Okay, knew I had serious trans problem with my 1999 Mazda 626.
Cottman towed it to their garage for free on Sat 10/21/06.
That was fine. Finally looked at my car on Monday. I came to look at the bad parts. The new mechanic, "Marvin" quoted me a price of $1944 on parts and would give me a break on labor only charging $800 for labor. He did not realize I work for Penske Logistics. I have many contacts because of being in trucking/logistics. The parts I needed according to Marvin for $1944 I could get for $557 at Quality Trans Parts who had merged with Maplewood trans.
I called Cottman back and told him. He doubted I could get those parts. I came back to the shop and he bad mouthed Quality and said no way at those prices. I had him call and with disbelief he agreed I could because I work at Penske.
He then called me the next day saying I needed two more parts.
Quality prices were up to $840; can you imagine what Cottman would have charged me. Not Marvin's fault; he was taught to do this, was only employed there a few days.
The other scam is they say financing avilable. Georgette and son, owners, said they had no application, procedure changed and no application for a week. I told him he better have an application when I returned. He gave me the phone number of local Wells Fargo. He also gave me wrong number, it was off by 1 digit, so I spent 45 minutes tracking down the right number.
Wells Fargo knew of NO FINANCING AGREEMENTS with Cottman but I could apply for a personal loan.
When my car was finished I wanted to test drive it. Marvin was going to do the driving, which annoyed me. I know my car better than anyone, so I convinced him to let me drive it.
It seems okay, cross my fingers 1 day later, but when I presented a $125 coupon in the local Smart Shopper to the boy wonder owner, he claimed he would not honor, got very angry and stormed off. He told me he lost money on the deal and would not honor it, and if I didn't like it, to call Cottman home office, which I will do Monday. When I told his mother about the misleading "financing available" she admitted her account with Wells fargo was closed and would take up to 6 weeks to establish a new account for financing.
I will be calling Cottman on Monday and also Better Business Bureau (which Cottman is NOT a member) and NJ Division of Consumer Affairs, and may even go to small claims court about the coupon. I felt I had to post immediately in case someone was thinking of going there today.
Go to Diehl's transmission in Metuchen, and get parts from Quality if you have ability to buy whoslesale.
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