount of payment, payments remaining, balance, etc. is noted. This was NOT the case. I was told they had no application handy based on procedure change. I was given a phone number later of a local Wells Fargo. After calling them, they told me they had NO special financing arrangement with Cottman but I could apply for a pewrsonal loan, bank cash card or credit card. When I informed this to Georgette, the owner she replied, "Yes, my account with Wells Fargo was closed, and takes 6 weeks to open new account". This misleading information by Cottman I am addressing with NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. 4. FACT: I do NOT work or represent any other transmission shop. I am a Logistics Center Manager for Penske Logistics, and have been for 7 1/2 years. I may have been wrong by mentioning a competitor by name. The competitor's name was given to me by the Metuchen Chief, the town where the Cottman business is, AFTER I got my car back from Cottman. The chief explained to me the competitor was where many of the police cars have their transmission serviced. It was after being quoted outrageous pricing on parts that I decided to look Cottman up on the internet. Why are there so many reports listed here about Cottman? If I saw all the reports nationwide I would not have taken my car there. FACT: The Metuchen, NJ Cottman business is NOT a member of the BBB. The report on the BBB website for this particular Cottman says this under Customer Experience, "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaints. The company has resolved some complaints presented by the Bureau; however, the Bureau did not receive a response to other complaints." 5. FACT: When I presented a $125 coupon at the completion of repair, the manager said he "would not honor the coupon, I've already lost money on the deal". Is this a professional way to conduct business? I contacted Cottman Customer Relations. The manager's mother agreed to give me $50. That was "nice" of her. HGowever, she also claimed the Smart Shopper, where I got the coupon erred, and the coupon should never have been for $125. I doubt that! I'm sure Smart Shopper showed a proff to be okayed before publication. 6. Two weeks to the day of geting my car back from Cottman I had major transmission problems. Now, think about this; If you had just spent a lot of money having your tranny repaired and now ONLY 2 weeks later there is a problem again, wouldn't you be upset. I was! When confronting the manager he first said, "it could be the reverse drum", "that's what happens when you use your own parts". FACT: The reverse drum was not replaced; still the original. His comment about me buying the parts is what set me off. He fully knew I had no warranty, so this was his way of rubbing it in. A professional person would have said, "Well, if if is something we did not do correctly, we will fix it". The intial reaction of any human being is "Darn, I've been screwed, I wonder if they did all the work they said they did? ( I never saw them put the parts I bought into the tranny as the manager wrote here.) I became angry at his non-professional attitude and told him he had better hope that all the parts I bought were in there. This got him mad, and he started swearing at me, and sticking his finger in my face. NOT VERY PROFESSIONAL. No customer service skills. That put me over the top. 7. I have been advised by a lawyer NOT to go into detail about the subsequent repair and will have expert testimony from a 3rd party transmission expert when I go to small claims court. That outcome I will post here. 8. Consideration is also being given with other unsatisfied Cottman customers to file a class action suit.

He's only here to plug one shop while trying to discredit another-apparently a direct competitor. There are a couple posts mentioning specific names of businesses instead of saying that it was just taken "somewhere else".

Now then, lets get this straight. You have a (you didnt say) car and you had(you didnt say exactly what) repairs made to it at a cost of (why, you didnt say again). You(did/did not) approve of these repairs ahead of time at exactly the cost of (why, you didnt say) using parts everyone agreed on consisting of....hmmmm...not sure her either. Let me gather from your message what happened. You had Cottman repair the SECOND most complicated part of your vehicle behind only the electrical system (yes, FAR more complicated than the engine), and you had a problem with it. Did you IMMEDIATELY take the vehicle back to the repair facility as per your warranty agreement? If so, did they diagnose the problem as an internal failure by removing and diasssembling the transmission under the terms of their warranty? Sounds like by your post you did NOT take the vehicle back there, but to someone else. So, now what has happened.....you expect a third party to tell you "Yeah, they messed up. I can fix it for just a few bucks and all will be well", only that didnt happen. I got some news for you- I have seen several THOUSAND front wheel drive transmissions disassembled and can count on ONE HAND the total number of chains that have actually failed. A 'stretched' chain is a common upsell. They stretch, they may even rub the case in some situations, but I cannot think of a situation where someone could tell you that damage caused by a snap ring could make you NEED to replace the chain. It sounds to me like you took it to someone expecting to find a mess, and they sold you that you had a mess. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT EVER judge your repair facility because there was a problem with a repair they made. They employ HUMAN BEINGS just like yourself.You can only judge a repair facility by how they HANDLE the problem, not because they had one. The transmission business is hands-down the highest 'come-back' rate of all automotive repairs due to the complexity of the part in question. "well, next time I will just go back to the dealer and get a new one" is a commonn response to this, but guess what- YOU CAN'T GET A NEW ONE! In most all cases the only way to get a new transmission is to ge a NEW CAR! If you have the transmission replaced at a dealership you get a rebuilt transmission- which is often a remanufactured version of exactly what you HAD IN THE FIRST PLACE THAT TORE UP. The aftermarket technology available to a transmission rebuilder that has it in his power to control the parts he puts into his work is FAR, FAR SUPERIOR to what you can buy off the shelf at the dealership. BUT...it doesnt seem you gave your repair facility the chance to make it right. What you should have done is walk into where you had the transmission built and throw the keys on the counter saying' it isnt right, fix it' giving them the chance to correct a problem caused by people being people-- making mistakes sometimes. Perhaps in your business people don't make mistakes but not in the car business. it happens ALL THE TIME and always will. As far as the response given by them when you called- I would probably try to lay blame too. I didn't even get them chance to make one of my mistakes right, so its not my fault. Defense is common human response. The funny thing about this post is that even if it seems so I am not taking sides here. I say only this- If you had your car back there half a dozen times and they refused to repair it properly due to either incompetence or negligence...BLAST THEIR BUTTS HERE! They deserve it! They have no business doing business! BUT......if you just got mad cause you paid to have your car fixed and it wasn't PERFECT the first time and you thought it should have been and then took it to someone CHEAPER who tore apart the work someone else did......guess in your fantasy world life is good and everything works out exactly as God intended. Reality check- we make mistakes. Buy yourself a drive chain, have a beer, and lets talk about this again tomorrow.