I was having a problem with my 1997 Toyota Tacoma it was popping out of gear while driving. I took it to Cottman to get an estimate on the repair and was told the transmission had to be rebuilt and how lucky I was because the owner and manager were both Toyota transmission experts.
I had a coupon for a free rental car and for $100.00 off of an overhaul. I was told it would take a couple of days to do the repair and was taken to the car rental dealer. I was later called and told the price would be $1200.00 so I told them to go ahead it is my only car and I had to have it repaired. The advertisement with the coupons was also in a Christian yellow pages which means absolutely nothing I have learned.
After 2 days I called and was told the truck was ready and that my total bill was $1384.55 the bill seemed to go up incrementally every time I called. When I got there to pick up my car I noticed I was charged for the rental car and had no $100.00 discount stated on the bill of course the owner and manager were nowhere to be found and the young man who took my money was sure they had given me the discounts.
I am now sure that I was given no discounts and I am not sure that they did much if anything to my transmission. The trans. No longer popped out of gear but was very difficult to shift and it was hard to follow thr H pattern in shifting. I was told this would smooth out over time but it has not.
After a couple of months the trans. Developed a leak and I took it back to Cottman only to find they had closed down. I then took it to the next closest Cottman to find that they also were no longer in business. I then called Cottman corporate to find out what to do as I was only given a 90 day warranty and it was coming up on 90 days. Well I might as well have called a brick with the response I received from corporate which was the same response you would receive from a brick NONE.
I found a Cottman that was still open for business and took my car there to see what could be done. They checked the car and drove it and their own technician said he thought something had been left out during the rebuild. The owner of this Cottman called corporate and all they would authorize was for them to fix the leak another 2 day ordeal.
Now just a few weeks later it is leaking again and still has the problem with shifting. I called corporate and after dozens of phone calls and emails finally got a response. I was told to take the car to the franchise that had fixed the leak and that they would authorize the repairs. I drove my car to the repair shop and they had not heard from corporate and could not reach them. I was called later by the Cottman franchise and told that corporate would not authorizr to repair the leak or the other problem because the truck was now out of warranty.
Cottman corporate does not care about customer service. I called and emailed them for over a month before I ever got a response. Their corporate website states that you will receive a response to your email within 24 hours they actually mean you will not get a response. When I did finally get a resoponse the explanation for the delay in response was that the emails go to different places. I have learned they only have 3 people working in customer service where else would a customer service email go to.
Bottom line is customer service is at the bottom and I mean very bottom of Cottman Transmission's priorities despite what their website, promotional materials and T.V. Commercials say. If you want crappy service, a bad repair job, to be overcharged, lied to and ignored then Cottman's is your place otherwise find someone else to do business with.
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