AAMCO Reviews

When I first picked it up and took it home, it did not take me long to notice it leaked about a quart a day. The recently rebuilt transmission which was installed at the Aamco store in Cathedral City, CA 92234 was leaking badly. I was advised to take the car to the Aamco store located at Albuquerque, NM, Lomas Street in Albuquerque, NM 87110. They had my classic Ford with fresh paint sitting outside for literally three months attempting to repair a leak. Then, after a several month "repair," the car drove seven miles before blowing a front input shaft seal and dumping quarts of fluid into the clutch, ruining it.

Then, after another few weeks, I was again told to come pick up my car. This time, I drove it for a few days and it now it occasionally engaged both first and reverse gear at the same time. This would not only render it undrivable but impossible to push as well. So, again it went back to Aamco. They spent another two weeks trying to fix the sticking in gear problem and told me to pick it up for the fourth time. At which point, during the test drive with the head technician named "Mike" in the car with me, it had a new vibration so bad you wouldn't drive over 50mph on a dare. The tech swore it was normal even though the car never did that before. When I complained and was reluctant to take it home, I was threatened by the staff and told to take my car home despite it not being repaired. So, after being threatened, I took it home.

Despite being given literally thousands of dollars to completely rebuild the transmission, clutch and U-joints, neither the Albuquerque store nor the California store ever fixed the problem or took responsibility. I had spent almost $3000 and it was now far worse shape then it was dropped off initially. So, I immediately reported the case to both BAR and NM attorney general. The Albuquerque NM Aamco store blamed the other California Aamco store and so forth and the car never got fixed and I never saw that money again.

After the ordeal with Aamco, I gave the car to a friend of mine's kid who was enrolled in classes at Goldenwest Community College. He found that the car vibration problem I felt on the test drive of the fifth repair attempt was caused by missing "pilot bushing" and a loosed "pinion nut" (evidently very dangerous to boot!) He repaired the problem for $75! The instructor of the class told me that in his 33 years as a Master Auto Tech, he'd never seen anything like this and the only conclusion was actual sabotage.

Needless to say, while we were at the doctor's office, Nick had called, spoke to my husband (because I was unavailable) saying that my car needed the transmission rebuilt. Nick emphasized to my husband that it was unsafe for me to drive my car and that I needed to have the work done immediately. My husband explained to Nick that we did not want any work completed at this time and that we would be by to pick up the car after the doctor's appointment. My husband confirmed with Nick that AAMCO's closing time was 6PM. Needless to say, we arrived at 5:55PM (cell phone always has the correct time) and the door was locked. No one was at the AAMCO facility. Furthermore, my car was inside the locked facility (had it been left outside, I had a spare key with me and could have taken my car).

Furthermore, my friend who referred me to Nick was able to briefly speak to Nick around 6:20PM who stated that he was too far away and that he would call someone else to see if they could come and open up so that I can get my car. By this time, I was hysterical. I couldn't believe that Nick would do this to me, especially me being 8 months pregnant! I certainly did not need any of this stress. After insisting that my friend give me Nick's cell number, I made multiple attempts and he would not pick up the phone nor respond to my text messages. I then went to the Hackensack Police Department and both the dispatcher and a police officer attempted to assist me, only by calling the emergency business phone number (that was conveniently disconnected) and Nick's cell number that I had given them. I know that they felt sympathetic for me, but they assured me that there was nothing they could do.

Needless to say, I remained in the area (Bergen County) overnight and the person who referred me to Nick drove me over to the AAMCO the next morning. Conveniently as we were pulling up to the AAMCO of Hackensack facility, Nick walked away from the front desk. My car suddenly appeared from inside the garage and a gentleman named Dan apologized and handed me my key. I asked to speak to Nick and was told that he was unavailable and since I didn't want a repeat of my emotions from the evening before, I did not insist on seeing him and I left the facility. Oh, and if you are wondering, my husband drove home the evening before and went to work the next day because he was saving all of his time for after the baby arrived.

Needless to say, the happy ending to this story was that I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl in October. Now that I have settled into a routine, I wanted to not share my horrendous experience with AAMCO with others (and after visiting consumeraffairs.com, I realized that there are 32 pages of complaints about the company and therefore, I did not bother filing a complaint with the company). Nowadays, customer service and loyalty to some individuals/businesses simply do not exist. I will never patronize an AAMCO nor refer anyone either. Despite all the aggravation and grief from AAMCO at least, I did not give them any of my money! As far as my car's transmission, I dropped it off at a local mechanic two weeks later and my transmission was rebuilt for less than the verbal quote that Nick gave my husband. Thanks for reading.

We picked up the SUV on that Monday and drove it 2 hours and 20 min to get home in TN and the next morning the transmission fluid was all over our driveway. We called him and he said to have it taken to a nearby shop and he would pay whatever to fix it. Well it turns out that the people at Aamco had done a rush job and basically as the repair tech in TN put it simply, put a band aid over the problem.

The coil that led to the transmission was rusted and should have been replaced during the rebuilding of the transmission. The guy in VA tells me he never touched the coil and then tells me his technician did touch it and put a piece of rubber over it instead of replacing it and he was not at fault for this and would only pay half on the bill. Well, the bill comes out to be 600 dollar and we had to pay half. I am very upset with Aamco and I will do everything to let anyone know this is the worst company ever and do not use them. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and called Aamco myself but am still waiting on a call back. I will write a bad review everywhere I can so this can not happen to another person thinking of using their horrible service.

When Tom called back, he described all the work needed to be done to get the transmission back to working order, and I gave him the go-ahead. 2 weeks later, I went to pick up my vehicle to find a very large puddle of tranny fluid under it, and the windshield appeared to be severely scratched. (it was not like that when I sent it to AAMCO, and the vehicle had been totally leak-less since I purchased it). When an AAMCO staff came out to give me the bill and keys, I pointed out the tranny leak and the messed-up windshield. He went back inside to fetch Tom, whose attitude was more or less "oops" when he examined the leak. "We'll fix that", he said, "but we only do transmissions, so we had nothing to do with the windshield. But we can have the leak fixed by..."

I stopped him and stated that the windshield was not scratched up when I called them to come tow my van. He countered with, "we only do transmissions, we wouldn't have anything to do with windshields". I firmly stated again that the windshield had been undamaged when I called them for the tow, but all I got was another brush-off. I proceeded to call their headquarters in PA, but I was told they couldn't do anything about it, I'd have to take it up with Tom and Lydia. So I called them again, asking about the windshield damage, and was told "well, we only do transmissions..". This was getting tiresome, "...so we wouldn't have been near the windshield..." I then asked who had done the test-drive in the rain-storm the previous Friday. "Well, you know, it was one of the technicians, but we can't read the signature".

Right. Like without a legible signature, there's no way to find out who was driving my van. I was not happy when I went to get my van the 2nd time, windshield still messed up, and the leak was still there, but not as bad. I shelled out the more-than $970.00, and left less-than pleased, even though Tom tried to 'make good' by giving me a mail-in form for free gas. That was on a Wednesday. Exactly 7 days later, the following Wednesday, the van began doing the very same thing it had done when I first called AAMCO, and even went so far as to stall out when I finally wheezed into my work parking lot. I immediately called AAMCO, and told them what happened. "We'll come out right away and get it", says Tom, "but we only do transmissions, you know. Maybe something's wrong with your engine. You probably need to get the engine checked".

That was Wednesday. The following Saturday, the 'not-shifting' symptoms were so bad, by the time I arrived at a local laundromat, there was no way I was driving it home again. Once again, I called AAMCO, stating the same thing was happening, that I had already paid for to correct. Lydia got the call this time, and sounded very apologetic, and even more so, since their only tow-truck was being serviced that very day, so they wouldn't be able to get my van until Monday.

A blessing in disguise. On Monday, I contacted an ATRA Certified Transmission shop, actually a few blocks away from my home, to get a second opinion on this on-going problem. The results were very discouraging. An old part had been replaced with an old part, and when they checked the quality of the transmission fluid that AAMCO supposedly replaced, it was, and I quote, "full of metal shavings, it doesn't look like it was flushed". The ATRA Person went on to say that because of the metal shavings having worked their way into all the 'replaced' parts that AAMCO had put in, I would now have to have the very same parts replaced again. He then gently suggested that I should maybe want to seek out an attorney.

I now wish I had. It cost another $1,500.00 (tax included) to get the job done right. the ATRA shop had done the work on my van in November 2008, and I was able to make the final payment in March or April of 2009. I've had no more problems with the transmission (and yes, the same ATRA shop did a diagnostic on the van's engine this past December or early January, and the engine is fine). Word-of-mouth people, all I can say after this mess is word-of-mouth. Anyone who has been burned by AAMCO, do not hesitate to spread the word on their shoddy work. Not everyone thinks to check ahead on a website such as this, to find out just what a waste of money and time can be had at AAMCO.

The friend who first recommended AAMCO to me, back in October 2008, he and his wife are presently in the process of suing AAMCO, after having taken their vehicle to the same ATRA place I have. I found this out last week, because not only was shoddy work done on their vehicle, there was also expensive damage done, too. But that is their story. I really really wish I had been brave enough to contact an attorney. Maybe I still can. In the meantime people, if ever you need transmission work done, avoid AAMCO like a plague, and check your vehicle into an ATRA CERTIFIED Transmission Shop. You'll be glad you did.

Glenn called me 4 different times to lower the price of the tune up/oil change from $1225 to $886 to $800 and then finally to $600 (quite a difference from the original $1225 quoted). I said no every time! I called everyday to see when it would be done and I kept getting different excuses. 4 days later I decided just to show up unannounced and Glenn said he was just about to call me and that he was in the middle of doing my paperwork and it would be about 10 more minutes. In that time I went out to check the car and when I started it up, the check engine light was still on.

I came back into the shop and Glenn told me the technician must have forgot to clear the code and that the tech will do it then. They pulled it back into the bay and 15 minutes later they told me the tech was gone for the day and someone else had tried to clear it; but it wasn't working and to bring it back in 2 days on a Monday and the tech will clear it. An hour and a half later I took the car home and cleared it myself with a hand scanner but it came right back on later in the day.

2 days later my car almost overheated (never had that problem before). The coolant was totally empty in the radiator and overflow tank! I added coolant to both, and there were no additional problems regarding the overheating. It seems that they drained it out and never refilled; for whatever reason I do not know because there wasn't a problem regarding that. I took the car to a different shop to have it looked at and the mechanic said that the oil was never changed, nothing was ever done with the intake manifold either (AAMCO told me they changed out the gaskets)!

I called the AAMCO and left several messages and have not received a call back yet. I called the warranty company and told them to put a stop on the payment to them! I paid $24.99 for an oil change and an additional $50 for the warranty deductible. I'm lucky that that is all I paid them for work that was never done! I paid $24.99 for an oil change and an additional $50 for the warranty deductible.

After everything was fixed, the car then had to go back in twice for transmission "issues". These mechanics are not real. They do not know what they are doing. I am a single mother of 2 and need to get back and forth from work. They have caused major stress financially and mentally! These people need to be inspected and shut down! I also want to say after Roger not calling, I decided to go into the shop to see what was going on with the car. That’s when I saw him and his coworker drinking liquor on the job. In 1 year, I have spent close to $4000. And the car is basically useless.

I didn't hear from him so I called on Tuesday and he said his tech was out sick and he should be back tomorrow and then he could give me an estimate on the price of my car. Still, I didn't hear from him on Wednesday so I called him. He said his tech would not be back until Friday; I said okay. I called him on Friday and he said they put my car on scanner and yes, it did need a transmission and the cost will be $2300. He said my car would be ready by Wednesday, 12/15/09.

I called Wednesday and he said not until Thursday. I picked my car up Thursday evening and driving home, my car started to slip just like it did before they repaired it. I called when I got home and Frank said "you're kidding" and I said no I'm not. I asked Frank for his Manager's number and was told he will have him call me. I never received call from his manager. I was never given a contact number or the name of his manager. Every time I asked for a contact number for his supervisor, he would say he will have his supervisor call me. I told him I will bring it back on Monday morning to have it checked.

I took it back and Rick who rebuilt the transmission drove it around and said it's just the valve that was a little stuck so he put stop slip fluid in my car. Later that evening, it began to slip again just a little but I was told the valves have to un-stick so it may slip in the beginning for a couple of days. On Christmas Eve, it started slipping very bad. I called Aamco and was told by another employee that I should park the car and have them tow it after the holiday, because it was 12 pm and they were closing now. I was finishing up my Christmas shopping in Norristown 25 miles from my house with a car full of gifts and was not leaving my car, so I told him I will drive very slow and pray that I make it home and will not drive my car until I have to bring it to them on Monday 12/28/09.

I called Monday, 12/28/09, spoke with Frank. He was not aware that I even called on Christmas eve. He was very surprised to know I was still having problems; he told me to bring my car right over. I said I hope it will not take a week again and he said no, it will be fixed right away. I didn't get my car back until 12/31/09 at 7 pm. I was told everyday I called it will be ready tomorrow. Everyday it was something different. I didn't get my car back until 12/31/09 at 7 pm. Frank called at 6 pm and told me that my car was ready and how fast could I get there because it's New Years eve and they want to go home. He also said I should be glad they fixed it because they are working after hours and it's New Years eve. I told him that it was it not my fault that it took this long to get it right. I also asked him if it was completely fixed because I didn't want to have to bring it back again. He said it was fixed and they test drove it with no problems. I could not believe that I was being treated this way. I asked him to leave my keys in the car and lock the car because I have another set of keys and I had to call to get a ride to pick up my car.

Later on New Year's Eve, my car began to slip at every stop I made. I was unable to drive my car at this point again. I called the corp office on Monday and was transferred to a recording asking me to leave a message and someone will call me back. Well, I never received a call until the next day from Greg (public relations manager). I explained everything to him and asked if I could take my car to another Aamco repair shop at 18th & Washington ave because I did not trust anyone at the location on Lancaster Ave. He said I have to take it back to Lancaster Ave and they would bring it to Washington Ave. I was also told by Mark at Washington Ave that they do not have a certified tech that rebuilds transmissions at 6107 Lancaster Ave. Aamco. I called Frank to let him know I spoke with someone (Greg) at corp office and I will be bringing my car there to be taken to Washington Ave. He said, "Fine." I stressed the point that I did not want my car repaired at his location (Lancaster Ave) again. He promised my car would be taken to Washington Ave. on the same day I bring it to him. He also assured me that it will be repaired right away. I hung up the phone and began to have problems breathing; I was taken to the emergency room and found out I had pneumonia.

I called Frank to let him know I was unable to bring my car at this time. I was never offered any services to have my car picked up by Aamco. I called back on Monday 1/11/10 at 10 am and asked if I brought my car in right now if it would get to Washington Ave today and Frank said yes it will be taken to Washington Ave today. He said he was very sorry and he has to do something about his tech because there were other cars that were not properly fixed, not only my car.

I called back this same day 1/11/10 at 2 pm and asked if they took my car yet. He said not yet and that they will take it to Washington Ave (Aamco) before closing. To make a long story short, my car was not never taken to Washington Ave. Frank said it was an internal problem that they could repair. At this point, I am very angry because again that same tech he said messed up on other cars was fixing my car again. I called everyday and was given different stories. Finally on Friday, 1/15/10, Frank called me back at 5:30 pm telling me the valve pan they put on my car did not work. He said they will be taking it to another Aamco on Monday, 1/18/10. I asked him if they could provide me with a rental car for my inconvenience. He said he will check it out and call me back. I never received a call back from Frank.

On Monday, January 18, 2010 at 10:3 0am, I called Frank at Aamco. He said he fired the tech who fixed my car on Friday and he had a new tech that was working on my car today. He also said my car would be fixed and ready for pick up before closing which is 5:00 pm. I said to Frank you told me that my car would be sent to another Aamco location today to have it repaired properly and he said no, he has a new tech that can fix it. I told him I wanted to pick my car up and take it somewhere else myself. He said my car was not together and it will be fixed today. I said okay, hung up the phone. I called Greg at the corp office and left several messages and have not received a return call yet. I never received a call from Frank. I had to call him. I called at 2 pm and he said the tech was finishing up my car and I will have it before closing. It's 4:30 pm on Monday, January 18, 2010. I called Frank and he said the car will not be done today. He will definitely have it fixed tomorrow, January 19, 2011. I said I will not give you another day. I told him I will be there in the morning to pick my car up and I want a full refund. Frank said okay.

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 I called Frank at 9:13 am and I told him I was on my way to pick up my car. He said it's on the lift and being worked on. I said alright. My fiance and I got on the bus and went to Aamco and my car was on a lift ;no one was working on it. I walked in and said hello and my fiance` let Frank know he was here to collect my car and a full refund. Frank said it's being fixed today and my fiance said alright you have until the end of the day to have it fixed and if it's not properly repaired and ready by 5pm closing, he wants the $2,353.86 refunded to me in cash because that's the way I paid for the car. Frank said, "don't threaten me" and my fiance said to him, "it's not a threat; just fix the car or have the money." At this point, we left Aamco I called the corporate office for assistance and got an answering machine for Greg the public relations Manager and left a message. I have now called the Corporate office at Aamco 4 times and have not received a return call.

My car is now being held hostage at (Aamco) 6107 Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia, Pa. 19151 mainly because they won't let me take it out of their building. I want my car out of that building with a full cash refund of $2,353.86 immediately. I don't understand how a business can continue to show commercials and advertisements to the public as being experts when they are very unprofessional rip off artist. I would like for my complaint be put on a commercial and shown to the media, so nobody else will have to go through this horrible ordeal.

My wife and I were at Aamco Manchester, CT thrice. Prior to the New Year, Mike T( Manchester, CT) wanted to order a "Shift solenoid" from NC out to get their approval for repair. Now Mike's deputy suggests me to do a work at their shop for ca. $600 to cover a part, which is supposedly not under a warranty. I am unable to get hold of Mark T.

Honda dealership plainly states, that I have a code "P0780 A/T shift malfunction transmission." I have that red light for a long time with a code P0780. Aamco CT also stated in writing that I have this code. Honda says that I need to replace the whole transmission. Please help me to resolve miscommunication between CT and NC and help me to fix my car in CT. I paid for a new transmission for $2121.96 last April. All papers are available.

He tells me to take it back in, checks it over again and tells me that the problem is in a worn out spring inside the fan. He says that he let the car heat up and watched the fan turn off for no reason while it read overheating and assured me this really was the problem. $180 dollars more and he replaces my whole fan unit. He checks it again and says it is definitely working now. My wife drives it out of the shop and is not even a mile away and it reads overheating again! She drives it back to Jim, he pops the hood and finally puts a laser heat sensor on the engine while the gauge is saying it is overheating. Then he looks at where the sensor cable goes in and it is visibly stripped and damaged! He offers to replace the part for seventy dollars more but my wife refuses to pay another penny without talking to me. I call Napa and get the part for $15.

Now I have just spent nearly 700 dollars and three trips to Aamco to replace a $15-part on a car that only costs $400. When my wife mentions this to Jim, his only response was "well those other parts would have needed replaced eventually.” The car is 20 years old, the whole engine could do with being replaced eventually but that is not what we brought it to Aamco for. I sent this message as a complaint to Aamco's main office, hoping that their entire company had better ethics than this individual store. The main company, to their credit, had a representative who contacted me within a week and it looked like they were going to do something about the poor service. But then, two months later, I don't hear anything from any of them. I wrote to Aamco a second time, telling them that I just wanted to hear some kind of response either for or against my complaint. They have since sent me a letter from the HWY 99 Aamco that I went to, with the owner of that store saying that all of the work done was necessary. Following is the letter sent by him, after each paragraph is my response to his letter:

"As I discussed with you Wednesday, the reason we recommended replacing the water pump was because the water pump was leaking. Prior to bringing the car to our shop, you had added an anti-leak compound to the radiator and this had to be flushed out as it had contaminated the thermostat and kept it from working properly because it did not close all the way. The thermostat housing had holes in it and there were some notches on the thermostat seat that could allow the coolant to leak past the thermostat. After we replaced these items and road tested the car, it seemed to work properly.”

“When I first called about my overheating problem, I was told that there would be no charge for your company to diagnose what was wrong with it. When I brought it in, you told me about the leak and affirmed that this was what was wrong with it. However, the leak was very minor and a small leak from a fully functional water pump is not at all uncommon in a 20-year-old vehicle. If I had known you were just guessing that this might fix the problem, I wouldn't have agreed for it to be replaced. Moreover, I was aware that the coolant system had a minor leak but over the course of two months, it didn't warrant me adding coolant to the system even once. Now, I won't criticize the choice to change the thermostat housing. When you showed it to me, I could see a few minor scratches and understand how that could cause the coolant to leak past. However, if the sensor was blown, there is no way you could have known that this was causing the overheating based upon the gauge reading alone. The wire leading to the sensor that was visibly stripped is right in front and should have been caught the first time the system was looked over. Especially with what we told you about the temperature gauge going from hot to cold erratically.”

"When you brought the Volvo back in and we let it idle, we found that the cooling fan was not coming on all the time due to a weak thermal spring. The temperature gauge would go up at idle and show hot and the fan would eventually come on but very late. After we replaced the fan clutch the temperature gauge would show the temperature rising and then the fan would come on and the temperature would drop. Again, performing like it should.”

“All of this is based upon the reading of the temperature gauge which you were informed was going from hot to cold seemingly without reason. When you asked me if I wanted this replaced, you had not yet taken apart the unit and told me that this was the most probably reason for the fan not coming on when the temperature gauge read hot. For all we know, the thermal spring could have been working fine because the engine itself was not really heating up."

“Your wife called back and she said it showed overheating again. I asked her to come right back. At that time, we used an infrared temperature sensor to determine that the coolant was at the proper operating temperature. Steve began to diagnose the functionality of the gauge. Very quickly, he found the temperature sensor wiring had issues. He found an un-insulated wire at the sensor. I then got prices on the sensor and labor to replace it which was about $70. I then offered to replace it at no charge if you provided me with the part which is an attempt to mitigate concerns about our service. We did replace the sensor for you at no charge, however, the one you provided was defective and we had to reinstall a new one, again at no charge.”

“Now we come to a final problem which did not show up until a week after my first complaint. Since we last talked, the temperature gauge has begun behaving erratically again. My wife clarified that part of how you fixed the problem of the frayed wire was to put a sealant over it rather than replacing it. You may have replaced the sensor but the frayed wire that was sending the signal is still not fixed. So after all has been said and done, our $700 fix of a $15 problem is still giving a false read."

“There was a misunderstanding regarding the communication with your wife. What I told your wife was that the parts we replaced needed to be replaced for the cooling system to function properly and do its job. Just replacing the temperature-sending unit would not have returned your cooling system to proper operation.“

“On the contrary, you have replaced several hundred dollars worth of parts that you did not confirm were broken and left the only part of the system that is confirmed to be broken and the reason we brought it to your company. In summary, my service was bad on an unprecedented level. As someone who has worked in customer service, I made every attempt to let the individual store and the company at large makes amends for this poor service. However, the response I got was that my complaint was unwarranted and then when I challenged this they gave me silence. This is the only time I have ever written a review of a company online but I really feel that other consumers should beware before dealing with Aamco.

He kept calling me back on that Monday, 1.4.2010, and I finally told him I prefer to go with a dealer with the 3 year/100 thousand mile warranty. He did offer to tow it free to his location and do a free inspection. I'm sorry but I don't trust Aamco any more since the same incident with a location in Montebello, Ca 90460, back in 1990. I had a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba with the same transmission problem. I ended up selling my car for a loss. I'll never do that again. Please someone let him know I'm going with a Chrysler dealer. The bottom line is, I don't trust Aamco anymore, sorry.

I was informed I was already paying $500 for the diagnosis and the repair was going to run $5,000, which is more than twice what it would ultimately cost. I told him I would get back to him. I later called to say I wasn't going to fix it and I would have a tow truck pick it up. Due to the Christmas holiday and a brief trip out of town, I received a voicemail from Lionel, the customer satisfaction rep, that I was going to be charged storage starting today. When I called Lionel, he stated that, "What was done was done." Later I was contacted by the store manager, John, who confirmed it.

I was not informed at any time that such a charge existed, told such charges were looming or what the exact charge would be. As someone who owns a business in Addison, I want to see the area do well and businesses thrive, but I would never treat a guest in my establishment like this.

The day after our return home, my father threw a clot from his heart to his arm. He was in serious condition in the hospital for over a week. He needed around the clock care, so I stayed with him in the hospital. My daughter and her fiance, therefore, had to drive back to Rhode Island to pick up the van. The cost was $2440.

In February 2009, with only 4,928 miles on the new transmission, it went out again. We contacted the Aamco dealer on Orange Avenue in Roanoke to fix the problem. He had to put in another transmission kit, along with other repairs. Although he did not charge us for this, what we did not know was that this was considered still under the original warranty even though this was a new kit.

In November 2009, only 9 months and 5,600 miles after the second repair, the transmission went out again. We took it to the same Aamco in Roanoke where we were informed that the original warranty was for 12, 000 miles or 12 months, and since it was past 12 months, any repairs would not be covered. However, if we wanted them to redo the transmission, they would give us a fleet deal of about $1800.

Imagine my surprise at realizing that Aamco dealers were not willing to stand behind their work. And also imagine my surprise at learning that the warranty was only for 12 months or 12,000 miles. When I asked my daughter about this, she told me that she could not recall any mention of a warranty at all when she picked up the van, and she never thought to ask about it. Upon looking at the invoice, we noticed that she had not even been asked about an extended warranty for the transmission since she had not initialed in the blanks to decline that offer.

I realize that it is true that the 12-month warranty had expired and that it was my fault for not checking to see what the warranty was in the first place. However, I feel that first of all, the Aamco in Rhode Island should have offered my daughter the option of a 36-month warranty, which we would have taken. In addition, I find it deplorable that a new transmission job costing $2400 would not last 5,000 miles and that a second repair would last only 5,600 miles! The total mileage we got on this transmission from the repair in Rhode Island was only 10,528 miles and not one dealer felt that this was unacceptable. Even the home company which I contacted recently stood by the 12-month warranty and did not feel that this poor workmanship should be addressed.

I can only say that based on my experience, I will certainly not be recommending Aamco to any of my friends and, to those people who use Aamco, I caution you to make very certain you know the warranty on any work you have done. And if I were you, I would opt for the lifetime guarantee!

Our patience was greatly tested by the customer service at the head office as well, and there was no resolution to this from their end as well. The car hasn’t been repaired yet, and still no time frame of it being repaired. We don’t own a second car. So our plight is even worse, trying to commute in winter. The service has refused to provide us the rental car for the time of repair, which is not proper on their behalf, and these many weeks without any response have been pathetic. We had rented car thrice, which cost us more money. We would request that this nightmare to get over ASAP or refund the total amount paid during earlier visit so that we could proceed with an authorized Audi dealer.

The next phone call I got from them, Larry told me that the timing belt jumped due to a bad idler pulley and now the car would require a valve job. Needless to say, I was somewhat in shock and didn't know what to say. I stopped by the shop that night and discussed what happened with the mechanic who worked on it. He claimed that the idler pulley just fell apart causing the timing belt to jump which caused the valve damage. He claimed that he didn't take the timing belt off to replace the camshaft position sensor which I think was an outright lie.

I spoke to a Daewoo mechanic who told me that this was highly unlikely. He told me that a special tool is required to replace it without removing the timing belt and he didn't think they had this tool. So I'm supposed to believe that my timing belt just jumped in their shop even though it wasn't due to be replaced for another 20,000 miles. Larry told me that they wanted to "work with me" on this but they felt that they had no culpability on this - it was just an "unfortunate event" in his words.

I told them that I would pay $500 additional for the timing belt replacement labor and valve job labor in addition to the cost of the parts. I told them that they would have to pick up the rest and they finally agreed to this. The timing belt replacement and valve job took an additional week. I picked up the car and the engine light was still on. In addition, there is still an oil leak. I took it back to them and they claimed that they could not find a "significant" leak. I got the feeling that they simply didn't want to spend any more time on my car.

I would never recommend that anyone take their car to this place - I've regretted it ever since.

In mid-January, the brakes started to squeak and grind. I took this back in. Steve said he would check it out and after 2 hours killing time, Steve announced that he/they had put some "stop squeak" on the brakes and everything should be fine. No work order or any paperwork was issued for this. Over the next several months of medium to heavy daily driving, the brakes would squeak intermittently, but as time went on, they were squeaking more and more frequently. Several calls were placed to the shop during this time. Trying to get in to check it out, I was told more than once that they had no rack space for several days or to bring it in the morning and leave it for the day, they would "get around" to looking at it.

Approximately the end of July (no specific date because again, a work order/authorization for work to be performed was never issued), I stopped at the shop because the brake noise/grinding was getting worse going forward and now, in reverse. I arranged with Steve to bring it in the next day to have it checked out. Next day, up on the rack, Steve came out to me and asked if I parked my car by the ocean for an extended period of time and didn't use it because the rotors were all rusted. I assured him that while I, indeed, live in the bay area, I lived nowhere close to the ocean. I examined the rotors and they were, indeed, badly rusted. Steve said it was probably from non-use, but that was hard to justify when I had put over 6,000 miles on the car from December when AAMCO did the work. Steve couldn't explain it.

They pulled the rotors and Steve, not looking too happy at all after looking at the pads, said they couldn't do anything about the pads that day (Why? It was a work day in the morning when this went down) and that he would "check the warranty" on the pads and get back to me. That was close to 5 weeks ago. Calls placed go unreturned. The last two times I called, I got an answering machine with the message saying "This call is being recorded." I can see why, after reading the posts here by other consumers. Stopping into the shop is a waste of time. They always need you to bring the car back in the morning and leave the car all day. I think the only reason I got out of there in two hours in July is because I sat at the shop and pressed them for the car back because I had appointments to run. I got it back, minus any info on the "pad" warranty and when the pads would be replaced, and it sounds worse than ever.

I had to "use" my brakes yesterday on the freeway. They didn't perform as brakes should that have had front and rear pads and rotors replaced with "new" ones 7 months ago. As of this writing, 8/30/09, still no word from Steve/AAMCO. I truly believe that they didn't do any of the brake work that I was charged for last December. Rusty rotors, squeaking pads and just a blank stare and shrug from the proprietor. I am done with them. I have found an excellent mechanic, who I should have had do the work in the first place, and have him fix the brakes. I will seek recovery from AAMCO through other avenues.

I approached one of your shops at 6858 W Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ (623-848-9555). The manager was pleasant enough. He said that he will rebuild my transmission with a new torque converter for $1,200 with a one year warranty. He also sold me two cans of flush and instructed me how to flush the system. I will have to install it myself and I will have to bring the vehicle back to him so he can check everything out. I also need to take down the mileage of the vehicle and then he will issue me the official AAMCO receipt where the warranty will be spelled out.

I got the transmission and when it was time to hook up the dipstick tube, there was a problem. They had installed a smaller sleeve that can accommodate the tube. This, of course, I found out after three hours of trying to figure things out. To remove the sleeve, I had to take out the oil pan and tap the sleeve out. I was able to install the tube using an O-ring. I filled up the transmission with atf-4 synthetic oil ($60.00). The jeep started right up. I test drove the vehicle for a good 30 miles without a problem.

I parked the jeep overnight and the next morning, I found a leak on the spot where the tube goes into. So, I took the jeep straight to AAMCO and asked him to replace the sleeve and do his check-up as what we had agreed upon. He asked me to leave the vehicle and that he will call me later. This is when my nightmare began. He calls after two hours with a frantic tone on his voice. Everything that was done on the installation was wrong, he says.

When I got to his shop, he had set up a really dramatic scenario. The hood was up and a battery charger was hooked up. Right away, I knew this guy was up to something. I asked him, "Why the charger?" He said he did not know. I told him that I have an optima battery that is fully charged and a starter which has been installed new in the last two years. Then, he says maybe I installed the wrong flex disk. The disk I installed came from a jeep dealer were the VIN of the jeep had to be entered on a computer to get the correct part.

I personally and physically compared the old disk with the new disk and they are perfectly matched. (I have the receipts for battery, starter and flex disk). He then says that the fluid was contaminated and that I must have switched the lines. Well, duh, the fittings are different in style and size that even a moron cannot switch them intentionally. He then says that the shifter was put in improperly and I argued that I was able to drive it a shift without a problem.

Then, he says that because of the age of the vehicle and the fact that it has over 209k miles, the radiator must be bad. Well, duh, again. The radiator had been replaced just over a year ago (I have the receipt). Then, he mentions that maybe the wrong torque converter was installed. That is when I reminded him that he supplied the torque converter. How quickly he forgot. Then, he mentions that the overdrive does not work. He says maybe it is the computer or the button. And that the leak was not from the missing sleeve, but maybe from the gasket of the oil pan which I had removed.

In short, he was putting all the blame on me. I told him that the leak was definitely from the missing sleeve and that I used the specified torque to tighten the bolts that hold the oil pan. He told me that for him to flush the system and fix things up, it would cost me $200-$300. I have come to realize that he basically has my jeep hostage and I agreed to pay him $200.00 (no more) to fix things up. He had the vehicle for 10 days, after which, he tried to bill me for $398 which I refused to pay. But then, he agreed to settle for the $200. When I got home that night, the jeep would not go on reverse. So the next morning, he had a tow truck pick it up at my house. He then starts blaming me again for installing the "wrong bolts" on the torque converter. I printed out the schematic diagram of the torque converter, showing the bolt with the correct part number. I also showed him a receipt with those part numbers.

In spite of all this, he is still coming up with other excuses. That is when I decided to have the jeep worked on by another shop. AAMCO still has my $1,400.

About 11 am, ** called me back and told me that there was a problem with the rear wheel differential, and that the assessment (labor not including parts) would be $695. At first I agreed, but I changed my mind and called back within five minutes to stop any work on the car. The employee who answered the phone was rude and insulting, and would not connect me with the manager. Five minutes later, ** called me back. I told him that I wanted them to stop any work on my car immediately. ** said that I would have to pay for the work that had already been done on the car, and that they would not release the vehicle without payment. Less than twenty minutes had passed since our conversation, and I was certain that no work on the car had been done in that short period of time.

I called the police and my sister met the police escort at Aamco to retrieve the keys and the vehicle. When they arrived, my vehicle was parked in the same parking space (and in the same position) that it had been parked the night before, when the tow truck driver had dropped it off. No work had been done on the vehicle. ** was belligerent toward the police officers, and aggressive and threatening toward my sister (both verbally and non-verbally). ** said that if my vehicle was not towed within thirty minutes, they would have it impounded. I hastily arranged for the vehicle to be towed, and had it towed to another service shop immediately.

The unethical business practices, threatening behavior, and total disregard for me as a customer was appalling. The manager at Aamco tried to hold my vehicle illegally and extort undue payment. If the police had not intervened in this situation, I am certain that Aamco would not have released my vehicle, and that the manager may have carried out his threats against my sister. I would like to report this incident so no other unsuspecting customer is threatened, deceived or possibly swindled out of their money. Thank you.

Through the next four days, Oscar failed to call us back at any time. We had to continually call him, and he was extremely rude and unsympathetic to our situation. Why tell us three days when it's going to take 4 or 5 days? Did he not realize we are three young girls on our own stuck in an unfamiliar city? Oscar constantly gave us the runaround and I finally had to force him to tell us if the car would be ready by Saturday, August 15, 2009, and of course, the car would not be ready after it had been five days.

This forced us to take a next day flight home, costing a tremendous amount of money. Now I, Dana **, must fly back up to Las Vegas next week just to drive my car all the way back to Georgia because Oscar and the AAMCO told us it would be ready and it was not. Not only that, but were extremely rude, unsympathetic, and a horrible excuse for a business.

The next morning, Steve with AAMCO called Cameron and said that they completed repairs late Wednesday night and that van was stolen. Cameron told Steve about the GPS report and that it was not stolen, but picked up by your employees. Veejay called Cameron on 8/14 and said that high speed tests were necessary and that it is routine for employees to take vehicles home.

When I got my car back for the second time, the same problem happened. But this time I took it to my original dealership to get their advice on what was going on with my tranny. This is Audi by the way. Audi said that the tail shaft of the tranny that AAMCO had put in was leaking! So, I took it back yet a third time and they said they just had to adjust some things in the tranny to stop the jerking and leaking.

Now for the third time, I had to rent a car for a few days again. When I got back my car, the leaking was fixed but a few days later, the jerking starts again and my starter was making a buzzing noise when I started the car. I was so furious when I had to go back a fourth time. This time, they blamed the jerking on the computer in my car and it’s not their fault. They also said that my starter is going bad because my car is an old car. Mind you, it is only a 2000. I was fed up when they told me all this and told them that I am reporting them to AAMCO headquarters which I'm currently in the process of. I am also getting a lawyer to get all my money back hopefully. I paid then $4,200 for this crappy job! Never go to AAMCO, please save yourself the headache!

The manager said they would look at it. He called me and said they replaced some drive shaft thing that would fix it. I picked it up and it did shift. I only drove to and from work. Over the weekend, I drove the freeway and I experienced the same problem. I took the car back and all of a sudden, it is an engine problem. How weird, now they figured the problem was not the transmission. I picked up my car and the "check engine" light is on. This light was never on. I was scammed and my money taken. My truck is more damaged now from this experience. I do not have money to throw away and I still have the same problem.

So I said, “Go ahead, but if you can stay under $1700, that will be good.” Then he said, “We'll call you on Monday 08/03/2009 at about noon with the details.” So I got the call on Monday at about 12:15pm from someone who said, “Your transmission doesn’t look too bad; it shouldn’t be more than $1700.” I said, “Cool.” Then after 3:00pm the same day, I got a call from someone at another Aamco in Mcdonough, GA who said they have to do this, that, and that. So the price will be $2141, but it’s really $2241 so I should go on their website and print the coupon for $100 off. Right then, I knew something was not right but I went ahead with it anyway, because I really needed my car fix.

On 08/06/09 at 8am, I went to pick up the truck because they said it was ready. While paying for the work that should have been done, they told me that a computer has to reset itself for the transmission to shift properly so I need to drive it 100 miles and it should be fine. So we drove and later that day, my transmission was doing worse than when I took it to the shop - still stalling but worse. The next day, the truck won't do anything; it’s sitting in my driveway waiting on Aamco to come get it and I still don't believe they are gonna fix it. They got my money but they didn’t do the work. Now my wife is mad at me. Are there any honest people on Planet Earth? I took my truck to Aamco because I thought they were top of the line, but they are at the top of ripoffs.

Via the telephone, Monday August 3rd, Mr. ** advised me to drop the keys and car off that evening while informing me to leave my keys in the mailbox. After arriving to the shop, I realized he literally meant to put them in the mailbox, which was screwed to the outside of the building and not locked. Naturally, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my keys in such close proximity to my unattended vehicle where anyone could retrieve the keys from the mailbox and leave with my car. Therefore, I wrote a quick summary of my conversation with ** and placed it in the mailbox explaining the keys would be dropped off in the morning.

The keys were dropped off Tuesday, August 4th at 9:00am, with ** manning the front. He asked which car the keys belonged to and what the situation was with the car. Perplexed, I wondered what would have happened had I not come in, would my car and keys sat there? I then went out to retrieve my “mail” and hand it to him to re-explain the situation. Around 2 in the afternoon, I got a phone call from ** asking how many cylinders my car was and what my issues were. At this point, I’m a little irritated as I have provided a written explanation and three verbal explanations one of which was face-to-face. Not to mention, he then proceeded to call my office to ask me a question which could have been answered by him, as the vehicle and keys were in his possession.

After ** felt he had all he needed to begin diagnosis, he let me know he would call within the next hour and update me. I waited until around 4:30pm to call and request an update, as I knew the offices closed at 5:00. ** informed me, he would like to keep the car one more day as they couldn’t replicate the problem I was experiencing and they were really busy. Being in business, I understand things happen. So, naturally, I said that this was acceptable. He requested I come down for a test drive at 9am Wednesday August 5th. This way the “tech guy” could feel what I was describing first hand. ** proceeded to tell me that the car drove like a dream and it was probably just the way I drove. He mentioned that there was another Mitsubishi in the shop that the owner didn’t even want so “who knew”. Again, yet another unnecessary comment that provides no value to the conversation besides to condescend and provoke.

I agreed to meet him at 9am to next morning. I left work that morning to make it to the shop by 9am, and the tech and I drove about 5 minutes before he felt what I was feeling. He mentioned a few options of what could be causing the issue, but he said he wanted to be sure. He would like to “put it up in the air”. I do want to say that the tech was the nicest most upfront person I’ve ever dealt with! If he was the sole contact from this experience I would have left my car for a week and trusted-hands-down. At this point, **, the tech, and myself have “test-driven” the car.

I left around 9:15am and the tech said he would have ** call me around noon after he had checked my fluid levels and spark plugs for any issues. I again waited until 4pm; after not receiving a call I proceed to call the shop and request an update. ** then informed me that he, again, had driven the car and felt nothing and that the tech was out driving my car currently. I was perplexed because I had left work to ensure they felt the problem I was referencing, yet they were out driving it again. So, ** said he would call me back at 4:30pm when the driver returned.

At 4:45pm, I called and asked to speak to **. He then asked me to tell him what the tech told me he thought was wrong with the vehicle. I tried explaining the best I could in my “civilian language”. He started getting offensive and abusive when I couldn’t describe in detail what the tech told me. I explained that I wasn’t the best source as, and I quote, “I don’t speak mechanic.” I’m not sure why he couldn’t have just asked his team. Anyway, he fired back with, “I will go speak mechanic and use my brain to figure out pieces to put together what he means from the conversation. It can’t be that hard!” That was it, I had had it. I don’t know if my being a female had something to do with it. But there are no excuses for unhelpful, unprofessional, tactless managers. I asked him what else was needed on the car and he said they would like to keep it yet another day. I declined, informing him that I would be at the shop to retrieve my car and keys.

When I arrived, I asked if he was the manager and he stated in a very matter-of-fact way, that he was “the man”, “the one”, and “the manager”. As one would expect, I will never request or recommend services from any AAMCO for any reason. Unfortunately for AAMCO I was willing to pay top dollar for any issue that was found. Lucky for me, there was no issue found with my car. However, I do want to point out that I can’t be sure if there were no issues found because the staff is inefficient or if there is just a communication breakdown.

I’m disappointed with the lack of communication among the staff and also the lack of communication between the staff and the customer. Furthermore, I cannot believe a manager with an MBA, as he was quick to point out, is permitted to abuse customers and take advantage of the “power” he holds over them due to the fact that he has their vehicle. I’m deeply offended in the sub par service and lack of respect I received as a customer.

In total, they had my car for over a month. They finally gave the car back to me after a month, but in less than two months (February '09), the transmission was slipping yet again. I was so disgusted with the treatment given to me at the Elmhurst center that I took it to a different AAMCO in Brooklyn, NY. They kept my car for two weeks, and when they gave it back to me, the transmission was banging. The mechanic at the Brooklyn AAMCO said the banging was normal and that the car had to relearn itself.

Less than six months later, I brought my car to a different mechanic to have the timing belt changed. That mechanic informed me that the banging in my transmission was not normal, and that it had caused my engine mounts to break. Fed up with the AAMCO centers in NY, I took my car to the AAMCO center in Clifton, NJ. There, I was informed that my entire transmission would have to be rebuilt, but that unfortunately, my warranty had expired, and as such, I would have to spend another $2,000 to get the transmission rebuilt. I am writing to you because I do not see how it is even remotely my responsibility to pay to get my transmission rebuilt when the transmission was never fixed properly under the original warranty!

Problem 2: When I got my receipt of car repairs, they had typed the mileage wrong by 4,000 miles. No new paperwork, just crossed out and new mileage written in by hand. When I received my car back, it was doing the exact same thing! I brought it back (visit 3), "Probably bad solenoid." When I picked it up, they said they reprogrammed the car computer (no new part). Again, it did not work, I brought it back the 4th time; we need to drive it some more to figure what the problem is and will order part! I brought it back a 5th time (no part ordered) and still not working. They have had my car now a total of 8 business days and still, it does not run any better than when I first brought it in! So, on my way home from a meeting tonight, ** told me the car is getting worked on and should be ready by tomorrow, July28th 2009.

I passed the store no more than 5 minutes later and there is my car in the parking lot! I called right back and asked why my car is not getting worked on. He said I must have seen another car that looked like mine! Just that it had my license plate on it! This guy ** has lied and deceived me so many times now that now, I have to take action. I have been very patient and diplomatic up until now! This cost me $400 more in car rentals and missed time from work to pick up/drop off and now I'm upset! I work for Fidelity Investments as an Administrator and now will be using all resources at my disposal to get this resolved. I would like a refund of partial of the work done and rental car reimbursement. I trusted the Aamco name as a respectable business across the country. I am seriously thinking about litigation and contacting the BBB here along with different media outlets here in town! I am not just going to let this go! It's about the principle; do the job right!

While the mechanic was repairing my transmission, the mechanic damaged my exhaust system. I took my car back to AMMCO Transmission to explain to the manager that my exhaust system was damaged while my car was being serviced. My car was re-examined, and the manager said that my exhaust pipe just separated all by itself. It was just a coincidence that it broke at exactly the same time that their mechanic was working on my vehicle. The mechanic, who drove my car to the rack and back to the parking lot, smeared grease on my headliner, when I took my vehicle back to AMMCO Transmission.

The manager said to me that since I was a loyal customer, he would repair the exhaust system his mechanic damaged for $200. I guess that means if I actually let them fix the exhaust system they damaged, I would get a bill for $900 based on my experience with the transmission estimate.

Problem showed up within a few hours of this visit, so clearly not the problem and they refused refund. I took it back in Sept. '08 and they rebuilt a second time, problem came back within a day or 2. I took to another AAMCO and they confirmed torque converter shutter, slipping in lock up. They recommended going to Acura for diagnosis. The original AAMCO shop agreed to pay the Acura Dealer charge. Acura said either damaged valve body or bad torque converter. AAMCO rebuilt 3rd time. They claimed they found sticking valve in valve body that controls torque converter. I got the vehicle back and problem showed up again in a day or 2. I demanded refund and they refused. I disputed through the credit card company, but lost since I didn’t have an expert saying AAMCO was at fault. It turns out you need to pay someone else to fix the transmission and testify that the other shop was at fault.

12/08, I took it to an independent trans shop and he agreed torque converter shutter in lock up mode. He said Honda fluid is very specific and stated that if they did not use Honda fluid this can be the problem, he added Honda Smart Lube which is Honda's additive and it seemed to work. It lasted about 2 months then it came back. I took the car to the independent shop and paid for a rebuild, another $2,000.00. He immediately found the problem which was 2 damaged "O" rings in the torque converter valve body. He said this can only be done by improper installation. They did standard rebuild with all soft parts and replaced the torque converter with a quality one.

I got the car back from him and it was better than it was new. I now have 1,600 miles on this rebuild and it is perfect. Fact, it is so smooth that if you are stopped at traffic light with vehicle in gear and air off, you cannot feel the engine running nor hear it. (The AAMCO torque converter was junk. It was not well balanced, turns out this was another issue that I did not even realize due to the other problem.)

The independent shop agreed to be my expert in small claims court. I plan on filing suit by the end of 08/09. I will try to post the results. Consequences: $3,700.00 AAMCO bill, 4 wheel alignments as a result of 4 front end dis-assemblies for a total of $400.00, 6 weeks loss of use of the vehicle. The final second repairshop charged $2,000.00.

It is now July and the warranty is half over due to so many back and forth trips to each AAMCO. We have called the corporate office and have had zero results with any action. I will do everything possible to keep anybody from using such an unscrupulous place. Furthermore, my truck is still running badly and corporate has done nothing. How can I get my truck fixed? Consequences: a total of 2 weeks’ worth of rental cars, $1400, 240 miles for drop off and pick up each time it was in the shop for a total of about $500 worth of diesel. Not to mention time off of work for my wife and me every time.

Then, they found a new problem. The reason the car wouldn't start was a scorched distributor cap. So everything in respect to the car starting, I guess, was a waste of money. By the way, the final bill was just under $1,500.00 and I still have the gas smell! After all this, they now tell me it's the exhaust system and for $500.00 more, they can fix it. They may be willing to split the cost. I checked out the price with Monro Muffler. They looked at the car and said $370.00. They (AAMCO) were to order the muffler and get back to me when it came in. It has been two weeks and they never called.

On my last visit to complain about my transmission problem and about my service 4wd light that occasionally comes on, the mechanic on-duty hooked up a computer dig system to my truck and told me that there had been no indicator lights that went off. I informed him that my truck is a Chevy and I was told by a Chevy-certified mechanic that in Chevys, the computer doesn't store information when the indicator lights go off and that you need the indicator on in order to diagnose.

I returned a week later with the service 4wd light on and the shop was close forever. This problem has made my truck very unpleasant to drive and is probably doing damage to my engine. I just want to enjoy my truck again. This was a very expensive job and I struggled to pay for the service that was not properly repaired.

I have called the Customer Service Department for AAMCO several times over the past month and have never been able to speak to a live person. I think that is more by design than accident. In a nutshell, we will never do business with AAMCO again. In addition to the original $2432 we paid to Portsmouth, VA AAMCO, we paid $3100 to the Alexandria, VA AAMCO. The original rebuild lasted $25,000 miles and 10 months.

About one minute later, I received a call from Steve stating that he was the manager and stated that he was a master technician and would look at the vehicle and give me an estimate. He promised to call back but never did. I called him back the second day and he stated that he was going to review the telephone conversation that I had with Jeremiah to see if he had done anything wrong and would call back, but never did. I called him back and he told me that the tape recording was gone and that it had probably been recorded over. I told him that there was never any agreement to pay any fees and wanted to talk to the owner. Steve then began threatening that if I called the owner that the owner would put a lien on my vehicle. He also stated that if I did not pay him the $125 that he would put a lien on the vehicle. Steve still refuses to give me any information to contact the owner. This company scams and bullies people into giving them money.

When I got home, I hooked up the computer to my car to see what the history had in the computer. It showed that they had a hand held computer hooked up, with a max rpm reading of 5300! And a top speed of 112 mph! So they beat the ** out of my car on their test drive. No damage was done to the car, but I will never trust or go back to any of their shops. Buyers beware!

Monday morning, I receive a phone call and I am told that there is a noise that they need to repair and it would be an additional $100, so I authorized that. When I picked up my car on Monday and I drove it off, there was a noise when I turned the steering wheel. So I call the manager, Lou, and told him that there was a noise so I took it back in. He told me that the noise is because the car is running the way it should now.

When I saw him, I asked if I looked that stupid to him and indicated that my father had taught me some things about cars. He indicated that he had his best mechanic working on my car and he didn't hear the noise. I said to him that maybe his mechanic needs a hearing and he indicated that the mechanic is 18 years old. Uh, 18, best mechanic? Right! As I was talking to Lou, he continued to call me "honey" and he said that he sprayed WD40 on it and it would get better.

As I told him that I felt a car shouldn't make a noise when it leaves the repair shop that it never had. I then asked him if he bought a car and it had a noise, wouldn't he expect it to be fixed. So, his response was, "I can put the old parts back on if you want". He also asked the mechanic to open the hood because "she knows about cars". Then he told me that he was the most honest mechanic I would find. My problem has not been resolved yet.

I made it to the shop on June 16th around 1:30pm. I took the car for a test ride on the local side streets and drove back to the shop. Mr. ** asked how it felt. I told him I need to take a longer ride and at different speeds. He assured and promised me I won't hear or feel any of the noises or shaking. After driving the car both on the highway and the streets, I observed the same noise and shaking I requested to have fixed.

I took the car back June 17th, 3:30pm and took the mechanic out for a test ride with me. As I drove the car the mechanic observed the noise and wanted to go back to the shop to check the tires. After checking the tires Mr. ** and the mechanic took the car out for a ride. When they came back Mr. ** shrugged his shoulders and said "I heard it but it went away real quick, my mechanic pointed it out, but I must have been talking". I then requested Mr. **, the mechanic and myself all go for a ride. He refused saying now that he never heard a noise. Mr. ** simply walked away from me as did the mechanic. I was then approached by Ryan ** who was rude, ignorant and threatening. Ryan would not honor my request to take the car for a test ride so he can witness the problem himself, he refused. He also said "If you don't leave right now you are going to get yourself into a losing battle" I made one last request for them to test drive the car again but they refused.

I believe I was taken advantage of by this incompetent business. I will dispute this purchase on my credit card because my car still has the same noise and shaking. I missed some time at work due to the back and forth traveling to the shop.

He called back about a day later and said it would cost $2300 plus tax. i told him no way and that I would have someone come and tow it away. He would not allow that, as he said he had to return it in the same condition that he got it. This was on a Thursday morning. I was still in the Santa Rosa area and needed to return to San Diego.

I asked if i could pick it up on Friday. He said no and that he wasn't going to work on it until the following Monday, as he was going wind sailing on the weekend, even though the shop would be open Saturday. He said he needed more time. I had to use a rental car to return to San Diego. He called the following Tuesday and said the Explorer was ready to be picked up. It took one day to get it ready.

When I returned one week later to pick it up, the transmission was leaking fluid and there was a puddle below the front of the transmission. I left without discussing it. When I returned to San Diego, I called and complained about the unfair business practice of failing to disclose that it could cost as much as $2300. If he did, I would not have put my self on the hook for a $540 estimate and that it was leaking, though he promised that the $540 included new seals and gaskets and that it looked like it had just been put back in haphazardly.

He would not listen to my complaints and started yelling at me and calling me names. Then he said he was going to push it into the street and let the city tow it away and impound it and that I would lose my driver's license. Then he hung up on me. I spent an extra two weeks' car rental on this and turned in the rental. I am now without transportation and a truck that's stuck in Santa Rosa.

He called me back Monday morning to inform me that it would cost $3300.00 to repair. I told him no thank you, to put it back together, and that I would come get it. Later, he phoned back and said after talking to his manager that they could give me a 20% fleet discount, like they give the police department and other various companies. This would be $2600.00 + the 400.00 for initial evaluation. Again, I said no thanks and that I had found someone else that could do for half the price.

Then he went on about the warranty that I would receive and on and on. I told him again no. I asked to just put everything in the bed of the truck and that I would send a wrecker to pick it up. I was informed it was against policy. I was told it would be ready around Tuesday afternoon or first thing Wednesday morning.

Here it is, Wednesday evening, and there's still no truck. I even had the sheriff's department to go by Tuesday afternoon. He did not even face the guy. Apparently, this a routine thing according to the deputy sheriff who paid him a visit. Well, I went there at 6:00 this evening, and we exchanged a few explicit words. There has been an elderly man waiting in there everyday for almost a week now. This place needs a management change immediately. Bet on this, I will never let anyone I know take their car/truck there. It is better to walk than deal with a person like David.

I was not ready to do any of that, so I drove for about 25 miles to house before I needed to fill gas. After I filled gas this time and tightened the cap, the light completely went off and has not come back on since! It has been almost 200 miles and 2 days since AAMCO's (mis) diagnosis. Either they lied to get me to spend money or their "scan" is not worth anything. Either way, do not trust these guys.

After inspection, I was told worst case scenario would be $1,900. Steve called back to advise of the work that was needed and the price was slightly higher. He said taxes and shop fees were not included in the initial quote. I asked for the breakdown and he told me all the parts prices and came up with $2,171.01. When I added up three totals given it came to $1,931.28. I asked about the difference and he stated taxes and shop fees. I wrote down all parts and prices and told him I needed to check with my husband and would call him back. My husband and I agreed that we needed it done and trusted that AAMCO could get it done. They got the work done in a timely manner and called to let me know the vehicle was ready to be picked up. When I got there to pay the bill, the amount was higher than what I was told on the phone. It was now $2,212.98 a difference of $41.01.

I was not happy and when I asked I was told it was because of the taxes. I told him about the conversation and all I had written down and he did not seem to be willing to honor what I was told on the phone even though he could not find any additional charges that were not quoted in the note that I made when on the phone. I returned two days later because my car seemed to be pulling to the right. I thought it may be due to replacement of driver side trans axle. I brought the paper with the prices on it to try to remedy the situation and get the difference credited back to my credit card but he was not very interested in hearing and was very defensive. After waiting for about an hour, he said the tires were low on air and they gladly put more in and the car was no longer pulling to the right. I thanked him and proceeded to inquire about the price quote.

When it was all said and done, the owner Michael ** said that Steve misspoke and that he was not going to do anything about it. I told him that phone quotes should not be given if they will not be honored. We went back and forth for a while and although he could not justify how that price was determined, he still would not budge. I finally asked if he was going to do anything about it and he stated no he was not. I looked at him and said, "And you don't care either, do you?" He stated, "No, I don't." I then let him know I would be contacting his corporate offices and would let them see the note with the price breakdown and how unprofessional he was.

Since I asked for a total with taxes, fees etc, they should have honored the price given on the phone since that is what I agreed to and gave them an authorization based on said price. I paid more more than what I was told so I was at their mercy. Normally, I get it in writing ahead of time but since it was an overnight drop off, I had to get a ride back and could not wait.

What is my recourse for reimbursement of the $48.64 spent on repairing my car correctly? Who knows what damage was done to my transmission after driving for two months with low fluid. I am quite upset and disappointed. AAMCO, never again.

I arrived at the so-called expert transmission specialists at AAMCO and explained the car’s dilemma. Well as I said, the manager (who I can't recall the name of) informed me that he would charge me $350.00 to pull the tranny out to diagnose the problem. I said, “Okay, not a problem.” I even had my father there with me so that he could vouch for what this crook was saying to me. Well my car sat there for four to five days, and I heard nothing from the manager. I went down to the shop on day five of my car’s imprisonment and the manager showed me the damage done to my bell housing. There were three bullet sized holes in the housing. He said he could rebuild the tranny for $1,500.00. Okay first of all, why would you rebuild a transmission that had that much damage done to it?

Well this is the good part. He informed me (the manager) that he could fix my car for the above price but could not order any parts until I paid him like $1,200.00 upfront. I informed him I did not have that kind of money laying around, and that I could pay him $350.00 for looking at my transmission but that was all.

Okay mind you, I did not immediately go and pay him anything. He calls me up on 4/01/09 (April Fools!) anyway. I informed him I was going out of town and would be back by Monday to pay him for his useless work with the $350.00 and have my car hauled off back home to have a cousin work on it. Well he did not like that, and he threatened me by saying that I was under contractual obligation to him to fix the car and he had ordered parts and such. I explained to him through clenched teeth that first of all, I had not paid him a red cent. And secondly, my cousin found me a transmission and he would be doing the work. The manager went on to say that I could not have my car back, and he would basically hold it hostage.

On Monday, 4/6/09, I arrived at this crooked shop and informed the manager that I was here to get my car, and that the tow truck would be here in five minutes to pick it up. He then again threatened me and said I could not have my car. I said like "hell I can't, all I owe you is $350.00 and nothing more.” He claimed that his highly trained mechanics had been working on my car this whole time. I called him out on it and said, “** my car has been sitting outside for almost a month.” I then asked for my keys, but he refused to give them to me. I asked what do you need the keys for. It's leaving the lot now; give me my keys. He said he needed them to start the car up. I said “Start the car? With what you dismantled my entire car, how's it going to start?” I eventually got my keys back and proceeded to fling his $350.00 of my wasted money across the counter.

To make a long story short, I had my car hauled to a reputable mechanic who is only charging me $350.00 for all the labor, and I was able to find a transmission for $425.00 tops. AAMCO was going to charge me $1,500.00 to rebuild my jacked up one. Well here it is, 4/21/09, my car is sitting at the shop waiting because AAMCO lost my battery plate and bolt down piece, and my bushings. Luckily, I was able to retrieve my cross members, and air breather from AAMCO before they tossed them in the trash. Oh, did I mention that the reason why I had to retrieve them was because they failed to put those parts on the tow truck with the rest of the parts?

Now because of the incompetence of these idiots, I am out over $2,000.00 because of lost parts and damage to the motor. Everyone out there, do not take your car to the AAMCO shop in Pounding Mill, Virginia ever!

So I took it to another Aamco in Gulfport. I thought they may be able to fix it. However, I have picked it up 2 times and it's still not working. They said it was a throttle positioning sensor. However, they cannot seem to get it fixed so here I am bringing it back for the 3rd time to Gulfport and the 6th time to Aamco and it is still not working ... My advice, find someone else to repair your car if you want to have it done correctly.

Well, he called me on 4-10-09 and said the transmission needed to be rebuilt at $1800 so far, until he removed it to see what was going on. So I told him that it was too high for me at the time, "Thanks anyway." He said, "Well, what are you going to do with the car? It's nothing but a paperweight." So, on 4-13-09, I went to have the car towed back to my house with my own AAA that I could have used from the start, and he said that my bill was $50 plus tax, so I gave him $45 like he told me on 4-9-09; don't change the price now that the work won't be done there.

He offered me $200 and said he would take it off my hands. I told him to forget it. I went home and installed that same part and my son took his car to work with no problems. The snap ring did not seat right the first time; that's why it blew out again. The car shifts good and nothing leaks. Anyone having a transmission problem, don't trust Aamco.

I have missed work. I have a family to support doing these hard times; another reason I am upset. Glenn said he had just done three Acura TL, but why is my car still in the shop? He guaranteed my car would be done on Friday, 4-3-09. When I went to pick up my car, he said, "We didn't get a part for your car. It won't be done until Monday afternoon, sorry." I was so upset. All I can do was just walk out. Now I will have to miss two more days of work and hope to find a ride to work. I am a bus driver for Septa where we miss work, we get points.

I've been there for five years and all I had were two points on my first year. I'm now on my fifth year there. I have ten points because I don't have a car to get to work. It has now gotten to a point where I've been trying to buy another car because I like to work and not miss work. Thank you.

Jeremy told me my car should be ready in a couple of days, and he would give me a call. OK. Now, it's Thursday, and I want to know what's going on with my car. I called and spoke with Jeremy. He said he was going to call and check on it. Wait a minute...Call who? Where is the work on my transmission being done? I got a run around on that question and never got an answer. Anyway, he didn't call me back so I called him again. He told me the car might be ready on Saturday, Monday the latest. Ok...Now it's Monday. No phone call. I called again. I talked to Matt. He said they ran into a problem. They needed another part and the parts were hard to find. I asked how much more than the $2400 I was quoted was this going to cost me. Matt said the bill was $3,145.

I was mad, but what was I going to do? They already had my transmission apart. He said he would call me later that day with an update. Matt did call me back with more bad news. When they were putting the transmission back together, they discovered a crack in the casing. Not having one on hand there was going to be another delay. Because of all of the delays, AAMCO was going to wave the $400 cost for a new casing. How nice of them! No call from them on Tuesday. I didn't want to hear it was delayed again so I didn't call until Wednesday. I spoke with Jeremy around 1:00pm. He told me they had the transmission, and he would have the guys work on it and even stay late if they had to so I could have my car back. I missed Jeremy's call at 5:50pm. His voicemail said they didn't get it finished, but it should be ready the next day (Thursday). I thought ok…At least it's started, and I'll have my car back on Thursday afternoon.

Well, it is now 7:00pm on Thursday, and I still have no car. I called AAMCO around 2:00pm and was told Jeremy was on the phone with another customer, but he said they were installing the transmission. He would call me as soon as it was done. I thought...WOOHHHHOOO! Finally! You see, I've been on vacation this week. I had plans, but had to cancel them due to not having a car. I thought ok...I can still leave to go to my sister’s early Thursday evening and be able to spend 2 1/2 days before I have to head back home. At 5:10pm Thursday, I didn't hear back from Jeremy. Thinking he called at almost 6:00pm last night to tell me it wasn't finished so they must close at 6:00pm, I called him. He told me they were working on it at that moment, but unfortunately, it was not going to be finished until tomorrow.

Now I'm seeing stars! Letting him know I was very angry but not cursing at him, I informed him that it had better be ready. They had my car for well over a week and my whole vacation had been destroyed. Jeremy got so quiet on the other end of the phone that I thought he hung up, but he didn't. He just said he would call me sometime tomorrow when my car was ready. I wouldn't be so mad if I hadn't been lied to! I'm an understanding and patient person, but this has sent me over the edge! When someone tells me over and over and over again that it should be ready tomorrow, my understanding and patience went out the window.

I wish I had known about this website before entrusting my car to AAMCO. I didn't see another complaint from NH but all the other complaints are the same. Weeks before your car is returned, anywhere from $2500 to $3500 to fix it when quoted lower, there are problems with their car after it was fixed (haven't gotten there yet). It almost sounds like AAMCO sends their employees to the same training school to teach them how to lie and make customers believe them. I will never use AAMCO again or recommend them. Even with a warranty, my car will be visiting a small shop with more personalize care!

I feel that I was taken advantage of! Jeremy seemed so nice and straight up when he spoke. I really believed him when he said they ran into a delay getting the parts and my car would be ready on Monday. Emotionally, I'm drained and very upset about having to cancel all of my plans for my vacation, not to mention the extra money added on to the original cost. In hindsight, I should have gotten that quote in writing!

So, with these outrageous prices, I told them to go ahead and put my truck back together and I'll go elsewhere. That's when Cottman told me I have to pay approximately $800.00 to get my vehicle back. With that, I was forced into doing business with this place, and I figured since I was already paying this much, I might as well get it fixed. I put my trust in these people, the worst decision I have ever made! So, I talked it over with my wife and we both agreed that we should go for the best and get the lifetime warranty. So I told them to start the job and I wanted to see the old parts when completed.

Now, the perception we received was both the transfer case and transmission were on lifetime warranty. After the payment was made, Cottman told us that the transmission was the only part that is on lifetime warranty. The transfer case is on 1-yr only, and the old parts were already thrown away (Go figure!!). It is now Feb. 09, less than a yr and a half later and the transfer case is leaking profusely. So I took it to a shop that really cares for their customers. They told me the fluid inside the transfer case was the wrong fluid. They then advised they can do the job right and cost me around $300, far less than what AAMCO is trying to charge me.

So, I took the vehicle back to AAMCO (previously Cottman) thinking they will honor their workmanship and replace the seals. AAMCO is telling me that all seals need to be replaced and it will cost me over $400.00. I tried to talk with Tim, who kept walking away from me, asking him why the seals are leaking if they supposedly replaced them less than year and half ago. He didn't answer, just kept saying that is what needs to be done and the price. I also told him I paid Cottman over $7,000.00 and this is how I'm treated? He also advised me that I was to bring in my vehicle once a year to keep my warranty for the transmission. That was not explained when the job was done, and he tried to tell me if I have the $400 job done that day, he would reinstate the lifetime warranty.

After I told him I do not believe I should pay or have the funding to pay that day, he said, "Well, I cannot do anything about the warranty and your warranty will be voided." I then told him I will be leaving and I am disappointed with the way they do business... that the monies I paid them is lost. He then said, "I can give you a week to come up with the money for the job and I can reinstate the warranty." At this point, they have lost any further business from me and I STRONGLY advise others not to even go near AAMCO.

When I arrived at AAMCO, there was no one in the office at all. After about five minutes, I went outside of the building and saw Jimmy talking with who he later described as his girlfriend. I figured since he made eye contact, he would be finishing up his conversation, and I did not want to be rude. To my surprise, after five more minutes of waiting, he was still outside doing the same thing as before. I made a waving gesture and told him that I was ready when he was, and he commented back "I'll be right with you," as if I was interrupting him or something. He wrapped up his conversation and apologized. Long story short, I left about an hour and a half later, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

After spending over a $1,000 on labor and parts that they insisted I needed for future performance, AAMCO returned my car. After 3 1/2 days of usage, the car did not start again. I called and asked if there was some kind of guarantee; after all, it only ran for three days, right? Unfortunately, that didn't seem to make a difference to them (AAMCO). Their response to me was, if it was something that they initially covered and inspected, they would fix it at no cost, but I would have to pay the towing fee.

How was I supposed to pay a towing fee and more money on top of that around Christmastime, when I just spent over a thousand unexpected dollars? I'm a middle class citizen here! The towing fee I didn't want to pay but did not mind, but after a three-day guarantee, why would I rely on their word and receive another false estimate? The whole experience was a complete disaster, and I wrote this as a WARNING to any choosing AAMCO as a first choice for car repair that you please consider your options. Big-named companies aren't always the best choice.

It turned out that I was able to fix the problem for just under $200 at a local mom-and-pop shop. I have a new slogan they should use in the future. It states, "Say No to AAMCO!" Maybe with this piece of information, AAMCO won't destroy your quality of life as well...

They called 3 or 4 days later and said it was finished, and that we could come pick it up. Upon arriving at AAMCO, they wouldn’t let us even look at the car until we paid over $3,000 worth of bills, which wasn't itemized. Once we paid, my husband drove the car and said it was making noises. We called Jeff at AAMCO, and he told us it was nothing. These types of transmissions are known to be noisy. After one day of driving it, the noise got louder and it felt like it was shifting strange, so we again called. Jeff said they couldn't see us until Thursday. This was Monday, January 26th. He said to keep driving it because he knows they put a good transmission in the car. I took it in on Thursday, and he test drove it and told me it was fine, but it was noisy. He was going to figure out what to do about the noise, but again, he told me to keep driving it.

The shifting got worse and worse over the next couple of days, and I kept calling and was told that there was nothing wrong with it. Then on Wednesday, February 4th, I took it in without an appointment and had Jeff test drive it with me in the car also. He said that the transmission definitely needed replacement again, and that we would have to pay for the labor to have another one put in. I would be more than willing to pay for another one put in if we had not reported problems with the transmission they installed from day 1. When I had it in there on February 4, Jeff told me that it would be 2 weeks or less to have another transmission sent to them. It has been three weeks, and we have heard nothing. When we call, we are given the runaround. He has no idea when. He will not give us a date that we can have it fixed. He wants me to keep driving this with the bad transmission. The only thing he does know is that if the transmission completely fails locally, he will waive the tow fee back to his shop.

We have already paid over $3,000 to AAMCO, which is a lot of money that we didn't really have. We have also had to borrow cars and pay gas money to other people for rides to or from work. I have also missed a couple of days of work due to them taking so long fixing my car in the first place. Now, we have to put my car back in the shop, but we don't know when. I have to drive a very unsafe vehicle to and from work just so my husband can have his own car to get to work in. There is nothing worse than being on a 65mph interstate knowing that my transmission is going to fail at any moment. My husband and I are stressed beyond belief because of this. Also, because of this, we are fighting all the time so it is taking a toll on our marriage. I don't know that if by driving my car like I'm being told to is possibly doing damage to other parts of my vehicle as well, such as engine, etc.

The next day, we still received no call by the time we are we told it would be done. We decided to go down there and they looked at us with a very confused look and told us they were still waiting on a part. He then told us the car would cost 613 dollars to fix, 200 dollars more than what I was quoted. I never agreed to that price but it was too late because they had already started on the car. He then said it would be done later that day. We picked up the car and drove no more than 100 miles and the check engine light came back on.

I called AAMCO back and they told us they had no mechanics experienced enough that worked with converters that day - A company as big as AAMCO only hires mechanics with minimum experience? Are you kidding me? I then took it to another AAMCO and explained the situation to him. He looked at the car and stated to me and I quote, "I am really throwing my company under the bus. You had a very inexperienced mechanic work on your car. They installed the wrong catalytic converter." He also told me that the owner worked at that particular AAMCO but he does not speak with customers. Why in the world would an owner not speak to his own customers?

I took it back to the original AAMCO and they were more worried about who told me that than actually fixing my car. I asked if I could have the owner's number and he told me no, that he could not give out his number so I asked if I could speak with him and he stated no, that he does not speak with customers. The only person that was there was the general manager. He was just as rude as the rest of the staff. He hooked up a code machine and stated that if it's the same problem, they would fix it but it would cost more money. At that point, I made a complaint with the Better Business Bureau for the fact we were treated very unprofessionally, rudely and they basically ripped us off.

We dropped off the car again later again that week. We received no call for a whole day to let us know what was going on the car. I had to call them at the end of the business day and they spoke to me very rudely again and said that it may be done tomorrow; they were waiting on a part. When I asked the part they were waiting on, he hung up on me. My fiance called at the end of the day. One of the managers told him that the car should be done by 10 am on the next day. He stated to him that he called and left him a message and left me a message which he did not do either.

This is the most unprofessional auto place I had ever been to. They are rude and inexperienced. They overcharge and they don't fix the problem that should be done the first time. They take a job that would normally take less than a day and make it last three days and then do not even do it correctly. They overcharge their customers. I will never go to AAMCO again. I will never advise anyone to go to AAMCO unless you seriously do not care about your vehicle and you have money to burn.

Now the check engine light keeps coming on. I really don't want to take it back to people who are not going to fix the problems and leave me without a car for days. I'm left without a car for several days and weeks at a time, but the problem is not being fixed. I would like to take my truck to another place to be evaluated, and have a car in the meantime to be able to get to work and take my children to school.

Then all this stuff keeps happening to the car. It just seemed like everything was going wrong: parts we had already replaced at home, a tie rod, water pump, etc. We were at their mercy because we were in Boston and this was happening in Tenn. FINALLY, after a month, my daughter had her car back. She still complained that it didn't seem right but she was told it was fine. The car made the 1700-mile trip home to Boston and my daughter continued to drive it. At 16,000 miles after the new transmission, guess what happened? It was gone again!!!!!

We took it to the local Aamco shop where we were told it needed a new transmission AGAIN!!!!!! It would cost the same again ($2000) but if we didn't want to fix it, someone at their shop would buy the car from us (Hmmm... makes one wonder)!!! The shop in Nashville will only back their work for 12,000 miles - in Massachusetts, it would have been 36,000 miles. The dealer in Mass. called Nashville and the owner said he would kick in $300 toward the new repair... that's it! Needless to say we are going to junk the car. My daughter is out of work and cannot afford to repair this car again.

Based on everything I have read about Aamco I would NEVER USE THEM AGAIN. I wish we had checked them out before we did it. I would so trust a small no name business to repair my car. When we called the corporate office, they said, "Each business is independent. They can make up their own policies and rules... We can't help!" So CORPORATE is USELESS!!!!!!!!! I am only posting this to save someone else from making our mistake. DON'T USE Aamco. Go to a nice local garage. I do not expect to get any help with this matter... like they say, buyer BEWARE!

Then, today, Anthony told us that they were sent the wrong part, that they were sent a part for a 2003 Chevy Equinox when our truck is a 2005 Chevy Equinox. At that time, we informed him that he was lying and that the Equinox was introduced in the year 2005, and we still do not have our vehicle. He has tried to force a transmission flush on us for $99.00, which we declined.

We have been promised the car again tomorrow, but we feel as though there will be another excuse. We have been forced to take public transportation, and we have not been able to handle our everyday family tasks, whether it be taking our kids to school and picking them up down to grocery shopping. It has been a tremendous financial drain on us having to take cabs whenever possible.

I have had my Blazer back to AAMCO three times since the second rebuild. The first time was because it was still slipping, and they did an adjustment. The second time, it started slipping. I took it back and they said it was low on transmission fluid and put transmission fluid in it. It appeared to drive ok for a few days and started slipping again. When I took it back the third time, just last Friday, January 23, 2009, it was because it had a very obvious transmission fluid leak. The staff at AAMCO said that the seal between my transfer case and transmission needed to be replaced, and I would have to pay for that to be done. I strongly feel that this is a result of negligence by AAMCO. When I took my vehicle back to them and it was low on transmission fluid, they did not check to see why. I do not understand how they can do a total rebuild without replacing the seals. My Blazer is still at the Elizabethtown, KY AAMCO, and I am forced to pay for it to be fixed AGAIN.

I have had many experiences with AAMCO in the past, and so have many of my family members and friends, and never have I ever been so discouraged with their practices. I have always felt like AAMCO’s prices are a bit higher than other transmission service centers, but they could justify the increase in price by the quality of work they do. I now have no confidence in AAMCO and would not recommend their services. In fact, I would strongly discourage anyone I know to go there. I would appreciate it if someone would look into what is going on, call and justify to my why I have to continue paying for a service that should have been right the first time. Someone definitely needs to investigate the Elizabethtown, KY AAMCO and see if the staff working there are actually qualified, or what is going on because I can assure you that you are losing customers left and right. I am now one of them. Thank you for your time.

After all this crap with them, I called a lawyer and he contacted them. They ended up giving me my $500 back and they put my transmission in a box and put it in the back of my truck. I had to pay another $60 to a towing company that took my truck back to my residence. But I am going to tell every person I know to STAY AWAY from them and never go there. I am contacting their headquarters as well to complain.

That Friday, Gregory (customer relations) called me back, and I told him what had happened and that I had not heard back from them about my car. This had been four days at this point. On Monday, 2/18, the shop manager called me and said they could not figure out why my car would not start (how can they be advertising complete car care?) and that nothing had been done to my brakes yet either. He said that they would have to tow my car to another shop for diagnostics, and that would be another $125 bill on top of the $500 he said I owed his shop (for work that had not been done?). I told them it was okay to send my car to the other shop and waited to hear the results.

Another four days later (Thursday), I still had not heard from them, so I called to see what was going on. At this point, I was aggravated at their lack of interest in fixing my car, although they kept wanting to add charges for work that had not yet been done and the fact that no one took responsibility to contact me to keep me updated. At that point, the manager blamed the other shop for not calling him instead of making the call himself. So he got on the phone and called them. He must have laid the phone down that I was on, since I could hear him talking to the other guy. I heard him tell them to go ahead and do it without even asking me if I wanted them to. He then got back on the phone with me and told me what they had said was wrong and that it would be another $320 on top of the other charges.

It's $940 at this point!!! And still nothing had been done to my car yet!! This is almost two weeks after I took my car in just for brakes!! At that point, I was absolutely positive I was being scammed. I told him not to have them do the work and that I needed to call someone else. He told me he would still have to get my car back to his lot from the other shop. I then called another shop to tow my car (this is the fourth time it had to be towed). In the meantime, I had to pay AAMCO $129.93 for towing and labor just to get my car back, even though it was not on his lot yet.

I also checked out my car after it was back at their lot and saw the damage they had done to it. My brand new bumper was all scratched up all the way across. The paint under the front edge of the hood had been torn off and was missing on the top of the hood, as well, and I later saw that the prop rod clip was also broken. There was no reason for any of this to have been done to my car. I also had to pay the last shop (that actually fixed my car) for services that were created by AAMCO. This includes a $90 towing bill, and another oil change worth $23.70 (I had just gotten one a month before) because there was gas in the oil from where AAMCO was trying to start my car. Rewiring my spark plug wires cost $79, which was why my car would not start! I will also now have to pay for the damage they did to my car.

I am in the process of getting estimates. The way I see it, AAMCO not only owes me for the extra expenses they created, they should also give me the money back that I paid them to get my car. They did nothing to fix my car.

He started explaining to me (as his cell phone rang and he put it on hold) that they would have to road-test the car, check all the fluids, and do several other tests, that it would take approximately one and a half hour, and did I have somewhere I could go for that length of time? I answered no, and he said then maybe I should make an appointment to have it done some other time.

I left the shop quite upset - then went back in and suggested that the advertising needed to be changed. He really didn't care one way or the other. I just really expected better service than that from an AAMCO shop.

On October 24, 2008, I arrived at AAMCO. I heard nothing about the SUV and the problem, as well as the cost. I was shown by one of the mechanics the damage (cracked pieces and debris from the transmission) and then told by ** he would have to do some research and try to find me a good deal on a new or rebuilt transmission. On October 29, 2008, I received a call from ** with a price on a rebuilt transmission and warranty/miles totaling to $3,300. Due to this unexpected occurrence, I had to work on collecting the money to have my SUV repaired. However, $400 was given that day (Wednesday, October 29) and $150 on Friday, October 31. That’s a total of $550.

While in the process of collecting the rest of the monies, I would check daily on the status of the SUV, but of course nothing! On November 10, 2008, I contacted AAMCO once again to check the status and was told by ** he was waiting on a part, which was the wrong part, and that whoever he was getting the part from kept sending him the wrong part, which held up the process. I was also asked by ** if I had any more money to put down. I told him no. I was still working on collecting the funds. ** then tells me about a program AAMCO had available to allow you to make installments on your vehicle and still be able to drive away once car was complete. To do so, you would need to provide post dated checks. I thought this would be a good program so I agreed since I needed my vehicle ASAP. However, I had to wait a few days to receive checks due to only having a check card.

On November 17, 2008, I wrote 5 checks with the last payment ending 1/23/09, expecting I would have my vehicle as per ** by Thanksgiving. However, this was not the case because he claimed he was still waiting on the parts that had not yet arrived. Weekly, I would call ** for the status of the SUV, and I would hear that he’s still waiting on the part, or the wrong part arrived and it had to be sent back to Tennessee or Texas. Meanwhile, money still coming out of my checking account as agreed. I still make weekly calls to ** about the status of SUV and get the same excuses. On December 17th, I arrived at AAMCO to pick up the vehicle after being told by ** it would be ready, only to hear the SUV was taken for a road test and due to the mechanic not flushing out the debris, the SUV seized up, which means it stopped and they had to find out what caused the problem. They suspected one of the valves was clogged.

All I could do was sit in the office and cry because of the inconvenience and the misleading information about my vehicle as to when it would be done and it was not, as well as waiting on parts that would never show up, or they had to track down parts etc. On December 18, 2008, I arrived at AAMCO again and was told once again by ** that they had to replace the valve casing because of the debris clogging the valve and the mechanic who caused the problem no longer worked there, not just for my problem but other problems they experienced with him. ** was very apologetic at first and stated they would do their best to have my vehicle by the following day, and they could not provide me with a vehicle or pay for a rental. My car is down this time due to AAMCO's negligence, and all they could offer was an apology.

On December 19, 2008, still no call or anything about the SUV. On December 22, 2008 at about 8am, I received a call from ** and said that he had not forgotten about me. They were still waiting on the part which was supposed to have arrived that day and they would put the SUV back together. I would possibly have it by Christmas. Of course, no valve casing and no SUV. On December 23, 2008, I contacted AAMCO and received the same response that the part had not arrived as of yet. On December 24, 2008, I called AAMCO and the business was closed possibly due to the icy roads earlier that morning. On December 26, 2008, I arrived at AAMCO once again. This time, only to be humiliated, character assassinated and verbally abused by **, someone who started off very professional and then ended up becoming one of the most unprofessional individuals I would have never expected him to be.

I understand he was not feeling well, which he did express, but that did not or could not justify him telling me I was making payments as if I were on welfare and that I need to get a vehicle that I can afford to fix because he helped me by telling me about the program, which he did not meet as agreed because I still don't have my car. ** then ended with a threatening remark that If I continue to talk, my vehicle would be held up for another 3 weeks. As of today, I still do not have my vehicle. On January 2, 2009, I arrived at AAMCO again today and was told by another mechanic that all parts for SUV had arrived and should be done today, but I would need to consult with **, who, in turn, stated the same. The SUV should be back together by Monday January 5, 2009. I guess now I have to wait until then for the results.

When the car was dropped off, Frank was told that the car was still under warranty, as it was just purchased in June 2008. He would only need to contact the warranty company to open the claim. The claim was opened, and a claims adjuster inspected the car (Nov. 25th), saw that the transmission needed to be repaired, and, per Frank, was given authorization to begin repairs -- which our warranty company verified.

After about two weeks, we began to wonder what was the status/progress of the repairs to the car. Whenever we called, we could only speak to Jay because Frank had always conveniently stepped out at the time or was unavailable. Jay could only tell us that they were waiting for a part. This continued on for two more weeks.

We were finally told that the car would be ready on Friday, December 12th. When we called to see if the car was ready, we were told that they were still waiting for a part and we should expect our car to be done around Tuesday or Wednesday the following week. After the car still was not ready, my husband visited the shop to see what was going on with the car, but was told again that the car was not ready because they were waiting for a part. At that point, we called a police officer to try to mediate, at which point, Jay admitted that the car was not ready because they were in a dispute with the warranty company.

My husband filed a police report and was told to come back at 11:00 am and the car would be ready, which he did, but again, the car was not ready, but this time, it was because the car 'was not shifting right'.

As of today, we have not gotten any response from Frank, who I can only assume is the head mechanic, regarding our car -- only that they're waiting for a part. Also, as of January 2, we also know that AAMCO has never submitted an invoice for payment to the warranty company. At this point, we are not sure what to do -- legally, that is.

As a result of not having our car for the last six weeks (...and counting), I've had to spend money each week on sitters, bus fare, and gas money for folks that I've gotten to take me to work. When I had my car, it was a 15-minute commute. Now I have to take 2 - 3 buses to work and commute for over an hour. I've also lost several hours at work in the past weeks since I no longer have reliable transportation, which is actually a requirement for my job. As of yesterday, I've had to give my boss notice for my resignation from my job because of not having my car. Not only have I been affected, but so have my supervisor and other coworkers who have been kind enough to take time out of their already-busy schedules to cover for me.

On October 29, 2008, I received a call from Glen with a price on a rebuilt transmission and warranty/miles totaling $3300. Due to this unexpected occurrence, I had to work on collecting the money to have my SUV repaired; however, $400 was given that day (Wednesday, Oct. 29) and $150 on that Friday (Oct. 31) totaling $550. While in the process of collecting the rest of the monies, I would check daily on the status of the SUV but of course nothing! On November 10, I contacted AAMCO to check the status and was told by Glen he was waiting on parts for the SUV and if I have any more money to put down. I told him no; I was still working on collecting the funds.

Glen then told me about a program AAMCO had available to allow you to make installments on your vehicle and to be able to drive away once the car was complete but to do so, you would need to provide checks. I thought this would be a good program so I agreed with the program since I needed my vehicle ASAP. However, I had to wait a few days to receive checks due to only having a check card. On November 17, 2008, I wrote 5 checks with the last payment ending on 1/23/09 expecting I would have my vehicle as per Glen by Thanksgiving. However, this was not true due to the part he was waiting for not arriving.

Weekly, I would call Glen for the status of the SUV and I would hear, "Still waiting on the part," or "The wrong part arrived," and it had to be sent back to TN or TX. Meanwhile, money was coming out of my checking account as agreed. Weekly calls to Glen, about the status of SUV got the same excuses. On December 19th, I arrived at AAMCO to pick up the vehicle and was told by Glen that the SUV was taken for a road test and due to not flushing out the debris, the SUV froze up which means they had to find out which valve was damaged, etc.

On Dec. 22, 2008 I called to AAMCO and was told once again by Glen that they had to replace a valve casing and he was waiting on the part which was supposed to have arrived that day and they would put the SUV back together and I would possibly have it by Christmas. Of course, there was no valve and no SUV. On Dec 23rd, I arrived at AAMCO once again only to be humiliated, character assassinated and verbally abused by someone who was totally unprofessional - telling me I was making payments as if I were on Welfare, and that I needed to get a vehicle that I can afford to fix and if I kept talking, my vehicle would be held up for another 3 weeks. As of today I still do not have my vehicle. It's Jan. 2, 2009. I suppose he is still waiting on the valve casing.

I returned to Aamco a few days later so they could check out my complaints. Three days later, I returned to pick it up and absolutely nothing had been done, other than a test drive through a school zone by (who the manager calls) the builder (The builder's name and employee number are being withheld from me by the manager **). My vehicle passed the builder's test drive of 20-25 mph top speed.

To make a long story short, I took the builder for a test drive at a top speed of 45-50 mph and proved to him that the transmission was indeed Not shifting properly. The builder became obnoxious, and as he got out of the vehicle, slammed my passenger door very, very hard. The builder's last words to me were: ** You, ** You! Steve, the manager, is totally unsympathetic to my complaints and was not the least bit concerned when I told him that I would have to complain to Aamco Inc. I am Extremely disappointed with Aamco: 1) In the quality of repair, 2) The unwillingness to even Attempt to resolve any of the problems with the repair, 3) The unprofessional conduct by the manager, 4) The unprofessional and obnoxious conduct of the builder at Aamco.

I checked around and the vehicle was not worth $3,000 so I called them back and said I had decided that it was not worth having done. The when started shouting and saying I had wasted their time and that the vehicle would not be allowed out of the lot until I had come to their premises and paid for the tow. After listening to more verbal abuse, I hung up and called the tow truck company who took the vehicle in the first place. They said don't worry we will collect the vehicle and deliver it back to you, just pay the driver the agreed price.

I trusted that the tech had given me the right information (seeing as AAMCO is a trusted name and all) but nonetheless, before spending $1800, I wanted to get a second opinion. I went to a local transmission shop with ATRA certification and told them nothing of the AAMCO inspection. Two different mechanics did a test drive with the car - no problem. They said the 3rd gear was intact but could have lost some of it's feel. They couldn't account for the change in feeling but they suggested that I get the transmission serviced (fluid change, kinks ironed out). So I did. Cost $50. Got the car back and now it felt great. They said the transmission and the rest of the car looked very clean. 1500 miles later and it's still going strong. Going local saved me $1750.

I was what was called the trans. builder but what I should have been called was junkyard unit installer. He, the owner, was putting in junkyard units and charging rebuilt prices on the average junkyard unit $450 -$700 ave. rebuild $1700-$2700. Do the math. Thanks for reading. Everything here I have said can be proved to be true. On a junkyard unit we installed and charge as a rebuild was paint shiny silver. A rebuilt would be paint black. Look under your hood and see what color unit you have. Bet it is shiny silver. I'm not here to cause trouble but this is wrong. And I am not at Aamco. I even took a lower wage but know I'm working with honest mechanics and yes there are some left.

But after three days he called me again and said that computer of transmission is bad and it will cost more and take four more days. After four days he called me again adn said that my work is done there is any electrical problem in your car and it will cost more, now 15 days has been completed to give car to them and my is not fixed yet.

I had to pay over $3000.00 for a new transmission that I probably didn't need in the first place. Now my car is giving me trouble again & my new mechanic said it might be the computer. They were rude, inconsiderate, and when I got my vehicle back it look like it had gone off roading because of how dirty it was. My alarm didn't work, my reverse lights didn't work & my check engine light was on.

Charles was rude & was constantly putting me off. I would always have to call him. He would never return my calls nor would he call me to let me know what was going on. I really don't think I should've paid for something that wasn't necessary. (Transmission) I regret doing business with them & I will never recommend their service.

I called them on Tuesday because Monday was a holiday. They told me they cannot honor the coupon...it is too late...i already paid. Cannot refund me. I e-mailed the corporate office and they called the branch I dealt with and I was denied this $50.00 refund for the coupon. I just think it's a rip off that first they didn't tell me about the coupon and secondly wouldn't honor it after the fact.

Out 50.00

The tow truck came and took me to the closest tranny shop wich was an aamco dealership. Experts not at transmission but ripping people off. The owner of the store sent out one of his expert employees with a COMPUTER to tell what was wrong. HE SAID TO ME AFTER HE READ THE COMPUTER SCREEN THAT THE TRANSMISSION WAS GONE. They gave me a quote of around $2400.00 to fix. I decided to pass, and leave the van there. They gave me $50.00 for it. I got a rental and went on with my vacation.

When I got back to home I asked three yes three indipendent tranny shops and they all told me the same thing. YOU CAN'T HOOK UP A COMPUTER TO THE VEHICLE TO TELL YOU IF THE TRANSMISION IS WORKING OR NOT. They should have just repaired the line and put tranny fluid back in. THEY seem friendly but their goal is TO RIP YOU OFF.

I gave up my van when there was probably nothing wrong with it and it cost me to rent a van for 8 days.

i talked to about 5 places and they all said it could be a shift rod stuck inside the transmission a simple fix or it could be more major. the last plase i called was aamco. he stated the same as everyone else. i asked when he would be open again. he stated tues 5/27/08. i aked what time he opened. he stated 8am but that the doors as well as himself would be there about 10 mins til which would work out good since work was down the road. i would drive the suv in drop it off and go from there because jim stated to me that he would have it cked out in a few hrs and get with me to let me know what was wrong with the suv

around 11:45am i called jim since i had not heard from him. he stated they were looking at my car and he would call me back as soon as they were done cking on it. he called me back around 12:05pm and said that it was the transmission (which i figured) and that he could fix it with in 1/2 days if i wanted it done by them and that if i needed a rental car that they had a deal with budget for a lower amount than there usual fee and i told him to let me call my husband and ck with him. jim went onto state that they would take the suv apart more in deepth and put it back together for a price of 450.00 weather or not i decided to have it fixed there or not and if i did have it fixed there then that price did not count that it would just be parts and labor for what every they did to the transmission

i asked for a general figure if the transmission needed to be replaced. jim said any where between 1800 to 2500 (i thought how do you know it the transmission in that case). i asked and he stated that in ordeer to know an exact amount and exactly what was wrong with the suv that they would have to break the transmission all the way down. i callled my husband, let him know what jim stated to me. he said he would call jim verify this and then let him know if he had the go ahead.

my husband cody called sw jim and was told exactly the same thing so he told jim to go ahead and start taken the suv transmission apart. i contacted the rental car place and rented a car (which i ended up having for over a week). jim called. he went into i needed a new flywheel and torque converter and new bolts that were cut off my under carrage and that i should bypass my transmission and add a cooling system and that i needed new gaskets etc. i listen and thougt this could not be correct and why did i needed to pay for bolts and screws that they cut off that i was told could only be ordered from the dealer ship (and he had already ordered) that ran a lot of money a piece not a few bucks.i told jim that i needed to call my husband and i did cody called jim back was told the same thing then cody got not so nice refs the bolts etc new price and told jim just to put the suv back together like he stated and jim then stated that would coast 950.00 to do.

cody got hot again and went over the quote of 450.00. jim said he did not say or quate that price. cody then said put it back together the way it came in. before my husband called me back after he hung up jim called him 4 more times saying they could get the price down lower. he was wrong. the bolts were not cut off. the were so rusted that they would not fit back in the holes that the holes were (jims words) wollowed out! he said put the car back together the way it was brought in

cody called me and jim had just called me acting like he had not talked to cody and wanted to know what i wanted them to do start fixing it or not. i said let me call my husband and i will calll you back which i did. cody told me about all the changes he stated each time he talked to jim and said he wanted the suv put back together. so i called jim. told him i needed a key off my key ring. i would be up there in a few minutes. i took a coworker with me as a witness-when i went in i asked him to go over evereything again with me.

after he got my other key and my coworker heard eveything he said and i also recorded the conversation on my cell phone after catching him in lie after lie. i told him he would put the suv back together for the price he quted. after an argument he stated he would but it would have emission leaks. i told him it better not. he said he would put it back together for the 450.00 and he took his sweet time doing so with other lies like he had to order the bolts (which he had stated he had already ordered).

then when i went t o pick up the suv i asked to see the car before paying. he stated he would not bring the car out until i paid. back and forth and he did not bring it out of garage until it was pd for and he would not take a check (i asked why he said they did not take cks). i called him on that with the sign about cks on the wall-he stated this was from old owner not the new owner. they did not take cks. i pd with cc (2 days later i called asked if they took cks. i was told yes and the owner that owns the business now has been the owner for 3 + yrs so if it was not his policy he better ck the signs in his business.)

i got in the suv that when it was dropped off drove fine and went at least 75 mph since i drove on a major hwy the day i dropped off and only would not go in reverse. now would not go over 10 mph and smelled like burnt oil and sounded like the motor was going to blow up. i had to drive to my work and leave it there since it was not able to be driven home. i contacted the bbb (which early after a conversation with jim i had been told could not do anything). he was right. one answer back from aamco from 2nd letter bbb and it was from jim not the owner and it said i was treated fairly and correctly basicly. this is a lie.

i had to pay for a rental car longer than i could afford to. i had to get a new car in order to have something to get me back and forth to wk etc which cost a down payment. i lost my yukon because i could not afford it make payments on it and a new car and we only have one car and i was scared to drive the yukon since i could only imagine what they did to it and how much it would cost to fix. i let it go back. i only owed about 5000/6000 on it. now the car i have costed that much but it was all i could afford after the mess and not having anything elese to drive and i have to work

my husband is dissabled and cant work so we are on a limited amount of money and the down payment etc was the money to fix the suv that i loved and miss very much! all i org wanted was an appoligy and maybe it wont happen to anyone else but since the owner had jim address the bbb i guess he does not care then. from the bbb i thought a complaint plus maybe 1/2 or all the money i pd but the aggrivation and hell that jim and aamco have put me through thats not even enough!

I went back to Aamco and they were unwilling to pay me back for the problem. Now one year and two weeks after the install (two weeks after the warranty runs out) the transmission has failed. The first transmission lasted ten years and Aamco's work lasted one year. I called and they were only willing to discount more work. No thanks. Terrible company. Terrible work. They don't know what they are doing.

Now I will have to get a new transmission after only one year on Aamco's transmission.

Even worse was when the owner came in and kicked this 1 guy out by telling him he would call the cops. And yes i have found many customers that have been rip offed. We will be filing a huge lawsuit. Keeep in Tuned.

I ended up putting a used transmission in my car for $800.00

$170 parts and labor. Half a day of Wok.

A few days later I was presented with a copy of an agreement form from a company that stated that I woud have to allow the installation of a tracking device to the car as part of the contract and the interest and total charges came to 1 1/2 the repair cost quoted including a charge for the GPS system that would have to be installed. I did not agree nor sign this agreement. I was then told that they would try to get the charges reduced, and that maybe they could carry some of the cost. I would be contacted if this spanned out. Nothing happened along those lines.

Meantime, during all this negotiating with lenders by AAMCO, and without my consent,the transmission had been removed from my car.I never signed any agreement from any lender, nor did I give consent for the transmission to be pulled. I assume they assumed a deal would be met and the work would be financed. However, I would have to acknowledge any agreement correct? Now I'm being asked to pay a rediculous amount to get my car back, along with storage fees. I never agreed to my transmission being pulled, nor did i authorize any contract for the repair work.

My car is being held as collateral for payment on the labor for my transmission being pulled, plus storage fees at $55.00 a day.

On 2-5-08 when i picked up the truck and paid for the rebuild i drove about 80 miles towards home and the truck started doing THE EXACT SAME THING no power and backfiring, I stopped and called aamco, they sent a tow truck to get me . They rechecked the truck and told me your fuel pump is no good the fuel pump was losing pressure under power. After it was replaced my truck ran good and i made it home and still have no problems . they broke the connection to my check engine light which they repaired the second time around... {my truck was taken in by a different guy but after that i dealt with mr. feola}

I believe aamco misdiagnosed my truck and i should not have to pay $2312.27 I was charged. the owner of the aamco was called and i waited more than 4 hours for him ..he never showed i filed a complaint with the corporate office, Wanda Beatty. she says they are right in the recommendation. I did ask for the parts from my truck it took the mechanic a one hour trip away from the shop to recover them .

I have requested a diagnostic report from mrs, Beatty and have recieved it. I have filed a complaint with the better business bureau in vegas and it is in process..i removed the charge from my discovercard .. which at this time has been repaid to aamco.. the charge is currently on my outstanding balance on that card

The center in Lancaster told us it was the sillenoid. We had it fixed for $525. It was an old car and I didn't want to put that much out, but we got it fixed for my son. Three weeks, yes, three weeks later the same thing happened. So, we took it to a center in Philadelphia. The center there told us it was the sillenoid and two internal codes came up.

My husband, much to my displeasure, authorized them to tear it apart to determine the damage for a minimum cost of $550. We were told it would cost a total of $2,300 to fix or we pay the $550 for nothing. So, we decided to get the work done, but we said we shouldn't have to pay for the sillenoid because that was warrantied for 90 days and it was only about 21 days when it defaulted. The Lancaster center said they don't have to honor the warranty because the internal transmission problems caused the sillenoid to go bad. This is not true. Even the Philadelphia center told us that the internal transmission problems have nothing to do with the sillenoid, however, there is nothing they can do.

My husband called the corporate office and spoke with a Lachelle (sp?) who was absolutely useless. I asked to speak with her supervisor and spoke with Rochelle on 7/18/08. She sounded intelligent and promised me she would look into and get back to me. I have called her just about every day since 7/21/08 and haven't received one phone call from her. I am at my wit's end. I can't get a human being on the phone at their customer relations department and the supervisor Rochelle won't call me back.

We paid $525 for work to be done that went bad three weeks later and is now costing us $2,300. I would never have put money into this car (93 New Yorker) if I had known the transmission was going to go and cost this much. My son only paid $1,800 for the car.

On or around April 28th my daughter was driving our 96 Saturn when she stopped for gas, the vehicle would no longer start. So knowing that the vehicle needed some transmission work, as I had taken it to Advance Auto Parts a week prior, the computer had given me a code of 409 which is a transmission code, and I had worked with Aamco on many occasions I decided to call them to have the car towed to their facility due to I thought the problem may have been transmission related, so they sent a tow truck to my daughters location. They then towed the vehicle to Aamco.

On the next morning they called my wife, and told her that they could not locate the problem that no code was showing up, that they would need to tear down the steering column to see if the starting problem was due to the ignition system, and also that they would need to take the Transmission out and tear it down , to see what the problem was with the transmission. I told them that would be ok, as long as the $500.00 that they were going to charge us was going to be included with the work that they were doing on the transmission, the gentleman said that it would be included.

They then called me two days later stating that "the transmission was going to have to be rebuilt". That the cost was going to be around $2881.00 At this time said nothing about the starting problem in which that is what the vehicle was taken there in the first place. After I spoke with the manager Carl I told him of my concerns of spending that much on that vehicle as old as the vehicle was, that the repairs exceeded the value of the vehicle , and that financially I did not have that much money , I told him to put the wheels back on , I would have the car towed back to the house, have the car junked. I called some other transmission places they stated "you don't need to tear a transmission down to find out what is wrong with a transmission you can detect that by hooking it up to a computer that will give you the code, this transmission place also gave me a quote of $1900. To rebuild the same transmission with a 15 month warranty".

Next day General Manager over 3 stores Sean called told me to let them do the work, that they had a payment plan, or they had in house financing, or they could store it , and we could pay on it as we went along. The transmission would have a lifetime warranty, would be up to 2008 standards not 1996 standards better then when it was manufactured, so after hearing this , and with working with Aamco for fifteen years, being located around the country I decided that it would be better. Big name would stand behind their product.

After getting the work done, they called me and notified me that the work was finished they told us to come and fill out the in- house financing paperwork, then we would be set to pick up the vehicle. I filled out the paperwork, and was denied due to the vehicle was not worth the amount that was needed, and the car already had a lien on the vehicle. He also stated that he would call some churches that he knew sometimes would help people with car repairs. Never heard anything more from him.

So I called back and told them that I would have to make payment arrangements on the vehicle as Carl never called me back , they said that would be fine that they had a fenced lot for the vehicle to be stored in at no charge , ( that was not true as I drove by there on several occasions, and the car was sitting in the parking lot by the road not in a fenced yard like I was told). After being told all these things, them now saying the car was only going to have a 12 month warranty instead of the lifetime warranty I was told by Sean, and that I was unable to get the financing I was told I was eligible for. I was trying to figure out whether or not to take the risk on this vehicle because so far they had gone back on everything that they had said.

I received a letter dated July 3rd, in which we received the letter on July 5th that we had 30 days to pay the money or they were going to sell our vehicle. How is that possible when Sean guaranteed us that the car could sit there as long as we needed, we were guaranteed financing due to my husband was working a federal job, and there was a previous lien on the car from American General Finance?

Well we picked the vehicle up on July 22nd after we removed money from our retirement, when we went to pick the car up we asked Sean what the original problem was he told us that it was the transmission, he talked in circles never answering the question. The car had no hubcaps on which when we dropped the vehicle off it had 3 of the 4 as we had just replaced a back tire. Needless to say 3hrs after picking up the car my daughter went to Walgreen's to pick up a RX . When she went to get back in the vehicle, the vehicle would not start like the original problem, so my daughter called me, so I called Aamco, I spoke with Sean and he told me "We will send a tow truck out to pick the vehicle up again, stop everybody from what they are doing, and find out what the problem was. He also asked me if I had moved the gears around to make sure that I had the vehicle in park, and that it was not the problem".

My daughter waited up at Walgreen's for the tow truck driver, when he got there he tried to start the vehicle the vehicle started. So the tow truck driver told my daughter to go ahead and take the vehicle home. When my daughter got home. Sean called my daughter back, started yelling at her because he had to pay $75.00 to send a tow truck driver out there to tow that vehicle, then he hung up on her . I guess he needed to yell at the tow truck driver instead of my 16 year old daughter who is having serious health issues.

We took our vehicle to advance auto parts after the car wouldn't start again to have the computer put on the vehicle, it came back with the same code that we had told Sean about originally, when we were having a casual conversation about having our transmission rebuilt we told the technician where we had it done he stated "I have been hearing bad stuff about Aamco from a lot of people" he also stated "They are two big of a company to be doing shoddy work like that".

We decided to take our vehicle to another mechanic who specializes in transmissions to have them look at the vehicle , guess what it was $145.00 problem with the transmission switch that should have been fixed prior to any other transmission work that needed to be done. So would you say Aamco made money on us due to work that was not really needed, and did not fix the problem anyway? Sean also told us when we picked up the vehicle that Aamco no longer gives lifetime warranties however the signs , and brochures state lifetime warranties. With a one year warranty are they not sure of their work, or did they use used or rebuilt parts. And possibly charge me for new parts.

To the better business bureau please when people call for reports on Aamco please report to people what they did to us especially being a retired military family, which every penny counts. To the base commanders , and base bulletins please notify all military , retired military, civilian and Government workers not to use Aamco, they are not worthy of our business. To Aamco you have lost our business in which we have used Aamco for 15 years + loyally from now on I will notify everybody I speak to how your business did us. We have military families all over this country that we will send a general email out to let them know of your shoddy business practices. Having to pay for work that did not need to be done. Then having to pay for more work to be done by another party.

Monday afternoon Tim called to say the 4th bolt did not arrive and would not until thursday at 11am and that the car was not safe todrive as it was. I had to rent the car for 3 more days, today they now tell me the bolt is in but will not be ready. My mom called a dealer in town and they had the bolts in stock why could they not have gotten them from a local dealer. I will never use them again

I now have a major bill and additional work will be required by the dealer.