I have taken out names and telephone numbers, but have them if anyone thinks it would be useful: This is my experience with AAMCO, its still going on, and I now have a car I can't drive without more repairs:
6/24/02 -6/27/03 $1947.29 tow $62.00 AAMCO reconditioned transmission, rebuilt torque converter, assembly set, 2nd shift solenoid. Right off the bat, we could tell it wasn't fixed. It was hard to get out of park into gear, and as you drove it, the shift from gear to gear was rough.
6/25/02 A phone call resulted in AAMCO saying to drive it "a while", that it needed time to break in.
8/13/02 Stopped on my way home from work, the technician drove it, took it in the shop and "adjusted" it while I waited.in driving it home, there was no improvement. Still was hard to get out of park, still shifted rough.
9/19/02 -9/20/02 No improvement in getting it out of park or the rough shift. Took it back again. Was shown an oil leak in a hose. Was strange in that I had no oil leak prior, and what he showed me squirted like a kids squirt gun when the engine was revved. I questioned why there were no oil spots in my driveway and why the car had no oil residue on the engine (other than the fresh stuff he just showed me). I understand hoses wear and crack and ooze, but a squirting pin-hole just happened that day? Was told "coincidence".. $84.61 to fix As for the transmission, again, they "adjusted" it. Still no improvement.
10/23/02-10/24/02 Same problems, same "adjustment". Still no improvement.
11/8/02 Again, I stopped on my way home from work, the technician drove it, took it in the shop and "adjusted" it while I waited.in driving it home, there was still no improvement.
11/13/02 Called and complained that there was no improvement. Was told he didn't think there was anything wrong with it, maybe I just needed "To get used to the repaired transmission". I argued, I knew how that thing drove before and this was not right. It continued to get worse.
3/28/03 Called the local AAMCO customer service line. I was told I could take it to another shop; there was one in Waukegan.
4/1/03 -4/11/02 Was told by George there was definitely a problem. (Receipt shows "component replacement") One thing was that the shifter cable needed replaced. I asked a couple of questions. (1) Why was there no problem with shifting it before the other shop worked on it? Again, "coincidence". (2) Why didn't the other shop say to replace the shifter cable in all the times I took it there with that as one specific complaint? (3) George said there were defective components that the other shop should have caught in the follow ups. He said he would take it up with higher people. He repeatedly spoke and was confounded that the other shop kept sending me on my way when there was obviously something wrong. I was told it would take a week. They had it 2 weeks (for parts). I was called late on 4/11 (Friday) but told him I couldn't pick it up, it was too late to make it. $231.20 to repair the shifter cable that went bad "coincidently" with the other work. (Since then I spoke with a Honda repair shop, he said they probably didn't line the cable up correctly when it was put back on after the transmission work. Again, why, in all those times did the other shop not suggest this as a fix? Or find the faulty parts?
4/14 (Monday) I stopped and paid for the repair, but was on my way to Chicago for an award my college daughter was getting. I had considered driving it the 57 miles as a test, but decided against it.
4/15 (Tuesday) When my son got off school, we went to pick it up. On my drive home, the car kept going slower and slower. It seemed it wasn't getting gas.By the time I went 6 or 7 miles, it wouldn't go over 25. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and called the shop. It rang, but no answer. I did grocery shopping, and headed home.
Immediately, I could tell whatever was still wrong. It wouldn't go over 25, then 20, then 15. I was taking back roads and praying to get home.in the 4 miles from the store to my house, it got to where it wouldn't go over 5 the last 2 blocks. I pulled in front of my house, got out to get the groceries and noticed a glow under the car.
I bent to look and there were flames about 9 inches long coming from under it, under where the shifter was inside. I panicked; knowing water on the wrong kind of fire can cause an explosion. I ran to knock on a neighbor's door, no answer, so I ran across the street and got the man there to come out. He called 911 on his cell phone, on his way outside to follow me. At that time the first guy came out and looked underneath and said he thought it was safe to put the fire out with my garden hose.
The fire was out in a couple of minutes. The GFD pulled up, checked to make sure the fire was out and not hot enough to re-ignite. The firefighter said it looked like the catalytic converter caught fire. I called AAMCO Customer service, was told the regional manager (Chris) would call. They had the car towed. I found out it was taken back to the Libertyville shop - the original one that didn't fix problems in 8 months.
I was told by Chris that he'd get back to me. The tow driver said he also drove and repaired race cars, and that CC didn't just spontaneously combust, that they had to be full of gas to burn like that. He said while it probably wasn't intentional, they had to have accidentally done something to cause it.
4/16 I called and spoke with my regular maintenance shop about the CC; he too said there would have been an indication that it was going bad. He also expressed that they don't catch fire without cause, however accidentally.
I spoke with a coworker who's ASE certified, and he said they generally go bad slowly and you'd have noticed some decrease in efficiency when driving, but, yes, then it may get red hot, but he was doubtful of flames without some cause. (I had a minivan who's CC went bad, but I could tell for a couple of weeks something was wrong, it drove with less power and sluggish)
4/17 427pm No word from Chris, so I called him. He said the car was on the lift, there was nothing wrong with the transmission, but the catalytic converter showed smoke damage. I told him it had been on fire. His response indicated he didn't believe that, that it "just" overheated. I told him I had witnesses to the flames and fire, not smoke or merely overheated. I told him to talk to the mechanic, that I would be making calls, too. He said he'd get back to me.
4/22 105p, called the National Customer line at 800-523-0401, was given Benny. He said he'd look into it.
4/24 911am, no word from Benny, so I called him and left a message asking what was going on. Also called the local Honda dealer, he too said there would have been an indication of a CC going bad. He said all it could have taken for it to finally go was to be jarred when they disconnected the exhaust pipe (as they would have to do when working on the transmission) but for it to flame would mean there was gas in it.
That working in a tight space, it was possible they flooded it with gas.in which case, this would happen. Again, that it could have been accidental. 1027a Chris finally called. Said they had the car at a muffler shop in Libertyville and they said there was smoke indicating it had overheated. I told him, not overheated, FLAMES. He expressed doubt of a fire. I told him I had witnesses that saw flames shooting out, not smoke. I asked him why the many trips to the same shop and the other discovered defective parts. He got belligerent and said, "are you saying we use defective parts?" I said no, that's not what I meant, what I meant was that it was bad, but not so you'd notice until it was used.
He said "I wrote down what you said, you said we use defective parts" I said, you know that's not what I meant, so don't twist my words. George at the Waukegan shop is the one who said he found that something in it was defective and he didn't know why the other shop didn't see it. Chris again said "so you're saying we use defective parts' I again, said, that's NOT what I said, don't put words in my mouth". He started with a loud, antagonistic "Look here, lady" and I hung up on him.
Benny then called.
I spoke with him and told him what Chris was saying, that we was rude, loud, belligerent and calling me a liar, and that I wouldn't deal with him. I then discovered Chris wasn't a regional manager, just the over-seer to the 2 shops I had been dealing with. (!!!) Benny said the car was being looked at. I told him that I didn't know they had taken it anywhere, that I had been kept in the dark for a week. He told me I could call and speak with the shop manager. I spoke with Tom.
When asked, he said he was never told of the fire, only that it overheated. I told him the fire was enough that the neighbor called the GFD. I asked him if CC spontaneously combusted into flames, he said not usually. He said they get red hot, because as they go bad people continue to drive until it gets to that point.
I asked, so you're saying I should have had some indication it was going bad? He said usually. I then asked - are you saying they had NOTHING to do with it, however accidental it could have been? He said, no he couldn't say they did or didn't, only that it was bad right now and was melted. He was only told to look at it to fix it.
4/25 815AM left a message for Benny. No return call.
4/28 911AM left message for Benny. No word, so at 2:56PM I called and asked for his supervisor, the operator refused, saying I had to have Benny put me to his supervisor. Benny said he was going down his list of return calls and hadn't gotten to me. He claimed the repair shop was issuing a statement that AAMCO wasn't responsible. I told him I had talked to Tom and that wasn't accurate.
Benny told me that is what he was told, and I could talk to Tom again, but as of now AAMCO is done with it, unless I can prove they did damage. I told him since they had it towed from my house to the distant AAMCO, they should tow it to the shop of my choice (I was looking at an $85 tow bill).
He said no, since AAMCO is stating they are not a fault, my car is my problem. I called and Tom said he was only doing an estimate for repairs and could not, and would not, state either way how the CC failed, only that it is obvious is was overheated. I told him, not overheated, on flaming fire! I then called the shop I normally deal with (who had put a muffler on 2 months ago and more recently replaced a thermostat) and he is incredulous they are handling it like this.
He knows there was nothing wrong with the CC as they had driven it and there was no indication - which you would have prior to flames. The car is being towed to the other shop tomorrow.
At this time, I just want the money back from AAMCO I have paid them. I still don't know if the transmission has been fixed, but no longer trust them to work on it. I am not saying they intentionally caused the CC to fail, but I do think they caused it, however inadvertently. Add that to the fact of the numerous times I had to take it back, only to have one of their other shops find something wrong that should have been found initially and the other "coincidental" things that suddenly went wrong and had to be fixed at an additional cost...
If anyone has suggestions on what to do, I would appreciate it. Frankly, I have a car I owe $3300 on and have paid AAMCO $2325.10 only to end up with a car I can't drive without more repair costs.
As a single mother working 2 jobs, with 2 kids in college, 1 in high school... This is just about to break me financially.
In looking for an AAMCO website to write to, I found many dissatisfied customers, including a television station report on unsatisfactory work.
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