Aamco Transmissions

My clutch broke and I was stranded. My first call was to a Mobile mechanic shop, which turned out to not be Mobile and their worst case estimate of $ 550 rose to $ 2,300 after 3 – 4 hours of «inspecting» the car.
Through a referral, in came Ozzy (manager) to the rescue! He got my car towed to his shop & did the job in two days for 35% less. I highly recommend them!

I agree that this place cries out for zero stars.
I am a senior – a semi-​retired musician who cannot afford to be ripped off like I was when I tried helping a good friend. But who CAN?
In March of 2011, I took my friend’s 2008 Corolla to a Toyota dealer for an engine light diagnosis. The diagnosis was that the automatic transmission needed work. Toyota dealers don’t work on transmissions (they only replace them for around $ 4500), so they suggested, since the Toyota had only 70,000 miles on it, that a good chance was that it was something minor, and that we might want to have an automatic transmission specialist check it out to see if it might be something small, like a sensor or a seal. The car ran just fine. Just an engine light.
So I phoned around town. Within 10 minutes of the start of my phoning, Aamco Van Nuys called me back. I hadn’t even left my number, but they must have used caller #69 or caller ID. Tho the Aamco person was aggressive enough to pursue me, he was also soft spoken and reassuring that this car didn’t sound like a big job, and that a full diagnosis would be $ 550. I told him that it couldn’t be any more than that, and he firmly reassured me that if the estimate was for more than $ 550, he’d reassmble his work and send us off with a running car in the same running condition I brought it to him with. So I agreed and brought the car to him. He said he’d get right back to me. I initialed the work order, which he retained.
Not even an hour later, he phoned me. This time, he wasn’t as reassuring. In fact he told me, using technical terms I don’t understand, that the transmission was burned up and ;that for the $ 550 he’d reassemble, but that the car probably wouldn’t run! He said if I wanted the car to be functional, I’d need to authorize him to rebuild the whole transmission. He still wouldn’t give me a price. He didn’t need to. He had me. The next morning he told me the car would be ready that eveiniong, quoted me a price of $ 3300, and when we came to pick up the car, he escorted me to a dimly lit room, pulled out the work order, and told me to sign in several other places, which on paper gave me no recourse (except, of course, to sue them with our word against theirs). I have no written proof that I was shaken down so badly. On top of it, the person there, Armando, had told me that it was a lifetime warranty, but the paper says limited time, and when I asked him about that, he told me that this would’ve cost me more, but that he did me a favor by saving me money and time (granted, it was a Saturday). Imagine that!
On top of that, sadly, within hours after my friend drove off their lot, the engine light came on again, but this time the transmission was making grinding noises it had never made before and the car was not driving well. We weren’t about to take it back to them, lest they find something in the engine to rip us off for more money. They refused to refund me anything. And support from Aamco headquarters was a joke! THIS IS THE TRANSMISSION EXPERIENCE FROM HELL!!! I sure wish I’d read the other 2 strong Unilocal reviews before the fact instead of after. They seem to echo my experiences nearly note for note.
TO OTHERS WHO HAVE BEEN BURNED BY THIS ESTABLISHMENT: Please contact me thru Unilocal if you’d like us to help each other to take legal action against them for their tactics and actions. If you’ve posted a negative review about this shop too, I’ve probably been trying to contact you.

I wish Unilocal had a zero star rating, these guys deserve it.
This was the most SHADY of mechanic places I have EVER visited — I can’t believe I still let them work on my car. I initially heard about them on 710ESPN radio and called in and spoke with one of the «managers», Mando. When I took my car in, Mando greeted me with a very soft voice and a kind heart.
DO NOT BE FOOLED — These guys are SUPER SHADY!
When I took my car back (since they ran out of parts), Mando was of course no where to be found and so I ended up with this jack*ss named, Gilbert or w/​e his name was, who also claimed to be a «manager». This guy was the ultimate icing on the cake. THE SKETCHIEST person that I have EVER met in my life — He greeted me as if I had never been there before, got very aggressive at one point. I felt very disrespected, but since I had already paid them a portion on my initial visit (very stupid of me I will admit), I ended up staying and giving them a chance.
My car still has the same problems before and after my visit — I am convinced that I was fooled. This shop needs to be SHUT DOWN ASAP!
I learned a valuable lesson and that is to take my car to a certified dealership from this point on and pay more.

I’m completely dissatisfied by the level of service I received from the Owner/​Manager of the shop, Mando.
I have never felt so taken advantage of and not felt satisfied by any other company I have done business with as I did with this location.
I was referred by a friend of mine that had his transmission done a couple of years ago. My friend told me he received the best price and service. I felt that I was going to reparable shop. We I dropped off my 1977 Early Ford Bronco I was told that we would be charged $ 85 for a pre-​inspection but the price would be waived. To bring the vehicle by and he would take a quick review while we waited.
My husband took the vehicle next day and was told, «We will need the vehicle for hours and we will call you when its done» We didn’t receive a call back. So we called them.
We spoke with Mando and he said that they couldn’t determine what was causing it but it was more than likely the main seal to the transmission and it will cost us $ 400 for them to open up the transmission and to inspect it.
I was very concerned with this, since everyone has advised you shouldn’t be requested to pay a large amount of money like that. Since it was a referral I assumed it was ok. So we went ahead with it and the next day we called them since we didn’t hear back from them. My husband went to the shop and he spoke with the actual tech and the tech said that all we needed was just the seals. Which we knew the price was in the $ 100’s since we order parts all of the time for our Bronco. We were fine with that and we were eager to get the job going. The tech said he would provide the pricing and let Mando know to tell us. Later in the day we had to again call because we didn’t receive a call from Mando. Mando quoted us $ 1660 for the part and labor. I couldn’t believe our eyes or minds. We were shocked. Since we were expecting only a to be a few hundred more than the $ 400 we already had on the bill for seals as we were told by the tech. Mando had seem to come up with a large laundry list of items that were never mentioned in the inspection. He made up a story about why we needed the extra parts and because we already had a bill of $ 400 we felt we were stuck with keeping it there and being charged the extremely high price tag. We continued to ask why did the tech tell us one thing and he was telling us another and he continued to go in circles. He said he would have the Bronco completed by Monday.
Since it was Thursday evening we thought at least we would have it by Monday. Called Mando Monday and the vehicle wasn’t ready. Called him Tuesday because he said he needed an extra day for test drive and called Tuesday and still not ready. He told us it would be ready for sure by Wednesday morning. Finally went to the shop after work to pick up the vehicle.
We arrived after 4pm since his shop closes at 5pm. My husband went into the shop to pay by Credit Card and get our keys. My husband had to walk around and find Mando and by the time he did went into the shop and told my husband that his credit card machine isn’t working, we need to pay by cash. My husband told him that is the only way we can pay and he should call merchant service. He said no he couldn’t, have to pay by cash. It is now 10 mins to 5pm and the banks are going to close any minute. We rush to the bank and get the cash requested.
This is very frustrating and very unprofessional. Not only did we pay much more than other people we have talked to but received horrible customer service and can’t believe the manner in which this business at his shop is done.
I’m sure he is continuing to service his customers this way and people feel this is a level of service that is appropriate and it isn’t.
My vehicle all thought it is old is very low on mileage and know it came to an age it needed new seals but the vehicle didn’t have extreme wear like a vehicle on the road today receives. I know many of the parts listed were unnecessary and were only listed to hike the price and we were only told to pay cash so he could make money under the table.
Contacted Corporate and only hope that they are dealt with.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS LOCATION !!!

So I usually use Aamco because they are located across the country, and I move a lot, also because they ‘say’ their work is guaranteed. Well. the work I’m told, is only guaranteed at the specific shop where it is performed. (So if you move, they expect you to take it back across country to have it re-​fixed when it wasn’t really ever fixed.)
Also, they had my car for four days (three business days) before I had to call them, and then they still hadn’t even looked at it. For the 3000 $++ I was planning on spending to tune up and fix my car, they lost it all because of terrible customer service. Congrats on good business practices, boys. I will be taking my car somewhere else, and send you the bill for the ‘guaranteed’ repair.