I have to travel a lot for my job and I depend greatly on my car and take good care of it. I was in Miami for 5 months working in '04 and in April my car stopped shifting into overdrive. My car was still under warrenty so I took it to the dealership to find out what was wrong. This problem had occured before and was fixed by a dealership in Virginia with no problem.
At the dealership, a man (Jorge) that didn't speak good english (surprise... It's Miami) told me that the problem was probably with my transmission and that was covered under warrenty. He then asked me to sign some paperwork. One of the forms stated that if I chose not to have the repairs done by that dealership, I would have to pay $80 for the diagnostic fee in order to pick my car up. I confirmed with him that the problem was my transmission and that wass covered by warrenty. He said yes so I went ahead and signed the paper.
A few hours later he called me and told me that the repairs would cost me about $400. I asked him how that was possible when he had told me that this would be covered by my warrenty. He said that he had never told me that. The part that needed replaced was my pulse generator and although it was a part of the trasmission, it was an external piece and the warrenty covered only internal pieces. I told Jorge that he never mentioned that. I told him that he had stated that anything having to do with the transmission was covered, but he denied this. This was partly my fault since it was mentioned in the owners handbook that only internal pieces were covered by warrenty. But he still lied to me and told me something completley different.
I decided to have my car fixed since I had to travel to another state for the job in only 2 weeks. There was no way I could drive with the car not shifting. I paid the $369 to have my car repaired and 2 weeks later began my drive to Virginia.
On my way to Virginia, my car again ceased to shift into overdrive. I had no choice but to continue on and I drove the car for almost 200 miles in that condition. I had no money to stop and get a tow truck or a hotel room while someone looked at my car yet again. (The $369 I paid to get this fixed was all I had in savings).
As soon as I got home I called Potamkin South and talked to Jorge again about the car. I told him that the problem was still occuring even after they 'fixed' it. He was very rude to me so I asked to speak to the service manager, Charlie Mercado. He was also very rude and told me that I should have the car looked at again before casting blame.
I took the car to the dealership in Virginia (First Team Auto Mall) and they discovered that the car had been misdiagnosed and that I needed a whole new transmission. This was covered under warrenty so I didn't have a pay a dime. This fixed the problem.
I called Potamkin South again and told Mr. Mercado that I felt they had misdiagnosed my vehicle and that I wanted my money back. I paid to replace a part that actually didn't need replaced. Potamkin South had my car In mid-April. This was now June. I called about 2x a month, leaving messages and no one ever returned my call.
I turned them into Better Business Bureau and they even ignored that. I finally got in touch with Mr. Mercado after telling him that I turned the company in. He asked me to send him copies of both diagnostic reports (from Potamkin South and First Team). These reports were identical, both before and after Potamkin South 'fixed' my car.
This was October... November came and went, I never heard anything. December... Still nothing...
Holly
Bedford, Virginia
U.S.A.
0 comments