In July I took my 2003 Saturn Vue to Dwayne at Payless for air conditioning work. After waiting 3 days I took my car home yet the air conditioning still wasn't working properly, I told Dwayne I would bring it back in the following week and he agreed to re-do the repairs.in the meantime my transmission had started acting up so when I returned to the shop I spoke with Dwayne about it and he told me that he had seen this before and that changing the filter would fix the problem and that I could pick up my car the next day. 2 Days later the repairs were "done" and I picked up my car and paid the bill in full.
The air was still not working correctly, only putting out cold air in spurts and the transmission was still acting up, yet Dwayne assured me that the transmission would be fine after a few hundred miles. On August 2nd I had to drop my car back off at Payless because reverse had gone out completely and it would not drive forward at more than 30 mph. Dwayne then tells me I would need a new transmission and that he would research transmissions and give me a price to replace mine.
On August 7th I went to Payless and Dwayne gave me 3 options: he had found two transmissions, one on ebay for $2400 $200 and one at County Line Auto Salvage for $2800. The third option was to have my transmission rebuilt which would be $3400. We agreed on the transmission from ebay and Dwayne said he would charge me $3250 for the job and that they would also finally take care of my air, which I had already paid around $300 for.
The transmission arrived a week later and another week went by when I called to check on the progress when Dwayne informed me that "they" sent him the wrong transmission and he offered to have mine rebuilt for no additional charge because of the trouble. I agreed to this and now three months have gone by with one excuse after another from Dwayne about why my transmission hasn't been repaired, while my car has been sitting in pieces in his shop. Not only has he refused to get my car repaired but he is trying to charge me for parts that they aren't even using for my car and subtracted $364 from my deposits for work that he did on my girlfriends moms car, which she has paid $200 towards.
Now he is trying to turn the operation of the shop over to his son, although he assures me that they have me a correct transmission ordered, that they want to double my price on, and the son is trying to tell me that he has a contract with his dad that states that he won't be encumbered by any previous agreements made by his dad.
My girlfriend has been the one dealing with most of this because I am a full time student as well as work full time, and she has had to have the police escort her to the shop on several occasions in order to force Dwayne to provide information as to the whereabouts of the transmission itself. Now, Dwayne is claiming to have been the victim of identity theft and that's why he couldn't afford to order the transmission sooner, yet they are trying to tell me that it still won't be finished until at least the first week in November and they are trying to force me to pay for the new transmission because they spent my money on parts for mine that after 2 months they said couldn't be repaired.
I am so frustrated with the situation. I am considering small claims court but I don't know that I would ever be able to collect anything but my car and be out the money I initially paid.
0 comments