I took my car to Cottman Transmission on March 20, if I knew then what I know now...
I initally took my 02 PT Cruiser there because the engine light was on, according to their commercial they do a "free 21pt inspection, $85 value for FREE. There was nothing wrong with my transmission! They inspected and then proceeded to tell me that my tansmission pan had metal on the magnet and that means there is something wrong with the transmission, "it will be $250 to allow them to take it a part and research the problem" It was 5:50pm that day I had my mother, my 6yr old son, and my 5month old daughter with me and still they saw me comming!
I said let me call my husband and discuss this with him. My husband then gets on the phone with them, he re-explains everything to him and repeats several times, we need to make a decision fast because the rental car place closes in 10 minutes. The only thing I signed was agreeing to pay the $250 for research.
They notified us that if we were unable to pay all fees at one time, they could get us financing. I made sure Tony understood that neither my husband or I have good credit, infact my exact words were "Our credit SUCKS!" He guarenteed our approval with at least 1 of the 3 companies they deal with and worse case they would let us do a payment plan. GREAT!
I left our car there, they said they would have it fixed 2 days tops. And my story begins. My husband reminded them several times that we did not take it there for transmission problems and that there were no signs of transmission problems, they engine light is on, we think there is a engine miss fire and we want that fixed. Matt assured us that he would fix the problem.
The next day Tony calls and says, all in one breath, There are some transmission problems (and he went into slight detail, but for all I know he could have been just making up names for these 'bad' parts) He proceeded to tell me about the 2 plans. Premium has this and this and this... Blah blah blah and it is $2500 (not the exact price, it was between 25 and 26 hundred.), and the Platinum has this and this and this... Blah blah blah and it is $2700, and if you give me the last 4 digits of your social security number we can get started on one of those plans right now! (let me remind you all of that was said with 1 breath!)
I said, I would like to call my husband and talk this with him, and Tony says well, if you give me the last 4 digits of your SS# we can get started on the chemical clean right now and you can call me back to let me know which plan you decide to go with.
I asked, is the last 4 of my SS# for financing? He said yes and I told him again we have bad credit, what if we are not approved. Tony again said that we would most likely be approved but if not, there is always payment plans. I told him i wanted to talk to my husband first and not to touch the car until I call him back. He asked me if I had to wait for him to get home, yes he was that pushy. I told him no, that i was going to call him. I finally was able to call my husband and told him all of the above and how pushy we was made me nervous. My husband called him and I guess felt comfortable and we went with the Platinum plan over $2700.
Now its Thursday, 2 days later and we are supposed to get my car back today. Only now do we start the finacing process and like I expected we were not approved with 2 of the 3 companies they work with. So, I ask what about the 3rd company? I was told that they do not really like to use them, they are a pain to deal with.
WHY i asked. They apparently only approve you for 1/2 of your monthly income which would not even be close to 1/2 of what we now owe them! Now they tell us! Now, "I was told that if we were not approved you would work with us with payment plans? Let me remind my readers This is 2 days later and as far as I am concered they are almost done with my car and only now do they tell me that they are not a bank and do not like to do payment plans.
Also, if I were to do a payment plan I would have to leave my car there until the balance was paid in full. AHHH I expected to make 1-2 hundred dollar payments per month, do the math that means I would not get my car back for somewhere around 30 months! I also read a sign in there shop that any cars left there starting 24 hours after they are done will be charge a daily storage fee, so as I am paying off my balance, it is still racking up the bill on the other end... Never ending!
We threatend to report them to the BBB, and we would never refer them to anybody. At this point the owner, Jamie, I think his name was, calls me and is asking what is going on, he heard we were very upset. Here I am thinking, finally, maybe something will get done... Nope... We was just as impossible as his crapy employee's. Long convo short, no resoultion at this point and he told me that I should swallow my pride and ask my family to help my by co-signing for me... Thats right, i need to swallow my pride, I wanted to screem when he told me that and I think that at this point is when i really knew I had just been royally screwed!!!
My husband and I "swallowed our pride" and asked his mother to co-sign, she was not approved! We started thinking, I still owe $2002 on this car, it has 120 thousand miles, I am about to somehow pay almost 3,000$ together i am spending about $5,000 to fix and pay it off and I was told it is only worth $4,000.
I really went over the thought of just leaving it there, I don't have the title to it so therefore they would not beable to sell it to get there money, they would be screwed, We even went to look at new cars! I call my dad, he is and has been in the car bus for a long time and had connections, I ask him where can should I go to get a new car.
He wants to know why i want a new car, i tell him and he is now furious! He offered to co-sign, that didn't work. Now we are going to pay the whole balance with his girlfriends credit card and they will not take it over the phone, and will not allow my dad to sign the receipt, she has to sign and she works 7 days a week and has no time to go there herself.
Even though my dad is an aurthorized signer and the Credit card company is writing a letter to approve my dad to sign, they still will not accept it. SHE HAS TO GO! It is almost like they don't want their money! That is where we are now, on 3/31/07 and I still do not have my car!!! Now after reading everyone elses complaints I am scared I am going to get my car back and it break down on me and I won't be able to to a thing about it!
Lessons leared, i guess, we can call it the tuition of life!
Bottom line stay away from cottman and anyone who knows them!
Meagan
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.
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