On Wednesday, June 5, about 6pm, my husband and I drove in to a Chevron Oil Stop Service to ask for an oil change. We were one of the two last customers that day. Their service was to change the oil and fluid of the car and check a few other parts while we wait in the car. They recommended us their transmission services so we agreed, and we drove off when we are done.
7:30 pm, approx. 90 min after we left the place, the gear slipped while driving. It was undrivable. We had it towed back to the Oil Stop. The shop was already closed so we left our car in their parking lot over night.
The next day about 1pm, we went back to the oil stop and talked to Ken, the manager. He said that very rarely but sometimes when they pour fluid to the transmission, it might SHOCK the system... We weren't warned about this at the time they serviced the transmission, nor did he professionaly explain what "Shock" meant.
Does my transmission have feelings??? He suggested that he should try to change the transmission filter. Since they don't offer this service there, he had to order the filter somewhere else. No progress was seen. He recommended us to take the car to the transmission specialist down a few blocks so we did. Ken followed us.
2pm, At the transmission repair shop Aastro, we talked to the head mechanic, Mike. He saw the old filter and immediately stated that when a car had as much as 105.000 miles (like our car did), they SHOULD change the filter AND flush the system. Because an old transmission deposits the debris on the magnetised bottom, changing the fluid without filter change and flushing cause the debris to be stirred up and clog the filter.
This was the professional explanation of the word "SHOCK." Additionally, Mike said that he had been seeing about 6 cars every month with the same problem. Ken or anybody else in the Oil Stop obviousely didn't know this. Our transmission was fried because it was starved of fluid, due to the clogged filter. Mike kept the car to determine the details.
2:30pm we were back at the Oil Stop. Ken issued a letter of guarantee, and this is the quote;
Oilstop will be 100% responsible of diagnosis and teardown and repair from AAstro Transmission if it shows that the failure of the transmission was caused by Oilstop's evacuation and refill of 5.75 Quarts of Dexron III transmission fluid. If the diagnosis show that is due to the fault of the transmission or due to normal wear on a 105.000 transmission Mr. McGregor (my husband) will be the responsible party in the teardown and diagnosis of te transmission.
3:30pm, we rented a car.
Friday, June 7, We received the call from Aastro. Mike stated that the transmission had some wear and tear, and the second gear band was broke. He agreed that could well be from the bad services from the Oil Stop.
We called Ken that afternoon. He told us to wait for a call from Matt, the general manager in California. He never called us that day.
Sunday, June 9. No calls at all.
Monday, June 10, AM, We finally recieved a call from Matt. He stated that the report from Aastro souded to him as the damage was due to the old transmission, and they coudn't do anything about it. He was implying that we took in already-broken transmission and we are trying to make them pay. This is rediculous, since first of all we DROVE INTO the Oil Stop THAT DAY, with no prior transmission problem WHAT SO EVER! If the transmission was already broke, how could we drive in? Second of all, we went in for an oil change, and THEY SOLD US a transmission service!
About 1:30pm, we called Aastro to assure Mike's statement. He said that the gear band could have broke as a result of Oil Stop Services..."they SHOULD HAVE CHANGED the filter."
2:00pm, We called back Matt but he was unavailable. We left a messege and told that we had no prior problems with the transmission. Also we told that the Oil Change place replaced the filter the next day of their initial service, after we found out the problem. If they didn't do anything wrong, why do they have to change what they did???
Tuesday, June 11. We received a call from Aastro. They want to know what they should do about the car. We had no idea since Neither Matt nor Ken are unreachable. Oil Change said Ken was at a meeting, and he never called back.
I cannot believe that they are so irresiponsible about their profession. First of all, the transmission specialist stated (and he is willing to testify) that their improper service could have caused our transmission to break. A several mechanics we know also stated that it is a standard procedure to flush and change the filters when the car has a certain milage. They cut this procedure from their protocol... Otherwise it wouldn't be a "quick service" that they are selling. This means the same problem can happen to any older cars. There is no sign that says "We don't service the transmission with more than 80.000 miles."
I think THEY have learned a valuable lesson here, and THEY should PAY FOR THE VALUE, which is our transmission repair, rental cars, tow truck and all other suffering that we didn't have to go through if they did their job right the first time. We are not experts, and if they sell their product or services, we assumed they would obviousely know what they were doing... Which they didn't. Now they are calling us Liars. We are a couple of honest poeple with no ill will. The most offensive thing we did to them was raising voice, but no yelling or name calling.
We were polite on the phone, just asking for what we deserve. We need our car back to go to work, and provide a ride for our elderly grandmother in case anything happens. She has a severe virtigo and there is no telling when it is going to happen, and the fact of having no cars is distressing us really badly. We are running out of our nominal savings from the cost of all these troubles and we are having hard time finding a lawyer who would represent this case pro bono. We are having a week of sleepless nights.
We paid over $80 for the initial services. That should SAVE us from $3000 of future car troubles, not GIVE us a $3000 problem.
KOKO and BRYAN
Marana, Arizona
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