12/9 - saw ad on Ebay for a "rebuilt" auto trans for a 1996 Mitsu Galant 2.4L SOHC for $725 bid min or $795 to Buy It Now. I read all of the reviews from buyers on Ebay (however I should have looked deeper as a very large % of them are for books only and a number of negatives or neutral comments are from those that purchased transmissions)
I also read this comment linked to the Ebay listing: "Certified Dyno Tested Transmissions." All of our transmissions are DYNO TESTED. This means that they are ran behind an engine for 30 minutes prior to shipping. This ensures that you the customer never recieves a unit that does not work.
We currently have 3 state of the art Intercont Transmission Dynomometers" Please take note of the statement "This ensures that you the customer never recieves a unit that does not work." You can see the statement yourself at: http://members. Ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws2/eBayISAPI. Dll? ViewUserPage&userid=phoenix-remanufactured-transmissions
12/10 - spoke with Andre/Sales xt: 14 and asked it they had the trans in stock. I was told yes and it could ship the next day if I placed the order then. He quoted me $825, and I rebutted that I should/could buy via Ebay for less so he lowered the price to $775 plus shipping $110 plus Core Charge $250 - Total = $1,135.00.
I called Andre near the close of business for them the next day to ask for an update. He immediately transfered me to shipping. I spoke with them, and they took my info and said that they would look it up and call back. No call backs, so I called again the next day. I had scheduled the install based on their commitment.
I called every single business day until 12/17. That day I called 4 times and finally said, ship it, or cancel it. On 12/18, it shipped and arrived in So Cal on 12/19. Due to the delays and my holiday and work schedule, I was not able to get the tranny and car to the local tranny shop until 1/26/04.
On 1/26/04, Mission Veijo Transmission reported to me, that the connector to the internal solenoids was broken and had to be tie wrapped togther to keep it connected and that the tranny had some serious problems. Reverse did not work at all and then all forward gears shifted extremely harsh/violently and at the wrong RPM and often slipped out of gear upon acceleration.
1/26/04 I called and asked for service, it went to Voicemail so I left a msg. Lawrence at xt: 16 called me back and said he would fax over a doc and that the trans shop should check the pulse sensors and maybe some other things. I sent the info to the shop, they looked at the sensors and tried some other things that Phoenix ask them to do. Nothing worked. The tranny was bad. I was also told by the tech at the local shop that there was NO WAY that this unit could have been Dyno'ed prior to shipment as nothing worked at all and the connector going to the shift solenoids was broken.
12/27/04 late afternoon, I faxed over a letter describing the issue and asked for help to get it resolved. 1/28/04-recvd a call from Michael Meyers (and he is not at all funny). He told me that the trans was bad and that I should have it removed and ship it back to them and they would repair it and then return it. As I got into the grit of the details, I was advised that: the $144 for work that the local shop did FOR Phoenix as per their request was my expense, not theirs; the unistall $200, crate $25 and reship back to them $125 was at my cost; the freight back to me $110 and resinstall $200 - my cost as well.
I had a long discussioin with Michael about this becuase I had spoken with Andre during the purchase to insure if there were problems that thye would handle it with the local shop - Andre stated - no bad trans as all are 100% dyno'ed. But in case of issues, warantee would be done locally. What he left out was the local work was based on an upgraded warantee that was not even offered to me (and quite frankly I doubt that they would stand behind that either). I then asked Michael to write me a guarantee that if I spent all fo the money that it would take to get the tranny back to them, fixed, and back to me that they would 100% guarantee it to be working. He declined and basically told me that I would have to take my chances. I would rather do Vegas for another $1000 as the odds seem better to me!
I later found out the they also charged my VISA on 12/12 for a product that did not ship until 12/18. Is that legal?
The tranny is still in the car and I plan to list it on Ebay for sale around $2200 for a non working trans purchased from Phoenix transmissions - with less than 5 miles on it, and list the features - no reverse, violent shifts (maybe a punker would like that?) etc and a Buyer beware. I have disputed the charge with Visa, I have filed a complaint with Square deals, Ebay, and the BBB. I have also plan to contact Channel 5 News that does help for situations like this. I also have consulted my Corporate Attorney, as I am a business owner too, and will pursue this to the full extend of the law. I will contact every and all govt agencies to report these guys. If they think that I will go quietly away, they are wrong!
Feel free contact me by clicking on the rebuttal button. I am preparing a web page with all of the details about my experience with them too. I have also spoken with others that had problems with Phoenix and one told me that they would not give him any refund until he removed the negative comment about them - another interesting practice.
James
Lake Forest, California
U.S.A.
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