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Help! Aamco, may have gotten me!

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frankc

91 Blazerman 6.2
Joined
Dec 21, 2007
Posts
28
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4
Location
florida
Hey folks,

Have a leaky transmission for years, had some extra cash and some good references from friends at the local AAmco. Well, i turned it in and they said i had various leaks....while repairing, they said, the torque converter was old/worn, I said go heavy duty. They said my transmission looks good elsewhere, while apart, I asked for other possible upgrades, shift kit, clutch disks, etc. Anyway i said lets do it...a rebuild with a lifetime warranty. $2500. Well I picked it up and vehicle looked out of sorts (somewhat) e.g. service engine light was on (had to have guy troubleshoot - vacuum hose was off), firewall plastic behind engine was broken, lost keys, exhaust was a little cockeyed, etc. Anyway, pick up was not smooth. I left after about an hour, it shifted ok, not much different from prior to work...got home and trans is still leaking towards rear near transfer case. Somewhat pissed (fri. night - can't call till Monday) I looked at the paperwork and they put in a whole new transmission!!!!!!!!! a re-conditioned one!!!! Well I didnt want someone elses mess, I wanted my mess fixed, if you know what i mean. Also the paperwork said only a heavy duty converter, nothing else but jibberish, not kevla bands, shifter kits, etc . Of course I should have read at the shop but it was late and a confusing time. Also, when I was receiving paperwork the desk lady said the computer does weird things and lists the work on receipt in an odd way, making the receipt sort of a mess. She highlighted the lifetime warranty part....my pessimesstic mind believes that was to take my eye from the part that said AAmco reconditioned trans. to get me to sign and leave...maybe not. I get home, it leaks, and the dipstick is not even bolten to the rear of engine (I asked them to make sure of this)
Long story - but looking for advice???? I am calling first thing Monday and expressing my concern with the shabby work and I will get a more detailed receipt. I will get them to fix leak/dipstick! Do you think, they wouldn't install certain HD parts as we discussed? What else should I be concerned with? Should I ask for my transmission back or are there rebuilds ok? Is replacing my trans common?

I'm pissed! thanks in advance for any help!
 
Get an attorney, or take them to court yourself. I would. Take pictures and get everything down on paper while its fresh in your mind...good luck
 
i have yet in my years seen a good tranny shop.

you should have got a monstor or bowtie overdrives in a box and done it your self.

sad to say but the big chain stores suck anymore with turn around and half ass work.

i use to run a tow truck and had 2 ammco shops in my route and thay both just didnt rub me good at all on there half ass crap thay did if you ask me.
 
I wouldn't complain about the reconditioned one as long as it comes with a warranty. The few places i went to a while back would only sell you a rebuilt one because it would take too long to rebuild yours while your truck is stuck in their shop. I would complain about the leaks though and ask to confirm the upgrades you asked for were installed.
 
I don’t think it's possible to come out of a Aamco without spending 1K at min. Take it in for a the simplest things.. like a filter change..... end up with a rebuild. Typically chain store Crooks...

Even most of the small trans shops suck as well. I have to go through 2 shops ( and wasted a ton $$) before the 3rd shop actually got it right for me.
 
I know the trans is different because it is all black (painted). I will discuss it on Monday...attorney is an option...based on the cust service I get. thanks!
 
I almost had an ammco do the trans in my wheeler until I talked to them in person, what a bunch of idiots. They wanted over $2k for a rebuilt stocker with no warranty.

I completely lucked out and ran across a local trans shop that did an incredible job with a warranty for a lot less. Over the years I've found out a lot of the trucks around this area use that shop.

I'd show up first thing monday and get things squared away. Not sure if you will get much but at least make an attempt before taking legal action.
 
Sounds like you have been had. With that said I have had excellent service at Aamco but I looked around checked out the different ones in my area and talked with the service writers to get a feel for the shop. $2400 for just a trans reman swap with a HD converter is way to much in my opinion. back in feb I took my 71 K20 to my Aamco of choice (several guys there off-road why i picked it) because of transfercase noise and for what you paid i had BOTH the trans rebuilt with stock parts, the t-case rebuilt with stock parts, and new trans cooler lines. If you specifically asked to have your unit rebuilt and they installed a reman they have committed fraud. The receipt/invoice is supposed to be legible using what is considered industry standard language with all parts and labor charges clearly shown.

I would take pictures of the leaks from as many angles as possible along with pictures of the cracked firewall part and the incorrectly installed exhaust. I would call and ask to speak to the manager or owner or both and address your concerns directly with them i would not bring up your complaints with the service writers. Honestly I would either request a different Aamco perform the repairs to address your complaints or take it to another shop on Aamco's dime. I would not let them work on your truck again. document everything you do in your dealings with this from now on any time you speak with someone write down the number you called the name of the person you spoke with and a brief description of the conversation. make copies of all your paperwork they gave you and i would not give them the original paperwork back under any circumstance. Always remain clam when talking them them don't yell If you cant resolve it with the shop or feel like your going to get angry just walk away and contact your lawyer and you will more than likely have to go to small claims. Its not an easy road to travel down. some other things you can look into is contacting BBB and seeing if that shop has a Triple-A rating because you can file a complaint with AAA and they will investigate it as well. Make enough noise and get their shop crawling with inspectors they may just give up. I am a mechanic and stories like yours makes me sick. If i can be of any help please ask.
 
I think you should start by contacting the BAR and registering a complaint. You may not think so but they can get the ball rolling in your favor if that is the road you want to go down. I have had experience with them before and they were quite helpful.
 
Do you have a written estimate? They are supposed to supply this before major work commences. If they didn't follow it you have a direct line of defense. Hopefully you didn't sign all that away when you took delivery. And where is your "looks good otherwise" trans now? Were you credited for a full core refund on it?

Pulling and installing the trans is often close to $1k by itself in a 4x4, so they are stupid to begin such a job without written approval from the customer as to the course of action. Changing now from your standard rebuilt unit to an upgraded unit would cost them a bundle, even assuming they can put your current unit into another vehicle soon, so they will be very resistant to do anymore work.
 
frankc said:
I know the trans is different because it is all black (painted). I will discuss it on Monday...attorney is an option...based on the cust service I get. thanks!
Click to expand...

It sounds like very shoddy craftsmanship, however, just because a trans is painted doesn't mean it's not the same one. I know more than one place that paints the cases during a rebuild. I think it's a waste of time because aluminum is a good heat sink and paint isn't. Also, aluminum may oxidize slightly but it's not going to rust anyway.

Anyway, good luck getting it all sorted out.
 
folkenheath said:
It sounds like very shoddy craftsmanship, however, just because a trans is painted doesn't mean it's not the same one. I know more than one place that paints the cases during a rebuild. I think it's a waste of time because aluminum is a good heat sink and paint isn't. Also, aluminum may oxidize slightly but it's not going to rust anyway.

Anyway, good luck getting it all sorted out.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't like it when they paint the aluminum cases but some do this as a trade mark like grey for SMI
 
My guess is they might not physically rebuild them at that particular store. Meaning all they do is remove and replace transmissions. The actual repair is probably done somewhere else. So they pull them out swap in an equavalent. Then yours goes in for repair and gets swapped into someone elses truck. If you wanted to keep yours you probably could have asked but it probably would have taken much longer to get you out the door.

As long as you got and equavalent transmission I dont see a problem. For example the 700R4 comes in a few different versions. Trucks should have the K series. Where as some 6 cylinder got a weaker version. That would probably be my only concern.
 
Any updates? Im interested in how they dealt with your complaints. I have not seen anywhere other than trans specialty shops paint their transmissions. Places like Aamco time is money and painting a transmission takes time and money. i find it odd it has paint on it at all, The case and pan are usually ran in a parts washer and that removes paint and corrosion. this is of great concern to me, this place sounds very shady.
 
Blue71Chevy said:
Any updates? Im interested in how they dealt with your complaints. I have not seen anywhere other than trans specialty shops paint their transmissions. Places like Aamco time is money and painting a transmission takes time and money. i find it odd it has paint on it at all, The case and pan are usually ran in a parts washer and that removes paint and corrosion. this is of great concern to me, this place sounds very shady.
Click to expand...

We paint hydraulic rams (not well but they do get some paint on them) at work for a few different high volume customers. They like us to shoot some paint on them so when they get back to the yard the rams that have been rebuilt are easy to identify.

Could be a similar situation if they're getting rebuilt transmissions from some high volume re-builder.
 
Avery4jc said:
We paint hydraulic rams (not well but they do get some paint on them) at work for a few different high volume customers. They like us to shoot some paint on them so when they get back to the yard the rams that have been rebuilt are easy to identify.

Could be a similar situation if they're getting rebuilt transmissions from some high volume re-builder.
Click to expand...

makes sense, easy identification of what goes to what shop. The Aamco's i have dealt with over the years all had in-house specialists and were nice enough to even let me talk with the techs working on my truck and walk though the shop area. I can fix pretty much anything but for some reason i have yet to rebuild a transmission that worked when i was done, go figure.
 
I have been very lucky with my transmissions over the years. I had a small AAMCO shop across the street from my service department, and I knew the owner real well.

When I sunk my '79, I noticed some water in the C6. Walked next door, and he advised me to let him replace the clutches.
Said that once they got wet, they tended to slip slightly and get hot.
This caused some steam to form and would make the clutch and band friction material come loose.

I asked if he would put the lifetime kit in, and he said absolutely no way.
Said he would not put an AAMCO kit in my truck. Said he could get the parts and rebuild it a lot cheaper and it would last.
Said he might put their top premium kit in if it was going to be driven on the highway, but not the way I drove it.

He rebuilt it, the name AAMCO never appeared on any of the paperwork. And I drove it for about another 200K with no problems.

After he retired, I needed some work on my '89 after a cooler line came loose and I burned some clutches before I realized it was low on fluid.
Found a guy I had gone to school with who had his own transmission shop.
He told me that we could go two ways. He could pull my transmission and rebuild it.

Looking at a couple of days.
Or he could put in a rebuilt and I could have it that afternoon.

He had several shelves with rebuilt transmissions on them. He said that it was feast and famine in his shop.
When there was not many customers, he would buy junkyard transmissions, and run them through his rebuilding shop.
Do a complete rebuild, mark anything special, and put on the shelf.

He put in a rebuilt, and so far so good. I think I have about 250K on it so far.

When I was going to college in Orlando, one of the girls whose cars I kept going started having transmission troubles.
She found a shop that would do a rebuild for a set price. Way too cheap.
I told her to let me do some checking, but she insisted.
They fixed it.

It would not shift right, leaked, generally in worse shape than when she took it in.

She took it back, they gave her a runaround and wanted to charge more money.
She showed up at my door crying.
Unfortunately she caught me in a bad mood.

She rode her bike to school the next morning, and I drove her car to the shop.
I was waiting there when they opened.
Found the manager.
Told him that the transmission they had worked on needed to be pulled out and fixed properly.
I had a big smile on my face.
He started telling me about warranties, what was not covered, how the flat rate did not cover some things.......
I held up a finger.

I asked if he had the parts, equipment and knowledge to actually fix a transmission.
He assured me he did.
I repeated that that transmission needed to be pulled out, fixed correctly, and put back in.

He started back on how there were cars ahead of me, what it would cost.......

So I kicked him in the nuts, sucker punched him behind the ear when he bent over and put my foot on the side of his face on the floor.

The guys working for him started my way, but I picked up a good sized wrench and told them it was going to get real bloody if they kept coming.

I didn't let the guy get his face out of the grease on the floor until they had taken someone else's car off the lift, put her car on the lift and had her transmission out.

I did not intend to let him up then, but he had started crying about his face burning.

They were pretty good. I think it only took them about 4 hours to pull it, completely rebuild it, and put it back in.

They did come out and ask the manager what they should do, fix what was wrong or do a full rebuild?
He looked up at me from where he was sitting on the floor, and I told him it was up to him.
It was his shop.
Of course, if it messed up, I would come back........

They did a complete rebuild.

That car never gave any more problems.
I considered sending the guy some business, telling them I sent them, but decided to let well enough alone.

Other than that, I've pretty good luck.
 
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