I brought in my 1995 Rockwood Bayport motorhome, to Aamco, on 7/16/01 because it was not going into overdrive. The motor home only had 20804 miles on it. I was told that the trans fluid was fine and that there were no fragments of any kind in the pan. Aamco charged me $464.76 for: Valve Body Service with update T.C.C. Valve Kit and ALF Valve Kit.
I was given a 90 day limited warranty for all parts and labor. I picked up the motor home from Aamco on 7/20/01. On 7/21/01 I was scheduled to go on a trip and did so, after bieng on the highway I noticed that the motor home was still not going into overdrive.
I do not believe that Aamco had properly diagnosed the problem and I do not believe they ever tested the motor home after the work was done. There was nothing that I could do but to continue my trip, which was approximately 350 round trip. On 7/22/01 on my way home the trans got stuck in 2nd gear.
I called Aamco and then took it back to them, they were completely puzzeled as to what could be the problem. They have had the motor home for 5 weeks and finally called me to tell me that it was fixed. The problem had been the computer but that I would have to pay for all the repairs they had done. The problem is that I was given a verbal quote that they needed to rebuild the trans and it would cost $1700.00 and they would be big enough to credit me the labor cost of $195.00 from the valve body service.
I questioned the fact that that a trans with only 20804 miles, good fluid, and no fragments in the pan would need to be rebuilt. I was assured that this would correct my problem and so then entrusted my motor home to them again.
I also thought that the whole $494.76 should be credited due to the fact that needless parts and labor had been performed since it did not fix the problem but seemed to make it worse. I had reluctantly agreed to the trans being and rebuilt. Though the repairs did not stop there.
After having rebuilt the trans they told me that it was still not working right and they had to drop the trans again, then they decided to try a new alternator, they claimed the original one was only putting out 12.5 and not 14.5, which was not enough for an electronic trans to run properly.
I spoke to the mechanic at Complete Automotive in Brokfield, IL where they had sent the alternator and he believed that the whole problem might have been the alternator and there should have been no reason to rebuild the trans. After Aamco put the alternator back in the trans still did not work. They had to call in 2 technicians from different shops to try to figure this all out. Then they decided that it was the computer that was bad and sent it to Washington to be repaired.
I finally received a phone call on 8/21/01 telling me that the motor home was finally fixed. As you can see this motor home was in the Aamco shop for a month. The claimed to have worked on the valve body, changed the alternator, rebuilt the trans, replaced the computer with a rebuilt one, and replaced the battery (which was less than a year old) with a used battery.
The only work that I had authorized was the valve body work and having to suffer with them rebuilding the trans although it did not seem to be needed. When Mike from Aamco had called me he had said that he did believe that it was the computer causing all of the problems but that I would have to still pay for all the repair work they did.
I do believe that I am getting took here and do not think it should have taken a supposedly reputable transmission shop a month to diagnose and repair my motor home. The funny thing is that the gage reads that the system is still only charging at 12.5, so so much for their alternator theory.
I am a tractor trailor mechanic myself and I do believe that a lot of needless work was done on this motorhome. I do not think that my motor home should have been used as a guinea pig for mechanics 101 at Aamco.
I think that the only thing that I should have to pay for is the computer which is a cost of $500.00 parts and labor, since was the only part that was realy in need of repair or replacement and had the problem been properly diagnosed I would not have gotten a bill for $2344.81 in addition to the $464.76 to total $2809.57.
When given the breakdown of the charges, the computer was $500.00 and after telling Aamco that I thought that this whole thing to be rediculous and that I should only have to pay for the computer, I was told, "fine we will forget the rebuilt trans and the computer cost is $2344.81."
I also argued that the final bill was well above the quoted price, and was told that they did not want to argue with me and that for every day the motor home was on their property they would charge me $25.00 a day storage.
I had no choice but to pay the bill, take my motor home to safety and then now try to recoup the overpayment probably by legal means.
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