I owned a 1993 Toyota Camry. As the reverse was starting to go and some of the gears were sticking, I first took it to a dealer for an estimate on repairs. Unsatisfied with the price, I took it to an Aamco near my work.
I spoke with the manager, Tony who gave me a quote of $1195 and told me it would take 2-3 days tops to rebuild the transmission. I told him I would bring it in the next day. Following is a log of subsequent events:
June 16 AAmco arranged to have car towed in. I was told that the car should be ready by Saturday at the latest. They had an arrangement with Enterprise which I took advantage of.
June 24 My car was finally ready for pickup at a cost of $2268 with an additional $189.60 due for brake work. As the total work quote was significantly less than other quoted I received, I thought I had received a good deal. I also paid over $300 for the rental car for that period. I paid for everything but the brakes and made an arrangement to pay it the following Friday (July 2). I was not given the warranty or receipt but Tony did sign the back of an Aamco card indicating that the $2268 payment was received.
June 25 I noticed that the forward gears were sticking slightly but since I don't know much about transmissions, I thought that this was normal right after a rebuild.
June 27 I was traveling at highway speed when there was suddenly a loud squeal and pop and the car started violently slamming through the gears. I pulled off and slowly limped home, noticing a loud grinding sound on the downshift. As this was a Sunday, I had no other choice.
June 28 I limped the car back to the Aamco and their manager Tony refuses to provide me with a rental car during the time it would take them to refix the problem. We got into a loud running argument during which time he was very rude. Finally, realizing this was not getting me anywhere, I asked him how long the fix would take and he replied 1 or 2 days at most. I asked him to call the owner regarding the car rental and he promised he would.
June 29 I checked with Tony regarding my car and was told we're working on it right now. I asked about the rental car again and he said they don't provide rental cars. I found out that they do have an account with Enterprise and could have easily arranged for my rental.
July 1 (1 PM) I called again to check on my car. I was told that Tony was not in today and that they were just starting on my vehicle. He claimed that they were really backed up. It was obvious that that new customer's money took precedence over doing a re-repair on money already received. I asked if it would be ready by the next day (Friday) and was assured it would be.
July 1 (1:20PM) I called Aamco Corporate and spoke with Maria who assured me that a rep would call me before the end of the day.
July 1 (3:30PM) Wanda from Aamco Corporate Customer Relations called and I explained the history and the issue and asked her to help resolve the issue. She said that she would talk to the owner, Jim and that he would call me either before the end of the day or first thing in the morning.
July 1 (4:15PM) I received a call from Wanda asking me if Jim had called me. I told her that he had not. She replied that Jim was checking on one thing and would certainly call me in the morning.
July 2 (09:25AM) I called Wanda again and said that I still had not heard from Jim. She put me on hold and then told me that the car was being reassembled and would be ready before the end of the day. I asked again about the rental car issue and she replied that since Jim was out of the office, she had no answer. However, since he would be back in 1 hour, she would call him then to resolve the issue.
July 2 (11:15AM) I called Wanda again and was put on a conference call with the owner, Jim. He stated that his first priority was to get my car back in working order and he promised that it would be ready before the end of the day.
When I asked about the rental car, he said there was nothing in the warranty about rental cars. I replied that this wasn't about warranty rather about customer service and that I should not have to incur any costs because of their inability to fix the problem right the first time. He asked if I was perfect 100% of the time. I responded that in my work, if I make a mistake, my clients expect me to no charge the order and expect me to incur any incremental costs associated with their order.
He refused to further discuss or commit on the rental car issue but claimed that we could discuss it when I pick up my car and proceeded to give me his cell phone number in the event he was not there. Wanda said that she would check back with both of us at the end of the day.
July 2 (2:20 PM) Called the Aamco location to ask what time I should come in to pick up the car. The technician who answered the phone replied that they were still putting the transmission in. I told him that the owner promised me that it would be ready before the end of the day. He replied that he would call me at or around 3:30 PM when they should be done with the installation process.
July 2 (3:45 PM) Called the Aamco location to inquire as to pickup time and spoke with same technician as before. He said that all they have to do is road test and as long as the transmission was fine, I would be able to pick up the car today. He promised that he would call me in 30 minutes or so (4:15 PM).
July 2 (4:00 PM) Received call from Wanda at Aamco Corporate Customer Relations to update me on the above status. Aamco location told her the same thing. She will check with me Tuesday morning to follow-up on the re-repair and the car rental reimbursement disposition.
July 2 (5:30 PM) Picked up my vehicle and in apparent good order. I was not charged for the balance due and I assumed that they just decided to call it even.
July 7 (5:00 PM) Reverse stops working altogether (again) and the forward gears start to stick again.
At this point, I am fed up with Aamco and decide it is no longer worth the trouble or the cost involved with having them try for the third time to get it right. My suspicion is that they did the absolute least to get it running and possibly just gummed up the transmission so that it would appear to be in good order. A warranty is useless if resulting charges are not included (i.E. Rental car or providing a loaner car, even the dealer whose pricing I didn't like, provided me a loaner while they prepared an estimate.
I decided to trade in the vehicle for a different vehicle and be done once and for all ($2800 in sunk costs later). Stay away from (at least this) Aamco!
Moe
Elk Grove Village, Illinois
U.S.A.
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