Took just my transmission to Mr.Transmission to figure out why it was locking up. I took the transmission out of the car myself to save some money. They wanted $100 to take it apart and figure out what the problem was. If I decided to get it fixed then the $100 would go towards the repairs.
I got a call a few days later and the guy there said it would be $2400 to rebuilding my transmission. The car is it going into was built in 1987 and probably isn't worth that much. I told the guy on the phone that I couldn't pay that. He then asked what I was willing to pay. I told him MAYBE on a GOOD day I'd maybe pay $1500. So he called me back later saying he could do it for $2000. I still said that was too much. So he said he then called his suppliers to get the cost of the parts down and even asked how important the warrenty was to me. He called back again and got the price to $1700. At that point I told him to go ahead and put the transimission back together like I had brought to him and that I would be picking it up. He tried to haggle with me and make a deal. Then he dared to call back again and said he could do it for $1500. I had already made up my mind and he had a hard time accepting it. It seemed kinda sketchy anyways that the price dropped $900, and the $1500 was just a number i threw out there (I could have gone lower it seems like).
I picked up the transmission and took it back home to rethink my plan. I got in contact with another local independent guy. Took him the transmission and upon taking it apart he noticed parts were missing. I got a list of the parts he said were not in there and called Mr. Transmission back. Talked to the Mr.Transmission guy and he assured me that all the parts were in there. So I started telling him what was missing. First the detent balls were missing. Somehow they said they still had those.... but none of the other 4 parts I listed they didn't have and once again said they were in the transmission. The guy at Mr.Transmission couldn't get the fact that he fessed up to still having one of the parts so that means the other parts that were missing were his fault as well. I seriously sat in his office trying to explain that too him and he didn't even come close to getting it.
I went to the local Toyota dealer to order the missing parts and told the guy at Mr.Transmission that he would be paying for them. I even got him a good deal on those part. Upon more phone calls it become more difficult for the them to pay for parts they lost. I had to drive to Mr.Transmission to get the part they still had. Take it to the guy who was rebuilding it now. Then drive to the toyota dealer to order the parts. Then go back a few days later to pick up the parts and then deliver them to the rebuild guy. Then finally go back to Mr.Transmission to get them the pay me back for the parts. At this point Mr.Transmission should be payng me my $100 back. This was a diffuclt process also. I had told the main guy at Mr.Transmission that I wanted to owner to call me. I got promised a dozen times and never got that phone call.
Finally Mr.Transmission decided to refund me some money. They should have given me my $100 back. They offered me either a $50 refund or $100 in store credit...... I flat out told the guy that he was CRAZY if he thought I was gonna come back here to have some work done. I not only deeply explained that I would never be back there but that I would tell everyone I know not to come here or any Mr.Transmission anywhere.
The guy really didn't understand anything. I later found out from the independent guy that actually did fix my transmission that he knows the owner and everyone at Mr.Transmission. According to him the owner is greedy and cheats people out of money all the time.
The independent guy who did fix my transmission did it for just under $1000. He did it right and in a timely manner. He didn't have to call and work the price down with his suppliers or anything (I found out that Mr.Transmission was lying about talking to suppliers also and would probably not even replace half of the parts they said they would).
Don't ever use Mr.Transmission in Mobile, Alabama!!!!! They are clearly out to rip you off.