My 2000 Acura was damaged in April after striking debris on the road. Subsequently, the transmission drive shaft and transmission itself needed to be replaced. I contacted several automotive repair shops and they all referred me to Eagle Transmission. I contacted Ken and set up a time for service. I was assured that the transmission repair would go smoothly; however, I shouldn't have been so trusting.
Upon completion, I drove the transmission to Houston and back for business. I am a self employed software designer and travel over 40,000 miles a year to provide the best level of customer service for my customers. I mentioned to Ken that I was going to drive to Houston and back and he told me that that was fine, but to bring it back into the shop after I returned in order to check the performance and make sure that all was working correctly.
On my way back from Houston, my car's RPM's began to spike when I pressed the gas pedal. I realized that the transmission was slipping, so I began to exit the highway. While doing this, I happened to glance into my mirror and noticed that my car was billowing smoke and that it was spewing transmission fluid all over the highway. I parked at a hotel on the access road and called Ken.
It was a Saturday, so it went to his voicemail and I left a very stern message for him to call me as soon as he received this message and that I was extremely disappointed in their quality of work. I spent from 6pm until 11:30 pm on Saturday night getting my car towed ($195) and having my wife drive from Denton to south Fort Worth, pick me up, and take me home. I was obviously very frustrated with the situation especially since my vehicle had a new transmission with LESS THAN 500 MILES ON IT.
On Monday, I waited for a call from Ken. He never called. I had to drive to the store, and confront him. He acted aloof and was unaware of the reason why the car was parked at their location. This infuriated me and then he changed his tone and mentioned that he actually did recall my message but that he mistakenly had all his calls forwarded to the wrong phone. This excuse did not help ease my frustration and I told him that he needed to look at the car, call me as soon as possible when they found anything out, and fix it under warranty. I also suggested nicely that he should take care of the towing expenses due to the low mileage, timeframe of repair, and obviously poor service on the part of Eagle Transmission. He said that he would look into it but that towing is usually not covered under a warranty repair. I said that I understood, but under the situation, the towing should be paid for by Eagle Transmission.
A day went by without a phone call from Ken. I again, went to the shop to get a straight answer from Ken or to see if the car had even been looked at. This time, I took my neighbor with me so she could be an independent witness to anything that transpired. Ken acted very cordial and said that there had been a parts failure on the replaced transmission and that this was why the failure occurred. He said that it would take a few days to repair. I again mentioned to him that I had the towing receipt and would like for Eagle to take care of the expense. He said OK. Even though he didnt give me a definite Yes, I took that as a good sign and thought that things would work out for the best another misconception.
Ken contacted me a few days later and I picked the car up a day after that at 5:25 pm (Friday). Ken said that everything looked good. I gave him the towing receipt and he abruptly said that there was nothing he was going to be able to do about the bill bottom line. I became very frustrated and tried to reason with his lack of concern for the customer and failure to take responsibility for the poor work originally performed on my car.
This is what transpired:
I reiterated the facts:
Less than 500 miles on the new transmission.
Total failure of the new transmission due to a parts failure which was Eagle Transmission's issue and responsibility.
Towing from south Fort Worth on my own expense.
Over 5 hours of wasted time dealing with something that shouldn't have happened.
I then asked him several questions:
Ken, what would you do if you were in my shoes? His response: I'd be mad to
Would you ever do business with a company that did this to you? His response: No, I probably wouldn't ever bring my car here again either.
Don't you think there is a really good reason for me to be furious and disappointed with your lack of customer service? His response: Yes, I understand Jon, I would be mad to, but there is just nothing that I can do about it. I don't have $200 to give you! I don't have the authority to make these decisions. It is up to the owner to decide this.
One comment that he also made was that Why should you be mad? You're not out of anything! We fixed your transmission for free and you didn't have to spend any more money. My response: This pretty much sums up his inability to sympathize and deal with a customers justified frustrations. If it was a parts failure, why didn't he simply contact the parts manufacturer and get them to warranty the part as well as the repair work. He never did show me the infamous failed part, however, but stood by the statement that Eagle Transmission never did anything wrong.
Lastly, I asked for the owner's name and phone number. His response: I am not giving you that information! He doesn't work. My Response: Tell him to call me on Monday. I would like to talk to him personally about this situation. His response: He'll call you when it's convenient for him!
I am still waiting for a call from anyone from their company!
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