Last update.

Just to let you know that nothing concrete came of my complaint against AAMCO Transmissions.

It was pretty much whitewashed over, and I was given some options that just didn't satisfy me at all, and that were just nothing to do with the complaint I made.

My conclusion is that AAMCO are not very good at all.

I do not recommend that you take your car to them.

Happy motoring.

Day twenty six: the latest exchange

I had a few calls in the meantime. I've been sick, so I haven't been able to reply. Basically I just see them as not reallly dealing with the issue at all. It's kinda tedious...

Anyway. This is the latest:


Thanks for your email. I called again a little while ago, but you weren't available.

I've subsequently spoken to Mr. Javerma at the NW Austin branch who says he'll take a look at my car.

Frankly, though, I really can't see what any of it will accomplish. I have a pretty good idea what's wrong with the car and what needs to be done. So I can't see a great deal of point in travelling to the other side of town just to spend more time having someone tell me what I already know.

Part of my original grievance, as I'd said, was the time that was wasted. With the car in the shop for an entire week, I was unable to work, and I may as well have been fixing the car myself, which I could have done in less time than it took them at South Austin.

Had they told me that it would take a week to fix, I would have definitely done it myself. That's 50% of my argument. It was just a waste of money there and then to have someone be paid $1300 while I was sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. Fact is, I was told it was going to be done in two days. It was logical to do that. It was cost effective. Better pay someone $1300 to do the job and then have a car in a couple of days than take longer off work (I use it for my work) doing it myself.

The other 50% of my argument is that he promised me that he wouldn't do the work if the engine was smoking.
But he did it anyway, and the transmission was fixed even though the engine was damaged. Anybody with an ounce of intelligence knows that's a silly thing to do.

So where is the logic in my taking it to another branch?

Sincerely,


Jack Lee
--- "cr.mail" wrote:
> May 4, 2005
>

>
> Dear Jack Lee:
>
> Thank you for contacting this office and allowing us
> the opportunity to investigate your concern.
>
> Unfortunately, since our last telephone
> conversation, we have not been able to reach you by
> telephone.
>
> Please contact this office at 1-800-523-0401 or your
> nearest AAMCO center in order to resolve your
> situation.
>
> If we do not hear from you within five (5) business
> days, we will consider the matter resolved.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Nichole Turner
>
> Customer Relations Representative
>
>

Day ten

Somebody called me from AAMCO yesterday. I was out, and she left a message. I called back, but there was nobody there.

Left a message, but received no further call back.

It seems we have a game of phone tag going.

As I said in my first email to AAMCO, I don't want to deal with Joel, whom I don't trust. Why should I take my car back to the person I'm making the complaint about?

At what point do you decide you've had enough?

I reached that point, and that's why I emailed AAMCO. It's no good that they just push me back to him.

More...

I just talked to Joel on the phone.

He asked me what the problem was, and I asked him if someone had contacted him from AAMCO head office. He told me they had. I asked him if they'd let him know what my whole complaint was. He told me they hadn't, which I thought rather surprising. He said that he was waiting for a fax from them. I suggested that he wait till the fax arrived before we continued. He suggested that, as he would be dealing with it anyway, I just tell him what the problem was.

So I told him.

He informed me that the world isn't perfect, and that neither is he. He is, he explained further, at the mercy of the people who provide the parts. This is his explanation why the job took as long as it did.

When I asked him why a company as big as AAMCO doesn't have a stock of parts for such a common transmission as my car's has, he seemed at a loss for words. "What can I say, Jack? What can I do? How can I appease you?"

When I explained that his promise that the car would be done by the monday, he told me that was his target, as he likes to appease his customers. He didn't seem to grasp that telling something one thing when you're aware that the facts may be otherwise is, by anyone else's definition, a lie.

But the main thing still comes back to the blowing exhaust. The damaged engine. He still evaded the question as to how he managed to drive the car in the test drive "three or four miles" and yet managed to acheive a speed of 40 miles an hour, to find the vibration I told him about.

Fact is, he was just evading my questions, still.

He wants me to take the car back to him so that he can "see if he can help me resolve the problem". But I don't trust him. I don't trust him for the inconsistencies that he's already presented me with.

I'm still pissed...

And frankly, I'm disappointed in AAMCO. Is this all they can do? Refer me back to the guy I've already told them I don't trust?

Pulling the wool over people's eyes is an art, I know. You do a bad job, you appease a customer with a few bits of nonsense, tell him to see if things improve, like "the smoke may just be the oil burning itself out of the system", and then you declare that it's "such a long time ago that you brought it in, I can't remember what we did".

Essentially, you pull the wool over people's eyes by making them wait, giving them more bullshit, and making them wait even further, till they finally give up.

And that, in my opinion, is precisely what AAMCO have done with me.

I wrote in my original email to AAMCO what I wanted from them. Not from Joel, but from the parent company. I don't feel that, so far at least, they've picked up the ball.

Day eight

It's the eighth day since I wrote the email to AAMCO, and I've had a call from Joel, at the branch in Austin where I had the car fixed.

Just a voice mail, and he'd informed me that my car was due for a check up (he hadn't mentioned this at the time) and to "address some kind of concern that I had on the vehicle"

He sounds very nice. Very polite. Very considerate. I fact, you can listen to it yourselves:

http://www.jacklee.biz/VM_5124425113_20050406_095651.wav

Yes, he does sound nice, doesn't he? And he said my name twice, which really shows consideration, and not necessarily a sales technique that you use to placate customers.

But then he did sound nice when he was telling me the car would be ready on the monday, then the tuesday, then the wednesday, then the thursday at 11, 1, 2, 3...

Fact is, I don't trust Joel, no matter how polite and considerate he sounds, because he hasn't done what he's said he's going to do, and he's been consistent in that. Politeness is one thing, but when you don't have a car for eight days, it costs you $1300, the car blows smoke when you get it back, and you really wonder if it needed any of the work at all, I don't care if the head of the United Nations is talking nicely and diplomatically to me: I'm still pissed.

So what shall I do?

To recap: I feel that the work that was done on my car may have been completely unnecessary. If all that was needed was the part that was replaced after the whole transmission had been removed, tinkered with, and replaced, then doesn't that indicate so?

Then there's the business of the smoking engine, which Joel had assured me at the time wasn't the engine at all, but the transmission "venting through the exhaust".

I'd told him I didn't want him to proceed with the work if the engine had been damaged, but he did.

Another peculiar thing: when he said he took it for a test drive before the repair, he told me it had been doing the things I'd said it had been doing prior to the transmission failing. He said it had been vibrating at 40 mph. But the car wouldn't get to 40 mph, because the transmission wasn't working

So this all indicates old fashioned bullshit in my book.

Been there before. And who hasn't?

I once took a car with a power steering leak to Firestones, and I had a similar experience. They told me the car would need a new power steering pump, box, and lines. The bill would be $800, they told me.

It was just a flexible line that had a pinhole in it.

I fixed it for $13.

And I see a lot of parallels here.

So, I'll call Joel in a little while, and see what comes of this...

Day seven

Haven't heard anything else yet.

Day six.

It's day six now, and I still haven't heard from AAMCO.

I sent them two emails, though their website.

But I've heard nothing back from them yet.

Does anyone think I will?

Should I email them again?

Call them, perhaps?

Contact the local news? Who might champion my cause here?

And JUST AS I POSTED THIS, I HAD A VERY NICE AND POLITE CALL FROM A LADY AT AAMCO!

So that's good. It's first thing monday morning, and it seems that AAMCO are awake.

So does this mean that they're effective at dealing with any disputes that may arise with their customers? Can we consider that you, readers, will be able to trust taking your car to AAMCO transmissions?

AAMCO are adverised as the largest transmissions repair company in the world. That's a powerful claim. It would be good if they live up to their name. After all, if we want a job done properly and we want a guarantee that it's done properly, it's worth paying a bit more, right?

So maybe it's going to turn out that AAMCO are OK after all.

Let's hope that's so!

It would be nice if, at the end of this blog, I can wholeheartedly recommend them, wouldn't it?

Hell, I'm an actor...I'd be happy to do an advertisement for them!

Scene: Jack tells camera "I had a dispute with AAMCO that was resolved quickly and efficiently. AAMCO's the one to trust!"

Or something like it. I mean, what's better than a true story from a satisfied customer when you're advertising your product?

FURTHER UPDATE:

I've received an email from AAMCO, too. They're looking into the matter.

I'm impressed.

Day three

Day three, and still I haven't heard from anyone at AAMCO