I have never written to your organization (or any similar) before, but something has recently happened that I believe needs to be publicized.in a nutshell - I dropped off a RUNNING vehicle, in good faith, to a mechanical repair facility... And after SEVEN months, thousands of dollars and returning the vehicle TWICE... Was rewarded with a NON-RUNNING vehicle (in worse condition than it was dropped off in),
that had to be TOWED AWAY and a $4000 dollar tab to restore the vehicle to it's original condition. I can't imagine how that can be justified.
No consumer should be put through a situation of this nature. The condensed story?:
Last fall I walked out to my VW Jetta and noticed some transmission fluid on the driveway. I called the local VW dealership and Cottman Transmission (the particular franchise that I went to is located at 7th Street and Hatcher, phone number 602-371-1667), regarding the possible problem.
Camelback Volkswagen chose not to discuss anything with me and Cottman, who had worked on the vehicle 1.5 years previously, was glad to explain. Cottmann stated that the most common reason for a vehicle to "burp" transmission fluid was that the transmission was overheating.in further discussing the issue, and in answering my direct questions, it was explained to me that there is a part in the transmission called a heat exchanger that was most likely the culprit, and that they would thoroughly check out the vehicle. I planned on having the car towed to them, but they stated that it was fine to drive it to the facility.
Several months passed (it was now February) and after checking several times, the car still wasn't finished. Cottman stated that my warranty company, American Guardian (Warrantybynet), was holding up the process, by demanding documentation that the car had been exceptionally maintained (it was), and had finally been satisfied that I had taken superb care of the vehicle, but they were just waiting for parts.
After several more phone calls, I was finally contacted (by now it was March) to pick up the vehicle. My friend, Paul, and I went to pick up the vehicle. I was told to drive the vehicle for 500 miles or 10 days to make sure that the transmission was "broken in" and to return after that time to have the transmission checked.
The car - It was filthy, all of the tires were low, one dangerously so (from sitting so long) and there was no gas in the tank (it had been brought in with at least 3/4 of a tank) - HOWEVER, any of that could have been ignored, but the car didn't seem to run any differently. We took it to the closest gas station and got it "fixed up" and drove it home. As per our original plan, I turned the vehicle over to my friend, because he is very knowledgable about vehicles and I wanted it to be driven by an "expert". He drove it for one day and agreed that it needed to be returned. The vehicle was returned to Cottman.
Several weeks later, I called Cottman (because I still had no word on WHAT was wrong with the car). I was told that it was fine and had been thoroughly tested and scoped, and that the technicians had been taking it out to rack up the milage - but there was no problem. I was told to take the vehicle back and run it for AT LEAST 500 miles, or they would not be able to test it properly.
This time, I chose to have a trusted family friend (who has owned an engine shop for over 40 years) test drive the vehicle. He drove it on a trip to Laughlin and when he returned, the car "burped transmission fluid" on the driveway AGAIN. This was NO DIFFERENT than the car was
BEFORE I brought it in, IN 2002.
I called Cottman again and told them what happened and explained that I didn't feel safe driving the vehicle, so they agreed to tow it in. The car was in the driveway, for nearly two weeks before they picked it back up... By now it was May. About a week later I received a very disturbing phone call. It was Randy Salcido, a new salesman for the company, who told me in a jumbled flurry of double-talk (very difficult to follow, I'm afraid), that the new transmission had overheated and
was destroyed, due to a part in the RADIATOR (the car had never shown any indication of overheating) and not only would Cottman not cover it, but neither would thewarranty company. But, not to worry, because they would give me a wholesale price on a new transmission job.
I was devastated. After spending nearly $7000 with this company, I genuinely believe that the story they were giving me was an attempt to be paid AGAIN, for a job that had not been completed properly in the first 6 months that they had possession of my vehicle. Additionally, I stress that during this time - all car payments, registration AND full-coverage insurance were being paid on a vehicle that was undrivable. Needless to say, this has been a financial and emotional nightmare.
The next two weeks were a constant stream of daily phone calls beween myself, Cottman, the warranty company, mechanics and other transmission facilities, the BBB, and research on WHO was responsible for this. The position that my warranty company took was completely inconsistent with that of what I was told by Cottman. A few examples: Cottman told me that the warranty company held the repair up for TWO full months, demanding documentation. The warranty company claims that it was not even contacted until January, when within 3 weeks, they approved the work. The work that Cottman did was not consistent with the original diagnosis of the vehicle.
Tony, the manager (possible owner, from info retrieved from the BBB) of the Cottman franchise, additionally claimed that after they had been turned down by the warranty company to fix the
"re-broken" transmission, they DEMANDED a return visit of the claims adjuster - and on the second visit they had shown him the transmission, taken apart, to illustrate the problem. However... When I re-questioned the manager of Cottman and asked him if the transmission was still apart, he said, "No". I asked him why they would take it apart and then put a "ruined" transmission back together. He told me that he had to take another phone call and would call me back. I was never able to
get through to him, see him or have a phone call returned by him again; even though I told him that I ONLY wanted to talk to him... Not Randy Salcido (because Randy inspired panic and seemed incapable of delivering a straight answer, in an understandable fashion, as to WHAT was wrong with my car... He was "all over the board", and each time I spoke with him, the story/details changed - not acceptable). Tony heartily agreed that only HE would speak to me, from that point forward - sadly, another lie.
Yes, the warranty company denied having made a
second visit and stressed that they had never seen the transmission apart. They also gave me permission to move the vehicle to another location for a second opinion, as they did not trust this company any more than I did - but held firm in their position that they would NOT pay to have the transmission replaced AGAIN. Note: MANY long conversations and an incredible amount of time and energy went into this, but to keep this as short as possible, much of the additional evidence that relates to this story has not been included in this email. If you choose to help others to avoid a similar situation with this company, I will gladly funish EVERYTHING.
After the several weeks of phone calls and "embarrasingly relevant questions" that could not be reasonably answered - the decision to move the car seemed like, at least, a step forward - because it was still sitting at Cottman, with all parties in a stalemate. Ironically, before I could arrange to have the car moved, I received a phone call from Randy Salcido - who told me that they had fixed my vehicle; that YES, I was correct, the vehicle did not need a radiator, the transmission was cleaned out and flushed, appeared to be functioning normally and (in a vaguely apologetic tone) stressed that Cottman had corrected the problem without cost to myself or the warranty company - so I could come and pick it up. I felt relief that they had finally owned up to their responsibility (the transmission work came with a written 12,000 mile / 12 month warranty, after all).
HOWEVER... The next day, when my boyfriend and I went to pick up the car - the story was COMPLETELY different. We were told that the vehicle was severely overheating and we needed to be VERY careful driving it or we could overheat and seize up the engine, as well as the transmission. This was told to us by the very same Randy Salcido who had called and after my insistent questions (who could trust them after everything that had happened?), had assured me that the car was A-Okay
and that I would be pleased.
We went outside and started the vehicle. It sounded like a meat grinder, the temperature gauge shot up to the top in under 20 seconds of starting the car and the temp. Light on the dashboard came on immediately. Also, I noted that the mileage was much higher than the figure I had made a point to check BEFORE the vehicle was towed in. We were furious. Randy handed me the paperwork, which I refused to sign. The work had NOT been done, to satisfaction.
My boyfriend called AAA and we had the vehicle towed to Earnhardt VW in Glendale. There was no way that the vehicle could be driven. IMPORTANT NOTE: Tony, the manager/possible owner, was conspicuously absent during the several hours that we had to spend at the franchise, waiting for the car to be released, and the subsequent arrival of the AAA tow truck.
The day that I had initially been given the bad news, one of the companies that I had called (to discuss the diagnosis - because it did not seem plausible) was Earnhardt's, so they already knew the situation. However, the service writer and I thought it would be wise (for pure analysis and fact-finding) NOT to disclose to any technician, why the car was there, so that the mechanic would be working from a completely unbiased standpoint. The technician only knew that he had a car that needed to be diagnosed - no background information.
The findings were unbelievable. The vehicle did not have ANY water or coolant except for what was stuck in the transmission, the transmission was still full of gunk and flooded with water (even though the verbal statements by Mr. Salcido and the actual paperwork claim that the system was flushed and cleaned). The heat exchanger was defective, but the radiator and all other NON-transmission related components that Cottman tried to get my warranty company to fix, were fine.
The diagnosis was that the problem was an internal transmission failure, caused by "recent repairs" and / or the use of faulty / substandard parts and poor workmanship. The bill for putting the car back together again so that it would run well enough to see if there was further damage is (so far - not including the time, money, energy, car payments. Etc... JUST the bill to put the transmission back to square one) $3994.15. The technician was completely outraged by the shoddy way in which my car had been returned to me (he could tell that it had recent work done, by the way that the parts looked when he took it apart... So the cat was out of the bag). He did chew out the service writer, but after seeing the damage, pieced together WHY we chose to withhold the information, initially.
We needed to have just the facts m'am... No colorization, or outrage, added. Now we have them, and it looks rather obvious that the transmission company was not content with the nearly $7000 that has been paid to them in under two years - apparently they felt they were entitled to nearly $11,000 (for ONE component of a vehicle worth half that amount).
So, where to proceed to from here? I have contacted you, printed out forms from the Attorney general's office and the BBB, put through an initial call to the warranty company, have Cottman's Corporate information, my friends are checking into a good consumer attorney. The whole thing is just so upsetting that it really stops you in your tracks.
Do I show my hand and let them know that I have irrefutable evidence, or catch them by surprise? You think - WHY would a company do something this blatant - when it is so easy to find out the truth? I wonder, did they not think that I would have this checked out - or did they just hope that I was stupid enough to drive the car and blow it up... Thus absolving them of responsibility? Or buy a new transmission FROM THEM?
Additionally, it makes you wonder
if the FIRST transmission that they fixed was done properly (because the fellows joked [yes, I know... Not AT ALL funny] when I first brought it in - that MAYBE the idiot [yes, a quote] ex-manager, Mark, that fixed it last time - might have done an inferior job.
Good point, transmissions should last longer than 20,000 miles.)... Hmmm, is it a pattern with this particular franchise (same OWNERSHIP as the first transmission, though I was assured that it had changed hands since I had it worked on the first time) - to defraud their customers and charge thousands of dollars to their warranty companies? Does it have anything to do with the fact that I am female, blond and petite - does that automatically qualify me as a sap? And many more good solid questions in need of truthful answers... Can you help? Please let me know. If you can't help me, maybe you can stop others from being dragged through the financial and emotional mud that I have been through. No one deserves this.
Suzanne
Paradise Valley, Arizona
U.S.A.
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