Complaint Review: Rosh Corporation (Aamco store #861) - Arlington Texas

My family and I were out of town visiting family when our transmission failed in Arlington, Texas on 11/29/2002. Knowing no businesses personally, I was forced to make a choice as to what transmission service I would choose. I hoped that a business with a nation-wide chain would be the best, so I chose an Aamco store 10 blocks away.

I was told the next day via phone that I would need a rebuilt transmission and torque converter to repair the car. The price for this service was a measley $2500, about twice what I would have expected. But I was over the barrel, and the business knew it. I haven't heard of many people who have paid more than $1500 to $1800 for such a thing, so Aamco already scammed me.

My brother-in-law was to pick the car up when he returned from an out-of-town business trip on 12/16/2002. He picked it up, and reported that everything seemed to be just great when driving it home 40 miles to their Ft. Worth residence. The next day, however, he reported that the transmission was "bucking" whenever he attempted to accelerate any harder than normal. They returned the car to Aamco for service.

The Aamco dealer reported that the problem was only due to "bad gas" - that my brother-in-law had used mid-grade gas on a car that required premium fuel. They put some octane booster in it, and didn't call anyone to come pick the car up. We arrived in town for Christmas on 12/21, and went to pick the car up on 12/23/2002. On the way back to Ft. Worth, the transmission continued to shudder and buck some. I was assured that as I increased the premium-grade fuel in the tank, the shuddering would decrease.

I was very skeptical at this point. Aamco assumes that it's customers don't really know their cars, and that they can make such outrageous claims. I know my car, and the problem was NOT the engine or its fuel. I called to tell them that they were wrong on 12/30/2002, and let them know that I was bringing the car back for them to fix since it was their torque converter that was messing up. They let one of their mechanics ride along with me for a few minutes while I demonstrated the problem. After making sure that I knew he had "been in this business for thirty years", he told me that my engine had a miss in it.

They took the car back, and I called back later to see it they had changed their tune. No -- they now wanted more money to properly tune the car so that the torque converter wouldn't be damaged. Their contention is that ANY small miss would damage a torque converter -- how many must be on the road right this minute, given their logic? I asked them how the engine didn't knock out the previous one, but did this one if that were the case. The mechanic's response? "I've been in this business thirty years, and I've seen it."

The business had already drained all the money I could afford to make the repair in the first place; I couldn't afford an expensive tune on top of it. So the result when I picked the car back up on 12/31/2002 was that I was forced to sign a statement saying that if I didn't tune the car up immediately, the warranty would be voided on the converter. Once again, I tried logic on them -- how could an engine that was running fine (it's very easy to feel one cylinder missing on a six-cylinder car) BEFORE the repair now cause a converter to fail?? They couldn't do anything but echo the usual line.

I have been ripped off first for the exorbitant cost of the original repair, and second for the voiding of part of their warranty. They know I am from out of town, and have used that against me. I am now forced to try to make the 300-mile trip home to Midland, not knowing if I will even be able to complete the trip in this car. It is January 2, 2003, and I will never set foot in another Aamco store again. I will do my best to save up enough money to get a decent repair done in my home town by someone who cares enough to do the job right, and to do it right the first time. I will also do my best to see that no one I know will ever use any Aamco store either -- they aren't worth the trouble they cause.

I also hope that I don't ever hear from Tommy Campbell at this Aamco store or any of his people again; they have nothing to say to me that will make any difference in my feelings for them. I entrusted a valuable car to them to return to me in the condition that it was in before the failure occured. They did not do so, so they failed to do their job in my eyes.

David

Midland, Texas
U.S.A.

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