Complaint Review: Mr. Transmission - Johnson City Tennessee

This is in response to Ms. Denise Pritchard's complaint filed on 03-18-03. Although we regret the way Ms. Pritchard feels, Mr. Transmission did nothing unethical. She claims we gave her a maximum price over the phone. This is untrue; we gave her a minimum price of $990 for a soft parts rebuild and $298 for the torque converter plus any hard parts that may be needed. It was explained to Ms. Pritchard that we do not know what the price will be until we have the transmission disassembled and inspected. After that was completed we called Ms. Pritchard with the final price. We have a price guide that we strictly follow and it is a policy of ours not to give a price over the phone unless the consumer wants nothing more from us other than a price, which is why we have the price guide. This way the pricing structure is the same for each consumer. We strongly encourage each and every consumer to bring their vehicle in for a free performance check so that we can give an accurate price. If the vehicle can not be driven then we do offer free towing with repair. This is stated in our phone procedure and in writing in the phonebooks. Ms. Pritchard also complains about the "several days" it took to repair her vehicle. The vehicle was towed into our business on the 12th of March, we did our free performace check on the 13th and let her know the same day what our inspection uncovered. At this time we reiterated our price and informed her that the price may go higher if any hard part damage had been done and once we had made that determination we would cease work and inform her of any damage and the price. At this point work was authorized by either Mr. or Ms. Pritchard by them giving us the last four digits of their social security #. This is a convenience option to the customer so that they do not have to come back to the business to sign the work authorization form if they choose not to. They chose to give the four digits. On Friday the 14th we started to tear down the unit, we do not work weekends and followed up with Ms. Pritchard on Tuesday morning the 18th. We informed her that she did have hard part damage and gave her the final price at that time. The price did not change from this point. Ms. Pritchard decided that she did not want to pay that much, which was still several hundred dollars cheaper than the dealership. We told her that's fine if she did not want to have the car repaired, but she did owe us for the inspection service and the tow since we were not repairing the vehicle. This is where the vehicle now sits for "several days". We could not progress on because she refused to have it repaired or to pay the outstanding bill. Ms. Pritchard then called our home office and complained as well by writing to this website. After a few days Ms. Pritchard then gave us the ok to repair the vehicle, we did so and she picked it up on the 27th. We ask all our customers that they bring their vehicle back in 10 days for us to do a leak check to make sure all the seals have adhered properly. When Ms. Pritchard returned not only was she happy with the way her vehcile was performing, she asked us to check her engine and her antifreeze. Even though engines are not something we specialize in here at Mr. Transmission, we did so. We detected that her antifreeze was low and that she may have a leak. We recommended that she take her car to her general mechanic for the repair. We would like to thank Ms. Pritchard for the opportunity to repair her vehicle properly and believe it will last her a good long time provided she keeps up with the proper scheduled servicing of the transmission. We regret that Ms. Pritchard did not bring these issues to us prior to contacting this website so that her complaint, if any, would have been factually correct. We would also like to assure Ms. Pritchard as well as all of our customers that we strive to be a leader in the transmission industry and take great pride in our business.

Well, I hope you have learned that the guy who gives the lowest number over the phone does not mean that he is going to do the best job. Though you can find a low priced shop that does quality work, often, quality and service cost money. In this case, you should have checked the documents that you signed. Did any of this say "Free towing with repair"? If not, you still could have taken the vehicle out of there. Did you get a written quote for the $895? The more that you have in writing, the better prepared you are when surprises come up. BTW, there is no such thing as free. All companies have to cover expenses. Where do you think the "free" towing came from?