I took my car in to ATCO Transmission for an issue with the dashboard lights flickering and told them the alternator had been replaced 3 months ealier and was brand new then, not a rebuilt or any such thing. I also told them to check the grounding cables as I'd had an issue before with deterioration from driving in the winter that caused the same problem.
A few days later, I received a call that they had replaced my alternator and it would be about $320 for me to pick my car up. While it seemed unethical to perform such repairs without getting my permisssion first, I didn't find out it was illegal until later. I didn't even get the car off the lot before finding out the issue wasn't fixed. I left it there for three weeks before they called to tell me that they had replaced the engine control computer and i need to pay $205 and pick up my car. Again they had gone ahead with repairs without calling to give me the price and exactly what work they were doing.
After picking my car up this time, not only were the dash lights still flickering, but now the Air Bag light came on and stayed on whenever the car was running. I later noticed that, if driving for long enough, the speedometer would stop working, causing the automatic transmission to lock at 2nd gear as well. Fed up with ATCO i replaced the ground cable myself and the dash lights immediately stopped flickering (the original problem) but the air bag light and speedometer were still giving me problems.
I took the car in to a new mechanic who checked everything over, input and output speed sensor, speed sensor connections, transmission and enginge control computer. They informed me that not only had ATCO failed to reprogram the USED computer they installed, but that it wasn't even the proper computer for my car. They also informed me that, to their knowledge, ATCO didn't have to proper tools or technicians to perform an engine control computer replacement and that it was illegal for them to perform repairs without getting my consent beforehand.
The new mechanic reprogrammed my computer and now all problems appear to have been completely solved. Unfortunately the car will nto pass inspection in California until a proper computer is installed. So I now need to either get my original computer back, as it shouldn't have been replaced to begin with, or I will be forced to pay for another computer which will add to the over $400 I've already spent repairing the damage ATCO did.
ATCO transmission is completely incompetent at everthing but ripping people off.in fact, I also learned that the owner, Robert Wachter, has been convicted of fraud for this same type of thing... Twice.
I have now paid over $400, and likely over $600 by the time all is said and done, to have the second mechanic repair damage that was caused exclusively by ATCO transmission. This is in addition to the $500 I paid to ATCO for repairs that were not only uneccessary, but also performed improperly. This has caused considerable financial difficulty and further personal stress on occasions when I had no car to get to work and had to make other arrangements.
ATCO is a fraudulent, incompetent, consumer-raping establishment that no one should award with his or her patronage.
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