10/6
My name is Marie and I am a young black woman financing my 2001 Honda Accord car from the Honda dealer. I have only had it for about 4 years now and was experiencing some issues with the car not picking up speed as it normally does when I accelerate. So I took my car to Aamco Transmission (Morrow) store# 12924 I believe back in Late May complaining of this issue. My car was at Aamco Transmission for a day but Mr. Champ said his technicians did not find anything problems with my transmission, except that I may need to replace my rear main seal gasket. A few months later, I started experiencing hard shifts in the mornings. Once my car was warmed up, it drove normal. Therefore, I took my car to several shops to be diagnosis for any transmission issues. The report read out Faulty Solenoid Valve Assembly, Poor electrical connection or open circuit condition, or failed transmission shift control system, with that report I drove it back to Mr. Champ at Aamco Transmission store# 12924 and agreed to leave it for further diagnosis.
Mr. Champ called me and said his Technicians have driven the car and could not find a problem. I told him the hard shift is only present when my vehicle is cold. Mr. Champ replied back "Oh why didn't you tell me, we have been driving it and driving it and of course it has to be cold". I said I told you when the problem occurs when I left it with Aamco back in May and also on Friday October 1 when I dropped my vehicle off. I thought to myself I guess Aamco Transmission just disregards when customers explain car symptoms or either they are not very good listeners. Secondly, I believe that this is something they should have figured out seeing that they are transmission specialists. I agreed to leave my vehicle overnight; Mr. Champ said I would be contacted by him in the morning once the external diagnosis was complete.
I did not receive a call so I called Aamco that afternoon and Mr. Champ informed me that there was definitely something going on with the transmission which I already knew. He stated that an external diagnosis was performed, a test drive, etc. I then went to the shop to discuss my car situation and estimate. I repeatedly ask for an estimate on the transmission and he said he would need to pull the transmission out in order for him to let me know if I needed hard parts and/or a torque converter, mind you my car is completely drivable and only hard shift when the transmission is cold. I told Mr. Champ that I have an extended warranty on my car and provided him with the information if only it would not exceed the $2000 cap. I spoke to Mr. Champ several times telling him that I only have a Max of $2000 coverage.
After discussing my estimate he finally gave me a quote of $1368.33. I asked him will that go up? He replied yes it could go up. Then before I sign the paper work to pull the Transmission I asked, Can it possibly be more than $2000?"No I don't believe it will go over $ but your Warranty company will cover it anyways" I quickly said "No No No I told you if it's over $2000 they will not cover it and I'm on crutches as you can see due to a major knee surgery"."I am on temporary leave and I do not have the money" If Aamco Transmission cannot do it for $2000 or less than there is no point in me signing the paper work to pull my transmission out to perform an internal diagnostic because I do not have the money. I am a recent out of state college graduated, working a part time job taco bell with no family in Georgia. Now I have to recover from knee surgery so I cannot afford it. I have somewhere else that quoted me $1500 for a re-manufactured transmission from Honda Part Connection on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Buford GA 30518. I can just go there because i absolutely do not have any money and can not pay any additional cost. This is why I purchased extended warranty coverage. Therefore, I paid the required amount on time every month for over 2 years and still have payments remaining. I have paid a total of $1345 to date. He assured me that it would not exceed $2000 on Saturday October 2, the day I signed paper work to pull the transmission out.
I called Monday Oct. 4th because I have no transportation to physical therapy and was actually seeing if the transmission was pulled out yet. He said the Technician just started on my car. I waited all day for a call from Mr. Champ with any new information, he said he still did not know yet and was still communicating with my extended warranty company. He said to me "we are trying to figure it out, be patient" I immediately called my father because I knew something fishy was going on. Why can you not give me an exact estimate if the diagnosis is complete? Why I am not notified of any new information pertaining to my vehicle and my transmission before the extended warranty company? My father called Tuesday October 5th a day after the Transmission was pulled out and an internal diagnosis was complete. When my father asked about my vehicle, Mr. Champ was very short with my father. He did not know that my father is a mechanic. He lives out of state and had already known basically, what was going on and how Aamco Transmission (Morrow) store# 12924 was taking advantage of me and was going to try and charge me well over the financial plan that was given. Possibly charge me for parts that were not damaged. My father asked him to tell him what is going on with his daughters car. Mr. Champ replied, "She has internal transmission damage". This is known already. My father says yes of course I know that but what is going on with the Transmission he rambled on about radiator cooler lines should be replace for preventative maintenance because it is a which he is basically saying that because my car was made in 2001 and we are in 2010 that its time to change it even though there is nothing wrong with the cooler lines, one transmission mount is broken, then he finally said a linear solenoid, new banner kit, new hard parts, a torque converter, etc.
They went on with a 15 min discussion and my father told him that she only has $2000 max. I am sure that this extensive list of problems with the transmission is untrue. She does not need a torque converter and can you tell me how much will everything cost? Mr. Champ replied I am still unsure I am communicating with her extended warranty company now. My father said you must have an idea You deal with transmission and I am sure Aamco Transmissions store# 12924 have repaired many Honda vehicles. Can you tell me what you think it will cost? Mr. Champ could not provide myself or my father with an estimate based off the external and internal diagnosis I called the extended warranty company and said did my repair shop send over and estimate? She said yes they did, she proceeded to give me the estimated total of $2952.77, soon after saying but I am sorry ma'am we will only cover $2000 of that.
I am in Shock. First Mr. Champ did not contact me with any of this information before sending it to my warranty company, secondly the cost that we agreed it would not exceed, it did by $952.77 before tax and did not include the radiator cooler lines nor the broken transmission mount. It's as if he is trying to milk my extended warranty company for as much money as he can get without me knowing about the estimate but I do not understand because I repeatedly told him that they will only cover $2000 and if it will cost more than that then don't even bother. I immediately called Mr. Champ and asked him do you have any new information for me? He replied your repair was authorized by the extended warranty company. I said thats good so how much was the estimate? He replied, Your extended warranty company has a $2000 cap and your waaay over. I informed you already that my extended warranty company only allows $2000 for transmission repair and what is way over? He says about $800. I said I cannot pay that, he says try to call and ask why you have to pay any money if you have an extended warranty and I said but I know why because that is their policy. $2000 for transmission and thats that. I then asked was the radiator line and transmission mount included in the estimate. He said NO, and then states I am going to try and work something out. I will call you. I did not receive a call within 3 to 4 hours so I set up transportation to the shop and ask Mr. Champ face to face, so what can you do about the price? Mr. Champ then says there is nothing I can do.
So now my vehicle which was drivable and the transmission issue was undetectable, is in the repair shop with the transmission pulled out. To repair the vehicle it will be $3000 plus. Mr. Champ is trying to charge me $900 to put the transmission back into my car if I would like to take it back and not continue with the repair. He said that would be the difference anyways when the extended warranty pays $2000. This is unfair, and something should be done about this business being dishonest to the customers in order to meet there selfish greed for more money. I then asked for a copy of that estimate to look over it, Aamco was charging me $1930.12 for Parts and $1317.50 for Labor which shows a subtotal of $3247.62 and with tax of $135.11, which show a grand total of $3382.73. Thursday morning I woke up early to call another Aamco Transmission location 17 miles away from the Aamco location in Morrow, Georgia with a couple of questions I know Mr. Champ will either fabricate or will not tell me at all. These questions include:
1. How much to pull out a transmission for a 2001 Honda accord V6?
She calculated 8 hours to remove and reassemble the transmission therefore, it would be 4 hours and producing total cost of $340.00
2. How much for a complete rebuild of my transmission?
She replied it would be best if my technicians can drive it and do their own diagnosis but somewhere between $1900 and $2200 Worst case scenario maybe $2500 at the most.
3. Would your technicians based off of driving my vehicle and seeing firsthand what the symptoms of my car be able to tell me without removing the transmission about how much my repair would cost would be?
Yuko said yes we would be able to. When my technicians drive the vehicle, based off the symptoms they can identify what is causing that issue and what would need to be replaced. Whatever the estimate is before the tear down, it will still be in the same price range area. We will not give you a quote after external diagnosis then after pulling transmission the price is outrageously more than what we quoted you.
I then arranged for a friend to take me to the Aamco location in Mcdonough, GA so that I can personally talk to Yuko face to face asking the same questions I asked on the phone and pulled out this outrageous estimate that I believe Aamco Transmission (Morrow) fabricated. She said Oh you are the one that called me with these questions I said yes.
I discuss with Yuko that my Transmission has been pulled at the Morrow location and that I would like to remove it from a dishonest shop. She said I will try and work something out but normally the technicians do not work on vehicles where transmission has been pulled out by another shop. We do not know how well another shop keeps up with the parts. I can only speak for this shop and how we do things around here. Here at this location only one person removes the transmission and labels everything. If parts are missing or damaged while at that Morrow Aamco transmission location then it is actually more of a inconvenience and more money to replace those bolts or other lost or damaged parts.
After speaking with Yuko, I ask a friend to take me over to the morrow Aamco location. I called Lake City Police because I did not want any problems. I just wanted my vehicle back and never want to deal with this shop ever again. I walked in to speak to Mr. Champ they did not even acknowledge that I was standing at the window waiting on them while they whisper and chat to each other and I am waiting at the window on crutches to be helped. I patiently waited until Mr. Champ says ST. FORT! What can I do for ya? As if he is having a wonderful day and I am in misery without a car. I said I am just here to pick up my vehicle. He said I will need to pay $555 in order to get my transmission in a box and to be put in the trunk to take. I said I am not paying that. I received a phone quote of $340 from the McDonough location so the price should at least be somewhere close to $340. Officer pulls up and I step outside to speak to him as champ disbelievingly slides the clip board with the $555 price on it to his side. I explained everything and showed Lake City officer the paper work where he quoted me before the transmission was pulled and now after. The officer then went inside to speak with Mr. Champ about everything that I said to the officer. The Officer steps outside to speak with me where he said that Mr. Champ did confirm everything that I said. Mr. Champ said yes, we verbally agreed that the repair cost would not exceed $2000. The officer then said heres whats going to happen.
Since this is a civil matter I could take this shop to civil court if I would like but all he could do at this moment is tell me that Mr. Champ said in order to put the transmission back into my vehicle is would be $555.00 I said but he told me yesterday $858.50 where he highlighted on the page where I then showed it to the officer again. The officer says I am not sure but he says he is giving you a discount. Feeling like I had been taken advantage of by this shop I agreed to pay the $555.00 for the transmission to be reassembled so that I can remove my vehicle form the shop to another shop. The officer left and I went in to pay for the reassembly charge but Mr. Champ then says it will cost me $680.00. I said that was not what the officer told me. He said well thats that cost. I then called the Lake City Police Dept. And asked for the same officer to return to Aamco Transmission. He arrived within a few minutes. I said to him what the amount we agreed on was. He reviews his notes and recording and without saying he steps back into the shop to speak with Mr. Champ and while I am outside I can hear Mr. Champ as he gets louder when speaking with the officer. With a look of straightforwardness the officer walks to me and says I cannot say what I would like to say but I know what Mr. Champ said to me and there are recordings on him and his stories are conflicting but I am not here to argue with him but I did tell him what he is doing is wrong. This is a young college student and you know what you have done is wrong but if you want the vehicle back you will need to pay $555 to have your transmission put in a Container and also pay to have it towed out. I agreed to it and the officer leaves.
I paid Aamco Transmission $555 on a credit card and signed a form stating that I declined for Aamco Transmission (Morrow) to repair my vehicle. Mr. Champ then tries to have me sign paper work the states this: Aamco may operate this vehicle for the purpose of testing and delivery at my own risk. I understand that is a torque converter is and/or hard parts are required, the cost will be in addition to the base price of $1977.50. I have the right to authorize the additional cost, or to request reassembly and reinstallation of the unserviced transmission for a labor charge of $555.00 which includes the cost of disassembly and examination.
It then has underneath that information which includes this:
6.6 hours New Reassembly service hours $561.00
1 Credit Transcan -49.95
1 Labor credit -6.00
Total Labor $555.00
First off why would I sign for my transmission to be pulled out and I only have $2000 and we have not pulled the transmission out to see if I need hard parts and/or torque converter and the base price is already at $1977.50. Secondly, there were no reassembly to the transmission, and thirdly this does not even explain how we reach a total of $555 especially when I spoke to the Aamco Transmission location in McDonough and the tell me to disassembled and reassemble the transmission is 8 hours so half of that is 4 hours which would total $340. It just does not make since. I believe that Mr. Champ and his staff at the Morrow location were trying to cover their track but did not do a very good job. If you calculate the above information it does not total up to $555.00. I said I would not sign this false information. If we had a verbal agreement before I signed for the transmission to be pulled that we would not go over $2000 with the base price being $1368.33, why would try to have me sign a form that says $1977.50. He makes a comment Its not over $2000.
My heart sunk I could not believe he looked me in the eye and said that comment with a face of greed as if he did not even care. I said I would not sign that I paid for my vehicle please hand me my keys he said no.By then the tow truck was there and I spoke with Mr. Charles from A Tow Inc. And instructed him to put my car on the tow truck. Mr. Champ came out and told him to put it down. I tried to show Mr. Charles my receipt but he said I do not want to see a receipt I am not going to come to this man shop and argue. I felt helpless; here I am a young woman being over powered by Mr. Champ at Aamco Transmission (Morrow) store# 12924 when this is my tow truck that I am paying for. Mr. Charles from A Tow Inc. Went inside and was talking with Mr. Champ until I sign the paper even though I had already paid for the unsatisfied services. I did not know what else to do. I am paying the tow truck guy Mr. Charles. He should be responding to me not aamco transmission, but he look at me as if I was a child and did not even bother to listen to me. I then called the officer because I paid for my vehicle and they would not allow me to take it. The officer returned and read the paper work that Mr. Champ wanted me to sign he immediately look at me and said Do you want to sign this paper I said no because there is false information on there. He instructed Mr. Champ to hand me my keys because I have paid for the services. He walked over to Mr. Charles and told him he could load up my car and I guess he explain everything to him because he came over to us after he loaded the car and said. Just unbelievable now he wants to jump on the band wagon but he did not even want to listen to me when I tried to explain what was going on. I just feel that this is unfair to a young woman like me who just wants my car repaired correctly by an honest shop without being taken advantage of. I have so much more information.
I have other shops where I have taken my car for a second opinion after having the scanner at Auto Zone read out before and after taking it to Aamco Transmission in morrow. Which would include Auto Zone, Thurmans Automatic Transmission, Quality Imports Honda and Acura specialist, and another repair shop located not far from Thurmans Transmission. Documents, and certified mechanics that can verify that some of the claims that Mr. Champ stated was wrong with my vehicle was not actually anything wrong. They tested my vehicle and drove it and some of the damages that were made just does not match with what they found. Can someone help me?
My email address is
Thank you!
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